Star of new ‘Odyssey’ adaptation? Your imagination.
Members of the cast of “The Odyssey.”Nile Scott Studios and Maggie Hall Arts & Culture Star of new ‘Odyssey’ adaptation? Your imagination. Eileen O’Grady Harvard Staff Writer February 14, 2025 4 min read Puppet designer on power of negative space to provoke emotion — and creating a convincing Cyclops Kate Brehm knelt behind a backlit screen in a Loeb Drama Center rehearsal room, holding a shadow puppet of the character Penelope from Homer’s “Odyssey.” Brehm and puppeteer Abigail Baird were discussing the movements required to ensure a sharp silhouette of the puppet during a scene in the A.R.T.’s new stage adaptation of the epic poem. “Part of the skill of puppetry is to offer just enough information, but not all of it, so that you’re taking advantage of the negative space in between so that the audience can fill it in,” said Brehm, puppetry director and designer for “The Odyssey,” which opens at the American Repertory Theater on Feb. 18. “Puppets...