FROM THE EDITOR STEVE ABRAMS


The Many Faces of Puppeteering P


uppeteer: a word, a noun, a label, and for many of us, a badge of honor.


Other proud (and, I might add, gender-neutral) labels are artist, musician, dancer, author.


Some of us think the single word is enough. Some of us think that an adjective attached, such as Jewish puppeteer, or Christian puppeteer, or queer puppeteer, or Latinx puppeteer, or Black puppeteer, is not necessary and somehow diminishes the strength of the single word puppeteer.


Going through volume after volume, and year after year of Puppetry Journal, it is nearly impossible to find articles that single out the race or religion or sexual orientation of a puppeteer. Applications to join Puppeteers of America have never asked about race, religion, or sexual orientation.


I suppose the “no-label” practice could be considered a “color- blind” point of view. As so many of us are rethinking our points of view about race, the flaws of being color-blind are becoming clearer. From the historian’s perspective, it becomes very difficult to get a full picture of our diversity as artists. If that diversity is not written about, how do we chronicle, honor, and celebrate the contributions of Black, or Jewish, or queer puppeteers? For example, we really do not have a way to definitively, objectively state who was the first Black puppeteer to perform at a national festival. And proudly declaring the first Black puppet performer at a festival would also declare that up until that point, there had been none. Awkward. A proud history sometimes gets hidden. From 1950 until very recently, there was a widely shared value that it would be considered rude (or worse) to mention a difference in race or religion. What was thought to be a respectful silence contributed to making facts about who we are invisible. My heritage is Jewish, but I spent very little time thinking about which puppeteers might have been Jewish. It was only by an accidental Google search that I learned that Helen Haiman Joseph, a great pioneer in puppetry, also happened to be Jewish, as was Cora Baird, as is Julie Taymor. There would be no hint of this fact in Puppetry Journal. I often have no idea if certain puppeteers, dear friends, are Christian, Muslim, or Buddhist, or if


they identify as a person of color, or if they are queer. Our respectful dance of not asking, not discussing, avoids controversy, but it also avoids awkward conversations that are needed if our understanding is to grow.


And then there is the general invisibility of puppeteers who are hidden while they work. When I would mention Elmo (one of the most famous puppets in the world) to audiences,


Photo: Alex U. Griffin


there would be smiles and squeals of delight. But almost no one in those audiences recognized the name Kevin Clash, and they certainly had no idea that Mr. Clash is Black.


At my first national puppetry festival in 1970, I saw a hilarious show performed by two women, one was Black and one was white. In 1971, a photo in Puppetry Journal showed Marvin Parks, the (Black) president of the Puppetry Guild of Greater New York, presenting an award to Jim Henson. I formed a hopeful opinion that racial prejudice was not a problem in PofA. In 50 years of attending festivals, I have never heard a racist comment from another puppeteer.


What I did hear were occasional late-night comments that there were hardly any African American puppeteers, and no one seemed to know why, or how to change that. There was concern, but no obvious answer. I find it encouraging that individual puppeteers and puppetry organizations, such as the PofA, UNIMA-USA, and the Henson Foundation, are taking decisive action to be more inclusive and to celebrate our diversity.


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This Year, It’s More Than an Election From the editor, part two


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