Professor Develops New Puppet Production in Artist Residency
Associate Professor of Scenic Design Tom Burch is an award-winning designer, with notable credits in Chicago and New York City and as far away as Italy and Taiwan. Locally, his work can be seen regularly at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, Charlotte Conservatory Theatre, and of course in Robinson Hall.
In addition to creating stunning stage sets for dramatic productions, Burch plays with puppets. He recently began developing his newest creations at Goodyear Arts, a local nonprofit arts space at Camp North End where Burch was one of three Summer 2025 Artists in Residence.
The residency began on May 18 and ended on June 27 with a workshop performance of On a Bench, By the Sea, Burch’s adaptation of children’s books by Wendy Meddour.
“Basically, I’ve used the residency to adapt the script, research, design, sketch, carve, and build the puppets,” Burch said.
Burch began with the story “Lubna and Pebble,” which Rebecca Worthington at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte (CTC) had suggested to him after his successful puppet adaptation of Peter Reynolds’s book, “The Dot.” In the story, a little girl in a refugee camp finds comfort in a pebble, which becomes her “friend” and which she ultimately gives to another refugee boy.
“It’s a really lovely little story,” Burch said. “It has a lot of comedy to it, but it has a lot of heart.”
Burch received permission from Meddour to adapt “Lubna and Pebble” and two other books, “The Friendship Bench” and “Grandpa’s Top Threes.” All three stories have a bench, and they share a common theme, he said.
“They all have this beautiful question of kindness and empathy and helping out someone else.”
The Goodyear Arts residency, Burch said, enabled him to begin working through the project and “get it up on its puppet feet.”
Three puppets debuted in the June 27 performance at Goodyear, operated by members of the Goodyear Arts Collective and recent theatre alumna Irene Nash, who graduated in December. Nash (pictured above, left) was a member of the puppetry team in the Department of Theatre’s Fall 2023 production of The Caligari Project, Burch’s adaptation of the classic expressionist film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
While On a Bench, By the Sea is still in development, Burch is also at work designing and building puppets for another CTC production – Tiny and Large: Big Friends, written and directed by Melissa Roberge. The PreK touring show will begin performances in the winter of 2026.
In the meantime, visitors to Goodyear Arts can see Burch’s puppets and explore his creative process in sketches, photographs, and other documentation through July 18.
