Department of Theatre
Amount Awarded: $7,989
Awarded for 2019-20
Title: Large Scale Puppetry
With an eye toward a departmental production involving puppets, I wish to bring to campus an artist with the skills necessary for producing puppets, and for teaching actors to manipulate large scale puppets. A workshop of puppet making would be incorporated into an existing crafts class with four weeks of that workshop being taught by the puppeteer. An additional week would be spent teaching the actors to manipulate and bring to life the finished puppets.
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I submit this final report with deep gratitude to the council for granting funds for the grant entitled Large Scale Puppetry. The awarded funds of $7,989.00 were used to bring Matt Sorensen, a puppet builder and performer, to campus for two three- week stints during the Fall 2020 semester. Matt is a new graduate and talented artist from the University of Connecticut puppet making MFA program. He was eager to get some University teaching experience but the University of Utah theatre students in his class considered themselves the real beneficiaries of his residencies.
The department produced She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen in January 2020 at Kingsbury Hall. This production featured a variety of puppet styles all produced by Matt and the students in Thea 3262 Costume Crafts class. The puppets were all designed by a former student, Peter Terry with working drawings done by Matt Sorenson. It was an instant collaboration between these two designers which made the amount of work needed to be completed in one semester much easier to accomplish. Over the course of the semester, the class was responsible for making three wearable bug bear puppets, five oversized dragon heads, and an eyeball puppet on a rolling frame.
Matt was In Salt Lake City for a three-week initial residency. During this time the class began the structures for all needed puppets and learned how to accomplish the necessary steps that needed to be done while he was gone. I kept the class on task during the month between his visits, and we were able to Facetime with him during class when questions arose. Matt’s second residency was a flurry of activity in finishing up the puppets in order for them to be ready for rehearsals to start early January. Students were required to put in extra work hours during both of the residency stints.
Matt became so integral to the process of producing the show that the department agreed to bring him back for another two weeks to help during the rehearsal process of the show. He is not only an artistic maker, but he is a gifted performer and was invaluable in teaching the acting students how to move and work with the puppets. During this final visit he also made a set of shadow puppets and spent many hours problem solving issues with the actors and the maneuverability problems that always arise with such large-scale puppets.
Students and staff alike came to love and respect Matt. He was a joy to be around, a consummate professional that insisted on perfection, while remaining a team player. It was great for students to see a professional artist that could insist on things being better, but do it in a way that was kind and showed respect for the other artists on the team. Matt became such an important part of the Theatre Department’s production team, that we are searching for projects which allow us to bring him back to campus.
We spent the awarded money, for the most part, as planned. Matt did end up staying at my house instead of at the University Guest house. Therefore, we did reimburse him for some transportation needs around Salt Lake City, but saved a great deal of money on housing. We used part of the housing money for a third trip to campus. Early in the process it became clear that a third trip would be necessary for the success of the project. The original plan was for him to stay with me for the first trip and then have campus housing for the second trip as I had other plans for my home already in place. The third trip became so vital to the project that I rearranged plans so Matt could be housed in my home for all three trips.
This project was another highly successful project supported by the Council of Dee Fellows. Each time I am awarded Dee grant funds my students have life changing semesters. Additionally, I benefit from receiving personal training just from being part of the experience. This experience was no exception. Matt taught me about making large scale puppets and how to organize a large project for student success. Most importantly to me personally is that I have made a life-long friend and artistic collaborator.
Again, I would like to thank the Council of Dee Fellows for making this important project possible. It was useful for our artist Matt Sorensen, giving him much needed early career teaching experience, and it was invaluable to both students, faculty and staff in the Department of Theatre. I would say you couldn’t ask for much better returns from awarded grant funding.
A story about this project was featured in Studio ’20, the CFA magazine on pages 14-17. I am including the link to the magazine here.
https://www.finearts.utah.edu/news/studio-magazine/read-studio-20