As the Center for Puppetry Arts Atlanta wraps up their season of Harold and the Purple Crayon, we’d like to recognize MACIE student, Brian Harrison. Brian is a puppetry artist who just completed his first semester in our program. We enjoyed watching him perform as he made connections between his experiences and the theories and research he was exploring through his coursework. 

Center for Puppetry Arts describes the show as, “[combining] the latest in projection technology with blacklight puppetry to enable Harold to create his world live on stage – in real time.” When we asked Brian how kids could be excited about the innovations in the show, he explained that the puppetiers “used an old theater trick called Peppers Ghost which allows [them] to interact with “drawings” in mid air. Children enjoy guessing what the drawing will be.”

In the MACIE program we invite our students to consider creativity as social interactions and collaborative experiences. We were excited to hear Brian describe his experiences in the show as an experience “which required everyone involved to work together to complete it” and “an excellent exercise in collaborative creativity.” Our goal is for each of our students to make  connections between what they are learning and their personal experiences. Brian’s experiences in this innovative production illustrate the kind of learning we strive for in the MACIE program.

Congrats to Brian and the creative team at the Center for Puppetry Arts for an amazing show!!