Details & Tickets
Sun Oct 22 | 6:00 - 8:00 pm Eastern Time
Join us in person at Puppet Showplace Theater or tune in via Zoom!
FREE
Make a donation today to support the Creative Residency program!
Take a peek behind the curtain and inside the creative process! Hear six talented artists share about the works-in-progress they’ve been building during Puppet Showplace’s Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers, a two-month Zoom-based residency that connects creators from across the country to build community and support during the development of new works!
This year’s residency artists will discuss their work, process, challenges, and discoveries via Zoom, while Community Curator Tanya Nixon-Silberg hosts from Puppet Showplace Theater. An interactive Q&A will follow.
There are two ways to tune in:
Join via Zoom from anywhere in the world! A link will be emailed to registrants the day of the event.
or
Join us on site at Puppet Showplace Theater where a live audience will watch the Zoom screening together — complete with popcorn and beverages!
Recommended for adults and teens.
About the Program
Now in its 4th year, the Creative Residency seeks to diversify representation on our stage and in our field. Since 2020, the program has invested in new works by 20 Black artists by supporting creative research toward production development. Participating artists receive a grant of $1000, one-on-one support from the program mentor, and an opportunity to build community, skills, and connection within their cohort, while working on their project over a two-month period.
CRBP artists have gone on to earn support from the Henson Foundation, premiere full-length shows, and more.
Learn more about the program’s impact so far →
Contribute to the Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers →
About the Artists
Jordan Brown — When I See the Water
Jordan Brown (he/they) is a visual artist and writer based in Chicago, IL. Born and raised in the DC-metropolitan area, he moved to Montreal, QC in 2014 to study Literature and Creative Writing at Concordia University. While in Montreal, he was closely involved with the performance art, poetry, and contemporary dance community there. In 2021, he moved to Chicago to study Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received a Master of Fine Arts in 2023. In his path towards visual art, he studied contemporary dance, somatics, creative writing, fashion, physics and theology, and spent time in Japan and Germany. His interdisciplinary practice in sculpture, installation, textile, video, and drawings uses collage techniques to assemble personal mythologies from old clothing, text, and found objects.
For more about Jordan, check out his website:
www.jordanderronbrown.com
Emmanuel Elpenord — Jokes with Josue: A Haitian Puppet Show
A queer, first-generation Haitian-American actor, puppeteer, and voice-over artist born and raised in Coney Island, Emmanuel Elpenord (he/him) graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College with an Acting BFA, TV & Radio BA, and Creative Writing BFA. His puppetry career spans nearly a decade: credits include first off-Broadway, first national and international tours of the Very Hungry Caterpillar Show; original off-Broadway cast of Disney's Winnie The Pooh with Rockefeller Productions. He's performed with the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park and across NYC with their PuppetMobile for over 8 years. He’s worked with long-standing companies like La Mama, The Metropolitan Opera, The Drilling Company’s Bryant Park Shakespeare, St Ann’s Warehouse, Dixon Place, People’s Improv Theater, Abrons Art Center. He’s recently attended the National Puppetry Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center, and performed with Drama of Works at the National Puppet Festival in College Park, Maryland.
For more about Emmanuel, check out his website:
www.elpenord.com
Ladipo Famodu — Allotropy
Ladipo Famodu (he/him) is an artist, designer, chemist, and capoeirista. He is interested in kinaesthetic learning, where knowledge is exchanged through the manipulation of objects, or by moving one's body. Much of his work employs playfulness and surrealism in an attempt to undo the tethered logics of anti-blackness and modernity. He is currently working with wire sculpture, performance, and fine jewelry.
Ladipo received an MA in Design from the Sandberg Instituut (2022), and a BS in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota (2015). He was a recipient of the Holland Scholarship, and has been awarded a SPARK grant from the Chicago Artist Coalition. His work has been shown at the South Side Community art Center, Museum of Science and Industry, and he has contributed to the German Pavilion of the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale. His writing has been featured in The Funambulist, and Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. Ladipo is currently based in Chicago.
For more about Lapido, check out his website:
www.astro-afro-studio.com
Brenda Ray — The Lion and The Four Bulls
“Disappointment is the seed of success." I am a lover of quotes, proverbs, fables, and humor. It’s my lifeline to happiness. Like many artists, I’m a lifelong learner and a lover of learning both in and out of the classroom. Formerly, I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology; a Masters of Education in Instructional Media Design from University of Massachusetts Boston; and a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Animation from Mass College of Art and Design.
