2014-355 Arts - Glenwood Elementary School PTA for Spring 2014 Arts Grant Agreement $1,000

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PRESS Ford to perform "Animalia' at Maguire Theater By Robert Kelly-Goss The Daily Advance Thursday, June 23,2011 Magic. Hobey Ford's world is magic. His puppets are magic. They are instruments of his art, bringing to life a vision that he has nurtured since he was an art student in the mid-1970's. It is a vision that incorporates the visual and performing arts on stage, before your eyes, telling stories -in this case the story of the animal kingdom - using beautifully crafted puppets that have a tradition dating back hundreds of years, coming from a variety of cultures. Ford will bring his vision in the form of a show"Animalia,"to the stage at the Maguire Theater today and tomorrow. "It's really not what you would expect from puppetry,"says Ford, who is based in Waynesville, NC, in the western part of the state. "First of all, I perform for all ages. ...It plays to a wide range of audiences." And it does play to a wide range of audiences. His performance, "Animalia,"explores the animal kingdom's delights from a tadpole growing into a frog to a caterpillar's journey to cocoon to butterfly. And it's all done as the puppet master performs on stage,with the puppets in a non-verbal performance he likens to a ballet. "The puppets are carved, foam rubber sculptures," he days. 'The foam is very rubbery and elastic so when I manipulate the puppets with rods it looks very realistic." And it does indeed look realistic. Once the tadpole reaches maturity and becomes the frog,the very real motions of his puppets, accompanied by soothing background music, have hypnotized you. His world also explores the life of birds, an undersea ballet of whales,frolicking dolphins and otters. And while these are very much puppets, many who are not familiar with the world of puppetry might be somewhat bemused by the style Ford uses on stage. Don't be. His style is actually reminiscent of Jim Henson's Muppets,the use of rods being a form to manipulate movement. But more- over, this beautiful style comes from the Japanese puppet tradition of Bunraku. "It goes back a couple of hundred years,"says Ford. "Like opera, it's a classical theatre traditionally for adults." And that's something Ford wants people to keep in mind. Puppetry is not strictly a children's experience.