Introduction

In 2011, the editors of this book and several collaborators organized an international scholarly puppetry conference, “Puppetry and Postdramatic Performance,” at the University of Connecticut.1 The aims of this conference were “to explore new approaches to critical thinking and theorizing about puppetry and performing objects” and “to enrich, expand, and enliven the field of discourse” in a performance form that is as ancient as the stones and is becoming increasingly visible in contemporary theatre, but still is viewed by many as a form that is intellectually and artistically less substantive than theatre in which text or the live body of the actor is central.2