Introduction Ana Díaz Barriga and Paulette Richards Puppet Dramaturgy, as seen in the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival Ana Díaz Barriga is an independent puppetry practitioner and scholar with expertise in cognitive science. Ana’s work has appeared in Puppetry International, Theater Topics, and Puppetry Journal, among others. She has presented her research at conferences and symposia including the Ellen Van Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium and Cognitive Futures. She also serves in the editorial committee for the UNIMAgazine, UNIMA’s international puppetry publication. Independent researcher, Dr. Paulette Richards co-curated the Living Objects: African American Puppetry exhibit at the University of Connecticut’s Ballard Institute and Museum with …
Category: Editors Notes
From the Editor
PIR Volume 3 No. 1. Winter 2026 Puppetry International Research is not only committed to publishing strong scholarship in puppetry and related arts, but also to helping develop the field of puppetry scholarship generally, not least of all by mentoring researchers and writers—some coming to this material for the first time—through our editorial process. The Focus Section in this issue of PIR, guest edited by Ana Díaz Barriga and Paulette Richards, “Puppet Dramaturgy, As Seen in the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival,” takes this mentorship process to the next level. As Díaz Barriga and Richards share in their Introduction to …
From the Editor
This issue of Puppetry International Research opens with a continuation of our Founders of the Field series. Lawrence Switzky’s article on Jane Taylor outlines the influential work of an energetic scholar, teacher, and playwright, who passed away all too prematurely in September of 2023. Switzky, a longtime friend and colleague of Taylor’s, introduces us to the depth and breadth of her work and resurrects her vibrant presence in his remembrances of her approach to art, scholarship, and life. His bibliography offers readers further paths for connecting with Taylor’s ideas. Special thanks go to Kathy Foley, who stepped in as Guest …
Note from the Editors: Puppetry and War – Contemporary Perspectives from Ukraine
Matt Smith and Nataliia Borodina The reports, reviews, and articles in this edition of PIR discussing the Ukraine are the results of a collaboration between University of Portsmouth and Odesa[1] Polytechnic. The background to this collaboration was the War in the Ukraine, which is ongoing at the time of writing. Initially, the seed was sown by Polish puppet authority Kamil Kopania during an online networking event in 2022, when he challenged the international community to respond to the war. One clear finding from the collaboration is that puppetry is alive, resilient, and vital to the culture of Ukrainian people. As a young nation …
From the Editor
Welcome to the second issue of Puppetry International Research. While still relatively new, PIR is already experiencing some shifts and new growth. We initially intended to be a fall/spring publication. However, UNIMA-USA has asked us to move to a summer/winter schedule in order to stagger with the publication calendar of its long-established magazine, Puppetry International. This change accounts for the delay in the launch of our second issue. With the current edition, PIR is also welcoming several new members to the team: Skye Strauss as Book Review Editor, Colette Searls as Performance Review Editor, and Jungmin Song as Exhibition Review …
From the Guest Editors: Kathy Foley and I Nyoman Sedana
Puppetry International Research as a free online scholarly publication was first an idea raised during an UNIMA-USA leadership retreat. Board members brainstormed ways the organization could better serve puppetry locally and internationally—a free online scholarly journal was suggested by Paulette Richard and became one of the “dreams” that made our strategic plan. To become a reality was the work of many hands. It is the hard work and willingness of Claudia Orenstein at Hunter College to take the administrative steps for hosting that made it possible. The meticulous eyes of Karen Smith were crucial: her experience in copy editing World …
From the Editor
I am thrilled and honored to introduce the first issue of Puppetry International Research, the online, open access, peer review journal devoted to puppetry, masks, and related arts, a project of UNIMA-USA supported by the CUNY Academic Commons. UNIMA-USA’s magazine, Puppetry International, has been serving the puppetry community since 1995, under the direction of Andrew and Bonnie Periale until 2022, and now with Alissa Mello and Mike Kelly at the helm. In recent years it expanded to include a peer review section, edited by Dassia N. Posner, allowing for more scholarly approaches to material. While these strong projects continue, our …
