What Is and What Could Be: Puppetry and the Practice of Possibility

Speaker: Amanda Petefish-Schrag

In a world shaped by increasingly complex challenges, how do we expand our sense of what is possible? Amanda Petefish-Schrag, associate professor in the Department of Music and Theatre, will explore how puppetry, an inherently interdisciplinary art form built on contradiction, makes abstract ideas tangible and open to exploration. Drawing on projects that weave together performance, unique materials, and community collaboration, she will show how puppetry can illuminate overlooked relationships, challenge assumptions that seem fixed or inevitable, and become a way to envision, test, and build alternative ways of thinking.

Amanda Petefish-Schrag is an associate professor in the Department of Music and Theatre at Iowa State University and an internationally recognized puppeteer, director, playwright, and educator. She began her puppetry career at age 4 with her family's touring company, The Petefish Puppeteers, and has worked professionally in the field for more than four decades. Her research and practice focus on puppetry, materiality, and community-engaged performance, examining how common materials become powerful tools for storytelling, learning, and civic engagement. Her designs and plays have been presented throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ecuador, and her puppetry designs have been featured in national exhibitions. She has received numerous honors, including national commendations from the American College Theatre Festival, a Kennedy Center National Teaching Artist Grant, the American Theatre in Higher Education Innovative Teaching Award, and the LAS Cassling Innovation Award. At Iowa State, she teaches puppetry, performance, and theatre history, and she directs productions for ISU Theatre.

This lecture recording can be found on the Available Recordings page approximately two business days after the event and will remain accessible for three weeks.

Co-Sponsors: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)