October 25, 2022, 8pm EST
Run Time – 1 Hour

Have you ever wondered how an international puppet festival comes to be? Please join Dr. Manuel Moran (International Puppet Fringe Festival) and Shoshana Bass (Puppet In the Green Mountains Festival) in a discussion about festival creation and production.

Bios:

MANUEL ANTONIO MORÁN MARTÍNEZ was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and has worked as an actor, singer, writer, composer, puppeteer, theater and film director and producer in his country, Latin America, Europe and the United States. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of SEA, Society of the Educational Arts, Inc. (www.teatrosea.org), with offices in Puerto Rico, Florida and New York City. Celebrating its 35 years in 2020, SEA’s objective is to offer a real entertainment alternative, with cultural value and educational quality, for kids, the youth and adults through bilingual educational programs like workshops, seminars, theater and other cultural artistic expressions. 

Morán graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities and Drama. From New York University (NYU) he obtained a Master’s degree in Musical and Educational Theater, and later a Ph.D. in Educational Theater. He did specialized studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, USA, Menéndez Pelayo University in Santander, Spain and the Holborn Centre for the Performing Arts in London, United Kingdom. 

He has received numerous recognitions and awards from The City of New York, the Latin Press Association of New York (ACE), the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors and the Independent Theater Actors, to name a few. He was Grand Marshall of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York. New York’s El Diario Newspaper gave him the “El Award” as one of the most prominent Latinos in the city. The specialized international magazine Puppetry International selected him as one of its most prominent 40 puppeteers under 40, and he also received the “UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence”, an award established by Jim Henson for the most prominent Puppet Theater in the United States. The Puerto Rican Culture Institute (ICP) dedicated him its 51st Puerto Rico International Theater Festival and presented his musical theater show ‘Sueño’ to thousands of spectators in the San Felipe del Morro Castle in San Juan. Recently, the 2020 International Biennial of Puppetry in Puerto Rico was also dedicated to him.

Dr. Morán is responsible for establishing the professional Latino Children’s Theater in New York City, after 18 years of abandonment. In 1999, he inaugurated Teatro SEA @ Los Kabayitos Puppet & Children’s Theatre, the only Latino theater for kids in New York City and possibly the United States. In 2011, the theater was expanded and moved to a new and renewed hall (now Teatro SEA), where an annual season for audiences of all ages is offered.

In NYC he has established and produced various community, arts and theater festivals reaching thousands of audience members including BORIMIX: Puerto Rico Fest, Three King’s Day Celebration, Arte Pa’ Mi Gente Festival, MicroTheaterNY and the very successful and first of its kind, The International Puppet Fringe Festival of NYC.

He is the former Vice-President of UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionnette), the oldest international theater organization in the world, with chapters in 96 countries. 

His 3-episodes film, “Títeres en el Caribe Hispano/Puppetry in the Caribbean” a documentary about puppet theater in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, premiered at the Havana Film Festival in Cuba. In April 2016 his first book ‘Migrant Theater for Children: A Caribbean in New York’ was published in Havana, with an anthology of his theater plays. His second book: ‘Mantequilla/Butter; Adventures and Tribulations of a Puerto Rican Boy’ (SEA Publications, NYC) was published in 2017. The Colors of Frida was published in 2018 (SEA Publications, NY). His 8-Theatre-Books Series was recently published (SEA Publications/TMG/Lectorum, Serie Libros-Teatro) in 2021. 

He stars in the web series El Avión The Airplane on the YouTube Channel SEA Kids Network. With them he released a Musical Album A Volar Let’s Fly (2020).
Dr. Morán is the proud Dad of Manuel Gabriel. They live in New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

www.manuelmoran.com

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Shoshana Bass is co-artistic director of Sandglass Theater based in Putney, Vermont on the unceded lands of the Abenaki people. Having been raised in a traveling family of internationally acclaimed puppeteers, she has spent her life witnessing and in dialogue with artistic voices of diverse cultures, heritages, and perspectives. Now she performs, directs, and choreographs internationally. She is the director for Sandglass’ Puppets in the Green Mountains International Biennial Festival. Shoshana also produces the family-friendly “Winter Sunshine” series, as well as the social activist “Voices of Community” series and the community mini festival “Puppets in Paradise”. She is a touring ensemble member with the company in Babylon, Journeys of Refugees; Rock the Boat; and Punschi, Oma and her solo performance When I Put On Your Glove.