Muppeteer Fran Brill's official retirement

[D'Snowth]

When Caroll said he plans on retire until after Season 50? For years, he's pretty much been saying that he plans on sticking with SST as long as he can keep holding up Big Bird's head.

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

It's very sad. What are we going to do without Prairie Dawn and Zoe?

 

[antsamthompson9]

There's no doubt that Stephanie would make a great Prairie. But what about Jen Barnhart taking over for Zoe? Zoe's voice is kinda low and I think Jen can pull it off. What do you think?

 

[dwayne1115]

Who is Jen Barnhart? I don't think I know her at all.

 

[D'Snowth]

Is she even still performing?

 

[Oscarfan]

Is she even still performing?

Sometimes, not as often.

 

[antsamthompson9]

That's partly why I want Jen to be Zoe. So she could be more involved.

 

[dwayne1115]

You know I was thinking about Fran today and I had this thought. We guys have a lot of male role models we can look up to in the world of puppetry, both within the Muppets and beyond, but for women there just are not that many. So to me Fran is a pioneer for women in the art of Puppetry. Yes I know that Jane Henson did a lot of work in the early years of the Muppets, but Fran has stayed and had truly help shape Sesame Street into what it is today.
So Fran if you ever read this, if I where a woman you would defiantly be a role model to me!

 

[antsamthompson9]

What Muppet Wiki says sums up our thoughts: Despite regular appearances throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Prairie's role on the show has been greatly diminished since season 39, appearing in very little new material outside of a few live appearances. Prairie spoke her first line on the show since 2008 in a season 44 episode. Prairie said at New York Comic Con, in the time she was gone, she was in a box. Prairie actually was a main character in the Monster Manners DVD and she's in a sketch this season. So Prairie is in fact coming back.

Let me elaborate: Prairie's last major speaking appearance was this 2008 episode:

. After that Prairie didn't talk at all until this 2013 episode: http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos?video=9c57ade5-3af3-4953-9c52-63e02a19a873. She didn't talk since then. However she's a main character on this DVD:

.

 

[LipsGF4Life]

To be honest, I'm gonna miss her playing Delores and Vicki