Bio
Hailing from the banks of the Chesapeake Bay, Genna Beth Davidson is an ambitious and down to earth puppet artist who brings her broad and deep set of skills to both the theater industry and service arenas alike. With a penchant for turning everything and anything into a puppet, Genna Beth loves transforming the vitality of materials into imaginary beings. She discovered puppetry while studying theatre at the University of Maryland from 2004-2008 thanks to the Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence Program which was established while she was a student there. After roughly a decade of work in theater and puppetry in the DC area, she went off to UCONN where she earned her MFA in Puppet Arts in 2022.
Approach
Ideas, ideas, ideas! Basically I materialize ideas!
Always excited to work on a new project or return to an old one with fresh eyes, I strive to make what I see in my mind’s eye or on paper become real. I’ve learned that the simpler the puppet, the better it works. So I try to keep it simple. I’ve also learned to seek out projects where my collaborators and I have shared COMPETENCE, GOODWILL, RELIABILITY, and ALIGNMENT for the vision at hand.
Photo credit ©️ 2023 Justin N. Lane / jnlane.com
Education
Master of Fine Arts in dramatic arts
University of Connecticut, Storrs
Specialization: Puppetry Arts
Honors: Marks Family Endowment in the Fine Arts (2021); UConn Foundation Frank Ballard Scholarship (2022)
Bachelor of Arts in theatre
University of Maryland, College Park
Honors: Magna Cum Laude; President’s Scholarship
High school Diploma
The Baltimore School for the Arts, Baltimore
Concentration: Violin Performance
Workshops & Intensives
Solo puppeteer
The Curious School of Puppetry, online, 2022
Instructor: Rene Baker
Dark Clown
Weekend intensives, online, 2021
Instructor: Peta Lily
MASS MoCA Wood Carving & Puppet Design Intensive
The Berkshires, 2018 and 2021
Instructor: David Lane
Shakespeare & Company Summer Intensive
The Berkshires, 2016
New england puppetry intensive
The Berkshires, 2015
Instructors: David Lane, Peter Balkwill, and Nan Balkwill
Explore My Work
- Theatre Credits
- Experimental Work
- Design & Consultation
- Who I Work For
- Just for Fun
- Calendar
Replay
Design work samples from my MFA show at UCONN. Replay, a dark comedy about unpacking baggage, is my solo show featuring tabletop, shadow, and object puppetry.
photo by Woody Dweyer
Performance stills from Replay. Performed at Arts Center East in 2022. Lighting design by Kayo Tokuue and Jackson Funke
photo by Woody Dweyer
photo by Woody Dweyer
photo by Kayo Tokuue
photo by Woody Dweyer
Puppet and Design Gallery
Shorts &
Experiments
My stance on psychopharmacueticals
Parsnip rose
Surrealist puppetry experiment with two sexy parsnips and a rose. This divine feminine figure lets loose!
Replay
A dark comedy about unpacking baggage.
An object puppetry experiment while in grad school
A Directing for Puppetry class assignment in which we were instructed to reinvent the cantastoria.
A toy theater piece creaed over one weekend for a Women’s Suffrage Pageant.
Design and Consultation
Thinking about using puppetry but not sure where to begin?
I can advise on the following and more:
Styles of Puppetry
toy theatre
hand puppets
body/wearable
shadow
crankie
Bunraku-style
rod puppets
table top
lantern puppets
object puppetry
moving mouth (TV style)
hybrid forms
Design Process
From concept
to technical
drawings,
maquettes,
patterning,
prototyping &
finishing
I take ideas from paper to fully realized. Whether hand puppet, shadow, wearable or any other puppet style, I have a robust skill set to bring projects from conception to completion.
Some shots of my process for Cerberus, a puppet rebuild for
Tempting Fate
Ready for Pre-K!
PErformer and Puppet Builder
I am a regular puppeteer and a puppet builder for Ready for Pre-K! a D.C. Public Schools initiative.
Wonderspark Puppets
puppet builder
I was commissioned by this NYC-based puppet company to reproduce several of the beloved tabletop puppets originally crafted by Z. Briggs.
barefoot puppets
performer
I am currently a puppeteer with Barefoot Puppets performing New Squid on the Block and The Wriggling Brothers Circus. I am also an artist-in-residence with the company in Richmond, VA.
Handemonium
Barry Gordemer
I currently assist Barry Gordemer when he needs extra hands to help build his masterful creations.
just for fun web-isodes
The Little Weirdos
Part soap opera, part adventure series, the tiny-epics of one household tribe of finger puppets are documented in this web series for all ages
Lopi’s world
In Lopi’s World, big dreams soar, the mundane is celebrated, and play is absolutely serious business ;)
Contact
Genna Beth Davidson
gennabeth@gmail.com
Photo credit ©️ 2023 Justin N. Lane / jnlane.com