Basil Twist

Originally from San Francisco, Basil is a third generation puppeteer who lives and works in New York City, and is the sole American graduate of the Ecole Superieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in France. Original creations include The Araneidae Show, Symphonie Fantastique, Petrushka, Master Peter’s Puppet Show, Dogugaeshi, and La Bella Dormente nel Bosco. Collaborations include Behind The Lid with Lee Nagrin and Red Beads with Lee Breuer/Mabou Mines. His collaboration with Lee Breuer on a new Streetcar Named Desire for The Comedy Francaise in Paris, recently completed its five month run and will be remounted in 2013. His Broadway credits include The Pee-Wee Herman Show and The Addams Family. Film credits include Harry Potter's The Prisoner of Azkaban as the underwater puppetry consultant. Since 1998 Twist has continually expanded the realm of puppetry by creating and touring new works that integrate live music. He has partnered with such premiere institutions as The Spoleto Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center’s Voice and Visions Series, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Japan Society and Gotham Chamber Opera. Twist premiered his Hansel and Gretel with The Houston Grand Opera and Atlanta Opera Company. He has received an OBIE Award, four UNIMA Awards for Excellence in Puppetry, two Bessie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, and a Henry Hewes Design Award. Mr. Twist is a Guggenheim Fellow and was an inaugural United States Artist Ford Fellow. Twist is the director of the Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE Arts Center in NYC. His adaptation of The Rite of Spring will premiere at The University of North Carolina in 2013.