PUPPETEER

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, and all require puppeteers. There are shadow puppets, rod puppets,
marionettes, table-top puppets, body puppets, finger and glove puppets. 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.

Contents

Famous Modern Puppeteers

List of notable puppeteers

Famous people who also were puppeteers

Non-Puppetry related

See also

External links

Famous Modern Puppeteers

Sergey Obraztsov, frequently cited as the father of artistic puppetry, was skilled in finger puppeteering and showing puppeteering with his bare hands. His famous number was a dancing couple whose complicated tango movements had to be manipulated by seven puppeteers simultaneously.
Ramdas Padhye , Ventriloquist & Puppeteer from India, performing for last 40 years is famous all over India with his ventriloquist dummy Ardhavatrao and his other puppet Bunny (the rabbit that starred in the commericial Lijjat Papad). He has also performed more than 9000 shows.He has produced to Mega Puppet Plays in India called "Good Night Baby Dino" and "Hats Off", each of which had 100 to 150 puppets.Padhye has a collection of more than 1500 puppets from around the world including puppets made by him in his own Puppet Studio.His son Satyajit Padhye is Gen-Next Ventriloquist and Puppeteer who is carrying this art of Puppetry to future generations.
Two of the most famous modern puppeteers are Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Using The Muppets their work has entertained children for decades on the popular 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''. Jim himself never played with puppets when he was a kid, but as soon as television came out, this young artist started to experiment with the artform. And Frank Oz's parents were both puppeteers but Frank himself didn't get into it until he meet Jim and saw The Muppets for the first time.
Another famous 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 (Charlie McCarthy and others)

★ Warner Blake (Interdisciplinary Artist)

★ 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)

★ 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

★ 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

★ Bart. P. Roccoberton Jr. (Professor of Puppet Arts, University of Connecticut)

★ Señor Wences (Johnny, Pedro, many others)

★ Steve Whitmire (Kermit the Frog, Ernie, and many others since 1990)

★ Penelope Torribio (http://www.1worldmusicandpuppets.com/])

★ Basil Twist

★ Willie Tyler (Lester)

★ Petr Vodicka, innovative young Czech puppeteer and member of Minor Theatre, Prague

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)

Non-Puppetry related

Machinima artists also call the work of those who move the characters in the virtual world puppeteering.

See also

★ Adult puppeteering

★ Puppetista

★ Larry Niven's Known Space science fiction stories in which 'Puppeteers' are an alien race.

★ 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

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