Are there Puppetery Colleges?

[CoOKiE]

Hello,
I am woundering if there are n e puttetering colleges (within the US), and where? If not... how would i beable to get started in a puttetering career, other then direct my own shows?
I am an actor, and i've also done radio... grew up watching puppets, and doing my own little skits... but how can i get a career going?

(not that i'm certaion this is my path, but i'd like to give it a shot possibly)

~Thank you.

 

[froggiegirl18]

To find out about the puppetry colleges in the US..go to mamma.com and type in puppetry college...the first one mentioned gives a list of schools all over the world dealing with puppetry....well I can't really give much advice since I am still in college but that is the career I will take..but what I have observed with people already in the puppeteering career...get involved in a pupperty group where you are at..such as the guilds in puppeteers of America...do shows to get your name known..plus this helps with gaining experience...go to puppetry workshops..I go to onewaystreet and puppet production puppetry festivals..here they have workshops teaching the basics of puppetry and other things to know about staging and prop design...Practice! but of course you already knew this being an actor...make videos of your performances for future references when auditioning and this helps you also see in what areas you need to improve in....ok that should get you on your way...hope that helps!

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Cookie, probably the leading school for puppetry in America (if not the world) is the Puppet Arts Program at University of Connecticut. Many past and present Henson puppeteers were trained there and the alumni include Pam Arciero, Tim Lagasse and Avenue Q's Jen Barnhart. I think several of the Between the Lions puppeteers went there too, but I can't recall their names. I've never been down there, but I've spoken with many people who have and they rave about it.

In addition to their degree program, the school also hosts the O'Neil Puppetry Conference every year which is sort of a professional development camp for experienced puppeteers. There is also a number of one time workshops and seminars. The school also houses the Ballard Museum of Puppetry.

You can get more info from the program's web site at http://www.puppetarts.uconn.edu/homepage.html

Beyond that, the University of Hawaii apparently has a puppetry program and we have the Toronto School of Puppetry up here, which runs programs on weekends in the fall and spring. I'm sure there are lots of workshops and opportunities in New York City as well.