The Art Form of Puppetry in the 21st Century
Editors: Margareta Sörenson and Jean-Pierre Han
Critical Stages/Scènes critiques, the journal of the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC), invites material for its upcoming special issue #19 (June 2019) on the state of contemporary puppetry and how it has developed its multiple forms together with other stage traditions. This special issue will, of course, be by no means exhaustive. However, it will be an attempt to map at least some parts of a landscape that has changed rapidly in terms of artistic quality in recent years.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Shadow theatre – in its own right and as a complementary art form to dance, theatre and opera
- Computers and programming – how have puppetry and shadow plays developed in the 21st century?
- Objects, sculptures and plastic arts as sister arts of puppetry
- From touring puppetry families to academic training of puppet artists: has puppetry turned away from its popular forms?
- Asian performance traditions (puppets and shadow theatre among them) have enriched western culture for centuries. Does western artistic puppetry travel back? Or is the influence one-way?
- African puppetry lives in many forms, with beautiful examples of contemporarity – how does it develop?
- Animated film and puppetry are twin sisters and, in many cultures, they are combined disciplines in universities and conservatories. What is their status and development in the age of computers?
- Children’s theatre and puppetry – do they grow with other theatrical forms, or do they stay where they used to be?
Application procedure:
Proposals of approximately 250 words (and a brief bio) in Microsoft Word should be submitted to the editors by late October 2018
Final draft expected by late March, 2019
Length: maximum 3000 words
Publication date: June 2019
Languages: English or French
Contact: Margareta Sörenson (sorenson.margareta@gmail.com) and Jean-Pierre Han (jp.han@free.fr)
