For Sport or For Beauty illustrates the relationship between people with marginalized identities and the anxiety-informed “prey mentality. ” This performance follows a now young-adult deer as it learns that there are people in this world who are out to get it. Adopting a lifestyle of fleeing in response to that truth, the deer realises that their self defense mechanism actually enforces the threats of fear and acts on behalf of an unseen oppressor. This introspection sparks a revelation and metamorphosis into a creature much more fantastical and free.
Featured Puppeteers: Emily Batsford and Maria Camia

This project is made possible with funds from the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson. In Partnership with Dutchess County Pride

About the artist: William PK Carter is a quilter and puppet artist based in Central Valley, New York. She bridges the puppet and fine-art worlds by fabricating wondrous creatures that exist at the intersection of queerness and blackness. She received her BS in Studio Art from Skidmore College in 2023 and is the recipient of the Skidmore College President’s Racial Justice Award, the John P. Heins Award: Outstanding Senior Thesis Exhibition, and a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant. She is a current resident artist at LaMama Experimental Theatre Club, where she is developing a long-form puppetry piece entitled Beautiful Without Consequence.