Katkatha Puppet 25

Puppet theatre is an ancient art form that has been struggling for survival in India. Many traditional puppet forms are on the verge of extinction not because they are not relevant but because the puppeteers don’t have the means to reach larger audiences. Modern puppeteers struggle to find the proper training as there are no puppet schools in India. Puppet theatre needs more platforms and nurturing.

The Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust is a puppet theatre company that began in 1998 with the mandate to

-To build an audience for puppet theatre beyond the clichéd commercial children’s entertainment. 

-To build an understanding of puppetry as a serious theatre form involving not just high-end skills of building and playing puppets but also asking critical questions about the dramaturgy, form, critical thought, and philosophy behind the use of puppets.

- To explore the non-theatrical possibilities of puppetry, in pedagogy, psycho-social work, education, advocacy, and activism

-To build a pedagogic system to train the next generation of puppeteers through training programs like training internships, Master-class, and Mentorship modules. This has given birth to a new generation of puppetry practitioners 

- To collaborate with traditional puppet theatre artists to document traditional forms keeping the artist at the centre of the research, build bridges between traditional form and contemporary expression, to dialogue with traditional artists as equals 

In their 25-year-old journey, Katkatha has produced and toured with over thirty puppet productions, thereby creating awareness of puppetry in India. International tours to over forty countries international awareness of Indian puppet theatre. They have created projects with museums, schools, urban slums, conflict zones, village co-operatives, and, schools. About one hundred and thirty members including students, interns, and, collaborators have been a part of Katkatha’s work and artistic journey. The key styling overcomes the lack of training facilities and professional opportunities in India for puppeteers. Katkatha now wants to expand its resources and train many young puppeteers. Also, COVID has left many puppet artists out of work or spaces to perform and create. The traditional form is even more endangered.

On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust, we want to expand opportunities to traditional puppeteers and young puppeteers thereby expanding the network of opportunities available to them. Also, this is a concerted effort to maximize both training opportunities for puppeteers and spaces to present their work to new audiences. Lastly, we want to create a platform for bringing international puppet theatre to India and Indian puppet theatre to the world.

Travelling Exhibition for children with puppets, educating them about different puppet forms in India, the ancient stories they carry, the musical instruments, costumes and shows. Puppet theatre is one of the intangible heritage of India, with eighteen living traditional forms. Yet, children in this country don’t know about their own heritage. This travelling exhibition will include a puppet display with interactive puppet installations where children can play. This will be accompanied by workshops, lecture demonstrations and shows by traditional puppeteers from across India and across forms. This will create a new curiosity about the traditional form among the young. The fund-raiser is to support the creation of the exhibition and support the travel and honoraria of traditional puppeteers.

International Puppet Film Festival- presenting films about puppet theatre and/or with puppets in the documentary, fiction and feature categories from across the world. The festival will be on 3-5 February at the India International Center in Delhi. The fundraiser will enable us to invite traditional puppeteers and young puppeteers from across India to see all the films and engage in discussions and meet international puppet filmmakers. The idea is to include non-city, non-mainstream artists in critical discussions through physical inclusion in an international event.

Puppet Labs to facilitate new performances between traditional and contemporary puppeteers, digital artists, musicians, writers, dancers, Object theatre artists, visual artists and other performers. The lab intends to stimulate discussions and collaborations which will lead to new performances that will be presented at the Fringe Festival. The Fringe will present works in progress from the incubation cell.

Puppet Fringe- The fringe of everything- A fringe art form, fringe edgy work, unusual collaborations, the odd, the weird and the unexpected.Dec-2023. This is a mentoring program. We hope to select the six most cutting-edge ideas from an open call, that really push the limits of form and content. Selected participants will be mentored by a teacher who engages in many forms. The nature of this engagement will be partly online and then in-person for the last segment of the mentorship. The piece they develop will be between 20 minutes long and presented at the Fringe. This is a much-needed platform for young puppeteers. The fundraiser will provide them with small grants to create their work, pay mentors to train and support them further and support the venue and technical costs. The festival presents the opportunity to showcase work to potential future producers and festival presenters. Also, the documentation of the shows becomes the necessary resource for applying to festivals.

The two years of intensive activity in both audience building and building spaces for the puppet theatre is to start off a long-term trend. It is the necessary bang needed to revive the puppetry from the setback suffered due to prolonged lockdowns. Many performance spaces have shut down, traditional puppeteers have lost old audiences and young puppeteers have not had the space for rehearsals or the resources to create new work. The labs and the Fringe Festival are the space to produce new work and present it to audiences. The idea is to expand the puppet market and audience base. The funds will provide the space, technical support and community that will push new creations.

The two festivals also automatically create a buzz around puppetry that has died down since the lockdown.

The International film festival is the first of its kind in India where Indian and international artists participate together and watch each-others work, thereby creating a network for future collaborations, conversations and joint ventures. This film festival will become a recurring event involving students from film and communication schools, traditional puppeteers, academics, filmmakers and other artists. The long-term impact is a better critical mass and discourses around puppet theatre.

The exhibition and traditional puppet performances travelling to schools are a way to bring intangible artistic heritage and stories to children in cities. These are things they have rare access to. It is not just educational but also opens up their creativity, skills and knowledge of their own heritage. The educational impact is beyond textbook learning or rote learning. For the traditional puppeteers, this is the new platform and network to expand their work beyond their currently shrinking audiences.