Basil Twist has won a MacArthur Fellowship - the so-called 'genius grant.' He's worked on operas, he's worked with Lincoln Center and the Joffrey Ballet. The Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation of the beloved film, My Friend Totoro, features his work.
But Twist knows when most people hear he’s a puppeteer, they’re most likely thinking of Bert and Ernie.
And he’s fine with that. In fact, he's received multiple grants from the Jim Henson Foundation, established by the creator of the Muppets. Twist simply wants to open up what "puppetry" means, what this art form of sticks and costumes, gestures and mimicry can do.
"People," he said, "have an association of puppetry that's almost exclusively children's entertainment -- which it can be and is really good. But I like to expand that definition. So I just like to claim that title and demonstrate that ‘puppeteer’ has a wider net."
Twist was backstage at Fort Worth's Hip Pocket Theatre. He'd just given notes to the cast and crew of his newly devised show, "A Twisty Intergalactic Spectacle."
Twist has certainly used conventional puppets. But he’s also made ones that swirl under water or scurry like mice, a giant figure that rose out of the Pacific Ocean, and puppets that look like dancing abstractions.
So for Twist, what exactly is — a puppet?
"A puppet is anything that is brought to life for an audience," he said. "Obviously, there are objects that are made to be puppets — they have strings on them or you can put your hand in them. But I like the idea that a performer uses an object on stage and invests spirit in it. So I could puppeteer a coffee mug and that becomes a puppet."
Basically, a puppet is anything a puppeteer puppets.
"A Twisty Intergalactic Spectacle" is a friendly, flying saucer story. Its well-meaning-alien-with-a-message story recalls the classic UFO film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still."
The saucer lands, the leader appears. He tells us, We’re here to help you. The leader is played by Twist's partner, Broadway performer Ken Ard. A commanding, silvery pharoah in go-go boots, Ard's leader — with Joe Rogers' music — lends some welcome, Afrofuturist flair to the proceedings.
"He should be on stage more often," Twist said of Ard. "And I told him, 'We'll be outdoors and there's, you know, wasps and snakes and stuff.'" He laughed. "But he's loving it."
As for Twist’s puppetry, there’s a flying saucer on stage, of course — plus a frog, a wooden armadillo, various planets. And a robot dance number.
The show's home-made, cosmic spirit suits the Hip Pocket's house style — with distinctly Twistian touches. At one point, a huge, billowing, white sheet covers the stage, flickering with lights in the dark.
That’s all it is, just a sheet. But it’s also the Milky Way.
"A big part of Basil is that he’s a very magical force."
Lake Simons has worked with Twist since 1999 when she moved from Fort Worth to New York City. She’s regularly worked with his off-Broadway company in lower Manhattan at the HERE Arts Center, which specializes in hybrid art forms.
She said, "He really connects with the audience in saying, ‘You all have an imagination. I’m going to give you some bits and pieces. And you all are going to put things together on your own.’ And as human beings, we can’t help ourselves. When something starts to bounce around in front of us, it’s like, ‘Oh, look, it’s alive!’"
For the past three summers, Lake and her sister, Lorca Simons, have been running Hip Pocket. Their father, Johnny Simons, co-founded it in 1976 but retired three years ago. Twist himself has worked at the Hip Pocket before — he created the title character in the 2016 revival of Johnny Simon's "The Lake Worth Monster." But the "Intergalactic Spectacle" is the first full show he’s devised for Lake and Lorca — and it opens their theater's 48th season.
By the way, investing ordinary objects ‘with life’? Traditionally, that’s what wizards do.
For Twist, all of puppetry is essentially a form of low-tech magic.
- "A Twisty Intergalactic Spectacle" at the Hip Pocket Theatre runs through Sunday.
Got a tip? Email Jerome Weeks at jweeks@kera.org. You can follow him on X (Twitter) @dazeandweex.
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