RFP: Toy Theatre After Dark

Traditionally, Toy Theatre was a Victorian parlor entertainment of small two-dimensional paper sets and puppets used to tell stories and entertain. We invite you to blow that definition wide open!

Request for Proposals for Toy Theatre After Dark
Performances March 10 – 20, 2011 at Open Eye Figure Theatre in Minneapolis

Produced by Open Eye Figure Theatre and the Walker Art Center
Curated by Michael Sommers and Susan Haas, Artistic Directors of Open Eye Figure Theatre, with Philip Bither, McGuire Senior Curator for Performing Arts at the Walker Art Center

In March 2011, Open Eye will present the 5th Toy Theatre After Dark, and for the first time, will partner with the Walker Art Center for the production. This partnership allows Toy Theatre After Dark to expand into a two-week festival complete with duo programs, workshops, artist discussions, and social gatherings. Selected work will be divided into: Program 1, appropriate for all ages, and Program 2, potentially not recommended for children under age 12. Both programs will have evening and matinee performances. Covering two weekends, the festival will give local and national audiences two opportunities to see the whole program in a single weekend.

Open Eye is soliciting proposals for image/object/puppet driven small-scaled performances that resonate with the traditional form and contemporary approach to toy theatre. Up to 10 artists will be selected. Works that will be considered may be 5 to 20 minutes in duration, must be self-contained and portable for quick changeover, intimate in scale (though large enough for a 90-seat theater—work will not be projected), and finished to the point of being ready for a first public presentation. Projects chosen will represent a broad spectrum of form and content and show a professional stance. Artists may propose single or multiple short pieces or one longer piece.

Toy Theatre After Dark embraces and promotes artist of all disciplines by encouraging experimentation and exploration of the puppetry arts. New ideas are presented in a public forum, serving Open Eye’s goals of building skills in emerging puppetry artists, supporting established puppetry artists and encourage artists of other disciplines to explore the form, as well as create an opportunity for information and idea sharing.

Each program will be performed five times during March 10–20 at Open Eye Theatre in Minneapolis. Performers must be available during that performance period to be considered. The Walker Art Center and Open Eye Figure Theatre will promote Toy Theatre After Dark. Participating artists will be given an honorarium, plus travel costs and housing (in private homes) will be added for visiting artists.

Proposals are due by November 15, 2010.
Please include the following in hard copy form:
1. Resume, including contact information (name, mailing address, phone, e-mail).
2. A 100-word explanation of your interest and experience in puppetry. (Note: no previous experience in puppetry is required.)
3. A one-page description of your piece discussing concept/content/form of the proposed work.
4. A visual image of proposed work (storyboard, photo, sketch, collage of ideas, video, etc.).
5. Estimated length of piece and number of performers.
6. Artist’s statement.
Please do not send original documents, as they will not be returned.

Questions may be directed to Susan Haas at susan.haas@openeyetheatre.org.

Mail to proposals to:
Open Eye Figure Theatre
506 East 24th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55404

Toy Theatre After Dark is Chapter III in the Walker’s five-part series, Adventures in New Puppetry, celebrating the burgeoning influence of puppetry among artists of all stripes. Combining it in fresh ways with dance, object theater, visual art, animation, and new music-theater, the series also pays tribute to the Twin Cities’ own puppetry community, one of the most vital in the country.