International Yunlin Puppet Theater Festival Taiwan

"Every person is sent to this world with one's own story."~Our Arrival

After a twelve hour flight to Tokyo Narita, Japan and a two hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan I was finally reunited with Spica, my puppetry partner and sister.  She greets me with a hug and says, "If we can get through this, afterwards we can get married!"  I laugh and say, "it is so true." If you can travel with someone, you can absolutely travel with them through life.  It is 10:00PM, but we still have a 2.5 hour drive ahead of us.  We get into a van and make the journey from the capital of Taiwan to the countryside of Yunlin County to begin our tour at the 2012 International Yunlin Puppet Festival!  When we arrive at our apartment, where we will live for the next two weeks, I fall asleep.  I had been awake for almost two days, but that still didn't stop my jet lag from waking me up the next morning at 5:00AM.   I was ready to greet the day and finally explore Spica's homeland...Taiwan!

Yunlin County, Taiwan

  
"Every one has a story that is different from others." ~The Storyhouse

In the morning we were driven to the Storyhouse by one of the volunteers and given a snack of shaved ice that was green tea flavored topped with beans!  Yes beans!  It is one of Spica's favorite snacks.  I had to try it!  It was surprisingly good.  Who would have thought beans could be a sweet treat?
Our 5 minute drive to Yunlin was very beautiful.  The County of Yunlin is farm country.  You could see fields of rice, soybean and vegetable crops lining the roadways on our way to the Storyhouse.  When we arrived at the center of Yunlin it was very busy with people, cars, bikes and motor bikes.  I looked out my window and saw bright blue flags with puppets on them and pictures from all different countries.  One of them being USA! The town of Yunlin was preparing for a festival and had long awaited the puppeteers that were coming from the US, Jerusalem, Spain, Peru and Holland.  My stomach started to flutter...I can't believe how lucky I am to be here.

Puppet Museum!

We pulled up to the Storyhouse, where I felt like I had just stepped back in time.  Yunlin Story House was constructed between 1920 to 1923.  It was the former residence of the Huwei County Magistrate, subordinate of Tainan Prefecture, during Japanese colonial period.  It was constructed according to classic Japanese architectural design.  Now, the County Government Office (presently the Yunlin Puppet Museum), the Joint Office Building (Huwei Community Development Center), and the Residence of the Huwei County Magistrate (presently Yunlin Story House), are open to the public.  These three buildings are the most well preserved in Taiwan.

Bringing stories by bicycle

Outside the Storyhouse

Flags from around the world!

Performances from around the world!

Inside the Storyhouse

Outside the Storyhouse

Leave your shoes at the door!

Yunlin Storyhouse, is the home of stories, so it is only fitting that they would host a puppet festival!  It is also a cultural platform for preserving, exhibiting, demonstrating, creating and sharing stories which can broaden people's view.  It was definitely broadening my view.  As soon as you arrive you take off our shoes and walk around barefoot, in socks or in slippers.  I immediately felt right at home.  The opening ceremonies were three days away, but all the volunteers and full time staff were busy getting ready for the festivities.

The artwork of Spica's Mother

  Our country's flags were placed in the windows and posters of our shows were put on display.  What was most eye opening was seeing a book filled with Spica's mother's work.  Spica's mother is quite the celebrity in the Storyhouse.  They use her paintings to tell stories about life 70 years ago in Taiwan.  It is no wonder Spica is such a beautiful artist, it runs in the family.  Spica's mother did not start painting until she turned 65.  You never know what hidden talents one may have even at the age of 65.

Our visit to the towel factory

Towel Puppets!

Storyhouse Outdoor Space

 I took this opportunity to explore the backyard space where outdoor shows would perform and admired the towel puppets that hung from the ceiling.  Mrs. Tang, who was in charge of the festival and the inner workings of the Storyhouse, told me that that towel puppets are one of Spica's legacies.  She helped improve the towel industry here in Yunlin by introducing the making of towel puppets to the Storyhouse.  Now they are one of the most popular puppet making activities! 

"Every story is unique."~ Taiwanese Hand Puppets 

Taiwanese hand puppet theater for children!

