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For the last 15 years, the guild has held an annual fundraiser to provide scholarship assistance to attendees to the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.   As the returns on this fundraiser have dwindled, it has become apparent to our event organizers that a new direction is in order.  Board member Donna Mark came to the table last year with an idea that a local arts group had tried last year with success; take pallets, build small chairs, ask artists to decorate them and then auction them off as a fundraiser.  

So, last May, a small but merry band of Guild members gathered for a mystery membership meeting where they were asked to help take a stack of wooden pallets, dismantle them, pull lots of nails out and build the pieces into child size decorative chairs.  The guild owes an incredible debt to Fred Thompson who, as the hours grew long, volunteered to take all the remaining materials and finish them at home in his spare time.  Following this, a number of CT-based puppeteers were approached about putting their artistic vision on the chairs.  Selecting these artists was no easy task as Connecticut is and has been home to a number of talented artists and puppeteers.   The Guild is immensely grateful to the 10 artists who donated their artistic vision and time to this project; without their participation this amazing project would not have been possible.

The wooden pallets were kindly donated by Wayne Barneschi of Scare Crew Productions, Inc.

Fred Thompson has been involved with puppetry since 1947. Over the years his interests widened to include theater and dance, devoting most of his time to the craft and technical aspects of live performance. Puppetry has been a constant and he currently is on staff at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference in Waterford, Connecticut.  Fred has taught at Fairfield University, Yale Drama School and several Puppeteers of America festivals.

Winning High Bid: $400.00
By Karen B.

Martin P. Robinson has been a professional puppeteer since discovering that it was the perfect link between acting and sculpture. A 1974 graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he has worked for Nicolo Marionettes, Addis Williams, Bob Brown, Paul Ashley, Bil Baird, Jim Henson, and for five seasons of Spitting Image in England. As a puppeteer on Sesame Street since 1981 he has won Emmys for his characters Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster, Slimey the Worm, and those Yip-yip Martians. During his
spare time he performed the Cat in the Hat on the Nickelodeon series; The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. His company, Hairy Edge Productions, has designed/performed Allegra's Window and Blue's Room on Nickelodeon and Oobi on Noggin. Teaching has become an important aspect of his professional life as the senior puppet coordinator for Sesame International, hiring and training puppeteers for productions in Canada, Mexico, Israel/Palestine, Egypt, Germany, Russia, Bangladesh, France, India, Indonesia and Ireland. Film credits include Follow That Bird, Muppets Take Manhattan, Elmo in Grouchland, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Producers. In 1982, Martin designed, built and performed the plant in the original Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors for which he received a Drama Desk and an LA Drama Critics Award. He provided the same services for the incarnation of the show that was recently on Broadway. Martin also designed for the production of Frogs at Lincoln Center, and two productions with orchestra for Carnegie Hall. Martin also designed and built puppets for a live production of Nickelodeon's Go Diego, Go! This live show toured the country with twenty large scale jungle animal puppets and a huge talking tree from Robinson's shop. At the O'Neill Puppetry Conference Martin was twice a guest artist; developing Jackstraws in a Wind Tunnel and Pigeon Holed.

Winning HIGH BID: $200.00 
By Jeff C.

Michael Graham’s interest in puppetry began early with a gift of a Pelham marionette and a Shari Lewis book. At thirteen, Michael began performing as “Michael's Marionettes” for birthday and Christmas parties.          
He has been performing professionally since 1978 when the Spring Valley Puppet Theater was established with Michael Graham as its Director. He designs and builds his puppets, scenery and writes the scripts.
He performs primarily in schools, libraries, park and recreation departments, museums, theaters as well as at several Puppeteers of America festivals.
Michael's production of “Jack and the Beanstalk” was awarded the 1994 UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry by the American Center of the Union Internationale de la Marionette.
He has been a guest instructor at the University of Connecticut Puppet Arts program, the Institute of Professional Puppetry Arts (IPPA) at the O'Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Naugatuck Valley Community College and Connecticut College and has presented workshops for puppetry guilds in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Winning HIGH BID: $335.00 
by Joan p.

PLACE A BID

Dave Regan is a performer, designer, and builder, working variously in the worlds of human and puppet theater, with particular interest in the meeting and melding of those two worlds.  He is also a college design/tech theater instructor.  David’s career goal is to continue doing fascinating work with remarkable people.

Winning HIGH BID: $200.00 
By Bob R.

Robin Hillary McCahill

My involvement with puppetry commenced with a sculpture that became alive. I have a  background in art and mechanics. So naturally I liked making things move. The realization that one could breathe life into an object with movement and intention totally hooked me. The word "audition" terrified me. But if one is to build puppets one needs an audience. I tend to build puppets that interact with people and often animals. Experiencing folk suspending reality and communicating with the puppets is a joy.

Winning HIGH BID: $100.00 
By Joan P.

Pam Arciero is the Artistic Director of the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and a principal puppeteer with Sesame Street and Between the Lions, performing numerous characters, most notably Grundgetta Grouch and Leona Lion, respectively. Pam has worked on many adult and children’s programs including Blue’s Clues Blue’s Room, Chappell’s Show, Allegra’s Window, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, TV Funhouse, Eureeka’s Castle and The Great Space Coaster. She has performed in commercials and films, including Fuze, Zappos, Swiftcover Insurance (UK), Sundance Myths, Sundance Film Festival, Extreme Measures, Little Monsters and Follow That Bird. As a stage director, Pam directed Elmo’s World Live, Oscar’s Big Game Show, Gotta Dance, Big Bird’s Beach Party, Count Down to Halloween and A Sesame Christmas, for Sea World Orlando; Port Aventura, Spain; Beaches Resorts - Jamaica, Turks and Caicos; and Sesame Place; Open Sesame (Sesame Street) for Saudi Arabia, and Disney’s Wahoo Wagon at the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles. She has directed the short film Whiskey Neat, and Between the Lions and Oobi for television. Pam has taught for the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, the University of Hawaii, California State University, Fresno, Sesame Street International and the University of Connecticut. Pam is the secretary of the Board of Directors for the Henson Foundation. She holds an Undergraduate Degree in Theater from the University of Hawaii and a Master’s Degree in Puppetry from the University of Connecticut. 

winning HIGH BID: $100.00 
by Karen B.

Jennifer Barnhart is lucky enough to have made a living (heaven knows how) as a puppeteer and occasional human performer for fifteen years. She was a principal puppeteer on PBS's Between the Lions as mother lioness Cleo, as well as having been featured on such children's television shows as Sesame Street, Johnny and the Sprites, Bear in the Big Blue House, Oobi, and The Book of Pooh. Jennifer was also an original cast member of Broadway's Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q  (winning an Outer Critics Circle Award, along with the other members of the ensemble), and she remained with it for the show's entire six-year run on Broadway (and she occasionally swings back into the show in its current Off-Broadway home at New World Stages, to reprise the role she created). As a human, Jennifer has been seen on Law & Order: SVU  (playing a puppeteer in one episode), and she has worked regionally at The Arden Theatre, Goodspeed Opera House, and at Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where she played Lady Macbeth, as well as Veronica in God of Carnage, Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Stephanie Crawford in To Kill a Mockingbird, and where she is currently playing Mrs. Cratchit in "A Christmas Carol" Jennifer came through the UCONN Puppet Program, and was dubbed one of the University's 40 Under 40 Outstanding Alumni. She holds a BFA in Acting with a Concentration in Puppet Arts.

winning HIGH BID: $65.00 
By Mary P.