Transformed Puppet.

Transformed Puppet is deliberately ambiguous. It started as a direct nod to William Shatner’s groovy album from the late 60's called “Transformed Man”.

This began as a joke, but it has since taken on an appropriate meaning because the art of puppetry, and my engagement with it is always changing, and transforming.Transformed Puppet is also a simple collection of my theater work which is slowly transforming into small film work.

I worked in New York as a puppet artist and each summer would take the trip up to the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and attend the National Puppetry Conference. There I would craft short works of puppet theater and run the experiment to see how they worked. Later I would revamp and further evolve the show for alternative venues in New York. Performing, for instance, at the Late Night Cabaret at PS 122 for the Henson Festival in New York.

Eventually I had a collection of these short pieces which I strung together to create a whole evening that was called, “Transformed Puppet.” This was performed both at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Jane Henson’s Carriage House in Manhattan.

The artists who performed in the Transformed Puppet productions are:

• Carol Binion
• Brent Binion
• Fred C. Riley
• Lorna Howley
• Adam Pagdon
• Matt (Lucky) Yates
• Eric Engelhardt
• Matthew Brooks
• James Wojtal

There are many other artists who have been a part of my shows and who have helped Transformed Puppet be an example of unique puppetry.

All shows created for Transformed Puppet are original. The scripts and ideas are all designed with an emphasis on using theatrical puppetry as the medium of character and drama.

The style of puppetry has emerged from experiences working in puppetry both commercially and artistically. Most notably from having been a resident puppeteer at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia and performing in shows that used Czech Black puppetry.

Bunraku-style puppetry, Czech Black, and Black-light puppetry have all been translated to a television and film use of puppetry that has been called green-screen puppetry. In all of these puppeteers work together in collaboration to perform full-body puppet characters. (Characters that can be seen from head to toe, as apposed to being seen only from the waist up as in Muppet-type puppetry)

I've continued to produce original works of puppetry in order to be the catalyst for being able to have more opportunities to work with my colleagues as well as meeting new artists.

My production Crossing Boundaries-Brain Babies started off as an artist in residence peice at the O'neill Puppetry Conference, but then grew into a larger Guest Artist piece that was called Crossing Boundaries-Cradle to Grave. I was able to enlist the talents of 11 participants as well as continuing to benefit from the investment of my New York compatriots. I was fortunate enough to be able to commision Josh Chambers to write and record the original music for both versions of Crossing Boundaries.

Recently I converted the stage show AlienCow Puppet Show into a film for the Heather Henson Handmade Dreams puppet films series which had it's first screening on January 15, 2011 in Los Angeles.

Puppetry is an elusive art.

When I was a teenager I decided to pursue the art of puppetry, but I had no idea it would take me to so many different places where I would meet incredible artists and continually redefine what the art of puppetry means to me.

I’ve engage in this shadowy visual performance art against the backdrop of film and television productions both large and small, performed on stages all across America, as well as raw black box theater and clubs in New York City.

In the last decade I’ve done many projects overseas. Recently working for No Strings International, but also working on commercial productions like LazyTown in Iceland, and projects in China and India.

I’d like to think this is due to growth and understanding, but often I’m humbled when I see others using puppetry in ways that were beyond me.

In my travels with No Strings I was brought to Kenya where we visited Kibera. This is the largest slum in Africa. Two million people living in tin shacks with marginal living conditions.

My boss and No Strings founder Johnnie Mcglade was guiding us through this area where he had done aid work in years past. He pulled out a puppet and began to greet kids in the middle of the street. They surrounded him and their faces lit up. This could easily have turned into a mob situation, but the way he used the puppet and approached the children seemed to diffuse any hint of chaos and instead brought joy and wonder into these children’s lives.

I learned a lot that day. Despite years of training and experience with puppetry, I was greatly humbled by this brave, genuine and elegant use of a simple hand puppet. It was a testament to the power that puppetry has to connect with people, and set the stage for positive interactions.

I've spent years creating puppets, and performances, but I'm still enjoying the job of witnessing other dynamic uses of puppetry. Hopefuly this site can be a way to share my perspective through photographs and descriptions.

I'll continue the hunt for that elusive art known as puppetry.

Ronald Binion

January, 19 2011

The Shat as performed in Transformed Puppet.

Working for No Strings Int. bringing puppetry to Africa

Photo by: Ronald Binion