Taiwanese hand puppet theater for adults performed outside!

2012 International Yunlin Puppet Festival hosts six different performances from abroad from five different countries.  It also hosts all of the local Taiwanese hand puppet groups from around the country.  All of the hand puppet groups compete to see who has the best skill, storytelling and voices. At the end of the festival they hand out awards.  Yunlin is where traditional Taiwanese Hand Puppetry originated, and people in Yunlin County LOVE PUPPETS!
To work as a puppeteer is a huge honor because of the high level of skill it entails.  The volunteers who worked at the festival would ask me, "What lead you to be a puppeteer? How long have you worked in the field?  What is your story?"  I was so humbled by these questions because from my perspective I wanted to say, "What is your story?  Tell me about your fantastic form of puppetry and the love and admiration this country has for the artistry!" 

Traditional Hand Puppet Theater.

A class taking a tour of the museum.

Taiwanese Hand Puppet for Television

Spica took me to the Taiwanese Hand Puppet Museum where we would be performing.  You could see the progression of the style of the hand puppets and the production value grow over the course of 100 years.

Black Light!

They were giving cultural tours to children's groups explaining that hand puppetry began from glove puppetry, puppet theater, special exhibits and live performances. Taiwanese hand puppets are very popular in Taiwan and they are performed live and on television.  People often dress up as the puppet characters. The recent performing trend seems to be the use of loud action packed music and black light!  It was interesting to see the evolution of how they went from small puppetry stages that were very minimal, to huge elaborate stages that were very modern.  Either way, both styles are still used today and are using the art of storytelling. 

The steps to our performance space.

Our stage!

We made our way to the second floor of the museum to our performance space where we would perform indoors.  The stage was raised just enough so the audience could see our shadow puppets.  Our audiences were to be very intimate, no more than 60 people and we would perform five times. I was really looking forward to performing and especially teach two workshops.  Around 4:00PM like clock work my jet lag started to set in and Spica would wave her hand in front of my face and say, "Are you there?"     It was time to have some famous Taiwanese mountain tea.  Our day wasn't over yet!  The local TV stations and newspapers were coming to interview us!  Two other groups had already arrived.  Teatro Hugo e Ines, who we had met in Jerusalem and Grego

Hugo after his performance!

Grego teaching a workshop.

from the US, but now he lives in Japan.   It is so great to meet people from all over the world and share this love of puppetry!  Each show could not be more unique!  I can't wait to watch!

After the show!

 We had the opportunity to see a live Taiwanese Hand Puppet production by a master puppeteer who was 84 years old.  Spica said she remembered seeing his performances on TV when she was a child and hearing his voice.  The music was very loud, they used a lot of strobe lights, BUT the skill was magnificent.  The puppeteers moved with such grace and they fought with passion!  I couldn't help but be emotionally charged whenever the fight music would come on and the puppets would be flying in all directions. I was inspired! 

Meeting the Taiwanese Hand Puppet Master.

Signature of a great puppet master!

Afterwards we met the 84 year old master puppeteer.  The volunteers were so excited to meet him and take pictures.   I was honored to be in the same room with someone who had been working on his craft for over 70 years!  I have a long way to go.  :)
   
"It does not matter whether you have been here or not.  Wherever you are from, you are entitled to visit Yunlin Storyhouse."~ Opening Ceremonies

We began our morning with a bike ride!  The Storyhouse gave Spica and I each a bike to get to and from the Storyhouse.  It was an ADVENTURE!  Once we got passed the picturesque farm land and crossed a huge bridge I had to remain alert!  I was dodging people, motor bikes, cars and cutting through tight corners, where I could smell food from the markets and vendors selling stinky tofu!  (Yes it is called stinky tofu!) Finally I made it unharmed and feeling like a local!  
Today was the day of the opening ceremonies!  Spica and I went for breakfast where I had my usual milk tea and Taiwanese pancake (which wasn't a pancake at all, it was kind of like an omlet filled with vegetables and cheese).  We were sitting in the cafe when suddenly I heard drums and a parade!  Spica jumped up and said, "Go! You have to experience this!"  I went to the front door of the cafe and sure enough there was a huge procession of drummers and four men carrying a statue.  I asked Spica, "What are they celebrating?"  She said, "It must be some god's birthday."
A wide diversity of religions can be found in Taiwan, due to its multicultural history, and religious freedom written in the constitution of the Republic of China.  Most people in Taiwan are either Buddhist or practice Taoism.  Which is why there are so many temples throughout the country. Here is a picture of one of the temples that we visited during our stay in Yunlin: 

Temple in Yunlin

Temple in Yunlin

The Opening Ceremony!

