By Eileen Connelly, OSU

ARCHDIOCESE — Xavier University’s Department of Performing Arts has a new partnership with Madcap Productions Puppet Theatre that will provide valuable experience for students and enrich the lives of young audiences.

COURTESY PHOTOS

One of Madcap Puppet Theatre’s characters, Jasper, appears as the instigator in “Tales from My Grandmother’s Attic.”

Through educational performances and residency and workshop programs, Madcap engages children’s imaginations and provides in-depth creative experiences in theater, puppetry and storytelling. In addition, Madcap performs for family audiences around the country in collaborations and co-productions with orchestras, ballet and opera companies and museums. Locally Madcap performs with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Linton Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony and Pops, the ballet and the opera and is in residence at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Each year, as many as 500,000 children and families nationwide, including more than 100,000 in the Greater Cincinnati area, see a Madcap performance.

The partnership between Xavier and Madcap is a natural one. Cathy Springfield, director of performing arts at the university, has a background in theater for young children, and John Lewandowski, Madcap’s artistic director, has had a long and successful career with European and American puppet theater and youth performance.

For most Americans, puppet theater brings to mind images of hand or finger puppets or socks with eyes sewn on, Lewandowki said. However, he noted, it is one of the oldest forms of performing arts, found in all cultures and present in all societies. The puppet has been the voice of the oppressed in street performances and sophisticated characters in Baroque opera. In all cases the puppeteer works with the director to develop a language of gestures that can transmit emotions to the audience. And in this way, a talented puppeteer can make a puppet "come alive" to the audience and invite them to take part in his adventures. The precision and dramatic analysis required in puppet theatre offers students a unique approach to the performing arts, Lewandoski believes.

"The collaboration between Xavier and Madcap provides an opportunity to expand the opportunities for our students to live the motto of the College of Social Sciences, Health, and Education: ‘Collaborate, Innovate, Educate,’" said Mark Meyers, dean of the college. "Working with a group such as Madcap connects our students with a respected theatrical group also known for its service to the community. Not only will our students develop opportunities to work in all aspects of theatrical productions, they will be given another method of learning which can be applied to their individual courses of study, whether in a classroom, counseling center, social agency, or any of the other professions entered by our graduates."

Another Madcap character, Cypher, provides help to the children in “Tales from My Grandmother’s Attic.”

Theatre is a tremendous catalyst for dialogue and a public forum for the expression of ideals and relevant topics, added Springfield, and participation in theatre creates solidarity with others illuminated by spiritual, moral integrity and intellect based on literature.

"Part of the mission of Xavier, as a Catholic Jesuit university, is to create men and women for others and this collaboration to create quality theatre for young audiences will be a way for Xavier students to see and feel directly that they have made a difference in a child’s life," Springfield said. "This goes hand-in-hand with Madcap’s dedication to enriching the lives of young audiences."

The first part of the collaboration will involve Madcap bringing its "Tales from My Grandmother’s Attic" to Xavier’s theatre season this fall. Geared toward the entire family, this production tells the story of two young and curious explorers who discover a long-forgotten trunk and are immediately captured by its secrets and the lost stories inside. Performances are scheduled for Nov. 13-16.

In the spring Xavier students will tour area schools, libraries and civic centers with a "Healthy Habits" play incorporating the life-size puppets and geared toward teaching at-risk children about proper nutrition.