tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227245442024-02-21T09:51:30.092-08:00The Puppet Theatre Platform - Kenyato promote the art of puppetry and related art genres in Kenya and the region. To organize festivals, forums and exchanges on puppetry theater in Kenya and to promote the activities of the Kenyan puppetry fraternity locally and globally.Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-81591098175646636172012-02-06T06:24:00.000-08:002012-02-06T06:24:01.866-08:00Tony Mboyo<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2fwa5cVtvxS-jawe2r73RBXyefyEjf6f4RbLXsDU0YfY6PJ1VX8URGx87ZnXk7AU7dw_VXwt5TgK7e33xFy4urV-VJUHI6iQ4jQDm013O-xmV2AIr6MdFWvenzVPrV0KR3Rh/s1600/tony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2fwa5cVtvxS-jawe2r73RBXyefyEjf6f4RbLXsDU0YfY6PJ1VX8URGx87ZnXk7AU7dw_VXwt5TgK7e33xFy4urV-VJUHI6iQ4jQDm013O-xmV2AIr6MdFWvenzVPrV0KR3Rh/s320/tony.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Puppeteer, Artistic Director, Poet, Arts Manager, Playwright, Writer</div>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-21561069152285123172011-11-25T22:54:00.000-08:002011-11-25T22:54:33.862-08:00Kenya Puppetry Festival a huge success<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj557c7MrtsOEoQ1BGy0qhcM49XviTnLWCmhgdk54zHzT2JFPDHCuaUE5tyY1vg1PTtuAzRIeUamVvwFpfV1h1fn9_dcfqDdF3U74KH2hWQMZgCC5HiThfYPHGO2fcMIWM-f4BJ/s1600/tony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj557c7MrtsOEoQ1BGy0qhcM49XviTnLWCmhgdk54zHzT2JFPDHCuaUE5tyY1vg1PTtuAzRIeUamVvwFpfV1h1fn9_dcfqDdF3U74KH2hWQMZgCC5HiThfYPHGO2fcMIWM-f4BJ/s1600/tony.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTY-PKb0ey_hG4J2lAPAr-mJDXlG3TQ5uQfrYba4lofKucmfk3EmRmTvg5V23wu9Q2HDYK1tSY8HirnTybPH3sT2k73m3RX7T26Kf7tJEcx9kYZy9fDUEWueJxczR4cWYnzyms/s1600/bunraku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTY-PKb0ey_hG4J2lAPAr-mJDXlG3TQ5uQfrYba4lofKucmfk3EmRmTvg5V23wu9Q2HDYK1tSY8HirnTybPH3sT2k73m3RX7T26Kf7tJEcx9kYZy9fDUEWueJxczR4cWYnzyms/s320/bunraku.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqhseniulTFu0-Knw416BiPRJo7VzodWcAcTRookGayg26M9wlcD9_DHX7uX_mpnjk9JYEL9G0TkqWQfhtEo0UekfV1bkUmdrqfx2GH1VJqwvXpN1VGw0jZVx4nXFUSL1IeniF/s1600/atieno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqhseniulTFu0-Knw416BiPRJo7VzodWcAcTRookGayg26M9wlcD9_DHX7uX_mpnjk9JYEL9G0TkqWQfhtEo0UekfV1bkUmdrqfx2GH1VJqwvXpN1VGw0jZVx4nXFUSL1IeniF/s1600/atieno.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDe83pX5UScCMJa_ogjiqXnIuHUxvbYjaP3Q9yN8T6DEhyphenhyphenulm9HWvIFJtFcnVVq_nJjoE2uhOvt1epTqDpzxUuyoy3o9JY9NjFvmoM4eBurLEQNJ36YbQq3CioOEChDPnv1YGV/s1600/last.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDe83pX5UScCMJa_ogjiqXnIuHUxvbYjaP3Q9yN8T6DEhyphenhyphenulm9HWvIFJtFcnVVq_nJjoE2uhOvt1epTqDpzxUuyoy3o9JY9NjFvmoM4eBurLEQNJ36YbQq3CioOEChDPnv1YGV/s1600/last.jpg" /></a></div><span><span style="background-color: #8e7cc3;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;"></span></span></span><div class="fbInfoIcon fbDescriptionIcon"><i class="img sp_a8j66m sx_bd27f6" title="Description"><u>Description</u></i></div>The Kenya Puppetry Theatre Platform 2011, as a mini festival was a pre - festival activity towards 2012 Kenya International Puppetry Festival (KIPF), it aimed at providing a platform for scholars, cultural practitioners, the media, puppeteers and other individual artists an<span class="text_exposed_hide"></span><span class="text_exposed_show">d the general public to interact with Kenya existing puppetry companies which showcased the best performances ever, ; Bunraku, The last man standing and Atieno Yo! <br />
Screening of puppetry in TV shows and films in between intervals. </span></div>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-33636758579476545522011-07-11T03:58:00.000-07:002011-09-08T07:20:00.953-07:00XYZ SHOW IT'S A WRAP!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvFKW0AmDxCeYCt6JTbNyviRFDQqH9NTRojbxfTmWH7XQWHBNxVW4_pXjmk-fPFYBM8SOxBGWz3MvBODnTnQFHrQJ5ZtvyheVbm2oVDBNPrdM4Lrb7rW2Tr1yIxJsat4Z-ou_/s1600/wazee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvFKW0AmDxCeYCt6JTbNyviRFDQqH9NTRojbxfTmWH7XQWHBNxVW4_pXjmk-fPFYBM8SOxBGWz3MvBODnTnQFHrQJ5ZtvyheVbm2oVDBNPrdM4Lrb7rW2Tr1yIxJsat4Z-ou_/s320/wazee.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">The old Men of Africa</div><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #7030a0; font-size: 15pt;">XYZ SHOW, IT’S A WRAP! By Tony Mboyo </span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The much popular and hilarious Kenyan political television satire, the XYZ series finally closes its season 4 curtain much to the disappointment of its growing audience. The show, which uses latex hand puppets to portray popular Kenyan political and social scenarios in a side-splitting and satirical manner, aired its season finale episode on the 10<sup>th</sup> of July this year. For the Kenyan audience, the season had been one of the most exhilarating and perhaps most dramatic since the inception of the show and many a fan felt that it ended just as it was getting sweet as a gum drop. