Back on the Puppet Trail

Good News for Continuing Gravity From Above!

A Trio of Antique Puppets at the Gadagne Museum in Lyon in 2012.

After a period of intense family issues that are now resolved I have discovered just enough extra money to get me back to Europe to continue the project. And I have already committed myself to traveling between January 20^th 2016 and April 17^th: A good three month stretch. It won’t be 100 percent puppet interviews and exploration. I do need a bit of a break as well. Plus I had promised myself to get to the country (never to be confused with the US state) of Georgia. So my traveling time breaks down something like this. About 45 days on the puppet trail between the UK and Poland. Three weeks in Switzerland visiting friends and giving lectures. And 25 days in Georgia, which will include three puppet theatres and a beginning to my explorations of Georgian music and dance, which have fascinated me for a while now.

Georg Jensch of the Figure Circle in Berlin from 2005.

None of this is written in stone yet. So my itinerary is somewhat open. But essentially I must go to London interview the Brothers Quay. (By the way Christopher Nolan has recently made a short documentary on the Quays.) I will go to Brussels to visit Toone and Péruchet. I will get back to Lyon. I’m going to try to get out to Nantes in France to see Royal Deluxe. I might go back to Charleville-Meziérès. I will definitely get back to the Czech Republic. And I’m debating other places. In Georgia I will go to see the Gabriadze Marionette Theatre, another puppet theatre called Fingers, as well as visits to the Ballet, Folk and modern dance troupes. And I’m sure I will find more.

Bedraggled Puppets from Teatr Groteska’s 2005 Production of Balladyna in Krakow, Poland.

So that’s the announcement for now. If you think I really should visit your corner of Europe I can’t promise I’ll get there this time around. But make a good case for something unusual or traditional and I’ll certainly consider it. (Write me at reckoningmotions (a t ) y aho o d ot co m) Meanwhile I’m excited to get back on the road.

This is still not going to finish the documentary. I still need your support. I really need to get a crew with a serious director of photography. I’m going to have to spend more on equipment. And I will be approaching various nonprofits. But any donations made through this page will indeed go to getting me out on the road. I’d like to get help on this trip. But no matter what I’m going back to Europe!

Eerie Puppet in a Bag in the Storerooms of the Czech Puppet Museum in Chrudim 2005.

Thanks to everyone who has been following me thus far. You will be hearing from me more regularly now as I prepare for this journey into puppetry and beyond.

Byrne Power

9/12/2015

Haines Alaska