WORKSHOP: Telling Your Own Story Through Puppetry

Led by: Samuel J. Lewis
& Lindsey Ball

How do artists find their own voice? What kind of story are you telling and how are you choosing to tell it?

In this participatory workshop, Lindsey Ball & Samuel J. Lewis will guide participants from initial inspiration toward an achievable first stage of creation. Through reflection, conversation, hands-on experimentation, and examples from the facilitators’ own practices, participants will explore how personal experience, research, imagination, materials, movement, sound, and different forms of puppetry can shape a story.

Participants do not need to arrive with a finished idea or previous puppetry experience. Each person will leave with a clearer understanding of the story they want to investigate, a possible approach using puppetry, a small creative experiment, connections to useful community resources, and a practical next-step plan.

Samuel J. Lewis, II, or Sam, is a puppeteer, teaching artist, and arts administrator from Chicago, IL whose work bridges tradition, innovation, and community. With a background in theater, Sam discovered puppetry by accident as a performer but quickly realized that it is a powerful medium for storytelling.

Lindsey Ball (they/them) is an organizer, deviser, artist, maker, puppeteer, and crybaby. Ball is the original creator and co-curator of PUPPETQUEERS (@puppetqueers), an all queer puppet slam & collective in Chicago, which served as inspiration for the second chapter in NYC (@puppetqueersnyc). They are also an ensemble member of the experimental, performance art collective Stop Motion Plant (@stopmotionplant). Their original work has been featured in puppet slams, festivals, storefront theaters, films, gay bars, punk clubs, city parks, and basements from Chicago to Berlin. Outside of performance work, Ball is both the Administrative Officer for Puppeteers of America, and the Puppet Slam Network Coordinator for the Puppet Slam Network, which offers grant funding, resources, connections, trainings, and support to the 83 puppet slams currently under the PSN umbrella across the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Trinidad & Tobago.