About HOBT Youth Puppetry Troupes
HOBT’s puppetry troupes are a stable yet dynamic learning environment to grow artistically and personally with mentorship, freedom of expression, and responsibility for our community. From September–June, involved youth will learn the steps of design, construction, movement, rehearsal and performance of puppet shows, puppet movies, parades, and large spectacle theatre. Several kinds of puppetry (toy theatre, masks, rod puppets, shadow puppets, bunraku puppets) will be explored through this process.
The Young Puppeteers’ Troupe is designed for young artists 9-12 years old. This troupe is for the very beginning puppeteer who is ready to imagine, investigate, invent, pretend and play.
The Puppeteers’ Apprentice Troupe is designed for young artists 13-18 years old. This troupe is for youth to explore and express their identity, opinions, and experiences through puppetry arts. In a safe and open environment, youth are mentored in an array of artistic skills as well as tools for fostering self-esteem, leadership, and building an active community.
Guiding Principles
- We believe in the transformative power of art to heal and grow individuals, communities, societies, and the world.
- We provide a positive, creative learning environment to encourage confidence, self-esteem, and “finding your voice” through puppetry arts.
- We listen to our youth community, respond to their needs, and involve them as decision-makers and leaders.
- We practice, preach, and provide art that is accessible and inclusive of people of all incomes, ages, races, orientations, abilities, and cultures.
- We honor the deep cultural, spiritual, and ritual roots of puppetry that provide youth with reflections of deep community values, personal meaning and individual identity.
- We excel at providing opportunities for people to create and expand community through the act of making puppet theatre.
- We empower youth to take leadership in telling their innately valuable stories through puppetry and masks.
- We believe youth are capable of professional standards of excellence in puppet theatre and strive to create high quality processes and productions with youth.
- We create opportunities for youth to present their creative work and educate the community about their perspectives.
- We recognize the folk-arts apprenticeship tradition of learning that puppetry stems from, and honor the commitment to train new generations in the craft of puppetry.
- We facilitate the creation of meaningful peer community to reduce isolation of youth from each other and their communities.