Annie Katsura Rollins

Annie Katsura Rollins is an artist, puppeteer, and scenic designer who is specialized in Chinese shadow puppetry. She was apprenticed by many people in this art, even spending a year in China learning shadow puppetry from masters Cui and Wang. Annie also created and performed two shadow bike tours during her time in China and apprenticed with Master Shi and Master Liu as well as others. Rollins then created a full-length work known as There's Nothing to Tell and performed it in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As for her career, she worked with the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, created the set for the dance piece Black Label Movement, and designed puppets for the puppet adaptation of The Purple Flower. In addition to performing shadow puppetry, Annie Katsura Rollins also taught workshops at Open Eye Figure Theatre and the Center for Puppetry Arts. I'll bet she met some Muppet performers during her time at the Center for Puppetry Arts, because they are always training new puppeteers there. As well as puppetry, she had a brief acting career in Los Angeles, appearing on Americanese, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Big Day, and many others. I wonder if Annie ever met Jon Ludwig who did shadow puppet segments for Bear in the Big Blue House, I'll bet he would be interested in meeting her. Currently, Rollins is pursuing a PhD in Humanities at Concordia University and she's also the creator of the website chineseshadowpuppetry.com. That might be something useful for future puppeteers interested in shadow puppetry to look up. And when they learn all about it, they'll definitely thank the creator for giving them so much info. Annie Katsura Rollins, you've gone from apprentice to a master at Chinese shadow puppetry. You're also pretty crafty at designing sets, costumes, and of course, shadow puppets. Keep on working and remember to balance your entertainment field and humanities field so you won't be stressed out. Very well-done Annie. You're a master now Rollins!

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