Puppetry Support
Kurt has supported many puppeteers, theatres and puppet enthusiasts as a designer, builder, performer and director providing a variety of services such as:
Marionette untangling, restringing and repairing of toy, collectible and professional puppets
Puppet design (especially marionette design, control and stringing)
Puppet stage design
Puppet performance for video
Marionette training and mentoring
Direction for puppetry performance
Past Projects
This Toy Story 4 commercial for Target isn’t computer graphics. The characters are all marionettes that Kurt operated. Kurt modified actual toys sold at Target to create the marionettes.
For Z Puppets Rosenschnoz, Kurt was director and assisted with puppet design and construction for their Jim Henson Foundation awarded production of Cellula, the story of cell division told through dazzling blacklight puppetry and mesmerizing acapella music.
For Open Eye Figure Theatre, Kurt assisted artistic director Michael Sommers with mechanical design, construction, controls and stringing for multiple incarnations of the everyman character for A Prelude to Faust and the main character marionettes for Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
For the downtown Minneapolis Macy’s holiday puppet show, Moose Crossing, Kurt designed the marionettes, based on Steve Mark’s character designs, led the construction team, strung the marionettes and directed the marionette sequences.
