{"id":3065,"date":"2012-10-26T23:36:41","date_gmt":"2012-10-26T23:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.puppeteers.org\/?page_id=3065"},"modified":"2019-12-15T22:11:49","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T04:11:49","slug":"past-awards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.lacquiparledesign.com\/pofa\/who-we-are\/awards\/past-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Past Award Recipients"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Marianne and Tom Tucker – 2009 Trustees Award<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n<\/span>Click here<\/a> for an archive of all awards presented from 1968-2009 (PDF)<\/h2>\n


\n<\/span>2017 AWARDS<\/h1>\n

PRESIDENT’S AWARD –<\/strong>\u00a0for outstanding contributions to the Art of Puppetry.<\/p>\n

Alan Cook<\/strong>\u2019s passion for preserving history and assembling an amazing collection of puppet memorabilia is alone worthy of recognition. Yet Alan also has a well-rounded resume of involvement with puppetry. He has served Puppeteers of America as a board member, artistic director and exhibition director. He has performed with Sid and Marty Krofft Productions, Les Poupees de Paris, Clokey Productions and The Muppets; was cofounder of the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry and so much more.<\/p>\n

His new book will be available at the 2017 national festival.
\n“Alan Cook: A Puppet Collector’s Odyssey as told to Jacqueline Marks with Dimitri Carter”<\/p>\n

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TRUSTEES’ AWARD –<\/strong>\u00a0 for outstanding service to The Puppeteers of America organization.<\/p>\n

Karen Backes<\/strong> joined the Puppeteers of America in 1977. \u00a0After using her puppets in puppet shows, she designed and received a copyright on The Backes Puppet Pattern Set, and took the pattern sets and puppets to regional festivals. \u00a0In 2002, she was the \u00a0registrar for the Mason City, Iowa, Regional Fest. \u00a0In 2003, she attended \u00a0the Tahlequah, Oklahoma, National Fest, and joined the Board of Trustees where she was voted in as Vice President \u00a0in charge of regions and guilds. After two terms, she left the Board, but continued as an appointed officer of guilds and regions. She continues to do the job, and has done it for 14 years.<\/p>\n

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PUPPETEERS of AMERICA AWARD –<\/strong> \u00a0for contributions to puppetry by persons or groups not immediately involved in the field.<\/p>\n

Nashville Public Library and the Nashville Public Library Foundation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Puppetry has long had a home at the Nashville Public Library, dating back to 1938 when a young Tom Tichenor performed a marionette version of Puss in Boots for children at the library. (The year 1938 also happens to be just a year after the Puppeteers of America was founded.) That began a 50-year collaboration at the library for Tichenor, who is also known for creating the puppets for “Carnival” on Broadway.<\/p>\n

To this day, puppetry is alive and well at the library with a dedicated performance stage, exhibit areas and staff of\u00a0 puppeteers. Even further,the Nashville Public Libarary and the Nashville Public Library Foundation expanded its role with puppetry by staging the wildly successful Nashville International Puppet Festival (2008, 2011, 2013, 2016).<\/p>\n

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JIM HENSON AWARD for INNOVATION –<\/strong>\u00a0 for innovation in puppetry that is technological, dramaturgical or collaborative in nature.<\/p>\n

Over the last three years, Katie Campbell<\/strong>\u2019s work has grown in depth, boldness, and technique. From her Jim Henson Fellowship-funded shadow puppet adaptation of The Ugly Duckling<\/em> for AACCT to her shadow rendition of a friend\u2019s battle with cancer for the American Cancer Society Lip Synch Battle, Katie\u2019s dynamic uses of puppetry reflect a talented artist who maintains a child\u2019s sensibility. The worlds she creates on the stage are worlds of color, energy, movement, laughter, and pure delight \u2013 worlds where puppets, shadows, and audience members share a vibrant imaginative life.<\/p>\n

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MARJORIE BATCHELDER McPHARLIN AWARD –<\/strong>\u00a0 for puppetry-related contributions in the field of education and therapy.<\/p>\n

Claire Ritzler:<\/strong> Claire has been involved in puppetry in education for over 30 years ; she has been a presenter for many Professional Days for the Teaching Artist and Therapist, Combining her two favorite areas \u2013 education and puppetry \u2013 became a focus when she later served as the Education Director at the Center for Puppetry Arts.\u00a0 She developed educational puppetry programs for preschool, elementary, middle school and high school students. She was the program and education director at Young Audiences of Atlanta, a teaching artist for Alliance Theatre, and co-director of Artistic Endeavors.<\/p>\n

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2015 AWARDS<\/h1>\n

PRESIDENT’S AWARD –<\/strong>\u00a0for outstanding contributions to the Art of Puppetry.<\/p>\n

Eric Bass<\/strong> is recognized as a leading creator of serious adult puppet theatre. His company, the Sandglass Theater, has toured 24 countries performing in theatres and festivals. In 1996 Sandglass opened a 60 seat theatre in Putney, Vermont. Sandglass began the Puppets in the Green Mountain International Festival in 1997 where they have presented International artists from more than 18 countries. In 2001 Eric founded an annual 3 week intensive training workshop in puppet theatre affiliated with Marlboro College Summer Theatre Institute.<\/p>\n

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TRUSTEES’ AWARD –<\/strong>\u00a0 for outstanding service to The Puppeteers of America organization.<\/p>\n

Puppeteer and teacher Fred Thompson<\/strong>, a mainstay of the Eugene O\u2019Neill Theater Center\u2019s National Puppetry Conference, first saw Rufus and Margo Rose perform in 1947, and has had a long and illustrious career in Connecticut as a teacher and maker of dance, theater, and puppetry.<\/p>\n

Fred\u2019s involvement with PofA goes back to the 1950s:<\/p>\n