POA Southeast Port City Fest

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The Professional Day for the Teaching Artist and Therapist (PDTAT) is an opportunity for puppeteers, therapists, teachers, librarians, and others who work in educational or therapeutic settings to learn from Master artist-educators, therapists, and one another. There will be presentations by puppeteers, educators, and therapists on successful projects, educational techniques, curriculum standards, and research. Participants will learn techniques for incorporating the art of puppetry into educational and therapeutic projects in the classroom and the community.

Each participant will receive the workshop manual, containing in-depth descriptions of workshop topics and direction for further research. Certificates of participation are provided to all attendees.

Presenters, Facilitators, and Discussion Leaders

Judith O'Hare (Massachusetts) is the Education Consultant for the Puppeteers of America, chairperson for the Puppetry in Education and Therapy committee, and a recent recipient of the Marjorie Batchelder Award for Puppetry in Education. She has an MA in theater from Tufts University and a BA in education. She has been a Kennedy Center Teaching Artist and has facilitated teacher training workshops in Nairobi, Kenya, Hong Kong, China, Calgary, Canada, as well as various locations across the United States.

Judith instructs graduate courses for two universities in Massachusetts and works in schools as a performing artist and artist-in-residence. Judith has hosted Puppets: Education Magic, a conference for educators, since 1989 and most recently, has designed The Professional Day for the Teaching Artist and Therapist for Regional and National PoA Conferences.

Matthew Bernier, MCAT, ATR-BC (Virginia), a registered and board-certified art therapist and a puppeteer, is an Associate Professor in the Graduate Art Therapy and Counseling Program at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He has extensive experience in therapeutic puppetry, especially with cases of child abuse and domestic violence. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Art Therapy Association.

Matthew has lectured and led workshops in the United States, Canada, and Italy on a variety of topics including art therapy, domestic violence, and therapeutic puppetry. He is a member of MUSE, an educational performing troupe of creative arts therapists and has performed Celebrating the Cycle of Life through Art, Dance, Music, and Poetry many times throughout the U.S. He is the co-editor of Puppetry in Education and Therapy: Unlocking Doors to the Mind and Heart. He is a working artist in several media including masks, artists’ dolls, puppets, artists’ books, and mixed-media collage and assemblage. He is currently working on his PhD in Expressive Arts: Therapy, Education, Consulting, and Social Change at the European Graduate School in Switzerland.

Liz Freeman (Massachusetts) has been a classroom teacher and professional development leader since 1968. She teaches in a spectrum of environments-from nipa huts in the Philippines to urban classrooms in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Liz is currently an elementary special education teacher in Lowell, MA working with many bilingual students and integrating puppetry across the curriculum. She is also the Coordinator for the Linden Tree Coffeehouse Folk Concert Series and Assistant Director of Puppets: Education Magic.

Leslie Gilson (California) attended the London School of Puppetry where she became a workshop instructor and developed shows for the Hampstead Theatre. In Kenya, she taught workshops and performed for the International School and the Handicapped School. Leslie has worked as a special education aide, and after retiring to California, created Galaxy Entertainment, a small touring puppet company. She has developed an educational puppet show depicting the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly as part of her educational program.

Claire Ritzler (Georgia) has been involved in education and theatre arts for 30 years with a specialty in puppetry. She has performed with Pam Clouse Puppets and the Alice Rhodes Puppet Theatre, and served as Education Director at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Currently, Claire is a teaching artist for the Alliance Theatre Company, the Wolf Trap Early Learning Program, and the Institute for Educators. Claire is a Georgia Council for the Arts roster artist, a Southern Artistry roster artist, and co-director of Artistic Endeavors.

Sharon M. Peck, PhD (New York) is an educator and puppeteer who is committed to improving the quality of literacy education. Sharon conducts and publishes research on the use of puppetry in the classroom and teaches graduate coursework at SUNY Geneseo. She also works as an artist in residence, supports teachers’ implementation of puppetry in the classroom, and performs "puppetelling" and Punch and Judy puppet shows. Sharon is currently the PoA Northeast Regional Director.

Allen Reeves Ware (Texas) is a Texas certified educator in Theatre Arts, a writer, and a puppeteer. He has taught at all levels from elementary through college and is currently completing a Doctor of Education degree at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He is the founder and director of The Ware House Puppets, a troupe specializing in educational and family-friendly puppet theatre. Allen writes, composes, designs and builds puppets and stages, and performs for the troupe.

Allen's work has been seen by local, state, national and international audiences. Allen frequently incorporates his interest in ethics and character development into his work. He considers himself a“creative constructivist,” specializing in teaching about and through the theatrical arts.

