NIGHT
VISION PUPPETS  organized
in 1974 as "The Puppets of Lothlorien" in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
Upon the discovery
that most
people (back in those days) had never read JRR Tolkien and the rest
could not pronounce the name, the cast decided to go with "NIGHT
VISION PUPPETS" in
1977.
Much of the rationale
behind the new name was based on experiences encountered in the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza during a
non-paid but fun-filled tour of Mexico and the U.S. in 1977. As
Dayton's official "Ambassadors of Goodwill," the puppets performed
in English and Spanish, primarily in small, remote villages and low-income
areas.
For 3 years the
puppets appeared weekly on WKEF TV's (Dayton) "Shock Theatre," a late night horror movie show with local sketches and parodies. The
troupe has spent time living in various parts of Ohio, South Carolina, and the Eastern
Mediterranean island of Cyprus. They have performed in much of the U.S, as well as in Mexico,
Nicaragua, Cuba, and Cyprus.
In fall 2008, puppeteer/creator/director John Higgins was artist/scholar in residence at Sidestreets in Nicosia, performing with puppets and conducting digital storytelling workshops. He returned with the puppets in fall 2010 as a Fulbright Scholar, conducting digital storytelling workshops with Cypriot universities, civil society organizations, and the Cyprus Community Media Centre. The last (so far) performances with the "walking stage" were in October 2010 in the Fulbright Center in the UN Buffer Zone and then the Buyuk Han, in Nicosia.
The puppets show up occasionally on video skits online. Higgins and the puppets currently reside in San Francisco,
USA, with one of their biggest fans: MJ. |
NIGHT VISION PUPPETS
Fulbright Scholar, Cyprus Fulbright Commission, Nicosia, Cyprus (August-December 2010);
30 Year Anniversary Festival, "Summary of Love" (Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco, October 1997).
United Nations's 50th Anniversary Bicommunal
Celebration (Ledra Palace, Nicosia, Cyprus, 1995);
Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, Ohio,
1991); 