Annie Katsura Rollins is an American artist,

scenic design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

er, and puppeteer. She specializes in traditional Chinese shadow puppetry.

Early life and education

Rollins grew up in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with list of lakes in Minneapolis, thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Her mother is of Chinese and Japanese ancestry. Annie spent a semester in China during high school. She earned a BFA in music theatre from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technolog ...

in 2002 and earned her MFA in scenography from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. T ...

in 2010. During the summer of 2008, Rollins apprenticed with Master Wei of the Hua Xian Shadow Troupe in

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ning ...

province. There she learned techniques of carving and animating figures, publishing a blog about her experiences. Rollins was awarded a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in 2011 and spent a year in China apprenticing in traditional Chinese shadow puppetry. She had read a 2010 ''New York Times'' interview with Chinese shadow puppetry masters Cui and Wang. Rollins visited Cui and Wang's shadow figure museum in Beijing as well as seven provinces that had historically specialized in shadow puppetry. She took lessons in manipulating shadow puppets from the master of the Zhonghua Shadow Company along with many others. While in Beijing, Rollins created and performed two shadow bike tours. She apprenticed with Master Shi of

Gansu Province Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

and Master Liu of Tengchong County. After her return to the United States, Rollins created the full-length work ''There's Nothing to Tell'' (没有什么可说) and performed it at the

In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre (also known as Heart of the Beast or HOBT) is a puppet company and nonprofit organization from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company has written and performed scores of full-length puppet plays, per ...

in Minneapolis. It combines Chinese shadow play with North American style and presents the story of a Chinese grandmaster shadow puppeteer whose life story, spanning the Cultural Revolution through modern times, is told by his granddaughter.

Career

Rollins has worked with the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, Taiwan's Taiyuan Puppet Company, and the Droomtheatre in the Netherlands. Rollins was artistic director for the Continental Divide Festival's Puppet Pageant for its first two years. She created the set for Carl Flink's dance piece ''Black Label Movement''. Rollins did costume and set design for Ananya Chatterjea's ''Moreechika: Season of Mirage'' where her shadow puppets were projected onto the rear wall during performances at The Southern Theater. She also designed puppets for a puppet adaptation of the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

play ''The Purple Flower''. She has also taught DIY Shadow Puppetry workshops at Open Eye Figure Theatre in Minneapolis and the

Center for Puppetry Arts The Center for Puppetry Arts, located in Atlanta, is the United States' largest organization dedicated to the art form of puppetry. The center focuses on three areas: performance, education and museum. It is one of the few puppet museums in the ...

in Atlanta. During her time in Los Angeles, Rollins had a brief acting career, appearing in the 2006 film '' Americanese'' and the series ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' is an American television sitcom produced and broadcast by HBO since October 15, 2000, and created by Larry David, who stars as a semi-fictionalized version of himself. It follows David's life as a semi-retired televisi ...

'', ''

Big Day ''Big Day'', originally titled ''A Day in the Life'', is an American television sitcom that first aired on ABC from November 28, 2006, to January 30, 2007. The series was co-produced by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa and directed by Michael S ...

'', '' Threshold'' and the musical short ''Damn the Past!'', among others. Rollins lives in Montreal where she is pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD in the Humanities at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

. She is the creator of the informational website chineseshadowpuppetry.com.

References

External links

Rollins' Chinese Shadow Puppetry websiteIn the Dark Again
Rollins' fieldwork blog
Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rollins, Annie Katsura Living people American puppeteers Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni Concordia University alumni Artists from Minneapolis University of Minnesota alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Shadow play