HWS News
20 July 2026 • Outcomes Shafer attends National Puppetry Conference
Insights from the National Puppetry Conference will shape Associate Professor Leah Shafer's Fall 2026 First-Year Seminar, “Puppet Cultures.”
Associate Professor of Media and Society Leah Shafer recently completed a residency at the selective Eugene O’Neill Center’s National Puppetry Conference.
According to the O’Neill Center, “Each June, puppeteers gather from across the globe to create works that defy the bounds of contemporary theater and the imagination at the National Puppetry Conference. Participants collaborate with renowned directors, puppet artists, and playwrights to develop foundational skills and devise innovative productions conceived by guest artists, as well as presentations initiated by the Conference participants. The National Puppetry Conference encourages artists to create and communicate through the visual and kinetic form of the puppet, to push beyond preconceived boundaries, and develop new innovative works of puppet theater.”
My academic work has long encompassed discussions of objects in narrative entertainment, so the integration of puppetry into my scholarly and artistic practice made perfect sense, especially puppetry that treats social issues,”
Shafer attended the workshop, “Puppets, Storytelling, Healing in a Humanitarian Context: The Power of Puppetry,” which was led by Lisa Buckley, a puppeteer whose career began on Sesame Street and has led her to work with No Strings International, a humanitarian aid group that works with NGOs and international bodies to use puppetry to educate refugee populations about malaria, HIV, nutrition, landmines, and other public health issues.
Shafer, who will be teaching an FSEM called “Puppet Cultures” in Fall 2026, has been training in puppetry with the Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival since 2000.
“My academic work has long encompassed discussions of objects in narrative entertainment, so the integration of puppetry into my scholarly and artistic practice made perfect sense, especially puppetry that treats social issues,” Shafer says. “The O’Neill Center’s National Puppetry Conference was a magical experience where I got to build, create and explore with puppeteers from around the globe. I’m excited to share what I learned with the students in the incoming First Year class.”
