American Puppet Modernism: Essays On The Material World In Performance (palgrave Studies In Theatre And Performance History)

Please note this is a 'Palgrave to Order' title (PTO). Stock of this book requires shipment from an overseas supplier. It will be delivered to you within 12 weeks. This study analyses the history of puppet, mask, and performing object theatre in the United States over the past 150 years to understand how a peculiarly American mixture of global cultures, commercial theatre, modern-art idealism, and mechanical innovation reinvented the ancient art of puppetry. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 Acknowledgments 10 Credits 12 1. Playing with Stuff: The Material World in Performance 14 2. The Sioux War Panorama and American Mythic History 30 3. Shalako Puppets and Nineteenth-Century Ritual 44 4. The Little Theatre Movement and the Birth of the American Puppeteer: Midwest Puppet Modernism 62 5. New York Puppet Modernism: Remo Bufano and Jane Heap 84 6. Puppets and Propaganda: 1930s Parades in New York City 110 7. American Puppet Modernism in the 1930s: Gertrude Stein鈥檚 Identity 136 8. From Sorcery to Science: Remo Bufano and World鈥檚 Fair Puppet Theatre 149 9. Performing Objects, Special Effects, and Mass Media 159 10. Automobile Performance and Kustom Kulture 179 11. Beyond the Cold War: Bread and Puppet Theater at the End of the Century 201 12. Old and New Materials: Wood, Paper, Metal, Plastic, Bone 231 Notes 243 Bibliography 266 Publications by John Bell 278 Index 279 Front Matter....Pages i-xii Playing with Stuff: The Material World in Performance....Pages 1-16 The Sioux War Panorama and American Mythic History....Pages 17-30 Shalako Puppets and Nineteenth-Century Ritual....Pages 31-48 The Little Theatre Movement and the Birth of the American Puppeteer: Midwest Puppet Modernism....Pages 49-70 New York Puppet Modernism: Remo Bufano and Jane Heap....Pages 71-96 Puppets and Propaganda: 1930s Parades in New York City....Pages 97-122 American Puppet Modernism in the 1930s: Gertrude Stein’s Identity ....Pages 123-135 From Sorcery to Science: Remo Bufano and World’s Fair Puppet Theatre....Pages 137-146 Performing Objects, Special Effects, and Mass Media....Pages 147-166 Automobile Performance and Kustom Kulture....Pages 167-188 Beyond the Cold War: Bread and Puppet Theater at the End of the Century....Pages 189-218 Old and New Materials: Wood, Paper, Metal, Plastic, Bone....Pages 219-230 Back Matter....Pages 231-280 Annotation In American Puppet Modernism, Bell reveals how understanding puppetry is integral to understanding the nature of the material world in performance and in turn argues that the material world in performance is integral as a means of communication. Insightfully describing and analyzing different types of object performance from the 1860s to 2007, Bell uses the common focus on material objects in performance to link the worlds of traditional puppetry, mechanized image performance, indigenous rituals, avant-garde theater, political street performance, advertising, Kustom Kulture, art cars, and film and television. American Puppet Modernism shows how modern American culture has developed and revealed itself in the performance of objects and offers a groundbreaking contribution to the history of puppet, mask, and object performance "This study analyzes the history of puppet, mask, and performing object theater in the United States over the past 150 years to understand how a peculiarly American mixture of global cultures, commercial theater, modern-art idealism and mechanical innovation created uniquely modern and singularly American approaches which have reinvented the ancient arts of puppetry as essential performance modes of the twenty-first century"-- Provided by publisher In this book the author argues that by understanding puppetry, one can understand the nature of the material world in performance