Bio
Andrew Kim is a puppet and mask maker, performer, director, and instructor in a variety of theatrical styles from outdoor spectacles to plays to cabarets. He was born in Korea, raised and trained in the United States and is now based in West Yorkshire, England where he is co-director of Thingumajig Theatre.
Andrew is a former company member of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota where he has worked intermittently for over thirteen years. He has also been a performer and builder with Bread & Puppet, Horse & Bamboo, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Children's Theatre Company (Minneapolis), the UMO Ensemble (Vashon, Washington).
Andrew has served as an organizer and lead artist in several outdoor community-generated spectacles: He has served as the Artistic Director of the Islewilde Community Arts Celebration (Vashon, WA), Director of the Fremont Summer Solstice Pageant (Seattle), Curator and Performer for the Mighty Tiny Puppet Stage at the Oregon Country Fair (Veneta, OR), and Artistic Director of the Dream Parade (Shijr City, Taiwan) where he supervised a team of 33 artists from 12 countries to lead a parade of 2000 volunteers.
Andrew has studied traditional mask dance in Korea and Bali, mask carving in Bali, and clowning at Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, California.
He is the recipient of several awards including an Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship, a Fellowship from the Minnesota State Arts Board, a Puppeteers of America Endowment and multiple project grants from 4Culture, the Jim Henson Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Andrew was named "Best Director" in the 2001 City Pages Best of the Twin Cities and the 2001 "Theater Artist of the Year" by the Minnesota Daily. His wordless mask play WANT was named City Pages "Best Stage Production" of 2002.
Andrew's recent work includes co-creating and performing THE VERTIGO OF SHEEP at PuppetFest 2005, the national conference of the Puppeteers of America, and co-creating and directing GOTAMA for In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. His upcoming work includes helping to create a community parade and pageant for the River Festival in Conway, Wales (August 2006), directing a new show for Denmark's Theatret Thalias Tjenere (Sept. and Oct. 2006), performing as Thingumajig Theatre in WANT (UK Tour: Jan. and Feb. 2007) and THE VERTIGO OF SHEEP (US Tour: March 2007), and performing in an upcoming production with Faceless Company (summer 2007).
updated 15 June 2006
After starting Thingumajig Theatre, in 2006, I've stopped updating this website, for more recent information, please visit www.thingumajig.info.
