Join the Ballard Institute for our sixth Summer 2020 Online Puppet Forum Series event on Facebook Live! These forums, hosted by Ballard Institute director and puppet historian John Bell, will consist of discussions with notable scholars and practitioners around the world about the past, present, and future of puppetry and puppetry studies.
On July 16 at 4 p.m. ET, in a forum entitled “A Long and Unexpected Love Affair (with Puppetry),” puppeteer and scholar Penny Francis will speak with John Bell about her work creating the Puppet Centre Trust in London, her book Puppetry, a Reader in Theatre Practice; her translation of Henryk Jurkowski’s ground-breaking History of European Puppetry; her puppetry teaching at London’s famed Central School of Speech and Drama; and her long-standing work with the international puppetry organization UNIMA.
Penny Francis is England’s pre-eminent figure in the international world of puppetry. A longtime teacher at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama puppet program, she is also the author, editor, and translator of many acclaimed books and publications about puppetry, and has played an essential role in the work of UNIMA, the world puppetry organization. Queen Elizabeth II decorated her as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) for her services to puppetry in 1998.
Forums will be available afterwards on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.