Owen Collins Performs at the Rochester Fringe Festival The professor of theater performed in an ensemble show, titled “Small Talk Theater,” at the Central Library of Rochester.

By Abby Harlan
October 19, 2026

Owen Collins, professor of theater at Washington and Lee University, performed in an ensemble show, titled “Small Talk Theater,” Sept. 15-26 at the Rochester Fringe Festival in Rochester, New York.

The festival, which has drawn more than 1.1 million visitors from around the world since debuting in 2012, is a multidisciplinary event showcasing a diverse range of performances such as stand-up comedy, dance and theater.

The show, presented at the Central Library of Rochester, featured artists performing a form of puppet theater called teatro lambe-lambe. The form originated in Brazil in the 1980s and combines puppetry and music inside a compact stage box viewed by one audience member at a time. Each artist develops the theme, story, music and box design, an approach that emphasizes the intimate connection between the performer and audience member.

Collin’s puppet piece, “Brief Candle,” depicted a candle reassuring its apprehensive holder as it gradually melted. Collins crafted the stage box, puppets and lighting and wrote the short play on which the piece is based.

Collins has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2002 and has done theater professionally for more than 30 years. His design work has been seen at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre (Progeny Dance), the Corcoran Gallery of Art (W&L Repertory Dance Company), off-Broadway (Aquila Theatre’s “The Comedy of Errors”) and off-Broadway (IRT Theater’s “Depths of the Valley”), among other venues in the U.S. He holds a Bachelor of Science in theater production from Bradley University and a Master of Fine Arts in theater design from the University of South Carolina.

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