Ever since I can remember, I have been completely enamoured by the work of Jim Henson and the Henson company. As a toddler I became joyful at the sight of a Sesame Street Muppet (especially Oscar the Grouch) and learned through singing their songs. To this day, I still memorize things best by sing-songing them. At four I was watching reruns of the Muppet show and though I didn't always understand the full extent of the entendré and reference and the level of celebrity of the guests and the variety acts, I still mimicked them. I clapped to the Fraggle Rock theme song and giggled at Dinosaurs when I sneaked TV at friend's houses and serially watched Muppet Movies (one of my fondest home sick days was of watching the Muppet Movie at home with my dad--feverish but blissful), and later was taken with the imaginativeness of Labyrinth and the Dark Crystal. The humor and soundtrack of Muppets from Space still keep me endlessly amused, and I often revisit the fantasy world of the Dark Crystal and marvel at the level of production, creativity, skill of manipulation and its utterly immersive quality and feel enveloped by someone else's brilliantly beautiful vision. This was all achieved with a VHS player, we never had cable television at home.
About two years ago when I was really starting to get into puppet making and performance for the first time since I was a little kid, my family and I went to see the Henson Company perform Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas and was reminded of the fact that you are all still alive and kicking! Then I met some folks who work for you (my neighbor Sadie Gunuey and some puppeteers a town over) and I thought I would just try and reach out and see if you have any openings for a curious human like me.
I like puppetry as a form of theater because it really can be as avant-garde or main-streamed as you like, impromptu or planned, wide-reaching or localized, raggamuffin or polished, hi-fi or lo-fi, easy or hard, cheap or expensive, can appeal to adults and children alike, can be a vehicle for storytelling, political purpose and education and requires skills in the fields of both the visual and performing arts. I travelled with a very conceptually based circus for a few summers. More recently I have taken a course in Czech Marionette design, carving, and manipulation that had a historical component so I've been taking in the work of traditional old world Czech puppet makers and getting a crash course in the work of Trnka and Barta and have appreciated the surrealistic stylings of Svankmajer to accent my usual steady stream of Henson and the Krofft brothers (don't worry, I don't really watch that many movies all the time and they aren't all puppet films when I do, but lately the ratio of puppet cinema to not has been rather skewed. I've actually been in transit for some months and don't often have the opportunity to watch TV or a movie with no computer with me.) I'm waiting to hear back about an apprenticeship with Bread and Puppet for this summer and trying to make my plans for the Fall (looked at the UCONN Puppet Arts MA program and decided against it for the moment. Still strongly considering DAMU in Prague.) I say all of this because I am transitional, want some hands on experience, and already have a decent base of knowledge. I am a hard worker, a thorough learner, a deep thinker, and a bit of a tinkerer. I've been making costumes for myself and others for years, I've worked with wood (first building sets and then later in jewelry making, block printing, framing, and puppet making), worked a little bit with leather, am a decent drafts person, a problem solver, and I am very deeply invested in making a life out of enrichment and social justice through creative collaboration.
Enclosed is my resumé and a photograph of me with my most recently completed wooden marionette, Acéphale. I would very much appreciate if you considered my application to be an intern in your creature workshop!
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