Puppet Showplace Theater is delighted to announce the participants in our 2023 Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers!

Over the next two months, this group of incredible artists will deepen their puppetry practice while in community with each other. Their selected works represent both a variety of puppetry styles and development stages, and we can’t wait to learn more about their processes.

This year’s Creative Residency is led by Program Mentor Nehprii Amenii (2020 CRBP Cohort), Community Curator Tanya Nixon-Silberg (2020 CRBP Cohort and Community Curator for 2021 & 2022), as well as Residency Coordinator Sarah Nolen (PST’s Resident Artist).

We look forward to presenting a Community Sharing of works in progress in October — sign up for our CRBP email list to be notified about this and all future CRBP activities!

Without further ado, we are proud to present the 2023 Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers:

Jordan Brown (he/they)

Project title: “When I See the Water” (WT)

Jordan Brown 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: https://www.jordanderronbrown.com

Emmanuel Elpenord (he/him)

Project title: “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 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: http://www.elpenord.com

Ladipo Famodu (he/him)

Project title: “Allotropy”

Ladipo Famodu 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: https://www.astro-afro-studio.com

Brenda Ray (she/her)

Project title: “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: https://success101br.myportfolio.com/brenda-ray

James Welch (he/him)

Project Title: “Mr. Jones”

James Welch 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: https://www.jamesnwelch.com

Ash Winkfield (xe/xem/xyr)

Project title: “Water Walker”

Ashley Winkfield 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: https://www.ashleywinkfield.com

ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

Puppet Showplace’s Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers has invested in new works by 15 Black artists since 2020 by supporting creative research at the earliest stage of production development. Each artist receives a $1000 grant and meets virtually with their cohort and cohort mentor; building community, skills, and connections while working on their project over a 2-month period.

Learn more →
Contribute to the Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers →

MEET 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.