puppeteer

Puppeteer performing The Brementown Musicians in Piaţa Mare (Large Square), Sibiu, Romania.

A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object — a puppet— in real time to create the illusion of life. Depending on the type of puppetry, the puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or her own hands. Some puppet styles require puppeteers to work together as a team to create a single puppet character.

There are a wide range of styles of puppetry but whatever the style, the puppeteer's role is to manipulate the physical object in such a manner that the audience believes the object is imbued with life. In some instances the persona of the puppeteer is also an important feature. Similarly, animators can make a puppet move on film by using stop motion, where the puppet is moved tiny fractions in between each frame.

The relationship between the puppeteer and the puppet-maker is often assumed to be similar to that between an actor and a playwright. This may be so, but one of the characteristics of puppetry is that very often the puppeteer assumes the joint roles of puppet-maker, director, designer, writer and performer. In this case a puppeteer is a more complete theatre practicioner than is the case within other theatre forms.

Famous Modern Puppeteers

Sergey Obraztsov (1901-1992), frequently cited as the father of artistic puppetry, was highly skilled in finger puppeteering, but also extended the range of the form by exposing the manipulation techniques involved.

Probably the best known of modern puppeteers is Jim Henson (1936 -1990), who with his associate Frank Oz developed The Muppets. Their work has entertained children for decades on the television series like Sesame Street, and adults for The Muppet Show. Henson and Oz also frequently worked in film, including directing and puppeteer work in the 1982 film The Dark Crystal and the 1986 film Labyrinth. Oz is also well known for his work with the puppet of Yoda in the popular Star Wars movie series and as a director of movies such as the musical Little Shop of Horrors.

Peter Schumann (b. 1934) has also been a highly influential puppeteer. Schumann formed Bread and Puppet Theatre in 1963, using puppetry as a form to campaign politically and educate socially as well as entertain. His work has also been formally experimental, and influenced a wide range of theatre practicioners including Julie Taymor.

"Chili das Schaf" puppet from German series Chili TV and Berndivent, and its creators Tommy Krappweis and Erik Haffner.

Ramdas Padhye, Ventriloquist & Puppeteer from India, is famous all over India. His ventriloquist dummy Ardhavatrao, and Bunny (the rabbit that starred in the commercial Lijjat Papad) are well known on the sub-continent. His son Satyajit Padhye is also a Ventriloquist and Puppeteer who is carrying this art of Puppetry to future generations.

Another famous and influential modern puppeteer is Gerry Anderson who used a marionette puppet system called Supermarionation to a number of successful science fiction television shows like Thunderbirds.

List of notable puppeteers

• Cosmo Allegretti (Captain Kangaroo's Mr. Moose and Mr. Bunny Rabbit)
• Don Austen
• Bob Baker (400 movies, first puppeteer on TV - Los Angeles KHJ in 1939.)
• Bil Baird
• Ramdas Padhye - Ventriloquist,Puppeteer and Puppet-Maker from India
• Eric Bass (Artistic Director Sandglass Theater, Putney, Vermont]
• Trace Beaulieu (Mystery Science Theater 3000's Crow T. Robot)
• Marek Becka - founder of Buchty a Loutky ("Cakes and Puppets") and lecturer in puppetry, Alternative and Puppet Department of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts

Edgar Bergen in the film Stage Door Canteen (1943), with puppet Mortimer Snerd.

• Edgar Bergen (Charlie McCarthy and others)
• Luis Z. Boy (Artistic Director, Norwich Puppet Theatre, Norwich, England)
• Richard Bradshaw OAM
• Ronnie Burkett (Canadian puppeteer, creator of Street of Blood,Tinka's New Dress,Happy (Memory Dress Trilogy), Provenance,10 Days on Earth, among others)
• Fran Brill (Prairie Dawn, Zoe, Little Bird, Roxie Marie)
• Kevin Clash (Elmo on Sesame Street)
• Jonathan Edward Cross (a.k.a Jonny ClockWorks) Artistic Director of The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre
• Tommy Duren (Larry G Lizard) ( Fruitzee Tootzee) (Puppets for Stuff on NBC) and others,(King of the Capital's Puppet Regime and father of Poppetry)
• John Eccleston
• Wayland Flowers (Madame)
• Christine Glanville (One of Gerry Anderson's lead puppet operators)
• Dave Goelz (Gonzo the Great)
• Mikulas Havlik, master puppeteer and renovator of puppets for National Museum, Prague
• Jim Henson (Kermit the Frog, Ernie, and many others)
• Phillip Huber (Puppets for Being John Malkovich)
• Richard Hunt (Scooter, Beaker, Sweetums)