Puppet Museum during the Opening Ceremonies.

 When we arrived at the Storyhouse they told us that during the opening ceremonies they would love for us to do a little performance to encourage people to come see our show.  Spica and I looked at each other and I could tell what she was thinking.  The opening ceremonies are outdoors, during the day, and we perform shadows!  How are we going to do this?  We thought fast and quickly got our show banner and two puppets.  It would have to do!  The parade that I witnessed earlier was actually a parade for the opening ceremonies.  This was a huge production!  They placed a stage in the middle of the street and there were hundreds of people out to come celebrate the opening ceremonies.  I could not understand a word anyone was saying so I took Spica's lead.  (Being not only incapable of understanding a language, but also being illiterate in another country forces you to be dependent on other people.  Thank goodness for Spica!) We sat in the audience and waited until we were called.  The ceremonies began with high school students performing on traditional drums!  It was fantastic.  I was completely mesmerized by their movements.  While I was watching, out of the corner of my eye I could see families pointing at us and children staring at me as they passed by.  I had the feeling they had seen me before and then I was reminded by a volunteer that a lot of people have already read about us in the papers and seen us on TV.  It was a surreal experience.
The ceremonies proceeded with actors coming out dressed as the Taiwanese hand puppet characters from TV.  Each time the characters came out the audience would react to the character.  When the final character came out, the hero,  he was in platform heals which made him look larger than life, the entire audience screamed!  It was apparent that these characters were their true celebrities.  Spica gave me a nudge and a nod to signal we were up!  How could we follow that?  All of the international puppeteers climbed the stage.  They introduced us and we each did a mini presentation from our show.  It was adorable.  We addressed the audience and asked them if they ever had someone that felt so close to them, but was so far away?  The little ones responded with, "YES!"  or in Chinese, " Shi or Hao!"  Hugo performed a mime presentation with his hat and Grego performed some music with his harmonica and showed off his umbrella puppet!  It went off without a hitch!  The International Yunlin Puppet Festival had begun!  We all rushed back to the Storyhouse where they began preparations for the first show, "Teatro Hugo e Ines:  Short Stories!"  I was just as excited to perform and see other people's shows.  Needless to say, I was on cloud nine. 

 "It is a home filled with stories which belong to us all."  ~Shows, Workshops, Symposium and Volunteers:  Our new Family

As the week progressed all of the International Puppeteers arrived.  Damiet van Dalsum from Holland with the show Circus Child, Galia Levy Grad from Israel with the show Folding Stories and Valeria Guglietti from Spain with the show Sombras Chinas.  We had finally all gathered together to perform our shows and teach family and professional workshops.

Feedback from one of our fans!

Use your imagination!

School Group Audience!

So Close and Yet So Far!

Our show is called "So Close and Yet So Far." It is a non verbal poetic toy theater piece with shadows and light.  The story is about a little girl who is searching for a star that looked "so close and yet...so far." The show is dedicated to Spica's friend Bertus Maes who passed away in 2010.  We performed for school groups and family audiences in a very intimate setting.  We gave each child a xing xing (star) as they walked out the door to remind them that even though some people aren't physically with us, they are always close to us in our hearts and minds. 

