This is the third vignette in the “how to read a storm” series. polar bear, based on the poem Polar bear by Tara Orzolek (my older sister), explores how climate anxiety seeps into our subconscious and influences the language of dreams. Photo by Claire Bangser. 2025.

Developed at Lìzé Puppet Art Colony with devising help from Jae Sirikarn Bonjungtad, this vingette examines how our own behavioral patterns are affecting our ability to learn and translate the stories created by changing weather patterns. The overall series explores the idea of storms as language and this vignette in particular also looked at English as language-in-common and intentional mistranslation. Photo by Xiao Qian Lin. 2023.

A puppet show for the reception of two friends’ wedding. I interviewed them separately about their relationship and then edited the interviews together to form the audio narrative for the show. 2022.

The second vignette in the “how to read a storm” series. The movie explores how I learned to read the distance of a thunderstorm by watching the movie Poltergeist. Photo by Stefan Petrmichl. 2022.

A toy and object theater piece about how one’s relationship with puddles changes as one ages. Created for the La MaMa Puppet Slam 2021.

Created for The Tiny Paper Theater Festival Spring 2021 under the theme “What We Carry”. I drew inspiration for this short from a conversation between Brené Brown and Sonya Renee Taylor.

A toy theater and table top puppet show made completely out of paper for The Tiny Paper Theater Festival produced by Infinite Futures. The theme of the festival was “What happens next?” 2020.

Created for a virtual puppet slam in Detroit during the COVID-19 pandemic, this piece explores the conflict between the longing for touch and the necessity of distance. 2020.

Insomnia is a table-top and object theatre piece about the intimacy of and longing for sleep. 2019.

I had the great fortune to create a puppet show about the relationship of my friends Alisa and Will as a wedding gift to them. On separate occasions, they each had a very generous conversation with me about how they met, what love is, and proposals. Those interviews served as the soundtrack for this story. Photo by Claire Bangser. 2019.

A hand puppet and object theatre piece about a piece of paper that got me into trouble in high school. Created under the mentorship of Yael Rasooly at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. Photo by Richard Termine. 2018.

An examination of police violence through the Martha and the Vandellas hit. Devised at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. Photo by Richard Termine. 2018.

A table top puppet show about miscommunication created for the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival. 2018.

In reverse alphabetical order, a series of collective nouns describing the state of the country through shadow puppets. 2018.

A two character mask piece with narrative music about a chair, letting go, and the decision to stay. Photo by Aaron Porter. 2017.

An exploration of home and leaving. The three-puppeteer puppet (head, hands, feet) is not connected, which both allows for scale shifts and also invites the audience to fill in the gaps. 2017.

A puppet monologue about a trapeze artist who wants to leave the circus. Created under the mentorship of Ronnie Burkett at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. Photo by Richard Termine. 2017.

Rodded and stringed marionettes and paper puppets deal with apathy, collective action, and social responsibility. Photo by Ernie Paik at Wayne-O-Rama. 2017.

A short shadow piece inspired by Richard Bradshaw and chickens. 2016.

The story of a giant witch and the townspeople who try to figure her out. This show uses giant puppets, shadow puppets, and abstract cloth puppets to explore ideas of home, belonging, and alienation. Supported by a Family Grant from the Henson Foundation. Photo by Nico Krebil. 2016.

A short table top puppet piece that explores one moment in the arc of a relationship. Created as a participant project at the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference. Photo by Richard Termine. 2015.