Volume 3 No. 1

WINTER 2026 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

From the Editor

Claudia Orenstein

FOCUS SECTION: PUPPET DRAMATURGY
As Seen in the Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival

Introduction

Ana Díaz Barriga and Paulette Richards

The Puppets of Dr. Caligari, or Putting the Guignol Back in Grand Guignol

Jesse Njus

Reflecting Off the Ice: Anywhere as Lived Experience and Classical Adaptation.

Skye Strauss

Notes Toward a Phenomenology of Depiction: On Plexus Polaire’s Yngvild Aspeli’s Dracula: Lucy’s Dream.

Katherine McNamara

The Natural Landscape of Native Puppetry

Opalanietet

Interview: Return of the Buffalo Celebration: A Cross-Cultural Puppet Collaboration

JEM with Amethyst First Rider and Peter Balkwill

REPORTS 

The Chuncheon Puppet Festival, May 23 – June 1, 2025

Bradford Clark

BOOK REVIEWS 

Applied Puppetry: The Theory and Practice of Object Ecologies. By Matt Smith.

David Grant

PERFORMANCE REVIEWS 

Ghostly Tales Sung and Materialized: Shinnai Meets Puppetry. Conceived, directed, and music performed by Sachiyo Takahashi.         

Tim Cusack

Tritagoj. Co-created by Kurotani Miyako and Matsuzawa Kayo.

Mari Boyd

Review Board

Deniz Basar, John Bell (University of Connecticut, Storrs), John-Paul Chalykoff (Algoma University), Mike Chin (UC Davis), Mark Down (Blind Summit), Andrew Kim (Thingumajig Theatre), Eleanor Margolies (Independent Scholar), Mervyn Millar (Significant Object), Julia Miller (Manual Cinema), Dassia Posner (Northwestern University), Tobi Poster-Su (University of the Arts London), Meltem Turkoz (Isik University, Istanbul).

Cover Photo: Iniskim – Return of the Buffalo. Working with the puppets on the land in southern Alberta – Majorville Medicine Wheel, sacred to the Blood tribe – prayers are offered to ensure a safe and successful project. (Photo: Peter Balkwill)