Performer – Puppeteers (3)

2023 Summer Position: Performer – Puppeteers 

Performer-Puppeteer 

Number of Positions: 3 

Funder: Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training 

Contract: May 30 – August 25, 2023 

Wage: $18/hour (35 hours/week @ 13 weeks) 

Application Due: March 24, 2023 

Potential candidates for these three positions must be First Nations, Métis or Inuit and reside within the GTA. Successful candidates must be registered or eligible to register with Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training. For all three of these summer positions, you must be a post-secondary student returning to school in the fall, and between the ages of 18 and 30. 

About Your Role 

We are seeking three young people to join us this summer for our 2023 paid Apprenticeship in Public Space Performance Program. You may be an emerging artist. You may be dedicated to activism and social justice. You may be inspired by community engaged arts. You may be someone who wants to use art to explore the urgent issues of our day. This summer, you’ll get a chance to dive into all of these areas as a performer-puppeteer in Dufferin Grove Park in Tkaronto where we will offer performances, parades and pageantry using large puppets, masks, song, and movement. Our main project will be to remount our show, Animal Nature, an all-ages play that is an ecological, giant puppet tale about habitat loss and resource extraction. There will also be opportunities to develop artist facilitation skills during community workshop sessions. 

Scheduling for this position is variable and includes performances in the evenings and on weekends.   

About Your Responsibilities 

• You will become familiar with the company’s anti-harassment/discrimination policies, reporting procedures, and health and safety practices for the studio and park 
• Learn about the essentials of working as an artist in public space, creating an accessible arts experience and how to be artist facilitator, park host and an ambassador for Clay and Paper Theatre 
• Attend workshops & training in voice, movement, puppetry & mask 
• Assist with construction & maintenance of props, costumes, set pieces, masks & puppets  
• Assist in setup of community outdoor workshops & facilitation of puppet and/or mask building with participants under the lead and supervision of C&P staff artists 

• Attend rehearsals, learn lines, songs & stage blocking, develop techniques specific to outdoor performance in a public space 
• Set-up & strike set & props, get into costume & make-up, complete vocal & physical warm-up, welcome attendees, perform show 
• Assist with outreach & promotion of the show, including hands-on promotional activities: putting up posters, attending local events in Davenport with a parade or performing a small C&P show teaser, handing out leaflets, participating in photo and video shoots, pre-show puppet tours and after show Q&As 

About You 

• You have theatre, dance, puppetry, and/or musical training or experience. 

• Production, construction and design skills are also assets. 
• Clay & Paper Theatre is a small but mighty OUTDOOR theatre company, so applicants must be comfortable and open to working in a non-traditional theatre setting and in public view. 
• You enjoy and highly value working in a collaborative and community environment.  
• You are mature, dependable, organized and a self-starter. 

About Your Application 

Please submit your resume along with a brief cover letter explaining why you would like to join our motley crew to auditions.clayandpaper@gmail.com. You can also submit a short video and tell us about yourself that way.  

OPEN UNTIL FILLED

Interviews and auditions will begin in mid-April. If you require any accessibility accommodations, let’s talk. We really want to meet you and help create a comfortable space for your interview/audition. PLEASE NOTE: Interview/audition dates may be subject to some adjustments. But we’ll try and keep people as up to date as possible.  

If you have any questions or would like assistance please don’t hesitate to contact us at clayandpaper@gmail.com or 416-708-3222.  

About Us 

Since 1994, Clay & Paper Theatre has been the resident theatre company of Dufferin Grove Park, producing plays, pageants and parades with and for the community, grounded in the idea that performance in public space is an act of cultural transformation. Our practice of building, rehearsing, and performing in full public view is an attempt on our part to reunite art with the daily life of the community and to make art accessible to all.