Paul Zaloom

Infobox actor
bgcolour =
name = Paul Finley Zaloom

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birthdate = birth date and age|1951|12|14
location = Garden City, New York flagicon|New York flagicon|USA
occupation = Puppeteer and Actor

Paul Finley Zaloom (born 14 December 1951 in Garden City, Long Island) is an American actor and puppeteer best known for his role as the character Beakman on the television show "Beakman's World".

Zaloom began his entertainment career with the Bread and Puppet Theater, a troupe specializing in self-invented, home-made theater. In his solo work he utilizes found-object animation, in which he takes objects as varied as coffee pots and humidifiers and turns them into elements of political satire. His personal politics are liberal, having referred to Elizabeth Dole and Margaret Thatcher as "right wing nut jobs." He has also been a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy since the early 1980s, having helped to lead a disarmament march during the Cold War. Zaloom has written, designed and performed eleven full length one-man shows, including "Fruit of Zaloom", "Sick But True", "Mighty Nice", and "The Mother of All Enemies," the latter a shadow-puppet show featuring traditional Middle-Eastern comic puppet character Karagoz. His latest effort tackles social issues such as privacy, the war on terrorism, and discrimination based on sexual orientation and ethnicity.

He has produced two films: A mockumentary entitled "In Smog and Thunder: The Great War of the Californias" recounting a fictional war between Los Angeles and San Francisco, released in 2003. The second film, "Dante's Inferno", is a retelling of the poet Dante's journey through hell, set in Los Angeles and performed in a style of puppetry called toy theater that uses paper cutouts for puppets and sets. Zaloom co-wrote the script and was head puppeteer and performed multiple voices for the film. Both films feature the artwork of Sandow Birk.

Zaloom teaches classes related to activism and puppeteering at CalArts in Los Angeles. He continues to perform as Beakman in "Beakman Live!" stage shows, and is involved in any number of artistic projects as an advisor and mentor.Called “one of the most original and talented political satirists working in the theater” by the New York Times, Paul Zaloom is an OBIE-winning puppeteer and performance artist who has written, designed and performed 12 solo spectacles, including Fruit of Zaloom, Zaloominations, and Creature from the Blue Zaloom.

His highly idiosyncratic work utilizes techniques such as overhead projection, government document expose, cantastoria (picture performance), and hand, rod, shadow, found object, and dummy puppets.

Zaloom has performed his work across the U.S. at many types of venues, including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Walker Arts Center, Spoleto Festival USA, UCLA Performing Arts Series, the American Repertory Theater, L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art, King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut, and hundreds of others. He’s also played the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Scotland; Les Semaines de la Marionette, Paris; the UNIMA World Congress, Dresden; Vienna Festival; and many others on 9 international tours.

Zaloom has received a Village Voice OBIE, an American Theater Wing Design Award, New York Dance and Performance Award (the “Bessie”), L.A. Weekly Critics’ Award, and 4 Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry from UNIMA-USA. He’s also been granted a Guggenheim Fellowship, 4 Jim Henson Foundation grants, a COLA Fellowship, 4 National Endowment for the Arts grants, to name a few.

He has taught puppetry and cantastoria at colleges and universities in the US and Europe, including Cal Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, Emerson College, the Omega Institute, George Mason University, the University of Michigan, and the Institut Internationale de la Marrionnette, Charlesville, France, amongst others.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0952464|name=Paul Zaloom
* [http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/set/4567/sarahzaloom.html Interview with Paul Zaloom]