GASPARE NASUTO (IT)

His wooden puppets, small masterpieces of craftsmanship, can be found in private collections, Italian museums and abroad. Gaspare Nasuto, world ambassador of the Pulcinella mask for the Acerra Museum, is among Italy’s most awarded puppet artists with roughly twenty international awards throughout his career. He performed and held workshops in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Belgium, England, Croatia, Romania, Russia, Iran and Colombia. His productions dedicated to Pulcinella make him not only a performer, but also an author of experimental Neapolitan guarattelle, which is an ancient form of glove puppetry born in Naples around the year 1500. With a lively and distinctive manipulation technique, guarattelle maintains surprisingly modern performing and theatrical nuances. The voice of Pulcinella, a character unique to these performances, derives from the pivetta, a reed the puppeteer keeps under his palate during presentations.