Open House: online public events celebrating World Puppetry Day
You are invited to attend the free Open House events of the Virtual Puppetry Residency happening Saturday, March 20th and Sunday, March 21st, 2021. We will be celebrating World Puppetry Day and showing work developed by participants in the third season of the residency program.
Open House Programs:
Saturday, March 20th, 10 AM EST – Children’s Show (rated G equivalent). Fun, uplifting shows for children and families.
Saturday, March 20th, 2 PM EST – Adult Show (mature audiences). A variety of shows and creative experiments in puppetry. Some works may address serious social issues.
Sunday, March 21st 2 PM EST – All Ages Show (PG Equivalent). A variety of shows for all ages. Announcements will be made before shows if content is not appropriate for children.
A SEED GROWS WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HER FRIENDS by Amy Oestreicher will be featured in the All-Ages Show.
Viewing:
Viewing of the Open House events is free and available through the project Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/VPRpuppets
About:
Virtual Puppetry Residency (VPR), an international arts program developed by Pittsburgh-based artist Tom Sarver, will be holding a series of online events to celebrate World Puppetry Day, 2021. On March 20th and 21st, resident artists in the third season of the program will present samples of their work. Live and pre-recorded puppet shows will be presented, as well as short interviews with artists from around the world. The event will be divided into three programs (Children’s, All-Ages and Adult programs).
This is the third season of VPR, a six-week program developed for puppeteers of all skill levels to improve their craft and performance concepts. Sarver initiated the program in May of 2020, after the COVID-19 global pandemic cancelled in-person puppetry events and education. The program, run online, features weekly critiques, guest speakers and a final showing of works created in the residency.
Experimentation was a theme for season three, and participants pushed the boundaries of what can be accomplished in showing work online. Works shown at Open House are intended to show the sense of play and discovery achieved during the workshop. They are short sketches (2 – 5 minutes) designed specifically for online viewing. Fifty current VPR residents join the program from The United States, Canada, Brazil, Guyana, Argentina, Kenya, Croatia, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, The United Kingdom, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Ukraine, and Italy.
Previous events for VPR include International Puppet Slam on July 18th, 2020 and International Puppet Festival on December 20th, 2020. VPR is administered by Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media with support from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and private donations.
Check out our World Puppetry Day video greeting:
These Artist Residency Projects were administered by Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media and supported by the Arts in Education Partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. PCA&M serves Allegheny, Beaver, Greene, and Washington counties as part of the AIE Partnership. Additional support has been provided by private donors.