Announcing the LINE-UP for the 2023 National Puppetry Festival FRINGE PROGRAM!

2023 Fringe Line Up:

Welcome Party (7/18 6:30 - 8):

Performances by: 

6PM Madison J Cripps

6:30PM Gavin Cummins

7PM Keith Schubert

Wednesday 7/19:

Margaret Brent A- Poose the Puppet 6-6:15pm

Margaret Brent B- Sarah Frechette 6:15-6:30pm

Nyumburu Outdoor Amphitheater - Chuck Nesci 6-6:15pm

Thursday 7/20:

Margaret Brent A - Laurencio Ruiz 6-6:30pm

Margaret Brent B -N/A

Saturday 7/22 Slot 1:

Nyumburu Outdoor Amphitheater - Mobi Warren 12:40-12:55

Margaret Brent A - Nate Puppets 2-2:20pm

Margaret Brent B- Shadow Circus Creature Theatre 2:15-2:30pm

Saturday 7/22 Slot 2:

Margaret Brent A - Small Mighty Puppet Summit 6-6:15pm

Margaret Brent B - Kettlehead Studios 6:15pm-6:30pm

Nyumburu Outdoor Amphitheater - Teresa Moler 6:00pm-6:15pm

Nyumburu Outdoor Amphitheater - Puppet Motion 6:15pm-6:30pm

MADISON J. CRIPPS

Prepare to be transported into a world of wonder and enchantment with Madison J. Cripps (he/him), a  puppeteer whose talent has captivated audiences for over a decade. Madison's dedication to the art form has earned him notable accolades, including an UNIMA citation of excellence in puppetry for his work on the Billy the Liar in 2014. Through meticulously crafted marionettes and mesmerizing storytelling, he creates a unique connection that transcends time and space, leaving spectators spellbound and their imaginations ignited. Madison's performances are a feast for the senses, inviting audiences to rediscover the joy and magic that resides within, and leaving them with a renewed sense of wonder and childlike delight with a dash of bewilderment.

SARAH FRECHETTE

Sarah Frechette (she/her) of PuppetKabob splits her time between New England, the PNW, and the world as a touring puppeteer, arts educator, and stop-motion animation fabricator. Behind all of the shows that Sarah creates is the memory of her Vermont heritage, her grandparents and relatives who work with their hands and with their hearts.

DAVE HAAZ-BAROQUE

Dave Haaz-Baroque (he/him) is a prolific performer and puppet maker in the San Francisco Bay Area.  His puppet creations have been featured in Kat Robichaud's Misfit Cabaret, Peaches Christ's Terror Vault, the SF Oasis drag production of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer Live' the annual Edwardian Ball, the television show 'Creepy KOFY Movie Time' and the Berkeley Playhouse production of 'Into the Woods.'

Dave can also be seen performing around town with his troupe Shadow Circus Creature Theatre; a puppet show where rubber dinosaurs get drunk and cuss a lot. He is currently banned from Wal*Mart because of an unfortunate incident with trained raccoons and a Tupperware set.

KETTLEHEAD STUDIOS

Keziah (they/them) and Birdie (they/them) are Portland, Oregon, based puppet artists and content producers. Through their company Kettlehead Studios, they have made puppetry acts for Puppet Slams and variety shows across North America, including the 2022 National Puppet Slam at DragonCon. They are also the creators of Mudford, a puppet character who has reached millions of fans on TikTok. More of their work can be found @KettleheadWorkshop on TikTok or on the Kettlehead Studios YouTube Channel.

BENJAMIN MARTIN

Started by Benjamin Martin (he/him), Poose The Puppet has been healing audiences around the globe for over 9 years. Poose is a spirit that has come to earth to teach humans to let loose and find their "Purpoose" (purpose in life) through skits and songs. The show is a  strange, absurd, silly, interactive, inspirational, transformative, therapeutic puppet experience that combines bass music, dark comedy, puppetry, mindfulness practice, and breath work. 

Benjamin and Poose have had the honor of performing at the New Orleans Giant Puppet Fest, New Orleans Mid City Bayou Boogaloo, The Asheville Fringe Arts Festival, and even America's Got Talent. 

Teresa Moler (she/her) fell in love with puppetry at age 4 when given two hand puppets and at the age of 6, she saw a marionette in a toy store window. She gave her first public marionette performance at the age 9 and until she was 40, only performed with marionettes. A puppeteer consultant retired and gave Moler most of her hand puppets, which she has incorporated into her work for the last 16 years. 

Moler writes original shows with original characters and character voices. Most of Moler’s puppets were made by another person although Moler does have knowledge on marionette construction. Moler has had relatively little instruction in puppetry. Moler learned how to work a marionette when 7 by following the instructions on the box that the marionette came in.

CHUCK NESCI

Chuck Nesci (he/him) is a Baltimore-based puppeteer, sculptor and fabricator. He creates and performs with puppets of various types and sizes, typically non-human representations such as animals or creatures.

SARAH NOLEN

Sarah Nolen is a puppeteer & filmmaker from Austin, Texas. Since 2017, she has been the resident artist at the Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts; touring family puppet shows, and teaching puppetry to all ages. She has a Masters of Fine Arts in Puppetry from the University of Connecticut; and a bachelor's degree in Film from Southern Methodist University. She has puppeteered with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the off-Broadway production of “Pip’s Island,” toured internationally as part of the ensemble for Red Ball Theater’s Reverse Cascade, and directed the "Three Americas" for UNIMA International's Four Creations, Four Continents project. Sarah’s work has been featured at the Puppets in the Green Mountains International Festival, the Chicago International Puppetry Festival, the Festival de Casteliers in Canada, the Greenwoods Puppet Festival, and on the streets of Denmark. As a puppeteer for both stage and screen, Sarah's recent work includes directing the puppet web series Feel Your Best Self (2022), and puppeteering in Adam McKay's DON'T LOOK UP (2021).

