Basil Twist is a visionary, third-generation puppeteer whose work has reshaped contemporary puppetry worldwide. A San Francisco native and the only American graduate of France’s École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette, he gained national attention with The Araneidae Show and the ground-breaking multiple award-winning Symphonie Fantastique, which revealed him as a singular artist of unlimited imagination. His inventive, genre-defying productions - from Petrushka and Dogugaeshi to Arias with a Twist (co-created with nightlife icon Joey Arias) - have toured internationally.
Deeply musical in nature, Twist’s love of music has led to major opera collaborations at the Opéra Comique, English National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Vienna State Opera. Other operatic highlights include Hansel and Gretel and La Bella Dormente Nel Bosco, and De Falla’s Master Peters Pupper Show with Eos Orchestra.
In dance, he has created puppetry for works by Christopher Wheeldon, Pilobolus, the Joffrey Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Ballet, and Joe Goode Dance Company, and adapted Petrushka for symphony orchestras and City Center’s Fall for Dance.
Twist created the siblings in Paula Vogel’s The Long Christmas Ride Home at Trinity Repertory, The Long Wharf, and The Vineyard Theatre, including directing and designing the West Coast premiere at The Magic Theatre. He also designed the play-within-a-play for Oskar Eustis’ Hamlet at Shakespeare in the Park and worked on Des McAnuff’s Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots at La Jolla Playhouse. Broadway credits include puppetry design for Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Oh, Hello!, and The Addams Family, as well as puppetry direction for the Pee-Wee Herman Show. A longtime collaborator with the late Lee Breuer and Mabou Mines, Twist also worked on Peter and Wendy, Red Beads, and A Streetcar Named Desire at the Comédie Française.
Twist has received a MacArthur Fellowship, Rome Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, USA Fellowship, and multiple Obie, Drama Desk, Bessie, UNIMA, and Henry Hewes Awards. He directs the internationally recognized Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE in New York City.

This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan.
Series presenting partners: Detroit PBS, ALL ARTS, and PBS Books. Media partner: Michigan Public.