Damiet's workshop

I was looking forward to experience the professional workshops taught by Grego, Damiet, Hugo and Galia.  We started the day with a workshop from Damiet.  I was put in the object group where we put together found objects to create a puppet. It didn't matter that in my group I was the only English native speaker.  Puppetry can serve as a universal language.  From glitter, dried up fruit, legs and arms from a Barbie doll and a spring... we created a Burlesque show.  Oh the magic of puppetry!  Even a dried piece of fruit can look sexy!
  Spica and I use umbrellas in almost every show we create, but I never thought of completely changing an umbrella puppet into a spider!  Grego taught us how to completely take an umbrella apart and put it back together to create a walking and dancing puppet! We then traveled over to the Museum to take a workshop from Hugo entitled "Who am I?"  Through mime exercise and the use of our different body parts we created new puppets simply by placing two eyes and a nose on our hands.  Galia taught us how to tell stories by using paper and origami. Each workshop was so different, but each fell under the category of puppetry.

Family Shadow Puppetry Workshop!

Professional Shadow Puppetry Workshop.

   Spica and I taught a shadow puppetry class for professional artists and one workshop for families. In each workshop we let the students play with the flashlights using their bodies and objects.  They explored the use of distance, more than one flashlight, angle and the use of different surfaces to project shadows.  It was fun to watch them create characters using different objects and seeing what different textures looked like under the light.  Regardless whether we were teaching professional puppeteers or children, the magical quality and smiles on our student's faces was universal.  In the family workshop they learned how to make a paper rod shadow puppet and in the professional workshop they learned the art of creating and telling stories with pop up books.  The adults in the family workshop appeared to be having just as much fun, if not more, than the children.  We were very pleased with their enthusiasm for the art form!

Symposium

During the week of the festival we had two Puppetry Symposiums.  Members from the government joined our conversation to hear what we had to contribute to the field of puppetry. 

The theme:  The current status and future prospective of puppet culture.

Topics:  1.  How to promote international exchange of Taiwanese Puppetry Theater?
              2.  How to shape the cultural characteristics of Puppet Theater?
              3.  The innovation and wisdom of puppet education.

Participants:  1.  Professional Puppeteers and team players.
                      2.  For who are interested in puppetry, art, performance, puppet or theater.
                      3.  For puppet educators.

The Chief of Yunlin County Government spoke about the importance of puppetry, what we could do to grow the Taiwanese field of puppetry and how to grow the Yunlin Puppet Festival.  Each of us spoke addressing the themes of the symposium.  I spoke about the importance of having residencies for puppet artists in order to create new work.  Ask any artist what they need in order to grow and the most common response is "space, money and time."  Spica and I had the unique opportunity to take part in a Puppetry at the Carriage House Residency (PATCH).  It is a residency that takes in part with a residency series.  We were provided one week in the space, a stipend and a presenting venue.  They provided all of the advertising for the production and the ticket reservations.  Afterwards there was a talk back along with food and drink.  Spica and I referred to it as a "wine party."  The Chief of Yunlin County Government lit up and said, "a wine party is a great idea."  We all laughed, but it was true, part of being an artist is building community, making connections and learning from one another.  The Jim Henson Foundation does a great job of bringing puppetry artists together to see new work and talk to one another in a casual fun setting known as a "wine party."  It gives you an opportunity to reflect on the piece in a more intimate setting, talk with your audience and receive feedback.  

Spica spoke about puppet slams.  They often take place late at night in small venues, nightclubs or art spaces for adult audiences.  Spica explained that puppet slams gave artists an opportunity to make a short work and maybe even experiment with a new form of puppetry.  Spica and I had participated in a puppet slam called Puppet Playlist.

http://www.sinkingshipproductions.com/shows/puppetplaylist/14-divas

Puppet Playlist is a bi-monthly evening of puppetry and music by some of New York's most interesting puppeteers and singer-songwriters. Each show features original puppet acts, alternating with live covers, based on the theme musician or band.  It is a great collaboration of musicians and puppeteers in an evening of over ten acts.  It gives artists an opportunity to work with new people and create a new piece of work that is only two minutes long.  

