Level: All Skill Levels, Ages 13 and up
Join us on Sesame Street Day (Nov 10th) for a practical workshop on the basics of puppeteering; Focus, Gravity, and Breath.
These three basic concepts are the method used by the premier puppeteers of the Jim Henson Creature Shop. Instructor Cyn Wilkes learned these techniques while working with the Creature Shop in the ’90s, doing finishing work on animatronic creatures and practical effects created for several movies. During that time, she honed many puppeteering skills and used these effective techniques to train the cast of her stage production of “Avenue Q” in 2015.
All participants will receive a simple googly-eyed puppet they can keep to practice what they will learn in this workshop!
Bio
Cyn Wilkes has been a part of our theatrical community for the past 12 years. Porthole Players helped her realize her dream to direct her favorite musical Avenue Q in 2015. She used her connections to secure the Broadway “Avenue Q” puppets for her show and owns a number of the original Henson Whatnot puppets.
She was a Disney artisan for eight years, creating props and puppets for the Disney parks and broadway shows. She created realistic animal animatronics for the Jim Henson Creature Shop, for both “George of the Jungle” (Brendan Fraser) and “Dr. Doolittle” (Eddie Murphy), and she has been responsible for making many creature effects “look real” for movies in the ’80s and ’90s.
Cyn has a passion for puppetry of many types, including shadow, wire, and hand puppets in particular.
“Bringing a bit of fleece and fur to life, to the point you no longer notice the person behind the puppet is a magical experience for all. A puppet can be anything you can imagine and more.” (Cyn Wilkes)