Basil Twist
New York
USA Ford Fellow, Theater Arts

Basil Twist (New York City) is a puppeteer and director committed to advancing the artistry and technical developments in the field and to educating new generations of puppeteers and audiences. Some of Twist’s recent productions include La Bella Dormente nel Bosco, a marionette staging of Ottorino Respighi’s opera Sleeping Beauty (staged at the Spoleto Festival USA and the Lincoln Center Festival in 2005); Symphonie Fantastique, an abstract underwater ballet, which was seen at the HERE Arts Center, Dodger Stages, the Ravinia Festival, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, The Tollwood Festival in Munich, and many other theaters; and Dogugaeshi, a piece meant for small theaters inspired by the dogugashi stage mechanism in Japanese puppet theater (staged at the Japan Society in 2004). Among his many awards, Twist recently received a Guggenheim Fellowship, two Bessie awards, the New York Innovative Theater Award for Sustained Artistic Excellence, and an Obie.

Portrait photo courtsey Greg Barrett
The Witch, from Hansel and Gretel, 2006, Houston Grand Opera; photo courtesy the artist