SUMMER RESIDENCY SHOWCASE 2025

Tom Burch is a theatrical scenic designer and educator based in Charlotte. He holds degrees from University of Kentucky, University of Bristol, England, and Northwestern University. He has taught at University of Chicago, Ithaca College, and now at UNC Charlotte. His work as a professional scenic designer has been featured at theatre companies across the US, as well as for companies and projects in Czechia, England, Scotland, Taiwan and Italy. Puppetry has been an evolving part of his practice and gained steam during and post-pandemic. To him, puppetry as an art form exists along equal parts of design, storytelling and sculpture and it embodies a unique dichotomy for the viewer — intellectually understanding that a puppet is an object, while simultaneously entering a storytelling world where puppets are discreet, embodied characters

For the residency, Tom embarked on the creation of a new puppetry-based performance piece, titled On a Bench, By the Sea, based on three short stories by British writer, Wendy Meddour.  For the past six weeks, the focus has been on adapting the first story, researching the visual world, drawing, carving and building the two main puppets, and finally directing some volunteer puppeteers to workshop it. What you will see here, is the first of the three parts. This part is based on Meddour’s book, Lubna and Pebble. The subsequent two parts will be based on her books, The Friendship Bench and Grandpa’s Top Threes. All three stories hinge on the question of kindness, the directionality of human connection, and the means by which children, specifically, can teach us all about the necessity for empathy in an increasingly distant world.

Lubna brings us the story of a refugee girl, whose imaginary-yet-tangible best friend is a small stone that she picks up one day, her evolving connection to Pebble, and the profound sacrifice of giving Pebble to someone in greater need.