Sandy Spieler

Sandy Spieler is a painter, sculptor, performer, teacher, theater designer and director. She was the Artistic Director of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre from 1976 – 2015, and served on the Artistic Leadership team 2015-2019, and is one of the company's founders.

Her work includes tiny odd shows, main stage theater productions, and the Annual MayDay Parade and Ceremony involving thousands of participants in her diverse urban home community in Minneapolis, USA. She has directed Ceremonial Events in South Korea, Los Angeles, and the Dominican Republic, and led residencies throughout the region.

She asks that performance awaken us to the "Wonder! ?" of our everyday lives. Sandy feels privileged to work daily with the amazingly creative team of passionate people that cluster around In the Heart of the Beast Theatre.

Various awards, commissions and fellowships throughout the years have recognized her work, including Distinguished Artist Award 2014 endowed by the McKnight Foundation, 2014. Sandy has an MA of Cultural Performance form Bristol University England, studied puppetry arts at Bread and Puppet Theatre in Glover, Vermont, Balinese masked dance at New York University, and is part of the International ECOARTS network.

She is the mother of two wonderful young adults.

More about Sandy's work can be found here.