Join us as Peter Balkwill of the Old Trout Puppet Workshop conducts an interview and studio tour with Papermoon Puppet Theatre in Indonesia.

About this event
The Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry (CAMP) is excited to host its new virtual series with Peter Balkwill of the Old Trout Puppet Workshop. Join us as Balkwill conducts interviews and studio tours in his inimitable style.

The free hour-long sessions will introduce you to Puppetry and Mask artists from around the globe over the year.

The third installment and incredible guests in this series are Ria and Iwan from Papermoon Puppet Theatre in Indonesia, makers of original puppet works, physical theater, and mechanical wonder.

About Mermaid Theatre

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia is North America’s leading family audience theatre company, located in the small, rural, town of Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada. Since 1972, Mermaid has been creating realistic stage adaptations of iconic children’s storybooks that incorporate playful language, recorded narration, beautifully composed music, and memorable visual effects integrating puppetry, objects, projections, and lighting. Some of Mermaid’s most popular productions include: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle; Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown; Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney; Swimmy, Frederick, and Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni; and The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister.

Each year Mermaid presents more than 400 performances for over 200,000 spectators in venues as small as 300 and as large as 3000. Mermaid has toured their award winning productions throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, China, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, England, Scotland, Whales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, and Bahrain. While the theatre’s main focus is touring, Mermaid also offers: puppetry construction and manipulation workshops to children and adults at the community and professional level through programs at the Mermaid Institute of Puppetry Arts; mentoring opportunities for individuals and companies with an interest in developing object and puppet based theatre in its Theatre Loft; presentations of international and local touring artists at the Mermaid Imperial Performing Arts Centre, a 400-seat venue located in the heart of Windsor, Nova Scotia; and digital entertainment in the, newly-created, MermaidTV portal.

You can find out more about Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia on their website at https://mermaidtheatre.ca

Jim Morrow

Jim Morrow is Managing Artistic Director of Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia and Creative Director of MermaidTV. He was first introduced to puppetry in 1978 when he joined Mermaid Theatre as a young performer. His twenty-two tours as a performer with Mermaid have taken him across North America, the United Kingdom, and Asia. He has directed, designed, and carved the puppets for stage, film, television, parks, and industry and has created twenty-four shows for Mermaid, including: Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See; Guess How Much I Love You & I Love My Little Storybook; Goodnight Moon & The Runaway Bunny; The Rainbow Fish; and the award-winning productions of Swimmy, Frederick & Inch by Inch and The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favourites.

Jim’s contributions to the community, both as artist and mentor, have earned him the Nova Scotia government’s highest award for artistic achievement, the Portia White Award; a Doctor of Humanities from his Alma Mater, Acadia University; the Order of Nova Scotia; and the Mickey Minor Award, presented annually by the US-based International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY) to distinguished artists who have made exemplary contributions to the lives of the children around the world. Jim is a respected teacher who regularly provides mentorship to established and emerging theatre artists and organizations, community groups, and to children of all ages, in his home province of Nova Scotia, throughout North America and around the world. Jim was born in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, lives in Lower Avonport, Nova Scotia with his partner Julia, and is the proud father of four children (Kaitlin, Jacob, Cael, and Hannah).