Jnwilliams

Education

• MFA Puppet Arts, University of Connecticut, 2019
• Graduated Magna Cum Laude In Honors BA in Theatre, Virginia Tech University 1996

Experience

PUPPETRY DESIGN and FABRICATION:

Designer, Fabricator for the musical "James and the Giant Peach" at Virginia Commonwealth University

• Designed and fabricated six insect puppets and shadow puppets the musical production “James and the Giant Peach”  directed by Wes Seals in Richmond, VA 2022.

Re-Design and Fabrication of moving mouth puppets for "The Cathy Gibson Show"

• Re-designed and fabricated  moving mouth puppets for web series "The Cathy Gibson Show" 2020. All puppets are washable design.

Designer, Fabricator for the musical “The Giant Hoax,” an IndieWorks Production

• Designed and fabricated “the Cardiff Giant Puppet” : an oversized head and hands with moving mouth and articulated fingers for the musical production “The Giant Hoax” by Kit Goldstien Grant and directed by Christopher Michaels in New York City, 2019.

Designer, Fabricator for “Alice Light+Dark” Stop Motion Photography Exhibit 2019

• A Three part exhibit to raise awareness for mental health and illness curated by Justine Rose at the Nutty Duchess during the Collingswood Book Fair
• Designed and fabricated stop motion puppets, props, and set
• Designed lighting and scenic elements
• Photographed and edited images
• Assisted with exhibit display

Fabricator/Puppeteer for Demo for All Ages Productions

• Fabricated and puppeteered a marionette style object puppet for video demo 2019

Part-Time Fabrication Team Monkey Boys Productions

• Assisted with fabrication of large puppets for an off-broadway musical. 2019

Designer, Fabricator, Writer, Producer and Puppeteer for 6 Epsiodes of a Live TV Production with Stop Motion Animation in each episode for MFA Project “Spacebus 9” for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia 2019

• Designed and fabricated washable rod and mouth puppets
• Designed and fabricated puppet props
• Designed and fabricated stop motion puppets, props, and set
• Dyed fur and antron fleece for custom colors
• Sculpted and sewed plastic canvas
• Draped and patterned puppets
• Built armatures
• Collaborated with hospital staff, scenic designer, composers, and musical arranger/accompanist
• Coordinated production schedule, puppeteers, crew, and travel arrangements
• Wrote and performed six episodes
• Video Edited rough cuts and generated Teleprompter and Production scripts
• Choreographed and Directed episodes

Designer, Fabricator, Writer, “La Vie En Rose” Short Film created at the 2017 National Puppetry Pre-Conference

• Generated storyboards
• Fabricated and puppeteered marionette and rod puppets for the film
• Video and sound editing

Designer, Fabricator, and Puppeteer Stop Motion Short “ Gift from the Universe” shown at 2018 UCONN Puppet Slam

• Designed and fabricated stop motion puppets and set
• Stop Motion animation using Dragonframe software
• Video and sound editing

Co-Writer , Fabricator, Knuckle Brains Productions, “A Fruitcake Carol” Los Angeles/Chicago, 2015

• Collaborated with writers and puppeteers to create and perform in an original YouTube short
• Built the puppet I performed in the film

Puppet Designer and Fabricator “Generations of Adam” Artstillery, Dallas, TX 2019

• Design and Construction of two object performance (direct manipulation and marionetted) puppets for production in fall of 2019

Puppet Designer and Fabricator “Dirty Turk,” Artstillery, Dallas, TX 2018

• Lead a puppetry movement workshop to determine puppet design for production in fall of 2018
• Design and Construction of two large backpack puppets and shadow puppets for production in fall of 2018

Puppet Design Assistant “Faustus” Ethos Physical Theatre, Collingswood, NJ, 2017

• Assisted with the fabrication of the Pride Peacock partial body puppet, Sloth snail rod puppet, Lechery Snake rod puppet, and two person Greed Tentacle puppet.
• Lead a workshop on character development and puppetry movement during rehearsal process.

Puppet Designer and Fabricator “E is for Edward,” 2016 Edwardian Ball, Los Angeles, CA

• Designed and Fabricated direct manipulation puppet of Edward Gorey, body puppets of the Devil and the Doubtful Guest a live theatre puppetry production.
• Co-directed scenes within the piece.

Puppet Fabrication Assistant and Performer “She Kills Monsters” Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Storrs, CT, 2018

• Created dragon head pattern
• Fabricated hair for Bugbear puppets using plastic strips

LIVE PUPPETRY PERFORMANCE:

Puppeteer “Our Street is Sesame Street” : Live Puppet Show for Sesame Place Theme Park, 2019 directed by Pam Arciero

• Puppeteered Moving Mouth /Rod Puppets of Abby , Elmo, and Carmen with lip sync track for live outdoor performance at Sesame Place Theme Park in Langhorne, PA.

