The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta is the largest organisation in the United States dedicated exclusively to puppetry, combining a museum, a performance venue and an education programme.
It opened in 1978
, and Jim HensonJim Henson (1936–1990) was the puppeteer and filmmaker who... More attended the opening with Kermit the Frog — a detail that turned out to be significant, because the Center is now home to the largest public collection of Henson puppets and artefacts anywhere.
The Worlds of Puppetry Museum
is split in two. The Jim Henson Collection holds hundreds of puppets, props, costumes, sketches and production material spanning his career — Muppets, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. The Global Collection covers traditions from across the world, including wayang, bunrakuBunraku is the classical Japanese puppet theatre in which th... figures, marionettes and shadow puppets.
Why that matters for a builder
Seeing a Henson-built puppet in person, at close range, answers questions no photograph can. How thick the fleeceFleece is the knit fabric used as the outer skin on most mod... More actually is. Where the seams run. How a jawThe jaw is the lower half of a puppet's mouth — the plate ... is hinged. What thirty years of performance does to a material. That information is otherwise almost impossible to get.
It is a working theatre too
, producing its own shows and hosting touring companies, with a season running throughout the year rather than a museum with occasional events.
The education programme
includes puppet-building workshops for all ages, school programmes, and a Create-A-Puppet workshop attached to most performances — which is a genuinely good model for anyone thinking about teaching this.
If you can only visit one puppetry institution in America, this is a strong candidate for which one.