Tickets

This performance has passed, and is no longer available for purchase.

Safety Protocols

We are committed to following the protocols that are designed to keep all of us safe. Rowan University is currently requiring masks, regardless of vaccination status, for all indoor public spaces on campus, through at least September 30, 2021. Additionally please note that we are prepared to configure seating according to any mandated distancing measure from the University or New Jersey State guidelines, and so ticket sales are being capped to allow for adaptability to variable conditions. All tickets must be purchased in advance to help us ensure a contactless process and responsible contact tracing, and the University has implemented MERV 13 air filters,  enhanced cleaning, sanitizing stations, and touchless bathrooms in all campus facilities.

Videos

Simple Gifts Trailer

Virtual Masterclass

On September 25, 2020, the Cashore Marionettes visited Rowan University's Pfleeger Concert Hall for a 1 hour and 25 minute virtual masterclass, which was offered for free and open to the public. Please enjoy this recording of that event, where Joseph Cashore answered questions and provided an in-depth discussion of the design, creation, and manipulation of his various masterpieces.

Artist Bio

At the age of 11, Joseph Cashore created his first marionette from clothespins, wood, string and a tin can.  It was while playing with this puppet that he was startled by the sudden but momentary sensation that the puppet was alive. This illusion had nothing to do with the appearance of the marionette and everything to do with the quality of the movement.

After graduation from college, Mr. Cashore made his second marionette. He quickly discovered that in order to have the fluid motion he sought, he would have to create his own control designs. For the next nineteen years, Mr. Cashore experimented with the construction of the marionettes and devised totally new control mechanisms.

During the late 1980s Mr. Cashore had a breakthrough. He had always admired Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and decided to make a puppet which would convincingly “play” the violin solo note for note. “It seemed almost impossible to get the quality of movement that I wanted,” Mr. Cashore explains. “But once I began to solve the technical problems and gain subtle control of the marionette body, I saw that there was the possibility for greater depth of expression with the marionettes.” That puppet, Maestro Janos Zelinka, was the turning point in Mr. Cashore’s career and became the impetus for his present productions.

Mr. Cashore has been performing full-time since 1990 across North America, Europe and Asia.  He has received numerous awards including a Pew Charitable Trusts’ Fellowship for Performance Art, based upon his artistic accomplishment. He has also received a Henson Foundation Grant, an award intended to help promote puppetry to adult audiences. Mr. Cashore has been awarded the highest honor an American puppeteer can receive, a UNIMA Citation of Excellence. UNIMA states that Citations are “awarded to shows that touch their audiences deeply; that totally engage, enchant and enthrall.”

About the Marie Rader Presenting Series

The Marie Rader Presenting Series at Rowan University brings exceptional artists to campus, enriching the university community and the Southern New Jersey region through expanded performing arts programming, bolstering a robust academic program in dance, music, and theatre. The series is made possible in part through generous support from the Henry M. Rowan Family Foundation via the Marie F. Rader Memorial Fund and through funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Make a Donation

PARTNERS