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.