RI
Butterworth's puppetry has taken him from performing locally at fairs and schools to an international career, leading large scale educational workshops, appearing in operas and classical music festivals, film, and television. He picks varied projects, often which involve collaboration, such as constructing a puppet theatre around an adult tricycle, helping to create an Inuit show in Nunavut, Canada, and designing sets for the 2008 St. Petersburg, Florida production of Strauss' comic opera "Die Fledermaus". His work, breathing intellectual life into this elegant, sometimes under-rated art form, has not gone without notice. He has been supported by the National Foundation for the Arts since 1979, and in 2005 he was honored with the Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts, for which he humbly allowed his puppets to take the bow. The grand sets, articulated special effects, and puppet staging surround the exquisitely moving marionettes and shadow puppets as they draw all into the world of Dan Butterworth. Artscope Magazine- 2009 Dan Butterworth’s international award-winning workshops and performances use shadow, light, and movement in ingenious ways. Now, the powerfully equiped Wheelchair Theaters make Dan’s intricate inventiveness accessible to all. The combination of rolling ‘Visual Chairs’ and ‘Music Chairs’ allows for full theatrical productions in a variety of performance spaces. Art Machines are now available: portals with beautiful scenes inside (easily attachable to a wall). Controls are designed to enable recovery of hands, wrists, elbows etc. A wide variety of movement is possible. A few of these in a hospital hallway and the warm, soothing sense of an 'underwater' environment will envelope the patients. Teaching Artists gather in Providence. Our goal is to legitimize and advertise the use of the Teaching Arts in Healthcare.
Dan now is working with Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada to make a permanent Animated Performance Center. In March 2019 boxes were mailed containing two rolling shadow stages (with batteries- so they don't have to be connected to an outlet) with their own curtains and a large, 17ft. wide by 6 ft. deep pipe and drape stage for hand and rod puppets as well as other performing acts. Dan will set out in August to 'teach to teach'. He will show adults in the community how to make sophisticated shadow puppets, hand and rod, as well as animated scenery.
Additional Content:
Services provided by Dan Butterworth with video links
Dan Butterworth's Puppet Workshop
Full showing of Dan's workshop magic.
BUTTERWORTH PRODUCTIONS- PUPPETS YouTube
12 different YouTube films of Dan's work
Institution/Business Type:
Performing Group
Legal Status:
Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship
Year Founded:
1980
Institution/Business Type:
Performing Group
Legal Status:
Commercial / For profit - Sole proprietorship
Year Founded:
1980
Primary Discipline:
Theater - PuppetAdditional Disciplines:
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Accessibility of Services:
Programs specifically designed for wheelchair and limited mobility persons. Wheelchair Theaters are designed to simply attach to existing chairs for music and image projection. Ideal for parades, singular work, and full theater productions. Some work in conjunction with The Drum Workshop, Inc. (drum-workshop.org).
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Fee range:
$500 - $5,000Teaching Settings:
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Fee range:
$500 - $5,000NEST Eligible Artist
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Fee Range:
$500 - $2,750State of Residence:
Rhode IslandMinimum Number of Performers:
1Maximum Number of Performers:
3