Advance Course

ADVANCE COURSE (TRAININGS )

For a full time professional puppet theatre company one of the major challenges is the lack of qualified and experienced puppeteers. In a field that is slowly expanding with growing audience expectations and demand from schools for trainings the need for training program for professional puppeteers is paramount. Realising this and addressing our own problem of paucity of puppeteers Katkatha began a pilot training of puppeteers in 2008.  With the success of this training young people aged 18-20 were selected form NGOs in Delhi, who were artistically inclined but had no outlet and were also searching for a career but were without opportunity or exposure.

We have learned that a continued training program in puppetry is imperative to keep the art form vibrant and bring young blood into this profession. Currently, there are also many opportunities for puppeteers like school workshops, TV puppetry and social welfare and awareness shows for NGOs.

The course includes the theoretical  and traditional aspect  of puppetry and also the basic building blocks of puppetry i.e training in sculpture, sketching, painting, mime, dance and music so that they have a stronger foundation for innovating in the arts.

PROGRAM FOR THE TRAINING

Number of Trainees- The number of trainees varies from four to six
Background of Trainees- We would like to encourage young people from NGOs, but also open our training to any other persons interested in training as a puppeteer. For the young people from an economically disadvantaged background we offer stipends.
Duration of Training- One year-

• Part One- The classroom training will include regular training in music, dance, sculpture, mime, sketching and one form of traditional puppetry three times a week in each for four months. The theoretical training will also begin at this time in the classroom. This part of the training will be 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. The students will have to finish assignments over the weekends and present them on Mondays. At the end of six months a short assessment will be done of the progress.
• Part Two- Shadowing Katkatha and Own Projects- 6 Months- The trainees will start working as assistants with regular Katkatha work like school workshops, teacher training workshops. They will also provide backstage and other technical support for Katkatha performances. They will assist in administrative and management work thus getting an all rounded exposure to the running of a puppet theatre company. At this point the students will also start working on their own performance. This will be done in groups of twos or threes. They will draw up concepts, write scripts, design and construct puppets and scenography. During this process each group will be placed with a guide who will supervise the entire process. At the end of this stage (12 months) the groups will present their own work in a public forum.

This training provides them a platform to nurture and established themselves as professional Puppeteers.