Heart of the Beast Workshop Series (In Person)

Artists Sofía Padilla and Davey Steinman (Paradox Teatro) will teach three in person workshops. They will guide students to reflect on and brainstorm how they can speak up for change through their art. Sofía and Davey will teach participants how to build shadow puppets using accessible materials, draw on a lightbox with sand, and mix shadow puppets, sand drawings and human silhouettes for live puppetry performance that speaks to climate justice.

ABOUT
Paradox Teatro is a multimedia puppetry company founded in 2017 by Artistic Co-Directors Sofía Padilla & Davey T. Steinman with the mission of creating performances to communicate across language barriers and cultures.

They have toured performances in Europe, the United States and Mexico, and taught artist residencies from Vermont to Oaxaca. Paradox Teatro’s fantastical work responds to timely cultural issues by blending deeply personal inspirations with universally relevant themes.

They have been awarded two Production Grants (2019 and 2022) and one Workshop Grant (2021) by the Jim Henson Foundation. The company continued to generate creative output during the coronavirus pandemic by working in isolation to teach online puppetry workshops, and to create short film adaptations of their live puppetry work, which are distributed online for free HERE


CLASS DETAILS
Workshop #1  Feb. 12
“Making Shadow Puppets Joints and Mechs”
This workshop will guide you in how to build shadow puppets with rotating and sliding joints by using accessible and durable materials like fishing line, staples and lighters. We'll create our puppets under a Climate Justice perspective through brainstorming and reflection so that our art can speak up for change. All participants ranging from beginners to experts of all ages are welcome. Kids will need an adult with them to assist in the process.

Workshop #2 Feb. 19
“Exploring Sand Drawings and Silhouettes”
An introduction workshop to explore sand as a material for drawing on a light box and its interaction with human silhouettes. We'll create our images under a Climate Justice perspective through brainstorming and reflection so that our art can speak up for change.  All participants ranging from beginners to experts of all ages are welcome. Kids will need an adult with them to assist in the process.

Workshop #3 Feb. 26
“Mixing Shadow Puppets, Sand Drawings and Silhouettes for live performance”
This workshop will focus on learning how to manipulate and mix shadow puppets, sand drawings and human silhouettes for live performance. Each participant or group of participants will design through playing and exploring with the different proposed techniques, creating a simple 1-minute scene to perform, accompanied by live music provided by Paradox Teatro. We'll create our scenes under a Climate Justice perspective through brainstorming and reflection so that our art can speak up for change.  All participants ranging from beginners to experts of all ages are welcome. Kids will need an adult with them to assist in the process.

Register for IN PERSON workshops