The Puppet Pod!

“Channeling Energy”

Photo: Maria Baranova

Takemi thinks puppetry is a bridge between reality and a dream.

Takemi (she/her) feels lucky to have known some great puppeteers and puppet makers already when she started in puppetry, and naturally her career as puppeteer started because those people welcomed her in their works. Those artists include Tom Lee, Lake Simons, Phantom Limb Company, Dan Hurlin, Matt Acheson and Chris Green. Takemi is thankful for the web that gave her those opportunities and the people who invited her into this magical world. Find out more about Takemi at www.takemikitamura.com and on Instagram @takemikitamura

“Being a Mannequin”

Photo: Cory Antiel

Leah thinks puppetry is about connecting what you see, and what you think inside. 

Leah Ogawa (she/her) is a puppeteer, director, self-detective and model based in New York City. She has worked with puppeteers, artists, and companies including The Metropolitan Opera, Phantom Limb, Dan Hurlin, Tom Lee, Nami Yamamoto and others. Her original work Molting was part of Object Movement Puppetry Festival and Growing Not Dying was presented at Puppet BLoK 2019 at Dixon Place. To find out more about her work, visit leahogawa.com and follow @leahogawa on Instagram.

“Backstage Broadway Baconators”

Photo: Mark Hayes

Rowan thinks puppetry is….natural???

Rowan Magee (he/him) is a puppeteer and teaching artist from Troy, NY, and a curator for the Object Movement Puppetry Festival, a Winter residency and Spring showcase of experimental puppet artists in NYC. Rowan has taught neurodiverse groups for CO/LAB Theater Group, Marquis Studios, Story Pirates, and has performed puppetry nationally and internationally, including in Angels in America on Broadway (2018) and the reference puppet for the titular character in the upcoming feature film Clifford the Big Red Dog, in theaters fall 2020. He doesn’t actually have a website or instagram, so please remember his name, Rowan Magee. 

“Actors are Meat Puppets”

Photo: Hunter Canning

Jeanette (she/her) thinks puppetry is a tool for community building, and to explore really abstract landscape storytelling. 

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew is a puppetry artist who devises, directs and designs interdisciplinary productions that experiment with and challenge the concept of puppetry.  Her project with the Target Margin Lab, Act 4 of The Iceman Cometh was described by the New York Times as “consistently inventive”.  Her immersive production, Are They Edible? premiered at La MaMa to sold-out houses and was similarly called “bold” and “inventive”.  Additionally, her toy theater production of The Butcher Men was invited to the 2006 Prague Quadrennial and her digital puppetry adaptation of the Book of Genesis, MILK, was part of the Labapalooza 2007 presented at St. Ann’s Warehouse (NYC).  Jeanette has received grants from The Jim Henson Foundation, Queens Council on the Arts, Urban Artist Initiative and was the recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program.  Harnessing her experiences as a lighting and projection designer for normal scaled beings, Jeanette also designs for contemporary puppetry performances within an interdisciplinary context. Some of her designs are: Shank’s Mare, Frankenstein (Mortal Toys), Invisible Glass, Saint Plays (various puppetry adaptations), and various productions within Erik Ehn’s commemorative cycle Soulographie: Our Genocides at La Mama ETC.  Jeanette is based in NYC. More at http://jeanetteyew.com and https://vimeo.com/jeanetteyew

“Living with Ubuntu”

Photo: Julia Duray

Sifiso thinks puppetry is…..challenging. 

Sifiso Mabena (she/her/hers) is a multidisciplinary theatre artist who’s worked as an actor, teacher, puppeteer, writer and singer. She’s made original puppet theatre works like Mashup Dreams For Nostalgics and Phenomenal Woman (#blackgirlmagic) that were performed at Dixon Place’s PuppetBlok. Sifiso also puppeteered in Dan Hurlin’s Bismarck, Lake Simon’s Carnival of the Animals, Andrew Murdock and Marcella Murray’s Shoot, Don’t Talk at St. Ann’s Puppet Lab and Riddle of the Trilobites at the New Victory Theatre. You can follow Sifiso on Instagram at @fisozozomab or check out her website at www.fisopearlmabena.com

“Bloviating”

Photo: Stephanie Berger

Dan thinks puppetry should be outlawed.

Dan Hurlin (he/him) has been creating original theater since 1980. His work has won multiple awards (two OBIEs, two Bessies and a UNIMA Citation of Excellence) and has been seen at a variety of alternative presenting spaces throughout the US and Europe. Until recently, Dan was the director of the Graduate Program in Theatre at Sarah Lawrence College, where he taught performance art, dance and puppetry. In addition to being a three-time Fellow at MacDowell, Dan received a Guggenheim fellowship for choreography, a USA Artist Fellowship as well as the Alpert Award for Theatre, and the 2013 Jesse Howard Jr. Rome Prize for visual art.  More at https://www.danhurlin.com

“What Is My Body Saying”

Photo: Justin Nöhre

Ashley thinks puppetry is an expression of movement and humanity through things. And community.

  Ashley Winkfield (Xe/Them) is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on puppetry, poetry, and performance arts. Introduced to puppetry through Basil Twist’s Rite of Spring, Ashley has found ways to include puppetry in every artform they encounter, including Only Child’s immersive aerial experience Two Fold. Ashley has also puppeteered in Rachael Shane’s The Paper Piece, Mabou Mine’s China tour of Animal Magnetism, and Torry Bend’s The Paper Hat Game and Dreaming. For more about Ashley, visit www.ashleywinkfield.com or check out their Instagram @ashleyk.music

“Puppeteering the Space”

Photo: Richard Termine

Lake thinks puppetry is about playing with things as if you are a kid. 

Lake Simons (she/her) is a director, designer, puppeteer, physical performer, and a maker of things.  She has collaborated with many artists creating theatre productions from the ground up utilizing puppetry, movement, & live music. But most importantly Lake relies on make-believe.  Lake is a co-director for the Puppet Lab at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. She teaches in the theatre department at Sarah Lawrence College. More at www.lakesimons.com

“Creative Engineering”

Photo: Theo Cote

Nehprii thinks puppetry is a spiritual artform. 

Nehprii Amenii (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based writer, director and educator.  As a theatre artist, she has a passion for personal narratives, puppetry, and grand-scale spectacle. She is known for creating experiences that dismantle the wall between players and audiences, enchant the imagination and inspire new ways of seeing and thinking. She is the founder and Artistic Director of  Khunum Productions, a creative consultant and production company.  Her work includes Penumbra Theatre Company, The Flea, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Bushwick Starr, Iati Theatre, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Company, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, Lumber Yard Performing Arts, The Holland Festival, The Minnesota Orchestra, Bread and Puppet Theatre, Fordham University at Lincoln Center, The Public Theatre,  the New York Phil Harmonic at Lincoln Center, and Cirque Du Soleil.  More at http://www.nehpriiamenii.com/

“I Feel More Comfortable with the Weirdos”

Photo: tomleeprojects.com

Tom thinks puppetry is not as easy as it looks. 

Tom Lee (he/him) makes it look easy as a puppeteer, director, theatre maker, projection & set designer, making original puppet theatre works like Shank’s Mare and Ko’olau, as well as puppeteering in Madame Butterfly at the Met and in Warhorse at Lincoln Center.  Tom performed with Lisa Gonzales in their original puppet theatre piece, Place (No) Place, as well as their original show for families, Tomte, at the inaugural New York State Puppet Festival, June 2018. Find out more about Tom at www.tomleeprojects.com