Animating Two Puppets

Tucson Children's Museum, September, 2022
Community and Performing Arts Center, Green Valley,
March 2019


Emily Dickinson Biography
By Jeanne Missey Osgood
 
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, a 19th Century American writer, remains one of the most significant and widely read poets in the world today.  She lived a quiet life, and after the age of about 30, chose never to leave her father’s grounds, preferring the company of close family, her dog, and a few chosen friends.  She enjoyed reading, writing, baking and gardening.  She never married, and lived with her sister, mother and father in the same house where she was born and died in Amherst, Massachusetts. 
 
Her poetry was considered unusual for the day.  Instead of dwelling on the outside world as most poets, she focused on the inner world with the microscopic scrutiny of a scientist, as well as, showing groundbreaking adventurousness and innovation in meter, imagery form and rhyme.  Of the nearly 1800 poems and 1000 letters that survive, only about 10 poems were published during her lifetime, and most of those were heavily edited and printed without her permission.  It is assumed, that no one was aware of the great volume of poetry until after her death, when her sister, Vinnie, found bundles of poems in a bottom bureau drawer in the poets bedroom.
 
Emily’s 25-year friend and preceptor, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, described her verse as “poetry torn up by the roots with stones and earth and dew still clinging to them, giving a freshness and fragrance not otherwise conveyed”.  But, he also wrote that she drained his nerve, referring to her as “his partially cracked poetess”.
 
There has been much speculation as to why she chose to stay home, out of the public eye, to take care of aging parents.  The myths and legendss continue to rush in and fill the gap:  was it unrequited love, a strict father, illness (mental or physical) or the conscience choice of an artist? 
 
Since the 1890’s, with the first major publications of her poems, Emily Dickinson has become increasingly popular, both with poetry enthusiasts in the general public and within the academy.  Even today, her retiring lifestyle, as well as her brilliant poetry, feed the fire of intrigue and add to her mystery.  But more importantly, it answers the question that she ask Higginson long ago, “Is my verse alive?”

Emily Grows her Poetic Genius
in her Family Garden
Shadow Theatre, Performance,
coming soon!

Arizona Senior Academy, Tucson,
Lecture and Performance
  January 2020 & October 2021

Tucson Festival of Books,
March 2016 -2019

Venues Performed

* 2021 & 2020 Arizona Senior Academy, Academy Village/Altura
* 2019 Greater Vail Community ReSources Awards Luncheon
* 2019 Tucson Festival of Books, U of A
* 2019 Joel Valdez Tucson Public Library
* 2019 Green Valley's Got Talent (CPAC) Community and Performance Arts Center
* 2018 Tucson Festival of Books, U of A
* 2017 Tucson Festival of Books, U of A
* 2016 Tucson Festival of Books, U of A
* 2016 Splendido @ Rancho Vistoso, Tucson, Arizona

Testamonials

* You are most definitely a renaissance woman!  Emily came to AV and you brought tears of joy to your admirers' eyes.
* Really enjoyed your witty and dramatic presentation of Emily Dickinson!  Great Job!
* Spirit of Emily Dickinson came alive in your show!  Loved it!
* Granny embodies goodness through and through.  The stories were heart-warming and funny!

Organizations

*UNIMA-USA
* Emily Dickinson International Society
* Puppet Hub
* International Ventriloquist Society
* University of Arizona Poetry Center

Education

* Graduate courses, Puppet Arts, University of Connecticut
* Masters Degree, Higher Education, Bowling green State University
* Bachelors Degree, Communications, The Ohio State University