6:15 PM March 9, 2023
Maja Prentice Theatre
Puppeteer's Panel
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a professional puppeteer?
Learn from puppeteers across Canada and around the world.
About The Event
A panel of professional puppeteers from across Canada and the world share their journeys into the professional theatre industry, and give advice based on what they have learned.
This panel will answer questions such as:
- How do I make a living as an artist?
- What should I think about when I create a show?
- How do I make that first sale?
Meet The Panelists
Alfredo Payan
Director-FOunder of maika theatre
Alfredo Payán has a degree in Communication and Performing Arts with an emphasis on Theater. He has been involved in theater since he was 7 years old and has been director-founder of Maika Teatro company since 2007. The company has participated in different stages and festivals in Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Colombia, Argentina and Dominican Republic. He has been awarded the Program for Incentives of Artistic Creation and Development; a scholarship recipient at the TOPIC Summer School in Tolosa, Spain; and he was a beneficiary of the Scenic Creators program of the National Fund for Culture and Arts and the System of Supports for Creation and Cultural Projects.
During his training as a puppeteer, he has worked with teachers from different countries such as Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Uruguay, Quebec, Netherlands, Cuba, Israel and Australia. He has collaborated in the V International Puppet Festival of Guadalajara and was part of the international project The Big Underwear Social Tour. Additionally, he has served as a teacher of audiovisual arts, theater and puppets at the primary and secondary levels.
In 2020, he developed the Training Program for New Puppeteers in Durango City, which led to the staging of Pai’kam, a work selected for the 41st National Theater Exhibition in 2021. In 2022, he directed Habitant Corporis and The Invocation of Chan (La invocación del Chan), being part of the National Puppet and Object Circuit.
Benton Lowe
Founder of Lo & Behold Entertainment
Born and raised in Ottawa, ON, Benton Lowe has had the passion for puppetry from a young age and has always been experimenting with different materials to test his imagination and create. He’s been was inspired by how simple objects can be put together and crafted to make tools to entertain.
He got his professional start in puppetry when he moved to Nunavut, Canada for 4 years, which afforded him the time, resources, and opportunities to focus on puppetry and travel more regularly to learn and develop new skills from other professional puppeteers in New York and California.
Now living in Hamilton, ON, Benton creates live puppet theatre shows for family audiences, kids puppet building and performance workshops as well as works in television as a puppeteer and puppet builder. Benton is currently developing his puppetry-based brand “Lo & Behold Entertainment” where he will create family content both in video and live forms of puppetry.
Tamara Romanchuk
Artistic Director of Clay And Paper Theatre
Tamara Romanchuk trained as an actor and began her career as a popular theatre educator (Theatre of the Oppressed) and cultural animator. Tamara’s career has also encompassed documentary filmmaking, live event producing (both in the cultural and corporate sectors) and photography (with a focus on the performing arts). In 2014 Tamara joined Clay and Paper Theatre as a playwright, builder, artist facilitator and artistic producer. In 2017 she became the co-artistic director of the company. While embracing the considerable legacy of founding Artistic Director David Anderson’s work, she continues to push the aesthetic boundaries of C&P by introducing new forms of puppetry, performance and play development. Together with David, she has facilitated workshops in public space animation, giant puppet construction and puppetry as activist expression, across Ontario and Quebec. For Clay and Paper Theatre, Tamara has written and produced seven plays for puppetry in public space: Animal Nature (2014) Fables for the Future (2016), Hurly Burly (2017), The Echoes Project (2018), Golden (2018), Pigeon Pie (2019) and The Journey to LuminUS (2022). Tamara was also recently awarded Davenport ‘s Platinum Jubilee Leadership Award in Arts and Culture (2022).
Meet The Host
Alexa Fraser
Puppeteer and puppet builder
Alexa Fraser is multi disciplinary artist from St.Catharines, Ontario. With a B.Des in Fashion Design from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), Alexa has displayed textile and installation art in many solo and group exhibits, designs and builds costumes for theatre, makes and performs puppets and teaches puppet making and performance workshops and camps. Alexa was thrilled to start teaching Wardrobe and Props at Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts program this Winter semester, 2023.
About Us
As Ontario’s largest international puppet festival, we provide opportunities for
Alexa Fraser
Puppeteer and puppet builder
Alexa Fraser is multi disciplinary artist from St.Catharines, Ontario. With a B.Des in Fashion Design from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), Alexa has displayed textile and installation art in many solo and group exhibits, designs and builds costumes for theatre, makes and performs puppets and teaches puppet making and performance workshops and camps. Alexa was thrilled to start teaching Wardrobe and Props at Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts program this Winter semester, 2023.