16-06-2025
Local Limelight: Donovan Zimmerman of the Paperhand Puppet project
For more than two decades, the artists Donovan Zimmerman and Jan Burger have used fantastical puppetry to captivate audiences and promote environmentalism across North Carolina.
Why it matters: The Paperhand Puppet Project — which Zimmerman and Burger co-founded in 1998 — is now one of the Triangle's most iconic and unique artistic endeavors, mixing music and acting with intricate handmade masks, dreamlike sets and giant puppets.
Driving the news: The nonprofit arts organization will take over Chapel Hills' Forest Theatre this summer to unveil its 25th play, "The Gift," which explores the wisdom of grandmothers as well as how water influences the world.
It features a collaboration with Jaki Shelton Green, the state's poet laureate, and singer and songwriter Dawn Landes.
What they're saying: "I think the common thread [of our plays] is that Jan and I both share a real healthy sense of wonder when it comes to like looking at the phenomenon and the miracles of this earth," Zimmerman, 55, told Axios.
"I think we try to bring people back that sense of interconnectedness [with nature] because I think that there's a real tendency to feel disconnected in our busy modern lives."
What's next: " The Gift," will be shown at the Forest Theatre every weekend between Aug. 8 and Sept. 28. Tickets are now on sale.
We talked with Zimmerman for our latest Local Limelight conversation. The Q&A has been edited for Smart Brevity.
🚗 How did you end up in the Triangle? I fell in love with my wife-to-be and we are still together on the piece of land we bought. That was probably around 1991. I had been traveling around a lot, living in Oregon and in Connecticut.
One of those times coming through here I met Lea and I canceled my other plans and stayed here.
🍛 Favorite place to eat in the Triangle? Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe in Chapel Hill. She provides food for our whole cast every Saturday during our run of shows.
📖 What is the last great book you read? " Is a River Alive?" by Robert Macfarlane.
🗣️Why are the arts important to a city? I see it as a basic need, like people need food. I don't think we want to live in a society that doesn't have artists reflecting the world back to us in beautiful, interesting and compelling ways that enrich our existence here.
💸 What is the Triangle missing? Prioritizing funding artistic endeavors like we do sporting events.
🐶 How do you unplug? I hang out in my yard, pet my dog Koki and eat mulberries off the big old mulberry tree in my front yard. Or I go swimming in a pond that's just adjacent to our land.