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The XYZ show, created by cartoonist Godfrey Mwampembwa who popularly goes by the pen name ‘Gado’, started airing in 2009 on Citizen TV and has since moved to KISS TV. Currently the show boasts of over 120,000 likes just on its facebook page and the number keeps rising every day. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Despite it extensive popularity and growing demand among Kenyan audiences, the show has not been spared of woes and controversy, Season 4 saw the dramatic shift from Citizen TV to KISS TV after alleged differences between the show and the TV station. The shift was regarded as a plunge to many viewers who expressed their disappointment on social media platforms as many of the upcountry viewers do not receive the channel which airs only in an around Nairobi. However the XYZ show producers were quick to remedy the situation by introducing a free streaming of the season’s episodes on their internet page. Now, everyone with internet access around the world can view the season’s past and current episodes just by the click of a mouse.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">XYZ Season 4 also saw the departure of the famous Jonah Lessit, as the show anchor and the introduction of a new show host, Keff Joinange who is actually a latex double for the deep voiced Jeff Koinange, a former CNN reporter and K24 presenter. On a lighter note, the last time Jonah Lessit appeared on the show he was a pirate sailing the East African coast with a band of other bandits pillaging and plundering unsuspecting sailors and sea merchants. On an even more dramatic twist, XYZ producers and crew were treated to a rare occasion when Jeff Koinange himself visited the XYZ shooting studios and demanded to meet with his latex double, Keff Joinange, who was the more excited to meet his original as they shared a rather creepy moment at ‘the bench’.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The XYZ show audience is now hopeful that upcoming seasons will be even more thrilling as the country is gradually approaching 2012 which is regarded to many as a highly political year owing to the fact that the general elections are being earlier then. Whether the show will survive the hot political landscape or not is a matter of wait and see, but to the Kenyan viewers the focus will obviously be on how XYZ will wade in the murky waters of 2012.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">With great creativity and a focused production team the fans expect future episodes to be better as the sky can only be the limit. We hope that season 5 will not take forever to get underway and quench the two months thirst of the fans. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: purple; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: purple;">Happy season break XYZ</span>. </span></div></div>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-77825134540240378392011-06-12T03:44:00.001-07:002011-06-12T03:44:59.474-07:00its a wrap?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Almost done with the XYZ show season 4</div>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-73694406342100605462011-01-07T08:04:00.001-08:002011-01-07T08:04:56.407-08:00The Puppet Theatre Platform - Kenya: Upcoming project: 100 Stories 100 days for Kenya<a href="http://kenyanpuppet.blogspot.com/2011/01/upcoming-project-100-stories-100-days.html">www.unimakenya.org<br /></a>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-22501857925671188812011-01-07T08:04:00.000-08:002011-01-07T08:04:20.095-08:00The Puppet Theatre Platform - Kenya: Upcoming project: 100 Stories 100 days for Kenya<a href="http://kenyanpuppet.blogspot.com/2011/01/upcoming-project-100-stories-100-days.html">The Puppet Theatre Platform - Kenya: Upcoming project: 100 Stories 100 days for Kenya</a>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-19950083406624122192011-01-07T08:03:00.000-08:002011-01-08T04:43:29.675-08:00Upcoming project: 100 Stories 100 days for Kenya<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixcRYnSOUNWj4pca__eStlog7T4KWX8OKBvsMpUJlT5wttC6dMbRPL9l8HeG3DS1pqXZ38UJg8G0TyNx9XwPMd-TQDVX90QW03SEK5CwMszH1DQI70UNvJn5qmj-0xSFc-pK-z/s1600/tony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixcRYnSOUNWj4pca__eStlog7T4KWX8OKBvsMpUJlT5wttC6dMbRPL9l8HeG3DS1pqXZ38UJg8G0TyNx9XwPMd-TQDVX90QW03SEK5CwMszH1DQI70UNvJn5qmj-0xSFc-pK-z/s400/tony.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Mboyo</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 13pt;">100 Stories, 100 Days: A visual and performing art installation project in the city of Nairobi</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Project Overview</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i>“100 stories, 100 days”</i></b> is a visual and performing art installation project aimed at inspiring nationhood and promoting national cohesion through artistic installation art. The project ultimate goal is to erect an enormous art installation in the city that will be made up of true stories of ordinary and extraordinary Kenyans from diverse backgrounds.