Roger Mara's Workshop

During our trip to Seattle we had hoped to visit with Roger Mara, a puppeteer friend of ours that had been diagnosed with cancer. Sadly he passed away before we arrived. Roger was an amazing and talented puppeteer and puppet builder. His early death was a great loss to the puppetry community. When Patrick and I were just starting out, we often looked to Roger for help and advice. Drawing on his years of experience, he taught us how to run a successful and professional puppet company. While up in Seattle, Elizabeth Luce, his long time friend and collaborator kindly let us tour his workshop, so that we could see some of the new puppets he created since relocating to the Pacific Northwest. Over the coming days I'll be sharing some of Roger's puppets with you. I hope his work inspires you as much as it inspires me.

Seattle Children's Theater

During my trip to Seattle, puppet designer and graphic designer Elizabeth Luce arranged a tour of the Seattle Children's Theater - many of their productions include puppets. We met up with Doug Paasch, their head puppeteer and he gave us a peek backstage.

From left to right: Me, Elizabeth Luce, Doug Paasch, and Victoria Johnson backstage at the Seattle Children's Theater.

P.S. Please note Elizabeth's cool Tiger and Mousedeer sweatshirt available at the Swazzle Store.

Friday Fun, Snapdragon Puppets

Roger Mara is a very the talented puppeteer and puppet builder behind Snapdragon Puppets. His web site, snapdragonpuppets.com has been completely overhauled, and it looks great. Along with plenty of puppet pictures and show information, the new site includes an extensive behind the scenes section. Roger covers a wide range of topics including casting small puppet heads, video and foam puppets, giant walk-arounds, and more. Snapdragonpuppets.com also has a large section dedicated to puppet video production, that gives an in-depth look into the making of the Emmy Award winning video The Mousecracker.

To learn more about Elizabeth Luse, puppet designer for Snapdragon Puppets, check out Patrick's 10 part interview with her in his blog Puppet Design.