Puppeteer “Elmo the Musical ” : Live Puppet Show for Sesame Place Theme Park, 2019 , written by John Tartaglia

• Puppeteered Moving Mouth /Rod Puppets of Velvet and Chickens with lip sync track for live indoor performance at Sesame Place Theme Park in Langhorne, PA.

Puppeteer “Elmo the Musical ” :Halloween Show for Sesame Place Theme Park, 2019 , written by John Tartaglia

• Puppeteered Moving Mouth /Rod Puppets of Velvet, David Clukerfield, Chickens, and live hand and moving mouth puppet Abbot with lip sync track for live indoor performance at Sesame Place Theme Park in Langhorne, PA.

Puppeteer “Magic of Art” : Live Puppet Show for Sesame Place Theme Park, 2019

• Puppeteered Moving Mouth /Rod Puppets of Mr. McNutty with lip sync track for live outdoor performance at Sesame Place Theme Park in Langhorne, PA.

Puppeteer “Calle Allende” Pinned and Sewtured Production 2018 directed by Anatar Marmol-Gagne

• Performed Frida Kahlo and Frida Kahlo Direct Manipulation Puppet
• performed for mini east coast tour to New Haven, New York City, and Storrs, CT.

Puppeteer “She Kills Monsters” Connecticut Repertory Theatre Production 2018 directed by Madeliene Sayet

• Puppeteer for speaking puppet Farrah the Faerie
• Puppeteer for body puppet Bugbear, large rod puppet Dragonhead, and shadow puppet assistant

Puppet Captain “Shrek: The Musical” Connecticut Repertory Theatre Production 2017 directed by Margarett Perry

• Puppeteered large moving mouth Dragon head, which lip synced to a live singer
• Puppeteered stick puppets
• Assisted other puppeteers and coordinated with Puppet Wrangler

Puppeteer “E is For Edward” for Edwardian Ball in Los Angeles, CA 2016

• Puppeteered Devil Body Puppet

FILM/TV PUPPETRY PERFORMANCE:

Right Hand Puppeteer, Eyes and Ears Puppeteer, and Gargantuan Squabby in “A Fairy Tale After All”

• Puppeteered live hands , remote ears and eyes for Chickpea, Hector, and Thumpkin puppets
• Directed by Erik Peter Carlson, 2019, release date TBD

Puppeteer and Stop Motion Animator for “Spacebus 9” TV show at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (MFA Project)

• Puppeteered live hand puppet Bigby, rod and mouth puppet Starla, and pedal mech band puppets for six episodes of the closed circuit live broadcast children's television puppet show “Spacebus 9.”
• Stop Motion animation for six 30 second stop motion shorts for “Spacebus 9”
• Directed and Written by Noel Williams, 2019

Puppeteer for “La Vie En Rose” short film made at the Pre-Conference for the National Puppetry Conference 2017

• Puppeteered marionette, shadow, and rod puppets for short film “La Vie En Rose” created at the Video Anarchy Pre-Conference led by Tim Lagasse and Martin Robinson at the 2017 National Puppetry Conference.
• Directed by Noel Williams, 2017

Puppeteer for “A Fruitcake Carol” Knuckle Brains Productions

• Puppeteered moving mouth and rod puppet “Daisy” for the short film “A Fruit Cake Carol”
• A Knuckle Brains Production, 2016, online Youtube.

Special Skills

• A/V Equipment: Video Camera, Monitor set-up, Livestream computer and Tricastor

• Fabrication Skills:
  • Miniature props and costume fabrication
  • Sculpting in Clay, Foam, Worbola, Paper, Plastic Canvas
  • Draping, Patterning, and Sewing fur and fabric
  • Dying antron fleece and fur
  • Wood carving
  • Painting
  • Laminating fiberglass cloth
  • Latex molding/casting (miniature hands)
  • Paper Mache
  • Mask Making
  • Wire armatures
  • Cane armature
  • Fosshape
  • Needle felting
  • Loom Knitting
  • Miniature construction of costumes, sets, and props
  • Backpack and body puppet fabrication
  • Comfortable with bandsaw, belt sander, chop saw, drill press, power drill, industrial sewing machine, standard sewing machine, and hand stitching
• Computer: Mac and Microsoft proficient
  • Outlook
  • Google Suite: Email, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Calendar
  • Open Office
  • Excel
  • iMovie
  • iTunes
  • Garageband
  • Final Draft
  • Dragonframe Animation software
  • Pixlr Online Photo Editing
  • StudioBinder
  • Teleprompter

*Limited experience with Arduino Programming and 3-D Printing.