IBPOC Internship update: Seymour Irons

Working with Bad New Days on “Return of the Megafauna” was a truly rewarding experience. Prior to this collaboration I had hoped to learn about puppetry one day, and this project provided the platform and team for me to learn and showcase these new skills.

Project director, Adam Paolozza dramaturg Keri Pederson were amazing leaders on this project. “Return of The Megafauna” is a new piece that researches the “what if” question: “What if we brought back extinct animals, and it went well?” This query never crossed my mind until this project, though exploring the possibility brought interest into new moulds and themes of work. I’m inspired to explore and create more 'out of the box’ work like this one.

Learning to operate the sloth puppet was very uncomfortable at first, but became easier with breathwork and clear instructions led by Keri & Adam. I'm looking into starting my own performances involving puppetry. I’m going into my last year of Media and Performance Production at Queen's University, I’m hoping I can use these skills learned this summer to help enhance my final project. Workshopping in the Tett was fun, but the project didn’t feel real until we took to the streets of Kingston.

The Kick and Push pop-ups and set-up at City park felt lively. Seeing the puppets operate outdoors was quite enjoyable. Seeing large crowds and children for this work was very heartwarming. I can’t wait to see what work is born from this initial project, both sloths are great and seem to be favored by all audiences, I believe this project will definitely do well once a full show.

-Seymour