My guest today is Spencer Lott.  Spencer is a maker, artist, puppeteer and writer. In addition to all of his creative gifts, Spencer is a thought machine, in fact, one of Spencer’s thoughts planted the seed that inspired me to create this podcast. Spencer grew up in Kansas, and as a kindergartner, impressively wrote “I want to be the next Jim Henson.” He truly appreciates how supportive his parents were in helping him fill his artistic toolbox. By age 16, Spencer started his own puppet company. He learned how to sew, paint and sculpt. From his intensive high level training at the Eugene O’Neil National Puppetry Conference (which he attended 8 times!), his theater degree at the University of Kansas, to his years in NYC, Spencer now is a busy free-lancer, working for Sesame Street, Trusty Sidekick Theater Company as well as designing puppets for theater companies, advertising agencies and production companies. Spencer’s enthusiasm, curiosity and reverence for wonder, clearly generates his flow of new ideas. He was recently hired to rebuild the iconic puppet characters for the new Fred Rodgers film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” starring Tom Hanks which is scheduled  to be released in October 2019. Spencer is currently in pre-production for a show he is co-creating called “9,000 Paper Balloons”. Check out the show notes to see Spencer’s website, which in itself is a beautiful, creative site to explore, along with the non-profit theater company, Trusty Sidekick and an article from the experimental theater HERE, about his play "9,000 Paper Balloons". This thought machine, innovative maker is a true gem. Enjoy the podcast!   Links: www.misterlott.com www.trustysidekick.org IG: @misterlott 9,000 Paper Balloons