Puppeteer Sherwin Rackal is breaking barriers in his attempts to keep T&T on the map of puppetry entertainment, education and development.
He said puppetry is widely recognised in T&T because of the popular children’s television programme Sesame Street. Rackal has not only met the characters from the series—Big Bird, Grover, Elmo, Oscar the Grouch, Ernie and Bert, the Cookie Monster, Kermit the Frog, and Mr Snuffleupagus—but also the maker of the puppets, the producer of the show, and some of the voice actors.
In his pursuit of puppetry excellence, Rackal was recently accepted to attend the Eugene O’Neill Theater Centres puppetry summer conference from June 6-15 in Connecticut, United States.
However, to take advantage of this education experience for his continued development as a puppeteer, Rackal needs to raise US$1,500 ($10,500) to cover his tuition and travel expenses.
“This is an incredible opportunity for me to further my puppetry skills, work with world-class mentors, and deepen my impact in the art form,” he said.
“Being accepted to the O’Neill isn’t something that happens every year, and I don’t take this chance lightly. The skills I will gain will help me push the boundaries of puppetry both locally and internationally, and bring new ideas to my work in the Caribbean.”
The Eugene O’Neill Theater Centre was founded in 1964 in honour of Eugene O’Neill, America’s only playwright to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The centre is the preeminent organisation dedicated to the discovery and development of new works and new voices for the American theatre.
The National Puppetry Conference is one of the many arts, cultural, and entertainment programmes offered by the theatre.
Donations can be made to a GoFundMe account—https://fundmetnt.com/campaign/help-sherwin-attend-the-national-puppetry-conference-at-the-oneill-in-connecticut—to help Rackal raise money for the conference.
Another donation option is Republic Bank Limited Savings account 9500 0362 5731.