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A team comprising of visual artists, puppeteers, a structural installation artist, a photographer and filmmakers will be established to participate in the overall implementation of the project. The team will be responsible for training, design and overall artistic direction of the project.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The project will utilize 25 young volunteer visual artists, puppeteers and performing art students and upcoming artists based in the various art centers and institutions in and around Nairobi. The volunteers will participate in week long training on installation art, topical issues, and visual and performing art techniques. The participants will be expected to research on significantly outstanding and inspiring stories from the Kenyan people on diverse issues. Topical issues shall include peace building, violence, poverty and poverty eradication, human rights, leadership, environment, and other cross cutting issues. 100 stories representing Kenyan diversity through race, colour, ethnicity, gender, age, health status, social and economic status, political affiliations, ability, religion and beliefs, shall be collected and documented. The stories shall reflect and present the struggles, hopes, challenges and aspirations of the Kenyan people in the contemporary context. The 100 stories shall be presented in form of puppet characters, photos and video clips.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The process shall culminate in the construction and erection of the enormous art installation that will be assembled and decked with the 100 story presentation for the public to interact with. The space around the installation shall be vibrant with artistic performances, interactive discussions and materials dissemination facilitated by the volunteers. The installation shall remain on the space for a specific period of time and will be removed or relocated to another urban centre. The entire process from launching to wrap up is expected to take 100 days. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The project will operate 7 part and full time staff members and 25 young volunteer artists. In addition, a governing body comprising of art and governance experts will be appointed for the overall sanctioning of the project. Periodic evaluation will be conducting to assess: (a) the effectiveness of art installation in stirring nationhood and national cohesion among the public, (b) helping the volunteer youth to become better artistic communicators and facilitators of national issues and (c) improvement of the vibrancy of the city.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Suggested Partners</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Kenya Cultural Centre</div><div class="MsoNormal">Nairobi City Council</div><div class="MsoNormal">The GoDown art centre</div><div class="MsoNormal">URAIA</div><div class="MsoNormal">Goethe Institute</div><div class="MsoNormal">Kuona Trust</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Theatre Company</div><div class="MsoNormal">UMANDE Trust</div><div class="MsoNormal">Big Ideas</div><div class="MsoNormal">KISS 100</div><div class="MsoNormal">Metro FM</div><div class="MsoNormal">Kenya Grips</div><div class="MsoNormal">Radi Drummers</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-11940014617112420442011-01-07T07:51:00.000-08:002011-01-07T07:51:32.519-08:00Current Projects: Atieno<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>ATIENO YO!</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>A Puppet Show</b></div><ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><b>Artistic Statement:</b></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Atieno Yo </b>is an artistic project by Kenyan puppetry theater enthusiasts which is a departure from traditional conventional theatre pieces and ushering in a new style of performing with other experimental techniques. Atieno Yo is conceptualized as an African narrative yet performed as a musical, puppetry and object theatre piece. The performance is expected to be showcased locally in Kenya, east Africa and finally to festivals around the world in celebration of puppetry as a diverse performing art form.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Atieno Yo, </b>is a work in progress that was conceptualized in January 2009 and is expected to be developed throughout the year and to grow according to its interaction with various audiences.