2007年VOA标准英语-Puppetry Theater for Adults Thrives In Atlanta

By Roger Hsu
Atlanta, Georgia
15 May 2007
 

At the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, in the southern state of Georgia, children and adults come together to enjoy the centuries-old art of puppetry. For more than 28 years, the Center has preserved and expanded puppetry as an art form, and was called by Newsweek magazine as "one of the most exciting companies in American theater."   For producer Roger Hsu, Jim Bertel has the story.

Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a story of murder and paranoia¹, not your typical puppet fare. But it demonstrates the wide range of productions produced by the Center for Puppetry Arts. 

Bobby Box is the producer of the show. "So much of the show is about repression², about taking your feelings and burying it inside of you. With puppets there is no facial movement, because their faces never move, their heads move, their bodies move, but because their faces never move, it suggests something deep down inside is just boiling away," he says.

The Center's education program director, Alan Louis, says puppets are not only for children. "I don't know what people think of when they think of puppets, maybe they think of something very simple, silly, but when they come and see a large production like (this), it's theater, instead of an actress, there are objects manipulated on stage."

Puppeteers3" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070605/1617120.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Puppets and puppeteers

The Center presents puppetry for adults as well as children.  The adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's gothic fiction is an example. 

"When you say ‘adult puppet theater,’ maybe they get a little bit nervous,” says Louis. “They think, ‘Oh, is it X-rated?’  No, it's just theater for adults, you wouldn't bring a child because he would be bored -- wouldn't understand the content."

Audience members at the show like the more mature approach to puppetry. "I was expecting it to be a lot more childish, I guess. It's really dark and graphic," thought one woman.

"The experience is very much like coming to an actual theater play, people think of it as a child's play but in truth they make it for adults," said a male theatergoer.

"The fact that there were human beings manipulating the puppets just enhances it." "I thought it was going to be where you part the curtains and the puppets come up, this was so different," added two other members of an audience.

Opened to the public in 1978, the Center for Puppetry Arts has been described as a unique cultural treasure.  It boasts a puppet museum housing some 1000 puppets collected from around the world.

One of the puppeteers explains the four different styles of puppetry. "Hand puppet: your hand goes inside the puppet and controls it like this – ‘Hello, I am a hand puppet.’  Usually shadow puppets are performed on a big white screen. Again you would have the arm rods so you can control the puppets.  There is a rod that controls his head from here and also two arm rods that control his arms so he can dance. A string puppet is also known as a marionette⁴. Different strings⁵ go to different parts of the body. So if you take this off and make his feet move for the click you walk in."

The Center's mission is more than just entertaining audiences. Box says it also hopes to nurture⁶ and expand the puppetry art form, and explore the past, present and future of puppetry. "When puppetry doesn't move forward, it gets lost in the back. Sometimes people look at my work and say that's not puppetry. You know puppets are – you can't see the puppeteers – or puppets should be silly, they should be this, they should be that and you can't do that with the puppet. Of course, our response is, 'Why not?' In fact my response is, 'You have to’," he adds.

1 paranoia   

n.妄想狂，偏执狂；多疑症

参考例句：

• Her passion for cleanliness borders on paranoia.她的洁癖近乎偏执。
• The push for reform is also motivated by political paranoia.竞选的改革运动也受到政治偏执狂症的推动。

2 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

3 puppeteers   

n.操纵木偶的人，操纵傀儡( puppeteer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

4 marionette   

n.木偶

参考例句：

• With this marionette I wish to travel through the world.我希望带着这个木偶周游世界。
• The development of marionette had a great influence on the future development of opera.木偶戏的发展对以后的戏曲有十分重要的影响。

5 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

6 nurture   

n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持

参考例句：

• The tree grows well in his nurture.在他的培育下这棵树长得很好。
• The two sisters had received very different nurture.这俩个姊妹接受过极不同的教育。