The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at UBC is pleased to present the return of the playful and insightful Taiwanese Puppet Festival, November 3-8, 2016. This year MOA has invited two award-winning puppetry ensembles The Happy Puppetry Company and Puppet & Its Double Theater who will share their unique traditional and contemporary approaches to puppet theatre. The festival includes two days of public performances as well as a cultural exchange with First Nations artist Connie Watts.
Ko Chiang, Managing and Artistic Director of The Happy Puppetry Company, is one of Taiwan’s leading female puppeteers. For more than 49 years, Chiang has spearheaded this award-winning ensemble specializing in Taiwanese glove puppet theatre that has been handed down over three generations. The company will perform two beloved and classic Taiwanese tales, The Monkey Kingand The Love Story, with its colourful cast of legendary warriors, spirits, and demons.
Another not-to-be-missed performance of the festival is Taiwan’s Puppet & Its Double Theater. The award-winning company offers a contemporary approach to puppetry, led by esteemed Artistic Director Chia-yin Cheng. Puppet & Its Double Theater will dive into the realm of experimental theatre, utilizing unconventional life-sized body puppets, marionettes, shadow puppets, and animated objects in its unique storytelling method. The puppet-actor performance combination will stage a production of Mr. Ruraru, a non-verbal story highlighting themes of growing up, sharing, and our relationship to the natural world.
The Taiwanese Puppet Festival will close November 6 at 3pm with a collaborative performance fusing the Taiwanese puppeteers’ skills and storytelling with First Nations visual artist Connie Watts.
School Performances, Workshop & Self-Guided Tour:
Alongside the public performances, the visiting puppeteers will give special school shows on November 3, 4, 7 & 8.
MOA is also collaborating with the Vancouver International Puppet Festival, and will be hosting a shadow puppet workshop on Saturday, October 30 with local puppeteer Jeny Cassady, during which participants will learn about the art of performing with shadows, and will make their own shadow puppets in time for Halloween. Cost: $20 adults, $10 children; MOA members $10 adults, $5 children.
Finally, MOA visitors are invited to participate in a self-guided puppet tour, which will introduce them to an extensive collection of fascinating puppets from around the world, including Javanese rod puppets, Chinese shadow puppets, Sinhalese marionettes, and much more.
Full Festival Lineup:
Public Performances
All public programs are free with MOA admission.
November 5 & 6, 2016
11am – 12:00pm Puppet & Its Double Theater perform Mr. Ruraru
12:15pm - 1:15pm Happy Puppetry Company perform The Monkey King and The Love Story
Cultural Exchange
November 6, 2016 @ 3pm – 4pm
Visiting Taiwanese puppeteers will spend two days in workshops with First Nation artist Connie Watts. On Sunday, they will perform a collaborative experimental work that arises from this exchange, followed by an open reception for all attendees and museum visitors at 4pm.
School Shows
$10 per student, includes museum admission
Puppet & Its Double Theater School Shows
November 3, 4, 2016@ 10am & 12:30pm
Open to elementary and secondary students, this 40-minute performance will feature a unique and contemporary puppetry play, and a behind-the-scenes look at the puppet stage.
The Happy Puppetry Company School Shows
November 7, 8, 2016 @ 10am & 12:30pm
Open to elementary and secondary students, this 40-minute program will feature a traditional Taiwanese glove puppetry play, and a behind-the-scenes look at the puppet stage.
Complete festival details can be found at: moa.ubc.ca/puppet