Doug Kincaid with "Kincaid Karacter" puppet "Grouchie Gator" on the set of television's "Gator Tales" (1988)

• Bill Kincaid/Doug Kincaid (creators of TV's "DB. Doorbell", "Grouchie Gator", and other "Kincaid Karacter" Puppets)
• Adam Kronenberg (Dumpster on RAGGS Kids Club Band)
• Roberto La Morticella (made giant street theater puppets during the Summer of Love)
• Scott Land Lead Puppeteer in [Team America World Police], [Princess Diaries 1 & 2], www.thepuppetman.com
• Shari Lewis (Lamb Chop and others)
• David Logan (playwright)
• Jon Ludwig (Artistic Director, Center for Puppetry Arts, Atlanta, Ga.)
• Dora Krskova, co-founder of Puppets Without Borders
• Rick Lyon (created the puppets for, and starred in the original Broadway cast of the Tony-award winning musical Avenue Q)
• Mat McCoy (Farscape)
• Paul McPharlin Paul McPharlin Collection at the Detroit Institute of Art
• Lewis Mahlmann (Director of Children's Fairyland puppet theater 1967-1990)
• Randal Metz (Director of Children's Fairyland puppet theater 1990-present, President SF Puppet Guild)
• Basil Milovsoroff (In 1983 received the President's Award of the Puppeteers of America)
• Kevin Murphy (Mystery Science Theater 3000's Tom Servo)
• Jerry Nelson (Dr. Julius Strangepork, Herry Monster)
• Sergey Obraztsov, frequently cited as the father of artistic puppetry
• Frank Oz (Miss Piggy, Yoda, Bert, Fozzie Bear, Grover, Cookie Monster and many others)
• Pantopuck (first puppeteer on television, author of "The Magic Tower and other Plays" & "Modern Puppetry.")
• Pietro Radillo 19th century Italian master of the marrionette
• Bart. P. Roccoberton Jr. (Professor of Puppet Arts, University of Connecticut)
• Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers' Neighborhood)
• Ilke Schönbein (travelling puppeteer)
• Peter Schumann (Bread and Puppet Theater)
• Bruce Schwartz
• Robert Smigel (Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog)
• Larry Smith
• Zdar Sorm, in charge of technological design of puppets for animated films - Barrandov Studio, Prague
• Caroll Spinney (Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street)
• John Tartaglia (Avenue Q, Johnny and the Sprites)
• Miroslav Trejtnar - Czech master puppeteer and teacher of puppetry
• Winston Tong (1978 Obie Award winner for Puppetry)
• Jiri Trnka, master puppeteer and animator
• Basil Twist
• Willie Tyler (Lester)
• Tony Urbano, Master Puppeteer
• Petr Vodicka, innovative young Czech puppeteer and member of Minor Theatre, Prague
• Señor Wences (Johnny, Pedro, many others)
• Steve Whitmire (Kermit the Frog, Ernie, and many others since 1990)

Famous people who also were puppeteers

• Sophie Taeuber-Arp (member of the Swiss Dada movement)
• Michael Ian Black (American actor)
• Peter Brook (British theatrical producer & director)
• Alexander Calder (American artist)
• Bob Clampett (American animator)
• Jean Cocteau (French writer & filmmaker)
• Henrik Ibsen (Norwegian playwright)
• Alfred Jarry (French writer)
• Ted Milton (British poet, performer and musician)
• Oskar Schlemmer (German Bauhaus artist)
• Pete Seeger (American folk singer) [1]
• Jon Stewart (American comedian)
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German artist, scientist & writer)
• Phil Vischer (American animator, director, author, co-founder of VeggieTales)
• Mike Nawrocki (American animator, director, co-founder of VeggieTales)

See also

• Puppet
• Adult puppeteering
• Puppetista
• Larry Niven's Known Space science fiction stories in which Puppeteers are an alien race.
• Machinima creators call themselves puppeteers.
• For information about puppetry technique or the use of puppets, see the respective articles on each kind of puppet.

External links

• Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA) - International organization of puppeteers and puppet enthusiasts
• Puppeteers of America - National non-profit organization of puppeteers in the United States
• The Puppetry Homepage - Extensive with links to information on puppeteers and all styles of puppetry
• Puppeteers UK - Directory and news on puppeteers and puppetry in the UK
• PuppetVision Blog - Popular weblog about puppeteers and the role of puppetry in film, television and digital media
• Frappr Map - Of puppeteers worldwide
• International Performers Directory- Find Puppeteers and Ventriloquists by Country and State.
• PuppetryLab - Puppeteer theory and video training tutorials
• Puppets in Prague - Puppetry courses conducted by professional puppeteers in Prague, Czech Republic
• Wikia has a wiki about this topic: Puppet

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