Basil Twist is a New York City-based puppeteer who is known for his underwater puppet show, "''Symphonie Fantastique''". He was named a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

recipient on September 29, 2015.

Life and work

Originally from San Francisco, Basil Twist is a third generation puppeteer. He graduated from the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in

Charleville-Mézières or ''Carolomacérienne'' , image flag=Flag of Charleville Mezieres.svg Charleville-Mézières () is a commune of northern France, capital of the Ardennes department, Grand Est. Charleville-Mézières is located on the banks of the river Meuse. ...

, France. He is founder and director of the Dream Music Puppetry Program at

Here Arts Center HERE Arts Center is a New York City off-off-Broadway presenting house, founded in 1993. Their location includes two stages specializing in hybrid performance, dance, theater, multi-media and puppetry in addition to art exhibition space and a cafe ...

in NYC, which supports and produces new puppet artists. He was a Fall 2015 MacArthur Fellow at the NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts. Twist has significantly contributed to the art of puppetry since 1998. He creates puppet works focused on their integration with music. His ''"Symphonie Fantastique"'', is performed to the symphony of the same name. Twist's version of "Master Peter's Puppet Show" was created with the Eos Orchestra and later performed with the

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the ...

. Twist's "Dogugaeshi" features original shamisen compositions created and performed live by master musician Yumiko Tanaka. He also directed and designed Humperdinck's opera, ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hansel ...

'', for the Houston Grand Opera and the Atlanta Opera. In 2010, Twist created the puppetry for the Broadway productions of ''

The Pee-wee Herman Show ''The Pee-wee Herman Show'' is a stage show developed by Paul Reubens in 1980. It marks the first significant appearance of his comedic fictional character, Pee-wee Herman, five years before '' Pee-wee's Big Adventure'', and six years before ''P ...

'' and ''

The Addams Family ''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over ...

''. Twist is known for his original adult puppet mediums and use of abstraction in puppetry. ''"Symphonie Fantastique"'' takes place in a tank of water. In "Red Beads", his collaboration with

Lee Breuer Esser Leopold Breuer (February 6, 1937 – January 3, 2021) was an American playwright, theater director, academic, educator, filmmaker, poet, and lyricist. Breuer taught and directed on six continents. Career Breuer was a founding co-artistic ...

and

Mabou Mines Mabou Mines is an experimental theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City. Founding and history Mabou Mines was founded by David Warrilow, Lee Breuer, Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and Philip Glass, at the house of Akalait ...

, he created wind puppetry. In "Dogugaeshi" he uses the Japanese art form of sliding screens. Other works include La Bella Dormente nel Bosco, Petrushka,

, Master Peter's Puppet Show, the Araneidae Show, Behind the Lid, and Arias with a Twist, among others. He has collaborated with such artists as

Joey Arias Joey Arias is an American artist based in New York City, best known for work as a performance artist, cabaret singer, and drag artist, but also as a published author, comedian, stage persona and film actor. He also goes by the names Joseph Ar ...

Pilobolus ''Pilobolus'' is a genus of fungi that commonly grows on herbivore dung. Life cycle The life cycle of ''Pilobolus'' begins with a black sporangium that has been discharged onto a plant substrate such as grass. A herbivorous animal such as a h ...

Paula Vogel Paula Vogel (born November 16, 1951) is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play ''How I Learned to Drive.'' A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Bro ...

and Joe Goode. He is considered an important theater artist by critics at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', et al. He has received national and regional recognition through numerous awards, including a Rome Prize from the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects, ...

, an Obie Award, a

Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...

Award in the discipline of Performing Arts and a Guggenheim fellowship, and his work has been presented internationally. In 2006, he had a solo exhibition at the Lisa Dent Gallery in San Francisco, CA. In 2022, it was announced that Twist was leading the puppetry in the Royal Shakespeare Company adaptation of

My Neighbor Totoro is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten. The film—which stars the voice actors Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, and Hitoshi Takagi—tells the story o ...

at the Barbican Theatre, London.

References

External links

Basil Twist's Official HomepageArchival footage of Basil Twist presenting at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Twist, Basil Living people Obie Award recipients Artists from San Francisco LGBT people from California American puppeteers American LGBT artists MacArthur Fellows 1969 births 21st-century American LGBT people Drama Desk Award winners