NATE PUPPETS

From their years on a steady diet of Nickelodeon and Muppet tapes to creating fuzzy and dejected hand puppets in the gooey brain tool known as the puppet-making machine. Nate Puppets (they/them) feverishly crafts strange, dejected cartoony, Wonka-esque, fever dreams the world has yet to see! Step into this world and find out, if you dare… You know you wanna... 

The Breakfast Show! The up-and-coming artist Wiggily Diddley is pursuing his lifelong dream of making a nationally branded Breakfast cereal, Suger Frosted Painty Puffs. But alas!! The Almighty Breakfast Council has its ways, and has its says and it doesn't look good for our hero... 

Will Wiggily Diddley get his cereal approved and on shelves? Or will The Almighty Breakfast Council smash that idea like poorly stored cereal?! Find out in THE BREAKFAST SHOW!!!

LAURENCIO RUIZ

MakeorBreak is the story of a Wailing Mother who oversees the madness and horrors of war and gun culture. She is fed up with losing her children to gun violence inflicted by the everlasting Boneheaded Beast. Determined to stop him, she devises an unexpected strategy in pursuit of peace for one and all. Without spoken words, MakeorBreak’s lyricism is created by the combination of visual language, physical movement, body language, ephemeral puppetry, sound, song and music. All characters are inspired by Picasso's Guernica to express the outrage over our current history of ‘war’ at home and abroad, and the culture of guns and mass killings.

André Brandão de Castro, (he/him) (puppeteer) is a Brazilian architect and set designer, is currently a third-year M.F.A. candidate in Scenic Design at Penn State University. André has honed his skills as a versatile designer, having created captivating scenic environments for various artistic disciplines, including dance, theatre, and exhibitions.

Roselyn Costantino (she/her) (sound operator) is Professor Emerita of Spanish, Latin American Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies of Penn State University. In the last fifteen years she has been involved with dramaturgy and puppetry, with a focus on puppetrys power to make accessible to broad audiences otherwise difficult, divisive topics.

Laurencio Ruiz (he/him) (Director, Set, Costumes and Puppets Designer and Puppeteer) is a lecturer of scenic design and puppetry at the Penn State School of Theatre. He holds an M.F.A. in Scenic Design from Penn State School of Theatre, and a B.A. in Graphic Design from Universidad Autónoma de Mexico, where he also studied visual arts. more of my bio on Artistic Team bios. Samples of his work are available at https:// www.Laurencioruiz.com or https://theLASTree.com

SMALL MIGHTY PUPPET SUMMIT

Bonnie Kim (she/her) is a Korean-American multidisciplinary artist and teaching artist based on Hawaii Island.  Her passion for puppetry has led her to travel to study and create various types of puppetry works, such as giant puppets, hand puppets, Czech marionettes, shadow puppets and rod puppets in the United States, Europe and Asia. 

Joanna Greer (she/her) is a retired high school teacher, has worked with stop motion animation in her classes but is interested in live performing these days and developing shows.     

Rachel Anne Healy (she/her) is a Chicago based costume designer, puppeteer and educator. Her designs have been seen on various stages including The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago Children’s Theatre, American Players Theatre, The Alliance Theatre, Indiana Repertory, and Hartford Stage.

TOYBOX

Toybox (he/him), America's Favorite Cartoon Witch, is a multiple award-winning clown, puppeteer, toy maker, and event producer. Among his many awards are Fan Favorite and Best Performance at The National Puppetry Festival, Funding by The Jim Henson Foundation, and an UNIMA Citation for Excellence in The Art of Puppetry, the highest honor given in the field. Toybox's performance is an inexplicable blend of clowning, storytelling, stand-up comedy, and puppetry. 

https://www.youtube.com/@TOYBOXTHEATRE

https://www.facebook.com/TOYBOXTHEATRE

MOBI WARREN

Mobi Warren (she/her) is a puppeteer, poet, translator, and fiction writer from San Antonio, Texas. As a current Board member of the National Capital Puppetry Guild, Mobi serves on the Eco- puppetry, and Education committees. She is a 2021 alum of the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference.

Mobi is a Texas Master Naturalist with a passionate interest in the beauty and necessity of insects. She is presenting In the Shadow of a Moth’s Wing, a piece about the 17th-century artist-entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian and her Indigenous servant— a reflection on how Merian’s groundbreaking work relied on slave labor in the Dutch colony of Suriname.

KATY WILLIAMS

Katy Williams (she/her) is Colorado-based and specializes in building and teaching puppets, props, and makeup design. Katy’s mission is to spread the joy and accessibility of puppetry and is influential in implementing puppetry in theaters all over Colorado. Katy is also responsible for starting the Rocky Mountain Puppet Slam in March 2018, successfully producing three slams a year. She was recently Festival Director and Producer for a new Children’s festival, Puppet Palooza. In 2019 she received the prestigious True West award for her work in Colorado Theatre. She was a featured presenter and performer at the National Puppetry Festival, serves on the board of Puppeteers of America, and is the President of the Rocky Mountain Puppetry Guild. 

See more of Katy’s work at www.katywilliamsdesign.com. Facebook: Katy Williams Design Instagram: Katy.Williams.Design