Dassia N. Posner is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Northwestern University. A theatre historian, dramaturg, and puppeteer, she is the author of numerous articles and chapters on Russian theatre, the history of directing, and puppetry and is Peer-Review Editor for Puppetry International. Recent dramaturgy includes Three Sisters and Russian Transport at Steppenwolf.

Claudia Orenstein is Associate Professor of Theatre at Hunter College and the Graduate Center at CUNY. Publications include The World of Theatre: Tradition and Innovation, and Festive Revolutions: The Politics of Popular Theatre and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. She is a board member of UNIMA-USA and Associate Editor of Asian Theatre Journal.

John Bell is Director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut. An active puppeteer with Great Small Works and Bread & Puppet Theater, as well as a theatre historian, his publications include American Puppet Modernism (2008) and Puppets, Masks, and Performing Objects (2001).

Part I: Theory and Practice

Edited and Introduced by John Bell

Section I: Theoretical Approaches to the Puppet

1. "The Death of 'The Puppet'?" by Margaret Williams
2. "Co-presence and Ontological Ambiguity of the Puppet" by Paul Piris
3. "Playing with the Eternal Uncanny: The Persistent Life of Lifeless Objects" by John Bell

Section II: Perspectives from Practitioners

4. "Visual Dramaturgy: Some Thoughts for Puppet Theater Makers" by Eric Bass
5. "Puppetry, Authorship, and the Ur-Narrative" by Basil Jones
6. "Petrushka's Voice" by Alexander Gref and Elena Slonimskaya
7. "Clouds are Made of White!" by Rike Reiniger
8. "Movement is Consciousness" by Kate Brehm
9. "The Eye of Light: The Tension of Image and Object in Shadow Theatre and Beyond" by Stephen Kaplin
10. "The Third Thing" by Jim Lasko
11. "Post-Decivilization Efforts in The Nonsense Suburb of Art" by Peter Schumann

Part II: New Dialogues with History and Tradition

Edited and Introduced by Claudia Orenstein

Section III: Revisiting History

12. "Making A Troublemaker: Charlotte Charke's Proto-Feminist Punch" by Amber West
13. "Life-Death and Disobedient Obedience: Russian Modernist Redefinitions of the Puppet" by Dassia N. Posner
14. "The Saracen of Opera dei Pupi: A Study of Race, Representation and Identity" by Lisa Morse
15. "Puppet Think: The Implication of Japanese Ritual Puppetry for Thinking Through Puppetry Performances" by Jane Marie Law
16. "Relating to the Cross: A Puppet Perspective on the Holy Week Ceremonies of the Regularis Concordia" by Debra Hilborn

Section IV: Negotiating Tradition

17. "Traditional and Post-traditional Wayang Kulit in Java Today" by Matthew Isaac Cohen
18. "Korean Puppetry and Heritage: Hyundai Puppet Theatre and Creative Group NONI Translating Tradition" by Kathy Foley
19. "Forging New Paths for Kerala's Tolpavakoothu, Leather Shadow PuppetryTradition" by Claudia Orenstein
20. "Integration of Puppetry Tradition into Contemporary Theatre: The Reinvigoration of the Vertep Puppet Nativity Play after Communism in Eastern Europe" by Ida Hledíková

Part III: Contemporary Investigations and Hybridizations

Edited and Introduced by Dassia N. Posner

Section V: Material Performances in Contemporary Theatre

21. "From Props to Prosopoeia: Making After Cardenio" by Jane Taylor
22. "'A Total Spectacle but a Divided One:' Redefining Character in Handspring Puppet Company's Or You Could Kiss Me"by Dawn Tracey Brandes
23. "Reading a Puppet Show: Understanding the Three-Dimensional Narrative" by Robert Smythe
24. "Notes on New Model Theatres" by Mark Sussman

Section VI: New Directions and Hybrid Forms

25. "From Puppet to Robot: Technology and the Human in Japanese Theatre" by Cody Poulton
26. "Unholy Alliances and Harmonious Hybrids: New Fusions in Puppetry and Animation" by Colette Searls
27. "Programming Play: Puppets, Robots, and Engineering" by Elizabeth Ann Jochum and Todd Murphey
28. "Return to the Mound: Animating Infinite Potential in Clay, Food, and Compost" by Eleanor Margolies