Today is World Puppetry Day! UNIMA held a special World Puppetry Day event last Sunday to present numerous awards, including one to our very own Resident Artist Emeritus, Paul Vincent Davis. He received a special UNIMA Citation for extraordinary contributions to the organization and to puppetry.

While the event was held over zoom, Boston area puppeteers joined Paul in celebrating the award: Bonnie Duncan, Brenda Huggins, Judy O'Hare, Liz Freeman, Honey Goodenough, and Sarah Nolen all partied with Paul in person. In his acceptance speech, Paul said, “One of the things that I loved about puppetry, was the number of puppeteers I met and talked to and shared with.”

Paul Vincent Davis directed the Repertory Puppet Theater in Washington, co-directed the National Theater of Puppet Arts in New York, and served as artistic director of Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline, where he continues as Resident Artist Emeritus, mentoring younger puppeteers. He has presented numerous workshops, performances, and trainings at national and regional festivals.

Paul won five Citations of Excellence from UNIMA-USA, received the Puppeteers of America’s President Award (2021), and the National Capital Puppetry Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. He is an Artist par Excellence of American Puppetry.

Of this most recent award, Paul said “Thank you for this wonderful award; it is an accomplishment that I never expected.”