GREAT SMALL WORKS INTERNATIONAL TOY THEATRE FESTIVAL ON TOUR
Artists from Great Small Works...
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| "Living Newspaper" by Great Small Works |
Great Small Works was founded in 1995 by a
collective of six artists, all veterans of Bread and Puppet Theater, who
explore traditional popular theater and puppet forms to reflect contemporary
life. Great Small Works performs in theaters, schools, parks, libraries,
museums, prisons, street corners, and other public spaces, producing work on
many scales, from gigantic outdoor spectacles with scores of volunteers, to
miniature shows in living rooms. In curated festivals, cabarets and Soirees,
Great Small Works collaborates with artists from varied traditions, provides
performance opportunities for artists in diverse genres, and engages the
participation of young artists in the process of finding their own voices. In
community-based pageants and parades, the company works with groups of
students, activists and artists to address issues of common concern. On any
scale Great Small Works productions seek to renew, cultivate and strengthen the
spirits of their audiences, promoting theater as a model for participating in
democracy.
Great Small Works received a Village Voice Obie
Award (1997) and two UNIMA/USA Citations for Excellence (1997 and 2008); a New
York Foundation for the Arts Community Assets Grant (1998), and the Puppeteers
of America’s Jim Henson Award for innovation in puppetry (2005). Its members
are John Bell, Trudi Cohen, Stephen Kaplin, Jenny Romaine, Roberto Rossi and
Mark Sussman. (More Info)
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| Great Small Works talks toy theater |
Artists from Facto Teatro....
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| Facto Teatro, "Don Chico con Alas" |
Facto
Teatro was formed in Mexico City in 2007 by Alejandro Benítez (actor and
puppeteer) and Mauricio Martínez (actor and pedagogue). Facto Teatro seeks to
create an interactive form of theater that will enable the audience to engage
in its productions. The theater incorporates new forms of artistic discourse
with a critical objective, allowing the public to enter into a form of
entertainment free from prejudices and established formulas.
The
company's first work, Panteón de fiesta (Fiesta Graveyard), was commissioned by
The Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County for the 1st International
Festival of Toy Theater of the Music Center of Los Angeles in June 2008. This
commission was supported also by a grant from The Jim Henson Foundation. Since
then, the company has performed at Teatro La Puntual, Barcelona, Spain (2009);
Papiertheatertreffen, Preetz, Germany (2010, 2011); Teatr Grotesca, Krakow and
Centrum Lowicka, Poland (2010); Great Small Works’ International Toy Theater
Festival, Brooklyn, NY (2008, 2010); Rencontres Intenationales de Theatres de
Papier, Pays d’Epernay, France (2011); and many festivals and theaters
throughout Mexico.
Antonio
Cerezo studied Dramatic Literature and Theatre at the Faculty of Philosophy and
Literature of the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) and in New
York City. Since 1992 he has worked professionally as an actor, choreographer
and director in Mexico City, the United States and Europe. He spent 7 years in
New York City performing at La MaMa etc, Lincoln Center, Mabou Mines, The Ohio
Theater and St Ann’s Warehouse. He currently lives and works in Germany where
he has performed at Berliner Festspiele, Volksbühne and in Theaterhaus Jena.
Don Chico con alas is his first collaboration with Facto Teatro. (More Info)
Mauricio
Martínez, Co-founder and Artistic Director of Facto Teatro, studied Dramatic
Literature and Theatre at the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of the
Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM). He has specialized in the manipulation
of puppets for television, poetry, sound engineering and theater pedagogy, and
has participated as an actor, director, adapter and sound engineer in over
fifteen theatrical productions. In the field of education he works as a
professor of theater, literature, movement and arts education in several
schools in Mexico City. He has collaborated with the Ministry of Education as
head of the Secondary School Theatre Program, which is part of the reform of
secondary education by training teachers in theater across the country.
Alejandro
Benítez, Co-founder and Managing Director of Facto Teatro, is an actor,
puppeteer and drummer. He studied Dramatic Literature and Theatre at the
Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of the Autonomous National University of
Mexico (UNAM). He took the improvisation workshop with the Latin American
League of Improvisation and the training course with the renowned director and
acting teacher Ludwik Margules. He has worked as an actor and studio musician
and as a puppeteer has performed in theaters, television (the Latin American
version of Sesame Street) and TV internet.
Let's Meet our Artists-Barbara Steinitz and Björn Kollin from Germany...
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| “Schnurzpiepegal” (Like Master, Like Dog) by Barbara Steinetz and Björn Kollin |
Barbara
Steinitz studied communication-design and illustration in Saarbrücken/Germany
and Barcelona/Spain. After getting her diploma in 2004 she completed a
voluntary service in Granada/Nicaragua; teaching workshops in arts and crafts
for adults and children at the cultural institution Casa de los Tres Mundos,
she started to explore and include puppet-theater within her work as an
illustrator. In Nicaragua she got to know the author Gioconda Belli, for whom
she illustrated her first book ("Die Blume und der Baum", Peter Hammer
Editorial, Wuppertal 2006). After writing and illustrating her own picture book
“Schnurzpiepegal” (Bajazzo Verlag Zürich, 2009) she created a paper theatre
show out of this book in collaboration with the musician Björn Kollin. In the
last three years they have been been touring with this show in Germany,
Austria, Switzerland, France and Mexico, presenting it in schools, libraries
and theatre festivals. She received the Austrian Children’s Book Award, the
Troisdorfer Picture Book Award and a nomination for the German Children’s Book
Award. She lives in Berlin and works as a freelance illustrator, author and
puppeteer.
Björn
Kollin 1998-2000 apprenticeship as a wood sculptor in Flensburg; 2000-2002
studies of audiovisual arts in Saarbrücken with professor Christina Kubisch,
2002-2004 studies of sculpture at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin with
professor Tony Cragg, 2004-2005 master class student of professor Tony Cragg.
Since 2005 freelancing composer, musician and artist, lives and works in
Berlin.
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