Basil Twist is a New York City-based puppeteer who is known for his underwater puppet show, "Symphonie Fantastique".[1] He was named a MacArthur Fellowship recipient on September 29, 2015.[2]
Basil Twist | |
|---|---|
 Twist with a "Video Puppet", 2007 | |
| Born | 28 June 1969 |
| Occupation(s) | Director, puppeteer |
| Website | basiltwist.com |
Personal Life and work
editHe is openly gay and married to Broadway dancer Ken Ard[3]
Originally from San Francisco, Basil Twist is a third generation puppeteer. He graduated from the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières, France. He is founder and director of the Dream Music Puppetry Program at Here Arts Center in NYC, which supports and produces new puppet artists. He was a Fall 2015 MacArthur Fellow at the NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts.[4]
Twist has significantly contributed to the art of puppetry since 1998. He creates puppet works focused on their integration with music. His Symphonie Fantastique, is performed to the symphony of the same name. Twist's version of Master Peter's Puppet Show was created with the Eos Orchestra and later performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.[5] Twist's "Dogugaeshi" features original shamisen compositions created and performed live by master musician Yumiko Tanaka.[6] He also directed and designed Humperdinck's opera, Hansel and Gretel, for the Houston Grand Opera and the Atlanta Opera.[7] In 2010, Twist created the puppetry for the Broadway productions of The Pee-wee Herman Show and The Addams Family.[8] Twist is known for his original adult puppet mediums and use of abstraction in puppetry. "Symphonie Fantastique" takes place in a tank of water. In "Red Beads", his collaboration with Lee Breuer and Mabou Mines, he created wind puppetry.[9] In "Dogugaeshi" he uses the Japanese art form of sliding screens.
Other works include La Bella Dormente nel Bosco, Petrushka, Hansel and Gretel, Master Peter's Puppet Show, the Araneidae Show, Behind the Lid, and Arias with a Twist, among others. He has collaborated with such artists as Joey Arias, Lee Breuer, Kate Bush, Pilobolus, Paula Vogel and Joe Goode.
He is considered an important theater artist by critics at The New York Times, The New Yorker, et al.[10] He has received national and regional recognition through numerous awards, including a Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, an Obie Award, a Creative Capital Award in the discipline of Performing Arts[11] and a Guggenheim fellowship, and his work has been presented internationally.[12][13][14]
In 2006, he had a solo exhibition at the Lisa Dent Gallery in San Francisco, CA.[15]
In 2022, it was announced that Twist was leading the puppetry in the Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of My Neighbor Totoro at the Barbican Theatre, London.[16]
References
edit- ^ Brantley, Ben (3 June 1998). "THEATER REVIEW; Wash Cycle Dreams, Via Berlioz". The New York Times. p. E1. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ Pogrebin, Robin (29 September 2015). "MacArthur "Genius Grant" Winners for 2015 Are Announced". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
- ^ "Instagram".
- ^ NYU Web Communications (29 September 2015). "NYU CBA Fellow Basil Twist and Alumnae Mimi Lien Michelle Dorrance Honored with MacArthur Foundation Grants". nyu.edu. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- ^ "First, a bit of fantasy". Los Angeles Times. 28 September 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ Spangler, Lois (14 September 2007). "Dogugaeshi". NYTheatre.com.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Ward, Charles (1 December 2006). "HGO's Hansel and Gretel: laughs and subversion". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008.
- ^ Hagan, Molly (15 October 2010). "STAGE TUBE: Pee-Wee Herman Goes Biking with Jimmy Fallon". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ Jefferson, Margo (22 September 2005). "A Girl Caught in an Eternal Family Triangle". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ Acocella, Joan (14 April 2008). "Doll Houses". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ "Basil Twist, Dogugaeshi". Creative Capital. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009.
- ^ "New York Obies Theater Awards: 1999". Village Voice. Archived from the original on 6 May 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- ^ Lipton, Brian Scott (10 April 2006). "Rinne Groff and Basil Twist Win Guggenheim Fellowships". TheaterMania. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ Hetrick, Adam (2 February 2009). "Arias with a Twist Will Make European and Screen Premieres". Playbill. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- ^ "Past Exhibitions: 2006". Lisa Dent Gallery.
- ^ Wiegand, Chris (28 June 2022). "Muppet power! RSC uses puppet legends for My Neighbour Totoro extravaganza". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2023.