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Long term objective</b></div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To develop a growing young Kenyan and African audience for local cultural and artistic performances including theatre arts, puppetry, dance, music, </span></div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Immediate objectives</span></b></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To bring together artists from diverse performing art genre through a puppetry performance</span></div><div class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To create a unique out of the ordinary performance through experimental creation</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To showcase a contemporary object and puppetry theatre production in the communities</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To move puppetry theatre to the next level</span></div><div align="left" class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal">The playwright and puppetry director of the art piece will use the artistic experimentation as a creative platform for ensuring the performance moves from a mere concept to its full realization. It is expected that at the end of the devising, the performance through its Kenyan tour will workshop other puppetry theatre enthusiasts in the performance style.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>No. of Puppeteers (3)</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Only three (3) actors are expected to be involved in the performance. They will be responsible fro the technical and artistic unfolding of the piece. All the actors will multitask in ensuring that all aspects of the show are taking place.</div><div class="MsoNormal">The playwright and the puppetry director (all from Kenya) will participate in the Lab</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><ol start="2" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><b>Bios of participants:</b></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Playwright – Anthony Mboyo</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Anthony Mboyo </b>is an established puppetry theatre artistic writer and a professional puppeteer. His major areas of career and interest have been professional puppetry theatre development and community development through the use of theatre and other participatory methodology.</div><div class="MsoNormal">His previous productions include <b><i>The Man of Stone</i></b>, a shadow puppetry, figures and installations performance which premiered at the International Puppetry Festival in Nairobi Kenya, October 2006. Other productions include <b><i>Puppet Mania 1,</i></b> <b><i>Dustbin Street</i></b> and <b><i>The</i></b> <b><i>Bite</i></b> all of which have been showcased locally and internationally.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> He has been involved in international collaborative project with other artistic companies most notably <b><i>Living Things</i></b> an object and puppetry theatre collaboration with Warner and Consorten a company based in the Netherlands which toured Europe and Africa in 2002. </div><div class="MsoNormal">The most recent project is <b><i>Memories in Transit</i></b> a collaborative Sculpture tableaux project on migration and forced movement in collaboration with African and Asian artists coordinated by @ culture network from India in January 2007, Nairobi at the World social forum and a one year puppets for peace project</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Puppet Maker /director – Jack Omondi</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Jack Omondi</b> is a professional theater, puppetry and folk media consultant</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In 1994 he underwent training conducted by a South African puppetry group called African Research and Educational Puppetry Programme (ARREP) as a puppeteer. I started performing with puppets immediately after the training earning a second training on TOT in the use of puppets and drama. As a puppetry trainer he has trained well over 300 puppeteers in Kenya, Uganda, Eritrea, Tanzania, Somalia, USA and Lesotho. In some of the countries he was responsible for setting up puppetry networks and coordinating their activities.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Through his experience he has interacted and worked with world famous puppeteers like Gary Friedman – South Africa/ Australia (who was one of his trainers and mentors)</div><div class="MsoNormal">Mag’isch Theater – Holland, Gregory Shwank- German, among others. As a Director /performer, with his partner they have produced numerous educational and entertaining puppetry productions like “the bite”, which focused mainly on corruption “Jumbe” which dealt with drug use and abuse among the youth. Two of his most recent productions are “man of stone” which was showcased in the Kenya international puppetry festival in 2006.and “Kuna vile” which was a multi disciplinary media production bringing together artists of different backgrounds to fuse their genres of art with puppetry.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>more details will follow soon...