Going to festivals and participating in these symposiums reminds me of how I have so much more to learn from these great masters.  Spica is a wealth of knowledge, but I was surprised to find that even she has a mentor, and her name is Damiet.  A master puppeteer from Holland!  A question was asked at the symposium whether or not we wanted to keep our puppetry talents a secret and not share them with the world.  I said, that it was not only important, but imperative that we have mentors in the puppetry field.  If we didn't, we would not grow and improve the art form.  We have no secrets.  Damiet, Spica and I were sitting in a row and I pointed out that right here in this room we have three generations of puppeteers and mentors.  Damiet pointed out that the three of us are also from different countries.  Spica said it is important to work with the youth and mentor them.  They often bring a different perspective to the work.  Bottom line, it is important to collaborate and share ideas.  The best thing a puppeteer can do for their own education is find themselves a mentor.  Spica always tells me, there is nothing new under the sun, it is how you use your technique to tell the story that matters. We should share our gifts so that we can spread the knowledge and challenge ourselves to come up with something new!     

Puppetry Symposium

 

Damiet, from Holland, spoke about her International Puppet Festival (International Poppentheaterfestival) in Dordrecht, South Holland.  The government officials were very interested in her festival of 25 years (where Spica and I performed in its final year in 2010).   Yunlin was very keen on improving their own festival, and were asking Damiet a lot of questions.  What I took from Damiet, and having been to her festival, is that festivals are a dialogue between the local and the global:  artist are explorers.  They transform cities into a community through art.  It also helps a city express itself and brings about opportunity for civic pride.  The festival is just as much about the city and the people as it is the performers.  It is a community event.  

The Volunteers! 

The volunteers in the Yunlin Festival were the ones that helped us be a part of the Yunlin community.  The volunteers were the heart and soul of the festival and always made sure we felt right at home.  The festival had about seven people on staff and the rest were about 50 volunteers.  They made sure we were  taken care of and that we were never alone.  
This is a video to show just an ounce of what the volunteers did on a day to day basis.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wJNhcagxnI&feature=youtu.be

The volunteers were always one step ahead of us at our performances, in our workshops, picking us up from our apartments every day and anticipating our every need.  I was humbled by their generosity, and I felt like I had gained 40 new friends!  They are the reason the festival was such a success and I am forever grateful for their dedication!  They are so far, yet so close to my heart!     

"Where we could share and discover stories together." ~Meeting the Yunlin County Magistrate and other surreal adventures!

Meeting with the Yunlin Magistrate.

Gifts from Yunlin Magistrate

The Yunlin County Magistrate invited us to visit the governor's office!  Mrs. Tang quickly squished us in cars and drove us to the governmental building.  We brought gifts and words of appreciation for their support of the festival.  Entering the building we were greeted by government officials and cameras.  I had no idea this was going to be such an official visit.  We each sat in huge white chairs while cameras rolled and we talked about one of my favorite topics...puppetry!  We were talking to a government official about puppetry, puppetry in education, festivals and the arts.  I kept wanted to pinch myself!  Was this really happening?  It was very refreshing!  We each gave the government a puppet, Spica made a beautiful pop up book of Yunlin County and New York City, and we thanked them for their generosity and help to bring us to Taiwan. 



"And remember to come again, to excavate the stories that you had once created here."
~Saying Goodbye to Yunlin
Our time in Yunlin was coming to a close.  I was going to miss my milk tea in the morning and riding my bike to the theater every morning with Spica.  The incredible food, especially the Hot Pot, and even the stinky tofu smell that permeated the streets.  Most importantly, we were going to miss our Taiwanese comrades and friends from around the world.  They made this the most human festival that both Spica and I had ever participated in.  They will be so far, but we will always keep their memory close to us in our heart.

Closing Ceremony

Closing Ceremony and awards

We joined everyone in the community for the closing ceremonies on an out door stage. There were hundreds of people in the audience out to see who was going to be the next best Taiwanese hand puppet group.  A group of six year olds performed the famous folk tale, "How Mouse Got Married" and the Mayor gave out many awards to all of the different hand puppet troupes, both young and old.  Then the mayor called all of the International Performers to come to the stage and be presented with a plaque to thank us for sharing our performances and our gifts with the Yunlin Community.  I was overwhelmed by their generosity.
The night ended with a party and a special message from Ms. Tang.  She told us that when we go home, we tell people about the Story House and to return again with more stories to share with the community.  I definitely left Yunlin with more stories than I had arrived and I look forward to returning.