Tua Hautamäki

Tua Hautamäki is a scenographer from Jyväskylä currently working at Savonlinna Theatre (Savonlinnan teatteri). She was first introduced to puppetry at the Green Apple Puppet Theater (nukketeatteri Vihreä Omena) in 1995. From thereon, puppet theatre has held its place alongside costume and stage design. Hautamäki has also studied mask design in Italy, for example, and received a degree in puppet-making in 2014.

At the Saari Residence, Hautamäki will be working on the scenography for the puppet theatre production Keijujen kuninkaalle kadotetut lapset (”children lost to the fairy king”).

The performance gives a voice (text) and a face (projected photography) to those youths who have or have had mental or social problems, as well as to their parents who grieve and are concerned. The production also includes people from outside Finland as equal participants. The script is compiled of a puppeted interpretation of Goethe’s poem The Erl-King, texts written by young people and their parents at art workshops and news covering youth issues. Music for the production derives from Schubert’s score for Goethe’s poem, folkmusic and jazz. Photographs taken of the youths and their parents will be projected onto both the set and the performers. The travelling performance will premier in the summer of 2016. A book about the project will also be published in 2017.

Other  members of the group include director and scriptwriter Raili Kivelä, photographer Hanna-Kaisa Hämäläinen, light and video artist Teemu Määttänen, dancer, choreographer and yoga instructor Ruu Toropainen, graphic artist Christina Noukkala, cultural producer and singer Pirta Laaksonen, researcher and blogger Kirsi Saurén,  social work consultant and singer Tanja Tarkiainen, actors Kirsi Nurminen and Jonathan Failla as well as musicians Laura Vartio and Katri Susitaival.