Diana Chiles, M.Ed., MRE, CCLS (Tennessee) is a Pediatric Therapist and Child Life Specialist who has utilized puppet therapy to comfort hospitalized children for over thirty years. Diana’s primary tool is a green little boy puppet named Bernard.

As a fellow patient, Bernard has the ability to bring a smile and to provide trust, compassion, and friendship. For many years Diana and Bernard have been a part of the Child Life Department, helping kids & their families cope with the fears and emotional stresses of hospitalization.

Today, they are serving as Ambassadors for Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. Diana and Bernard are traveling throughout the Mid-South, speaking to schools, churches, and community organizations.

Dr. Joanne Vizzinni (Maryland) is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Nationally Certified Counselor. She is an adjunct faculty member at Loyola College and has a full-time private practice with offices in Mt. Washington and Columbia, Maryland. Her caseload includes adults, youth and children with general mental health issues. Dr. Vizzini has used puppets for therapy at many venues that range from group psychotherapy to weekly and monthly programs to intensive out-patient programs, as well as for her dissertation at Hazelden. In 2007, she began the Puppet Therapy Institute to train others in using puppets in therapy.

Joanne's puppetry workshops have been presented at a multitude of symposiums since 1999, including professional conferences with the American Counseling Association and the American Psychological Association, various churches, and creative sites, such as Yama Therapeutics for yoga teacher training.

Lisa Aimee Sturz has an M.F.A. in Puppetry from UCLA. She is an Emmy Award winning puppeteer whose work spans film, television, stage, and special events. She has worked with Jim Henson Productions, Lucas film, Disney Imagineering, PBS, NBC, UNC-TV, the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Indiana School of Music, and many more.

Lisa is the Artistic Director of Red Herring Puppets, a professional puppet company specializing in "edutainment" with curriculum-based shows and residencies. Red Herring's production of "Aesops Fables" received an UNIMA citation last year.

Lisa is a teaching artist leading several residencies each year. She has been the Guest Artist at the North Carolina Theatre Arts Educators Winter Focus, a presenter at the Broward Cultural Center Arts Integration Conference, and has participated in the Blumenthal Performing Arts Centers Educational Institute in cooperation with the Kennedy Center to train artists as educators.

Lisa's work has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jim Henson Foundation, the North Carolina Arts Council and the Asheville Area Arts Council.

Yostie Ashely (South Carolina) is an educational entertainer who is a teaching artist with the South Carolina Arts Commission. She is a former reading consultant with the South Carolina State Department of Education and a former classroom teacher. Her motto is play is my work as she interacts with family audiences throughout the southeast. Yostie is a graduate of Florida State University and the University of South Carolina.

Karen Konnerth (Louisiana) has presented in theaters, museums, festivals, and schools on topics including folklore, culture, and fantasy. Karen writes shows, designs and builds puppets in a wide variety of techniques, and performs with live voice, presenting either solo or with collaborators.

Karen also works extensively in the integration of puppetry arts across the curriculum, creating formats for active learning with the aim of student comprehension and retention. Karen presents residencies and teacher workshops regionally, nationally, and internationally, and has offered teacher workshops at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the United States Embassy English Language Specialist Program in Costa Rica, Brunei, and Indonesia.

In 2008, Karen's troupe Calliope Puppets participated in festivals and conferences in Peru, Argentina, México, and Puerto Rico. That year, Karen also received her third U.S. Embassy Cultural Envoy Grant, this time to provide a plenary address at the 6th Asia Teachers of English as a Second Language International Conference in Bali, Indonesia.

Ronni Gerstel (Florida) is the creative spirit behind Flamingo Park Puppets and has been a professional puppeteer, builder, and instructor for twenty years. Ronni has created and directed puppetry programs for children in arts camps at the Kravis Center, the JCC, the Broward Center for Performing Arts, the Puppetry Arts Center of the Palm Beaches, various school districts, and more. The mission of these programs is to encourage creativity and cooperation and boost self-esteem in young people.

Ronni has been awarded grants from the Neighborhood Arts Residency Program and the Community Foundation to design and implement puppet programs for young people which promote tolerance and understanding. As one of the original artists with the Center for Creative Education, Ronni partners with teachers to enhance curriculum instruction through the puppetry arts. She won five awards for Outstanding Collaboration of the Year for her work with the Center.

Another collaboration is featured in the documentary Project LEAP: Learning Out Loud which can be seen on The Education Network. She also teaches seminars on Puppetry in Education for the schools, museums, art centers, and at puppetry conferences around the country.