DREAM MUSIC PUPPETRY PROGRAM

One of few programs in the country to grow and commission contemporary, adult puppet works, Dream Music provides performance opportunities to puppet artists, and encourages multidisciplinary collaboration to develop new puppetry techniques. This program was inaugurated at HERE with the premiere of Basil Twist’s OBIE-award winning Symphonie Fantastique in 1998. Under the artistic direction of Twist, and produced by HERE co-founder Barbara Busackino, the Dream Music aesthetic is geared toward puppet works that feature live music as a collaborative element.

Because puppetry is the original multi-disciplinary art form, many Dream Music artists have the opportunity to participate in the HERE Artist Residency Program, which provides the artist a commission, the chance to develop their work alongside artists of other disciplines, and ultimately produce their work at HERE. In addition, Dream Music curates regular Puppetry Parlors to showcase excerpts from developing works both from within Dream Music and the puppetry community at large. Each year, Dream Music also provides educational outreach through its partnership commissions for the legendary Village Halloween Parade; and offers national and international touring/presenting opportunities to notable puppeteers from around the country or world. Recent touring commissions include Lake Simon’s What’s Inside the Egg?, Kevin Augustine’s Animal, Erin Orr’s Savage Nursery, and Erik Sanko’s The Fortune Teller.

The program is principally centered around the intimate Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, specifically configured for puppet works. Puppetry is a unique artform which takes many roots, and so our methods for crafting the program change with each artist who passes through our doors.