Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 17:11:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: John Bell <jb44-AT-is3.nyu.edu>
Subject: PUPT: Toy Theater: why conceal the performer?


        Of course another question connected to Elissa's query is (pardon
me) philosophical or connected to aesthetics: is there a good reason why the
performer should be concealed in the first place?  Toy theaters seem to have
been performed by visible operators, for the most part, although one
illustration in George Speaight's _History of the English Toy Theater_ does
show the stage flanked at the downstage edge by screens on each side,
effectively concealing the manipulation.  
        Edmund Bacon of Philadelphia used this technique for his performance
of _Sleeping Beauty_ with sets by Bibbiena the 1998 Toy Theater Festival we
organized in New York.  When Great Small Works participated in the
international Toy Theater Festival in Preetz, Germany, last fall, we saw
both techniques: some performers visible, others hidden.  But all the hidden
performers were concealed by solid screens, so see-through material like
scrim was not needed.
        By the way, the next International Toy Theater Festival in New York,
produced by Great Small Works with HERE, will take place November 3-19 at
HERE on Sixth Avenue and Spring Street.  Our Toy Theater Exhibition will
open October 21.  We'll make more information available later...

john bell
great small works 



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