Throughout the years I’ve had the opportunity to grow as both an artist, writer, and scientist. I’ve entertained on stage as an actress, storyteller, puppeteer, and vocalists. There are too many wacky and weird stories of my ventures to put in this bio. I’ve also worked as an educator in the field of health and art for children and adults. Everything I loved to do I taught in classrooms, colleges, shopping malls, festivals, museums, community centers and incarcerated facilities. Growing up I became aware, through unnecessary hardships children go through around learning. I believe children learn best through interactive activities. Playing and learning go together. My goal is to create experimental storytelling edutainment using multimedia that includes puppetry to help tweens develop their common sense compass. There is so much out there to help children become more humane adults. I want to be part of that community.
For more about Brenda, check out her online portfolio:
success101br.myportfolio.com/brenda-ray
James Welch — Mr. Jones
James Welch (he/him) is a multimedia artist and educator from Evanston, IL. He received his MFA in Expanded Media from the University of Kansas and his BA in sculpture from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago. He prefers to work with recycled materials, found objects, clay, and textiles of all sorts, all of which serve as vehicles for his exploration of the rich and nuanced experiences within Black culture. His work challenges the prevailing narrative of suffering associated with Black existence, which has become perpetuated through internet imagery. Instead, the art delves into the realms of Black speculative fiction and imagination, not as abstract concepts but as tangible practices. Daringly re-imagining the future for Black people by centering his creative inquiries on the question, "What if?"
For more about James, check out his website:
www.jamesnwelch.com
Ash Winkfield — Water Walker
Ashley Winkfield (xe/xem/xyr) is a multidisciplinary artist from Durham, NC where they grew up surrounded by music and the arts. They continued their music education at Boston Latin School in the orchestra and vocal programs. They began their journey into professional performance at UNC-Chapel Hill where they were introduced to puppetry while workshopping Basil Twist's Rite of Spring. Ashley specializes in new and devised works presented in New York (Jazz at Lincoln Center, Abrons Art Center, LaMama Experimental Theatre), North Carolina (Duke University) and internationally. Most recently, they performed with Pinwheel Works’ The Magic Pearl, Basil Twist’s Book of Mountains and Seas and the Walk with the Amal. They currently train with Shannah Rae Vocal Studios and Lucid Body Technique.
For more about Ash, check out their website at:
www.ashleywinkfield.com
About the Team
Nehprii Amenii, Residency Mentor
Nehprii Amenii is a Brooklyn-based writer, director, production designer and educator. As a theater artist, she has a passion for personal narratives, puppetry and grand-scale spectacle. She is known for creating experiences that dismantle the wall between players and audiences, enchant the imagination and inspire new ways of seeing and thinking. Amenii has worked with Bread & Puppet Theater, Alvin Ailey, La Mama, The O'Neill, NY Philharmonic and more. She is a member of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and a resident director with the Drama League. Amenii is artistic director of Khunum Productions, a platform for creative anthropology.
Tanya Nixon-Silberg, Community Curator
Tanya Nixon-Silberg (she/her) is a Black mother, educator, artist, and radical dreamer. Her work informs the intersection of all these identities. Called a "translator," Tanya has the ability to distill concepts of racial justice to young children in ways that help them imagine and take back a world where, with community, they have agency and can take action for change. She has been doing this work for over 7 years. Tanya’s life goal is to make sure that Black and Brown children recognize that racism is systemic; that educators not shy away from confronting systemic racism in the classroom and that engaging in this work collectively helps us to heal.
Sarah Nolen, Residency Coordinator
Sarah Nolen (she/her) is a puppeteer and filmmaker originally from Austin, Texas. As Puppet Showplace Theater’s resident artist, she performs regularly for youth and family audiences around New England and teaches puppetry classes to all ages. Her three original productions, Lisa the Wise, Judy Saves the Day, and The Fairy Tailor have all toured extensively in the Northeast and beyond. In addition to her own shows, Sarah has done puppet builds for Netflix, Suffolk University, Boston College, and more. Sarah earned her BFA in film from Southern Methodist University, and an MFA in Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut.
