From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:47:14 GMT
Subject: [Puptcrit] Is Puppetry a dying art?


Joan Acocella's New Yorker Magazine article, "LIFELIKE: Puppets in New York" (March 23, 2009, pages 80-81) quotes Basil Twist's response when she asked him if puppetry today was part of avante-garde theatre. Repl;ying in the negative, he said  "If we have anything in common with the avante-garde, it's just that we're both marginalized.".

Since Puptcrit discussion has asked if Puppetry is a dying art, I think this is the actual answer. Puppetry is not dying but it is marginalized, and that s the problem we have to deal with, in spite of Edgar Bergen's Vent characters having been the most popular show in the days of real radio programs, or the Muppet Show (syndicated, rather than produced for a major TV network) or the stage successes of "Lion King" and Avenue Q.

Alan Cook

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