American puppetry : collections, history and performance / edited by Phyllis T. Dircks ; foreword by Steve Abrams.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Dircks, Phyllis T.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Puppet theater--United States--History.

Puppet theater.

Puppets--United States--History.

Puppets.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

vii, 326 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., [2004]

Summary:

Puppetry has become a significant force in contemporary theatre, and thousands of puppets from various cultures and time periods have been collected by scholars, enthusiasts, and curators who wisely realized the instructive value of these material images. This book consists of essays by the curators of the most significant American puppet collections and by leading scholars in the field. In addition to description and analytical commentary, it includes a history of puppetry in the United States and an overview of its status today, and essays on the theater of Julie Taymor, the Jim Henson Company, Howdy Doody's custody case, puppet conservation, and the development of virtual performance space. The fourteen collections discussed include those of the Smithsonian Institution, the Harvard University Theatre Collection, the Brander Matthews Collection at Columbia University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. Appendices provide a listing of other collections and a filmography of puppetry at the New York Public Library Donnell Media Center.

Contents:

A snapshot of puppeteers of the United States and Canada / Vincent Anthony

A short view of American puppetry / Lowell Swortzell

Puppetry and related materials in the Harvard theatre collection / Fredric Woodbridge Wilson

Asian puppets at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History / Roy W. Hamilton

The Center for Puppetry Arts Museum collection / Nancy Lohman Staub

The Bread & Puppet Theater Company collection / Elka Schumann

Puppets and "the iconography of drama": the Brander Matthews collection at Columbia University / John Bell

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry collection / Phyllis T. Dircks

Paul McPharlin and puppetry at the Detroit Institute of Arts / John Bell

The Bil Baird World of Puppets at the Charles H. MacNider Museum / Richard Leet

The puppet collection of the American Museum of Natural History / Kathy Foley and Ann Wright-Parsons

The Burr Tillstrom collection and archives at the Chicago Historical Society / Bernard F. Reilly

The Marionette Theatre of Peter Arnott at Harvard University / Annette Fern

The Lou Harrison collection: music and puppetry East to West / Kathy Foley

The Dwiggins Marionettes at the Boston Public Library / Roberta Zonghi

The puppet collection of the National Museum of American History / Ellen Roney Hughes and Dwight Blocker Bowers

"Bringing together man and nature": the theater of Julie Taymor / Alan Woods

Exhibitions and collections of the Jim Henson Company / Leslee Asch

Howdy Doody in the courtroom: a puppet custody case / Phyllis T. Dircks

The fundamentals of marionette care / Mina Gregory, Maureen Russell, and Cara Varnell

Puppetry in cyberspace: developing virtual performance spaces / Mary Flanagan.

Notes:

Includes filmography (pages 294-301), bibliographical references (pages 303-309) and index.

ISBN:

0786418966

OCLC:

55044528