Senate Resolution 11

A RESOLUTION EXTENDING THE RECOGNITION OF THE MISSISSIPPI SENATE TO INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN PUPPET ARTS THEATRE DIRECTOR PETER ZAPLETAL AS THE RECIPIENT OF THE 2024 GOVERNOR'S ARTS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMING ARTS.

WHEREAS, the Governor's Arts Awards Program has announced its 2024 recipients, which include internationally known Puppet Arts Theatre Director Peter Zapletal as the 2024 Governor's Arts Award recipient for Excellence in Performing Arts; and

WHEREAS, established in 1988, Governor's Arts Awards are given to individuals and organizations to recognize outstanding work in the artistic disciplines, as well as arts-based community development and arts patronage in Mississippi. The awards are presented in partnership with the Governor's Office and signify the important relationship between government and the arts; and

WHEREAS, the Artistic Director for Puppet Arts Theatre, Peter Zapletal, grew up in former Czechoslovakia, recognized as the world center of modern puppetry. After graduating with a Master's Degree in Puppetry from the Academy of the Performing Arts in Prague, he joined the professional puppet theatre in Zilina, Slovakia. Soon afterwards, he and his family emigrated to New York, where he and his wife, Jarmila, immediately started to produce puppet performances; and

WHEREAS, by 1970 he was recognized in a New York Times article as a talent to watch. But his path took a turn south and he moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he joined the local PBS station as a puppeteer in residence. During the next 32 years, he created many instructional and special programs with and without puppets. His instructional programs were seen in classrooms across the United States, and special programs, from Beauty and the Beast to The Steadfast Tin Soldier with Burl Ives to Bolero (a ballet special), were broadcast by PBS stations; and

WHEREAS, Peter Zapletal garnered more than 50 national awards, among them five Emmy Awards for Ticktock Minutes, the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for 25 years of excellence in television puppetry, and the Puppeteers of America Award for high standards and continued excellence in puppetry; and

WHEREAS, in addition to his television work, he and his wife, Jarmila, also produced many shows in Puppet Arts Theatre tours throughout the Southeast, offering magical and exciting theatrical experiences. Those tours took him and the company from Southaven in the north to Gulfport in the south, from Vicksburg in the west to Meridian in the east, and everywhere in between. In Tupelo, Oxford, Laurel, Hattiesburg, Biloxi or Poplarville, where there were schools with an interest in bringing live performances, Puppet Arts Theatre was there; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Zapletal's other professional activities include stage directing Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone and The Medium, operas with Opera South at Jackson State University, directing Hansel & Gretel and The Golem with the Millsaps Players at Millsaps College, serving as President of Union Internationale de la Marionette — USA, Inc., Artistic Director for three National Festivals of the Puppeteers of America, and as Artistic Coordinator for the 1980 World Puppetry Festival at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C.; and

WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we pay tribute and express appreciation for the talent of a Mississippi performing arts director who has made Mississippi a better place and exemplifies the artistic traditions of our great state:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we hereby extend the recognition of the Mississippi Senate to internationally known Puppet Arts Theatre Director Peter Zapletal as the recipient of the 2024 Governor's Arts Award for Excellence in Performing Arts and extend our congratulations to a theatric leader on this auspicious occasion.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to Peter Zapletal as part of the Governor's Arts Awards presentation and made available to the Capitol Press Corps.