</b> </div>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-30594748783888723532007-03-19T06:33:00.000-07:002007-03-19T06:55:57.276-07:00Ancient puppetryPuppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-1162223336643840682006-10-30T07:48:00.000-08:002006-10-30T07:48:56.713-08:00Kenyan_Puppets<a href="http://www.kenyanpuppet.blogspot.com/">Kenyan_Puppets</a>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-1140614157622561322006-02-22T05:13:00.000-08:002006-02-22T05:15:57.633-08:00Puppets in Kenyan ClassroomsPuppets in the Classroom - By Tony Mboyo, UNIMA Kenya<br /><br />In 1993, FPPS, through its affiliate Programme CHAPS, developed an expanding and deepening puppetry programme in Kenya. Puppetry art has been used as means of communication for awareness creation, community mobilization and sensitization in Kenya and the African region. The metamorphosis of this art form has sprouted into dissimilar dimensions of using puppetry. To mention but a few examples, puppets have, and continue to be used, to fight corruption, to encourage gender equity, to promote Road safety, to confront HIV/AIDS, to kick polio, to ridicule, to stimulate and even just to entertain for arts sake.<br /><br />Of particular interest is the more recent introduction of puppetry in the classroom, a school based initiative that promotes its use as a teaching tool.<br /><br />Picture this,<br /><br />“The smartly dressed social studies teacher is carefully arranging objects on the class’ working table; she places a window-shaped cardboard box, a flower vase with brightly coloured flowers, a miniature ladder, an eggshell, a flashlight and a portable music player. The pupils are in an unusual silence, the suspense is evident. She switches on the player and a soft mellow tune fills the air while, almost simultaneously, a small puppet character appears on the cardboard window singing along. It is only then that everybody realises that its time for Puppets in the Classroom! The social studies teacher has planned to use puppets to discuss ethics.”<br /><br /><br />As a preliminary point, 48 teachers from both government and private school in and around Nairobi were invited to participate in a 5-day intensive training on the use of Puppetry in a school setup. The teachers, mostly from Kindergarten and primary level who largely had no previous experience in puppetry went through the processes of design and construction, use of local material and discards, manipulation, story creation, lesson planning and finally performing with puppets.<br /><br />After the workshop, the teachers continue to utilise the art form in various aspect of their teaching processes. One notable example is the use of puppetry to improve the students masterly of language and the arts. In practice, the teachers use puppets interactively with the pupils to intensify the children’s learning abilities through stories.<br /><br />Schools that have been highly successful in the application of this tool include Treeside School for the Mentally Handicapped, Makini Schools, AMICUS, Lily of the Valley and Marion Preparatory School all in Nairobi, Kenya. Teachers in these schools have noted a high interest in subject that they teach using this methodology and marked enhancement in concentration during lessons<br /><br />FPPS now intends to extend the program to even more schools in, and around Nairobi, with particular emphasis on the use of puppetry to promote the teaching of ethics, civics social behaviour and morals to pupils. Other needs to be met by through the project are; stimulating and improving learning for children with difficulties such as low interest and concentration, mentally challenged, hearing disabilities and other deficiencies. The project will also aim at enhancing children’s imagination, creativity and use of cultural legends and stories.<br /><br />New schools, which will be integrated into the programme, have already been identified and contacted. Part of the programmes outputs will be a school’s puppetry curriculum that will be developed in collaboration with the partners from the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE), the Ministry of education and the Kenya Institute of Special education (KISE)<br /><br />The projects long-term goal is to establish puppetry as an innovative, a creative and effective medium to be introduced into the curriculum of Kenyan Schools; as a tool for Kenyan teachers. It is expected that a classroom learning session will eventually be a more real, concrete and interesting experience for pupils and students.