Residencies

(L to R) Heather Henson, Jane Henson, Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence Blair Thomas, Cheryl Henson

JIM HENSON ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE
To honor the legacy and creative genius of Maryland Alumnus Jim Henson, Alumna Jane Henson established the Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence Program in 2006. During academic year 2006-07, Blair Thomas was in residence, teaching and performing in both the fall and spring semesters. In 2007-08, Ralph Lee was in residence, first bringing his Mettawee River Theatre Company to campus in the fall, and in spring 2008, teaching a puppet master class as well as a mask-making course. Ralph also guided the creation of puppets and large figures for our production of The Ash Girl, Timberlake Wertenbaker's adaptation of the Cinderella story. In 2008/09, Kuang-Yu Fong and Stephen Kaplin were in residence, bringing the work of their company Chinese Theatre Works to campus, and teaching a course on Chinese Theatre and Culture as well as one on Shadow Puppetry.

RECENT ARTISTS

2008-2009: Stephen Kaplin and Kuang-Yu Fong from the Chinese Theatre Works were the Jim Henson Artists-in-Residence. During the Winter-term, Stephen Kaplin taught a course "Shadow Theatre" to undergraduate and graduate students. They learned shadow puppetry techniques and developed performance pieces, using the puppet making process for Whitesnake as a template for the creation of their works. Later in the semester, their work was showcased at the annual "Maryland Day" campus open house. During the Spring Term, Kuang-Yu Fong taught a graduate seminar in "Chinese Theatre and Culture." Her work brings together Chinese and Western performance styles and techniques, and her original productions mix Chinese Opera and shadow puppetry with modern dance, downtown performance art, European folk tales, toy theater, and object theater. She draws on Chinese folk tales and literary classics, as well as aspects of the contemporary Chinese experience--from slowly changing gender roles to immigration to the U.S.

2007-2008: Ralph Lee did a presentation as part of the Clarice Smith Center's Take 5 Series. He conducted a graduate master-class in the winter term and taught an undergraduate course in mask making in the spring semester, to create the life size puppets used in the production of The Ash Girl.

2006-2007: Blair Thomas taught two courses in puppetry each semester. These included: "Contemporary Puppet Practices: Language of Puppetry;" "Puppet and Visual Theatre Studio;" "Contemporary Puppet Practices: Miniature Replica World.” In addition, he conducted a workshop to complete a staging of his new work for young audiences, A Rabbit's Tale. The story examines distrust and friendship, staged to a live performance of M. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibitions, using human size Bunraku puppets and larger than human puppet costume pieces. This staging was in preparation for his Company’s professional debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago in April 2007.

 

 

ARTS AND HUMANITIES ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE  (AiR)
An initiative of the College of Arts and Humanities, AiR is a joint project of the Departments of Art, Dance, English, and Theatre and the School of Music. Each of these units has components, including the MFA degree, that involve “working art” - that is, the creative work of a variety of artists, including writers, composers, performers, dancers and visual artists, to name a few. AIR aims to contribute to the creative educational mission of each department, while simultaneously fostering cross-disciplinary discussion and collaboration.

2008-2009: David Henry Hwang, playwright
AIR guest artists for the past academic year also included, Michael Cunningham, Tere O’Connor, Douglas Fitch, Victoria Marks, Nathan Coley, Shirin Neshat. This roster of internationally recognized artists worked intensively with students during the year with each residency culminating in a public event. David Henry Hwang presented a lecture/reading on March 10, 2009.

2007-2008: Mary Zimmerman, acclaimed director, writer and theater visionary
On January 22, 2008 Mary Zimmerman offered a master-class to the Design MFA students and a Master-class on Staging and Performance to undergraduate students. Other AIR guest artists include: : New York-Based Dancer/Choreographer John Jasperse, and poets Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Robert Hass.

2006-2007: Walter Dallas, critically acclaimed Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatre director
Along with Laurie Anderson, Russell Banks, Joe Goode and Liz Lerman, Walter Dallas participated in “A Conversation on Creativity with Artists-in-Residence,” moderated by University of Maryland poet Michael Collier.