Interview with Beth Nixon

Beth Nixon (aka Ramshackle Enterprises) builds puppets, masks, piñatas, parades, pageants, magical lands and other spectacular, on her own, and in collaboration with other humans of all ages.  She comes from Rhode Island, lives in West Philly, and travels frequently to places where exciting building, performing or facilitating opportunities arise.  Mostly she uses cardboard, science, and the imagination. She specializes in beast building and suitcase theater. Beth has an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College and was awarded 2008 Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts. Beth was interviewed by BSA student Melissa Chancer.

Why did you pick puppetry as your medium of choice?

Mostly because it is inclusive of many different art forms—sculpting them, designing them, animating with theatrical techniques, performing, directing, producing. It is a way to do all types of art forms that I want to do. It is a loose enough bag that I can do many different things, and it can be relevant to any subject.

What has been your best teaching experience?

The first one happened in 2002 where I worked with a small town in Montana. I worked with people from Yaak Valley, Montana and Troy, Montana to create a timeline pageant of their town. It’s an area with about 1000 people; 400 people were involved in creating it, and about 400 people came to see it, leaving only about 200 people who weren’t involved in some way. About 350 kids, parents, grandparents, and others from the community helped out. It was a really positive experience, and the community got behind it and made it so much bigger than it could have been. They really got excited and made it their own. In 2006 I went back to do another project with the town, but that wasn’t quite as mind-blowing an experience.

Another place I had a really positive experience was at the Fellowship Place, a mental health support facility in New Haven, Connecticut. It took place in one week and the workshop was comprised of 15 adults. The pageant they came up with was about overcoming stigmas largely connected to mental health issues. They presented the pageant in a local park, and it was really great how the community pulled together.

How do you find new teaching opportunities?

Most find me, which is awesome. But I also find them through my website, word of mouth, asking people if they might be interested, talking to friends who teach and asking if their schools would be interested, or talking to people who go to a community center I’m interested in.  If I meet someone in a workshop who is really excited about it, I ask them to remember me if they ever want to do another program. It’s a lot of self-promotion.

How do your teaching experiences differ from the work you do on your own?

The difference often has to do with scale. The work I do on my own is small scale and can fit into a suitcase most of the time. It doesn’t involve as much stuff—more clowning and less cardboard. The result is also very different; participants in the workshops are building their own stories, while I focus on stories that are more personal. The process, though, is very similar. I am a lot easier on people in the workshops than I am on myself especially in the brainstorming process. Doing these workshops reminds me of the difficulties you encounter throughout the creative process. I perform more personal narratives, while they come up with collaborative narratives. Sometime I’ll help people come up with personal narratives and help them build their own, but this a rare occurrence. It’s always about what comes next in a group situation. In my own work, it’s usually my idea, my story or someone else’s story through my perspective.

What projects are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I am working on a brand new show for the Banners and Cranks Festival in Chicago, the second weekend in May. Also I am collaborating with the Pig Iron Theatre Company on a performance for a festival. I am also working on my website with a friend, and I am doing some grant writing, staying on the administrative side of things.  Plus there’s also the big project of raising my 1 year old.

Do you have any advice for young artists just starting out?

Go for it and keep going.

Seek out mentors and inspiring organizations, people and places that interest you and that you want to work with. Then see if there are ways to get involved. It definitely shaped me to work with people doing similar things to what I really wanted to do. It’s important to learn to find your own way.

Keep at the heart of things. Your reason for teaching is the passion you have for your subject, and you should always keep that as the reason behind your work. Maintain a balance of your own creative process and the work you do facilitating others. Don’t put up a wall between the two, and let them both inform your creativity.