<br /><br />For more info on this project contact<br /><br />Anthony Mboyo<br />Program officer FPPS (CHAPS)<br />Treasurer UNIMA Kenya<br />P.O.Box 46042, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya<br />Tel (254 20) 2715002/2710705<br />Fax (254 20) 2715115<br />Email <a href="mailto:mkasmall@yahoo.com">mkasmall@yahoo.com</a><br />Unima_kenya@myway.comPuppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22724544.post-1140446631905535572006-02-20T06:38:00.000-08:002006-02-20T06:57:21.880-08:00Puppets For The Blind<span style="color:#ff0000;">PUPPETS FOR THE BLIND IN ERITREA - By Anthony Mboyo</span><br /><br />The three Puppeteers traveling to Asmara by flight via Djibouti had one thing in common; they were wondering how to approach the Eritrean Blind community with the concept of Puppetry. The biggest challenge to us actually was how puppetry, being a visual metaphor, would appeal to a visually impairedgroup of participants. On invitation by the Eritrean National Association for The Blind (ERNAB) based in Asmara Eritrea, we were supposed tointroduce the concept of Puppetry in Education to the blind people for them to address issues affecting them.<br /><br /><strong>Background</strong><br />Eritrea is a country that is trying to recuperate from the devastation caused by an almost 30-year-old war with neighboring Ethiopia, a confrontation that has left many people physically disabled and emotionally distressed withmany still suffering from communicable diseases as a direct result of poverty caused by the war. Blindness is a common disability among the people of Eritrea. A major challenge to the blind people is that most communities lack both theknowledge and attitude to integrate the blind, or visually impaired, people into the social order. A further contributing factor is that there are few existing facilities to provide for the needs of the blind community. This state of affairs gave rise to an urgent need to lay down strategies for advocacy for policy formulation, awareness creation and discussion on matters pertaining to rights of the blind people and other disabled in the country. Puppetry,having been successful as a tool for community mobilization and awareness creation in Kenya, was identified as a potential tool to employ in this intervention. In November 2005, the Community Health Awareness Puppeteers (CHAPS)was invited to travel to Eritrea and conduct a 14 day workshop for ERNAB<br /><br /><strong>The workshop</strong><br />On arrival at Asmara, contrary to our slender misjudgments, Asmara is one of the modernized cities in Africa with an incredible infrastructure.19 participants had been invited to the workshop, which would later prove to be one of the most challenging workshops I have ever facilitated. We commenced with a capacity assessment of the participants and to our delight, some participants had some little knowledge on theatre. We embarked on an introduction of theatre concept and theories and proceeded to introduce anew concept of Participatory Educational Theatre using puppetry as the discourse of performance.It was no wonder that the introduction to puppetry was well received since this was going to be a new approach topopular education. One important thing to note was hat the visually impaired people tend to be very intelligent and always excel in a field that they undertake to pursue. Without even seeing the objects, they learnt to manipulate puppets and air out issues in scripts with a remarkable commitment. We had some participants who were not blind and played a major role in assisting their blind colleagues in constructionof puppets and general movement within the workshop.At the end of the workshop, two performances were performed touching on the issue of cultural perception towards the blind people and access to education. The discussions that ensued during the final performance were proof that the puppets had opened a new door of dialogue and willingness to embrace the marginalized within the society According top Kflom Weldergebriel, one of the participants who lost his sight in the war, "The puppets have inspired a new vision to the blind people and we hope for a brighter future for the blind people of Eritrea" On departing from Asmara, we left behind an elated people and enthusiastic community theatre practitioners who we indeed know will restore hope in the hearts of many Eritrean families. To crown it all, ERITV the only national television channel aired aspecial program on the overall project.The whole project was just but a beginning to continued partnership between ERNAB and CHAPS and the two countries wouldcontinue to enjoy closer ties with each other.We thank the Netherlands embassy in Eritrea for supporting this worthy course.<br /><br />As the three puppeteers are flying back to Nairobi via Khartoum smiling, they all have one thought, "It was a challenge worth facing"<br /><br />For more information on the project contact:<br /><br />Anthony Mboyo<br />Program officer CHAPS<br />Treasurer UNIMA Kenya Chapter<br />P. O. Box 46042 00100 Nairobi, Kenya<br />Tel: (254) (20) 2715002, 210705<br />Fax 254 20 2715115<br />Email <a href="mailto:mkasmall@yahoo.com">mkasmall@yahoo.com</a><br /><a href="mailto:unima_kenya@myway.com">unima_kenya@myway.com</a>Puppet Platformhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07252756011767997448noreply@blogger.com0