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There is something compelling about a puppet when it shows up unexpectedly; they are natural disruptors. Puppetry is experiencing renewed popularity across the world. In contemporary art practice, they often blur the boundaries between visual art, theater, and performance. Puppetry, and the broader category of object performance, includes a range of practices including the manipulation of shadows; masks; scrolls; object, figure, and toy theater; and hybrids of these.

Often associated with narrative, this panel will explore other potential ways that puppetry and related forms can find a place in the academy. While still an exceptional strategy for storytelling, object theater can activate new approaches to both research and theory, as well as the communication of scientific and scholarly work. Inherently collaborative, transdisciplinary, and relational, puppetry can bring disparate academic practices together and create a catalyst for community. Puppets allow for non-verbal thinking and telling. They are powerful tools for arts-based research and design thinking. They insist on the value of play and metaphorical thinking. They activate and engage not only the intellect, but also the affect through humor, suspense, and empathy.

The panel will consist of individual presentations and discussion. As the chair, I will present on a course I recently co-taught at Boston University called “Thinking through Puppets and Performing Objects: Using Theatrical Tools to Communicate the Complex, the Abstract, and the Technical,” in which undergraduate students created research-based puppet pieces and assisted doctoral students in crafting short performances based on their research, culminating in a doctoral puppet slam.