Photo by Michael Moore of ELF Magazine-The Keene Sentinel (copyright)
Welcome to Homeslice Puppetry, I hope that you like what you see. As an artist and sole proprietor of Homeslice Puppetry LLC, I am a puppet builder and a teacher with a variety of puppetry classes & workshops for students of all ages . Although primarily self taught in the art of puppetry I have been in education and building puppets for over 20 years. Prior to running my business I worked for a fantastic outdoor and experiential education program called Nature's Classroom as a teacher and later as a Program Coordinator and now sit on their board. I have been commissioned to make several puppets for shows & plays, and have taught puppet building classes at numerous schools and camps. Currently I am an active member of the Puppeteers of America (PofA) as well as the Northeast Regional Director for PofA, and sit on the planning board for PIET (Puppetry In Education & Therapy). I am also a member of the South Hadley Cultural Council, the Connecticut Guild of Puppetry and the National Capital Puppetry Guild, and a founder and current president of the Western Massachusetts Puppetry Guild. I also was awarded first place in the BJ Guyer Puppet building contest through the Stan Winston School of Character Arts with a Minion puppet.
Are you interested in having a puppet commisioned, taking a workshop I am running, having me come to your school for a workshop or residency, or having me run a workshop or classes for your group which you are associated with? Please contact me directly at [email protected] or drop me a message on my contact page. I would love to hear from you!
Are you interested in having a puppet commisioned, taking a workshop I am running, having me come to your school for a workshop or residency, or having me run a workshop or classes for your group which you are associated with? Please contact me directly at [email protected] or drop me a message on my contact page. I would love to hear from you!
What's on this page?
- Intro/ Bio
- 2026 Calendar of events
- Art Centers & Camps with links to register for my classes and camps as they get posted
- Homeslice Puppetry News
2025 Beauty & The Beast
Want to take a Homeslice Puppetry workshop/class/camp? Current 2026 Calendar:
Spring events:
Easthampton Puppetry Club (8 week afterschool program) January 28, 2026
Gaylord Library, South Hadley, MA (Simple Mech Puppets) April 9, 2026
Easthampton Public Library, Bunraku-style workshop April, 10, 2026
Berkshire Art Center, Giant Parade Puppets - spring camp April 20 - 24, 2016
Odyessy Bookshop (Deluxe Sock Puppets) April 25, 2026
Creative Community Space, Epping, NH (Stuffed Animal Puppets) May 15, 2026 (Kids)
Creative Community Space, Epping, NH (Stuffed Animal Puppets) May 16, 2026 (Adults)
Vinalhaven School Residency (Phamtom Tollbooth) May 18 - 22, 2026
Pittsfield First Friday with the Berkshire Art Center (Banner Decorating) June 5, 2026
Easthampton Public Library, (Mechanism Puppets) July 2, 2026
Pittsfield Independance Day Parade with the BAC July 4, 2026
Summer Camps:
Berkshire Art Center "Illuminated Puppets" Ages 11 - 14 July 6 - 10, 2026
Berkshire Art Center "The Puppet Show" Ages 8 - 10 July 13 - 17, 2026
Creative Community Space "This is Puppetry" Ages 9 and up July 20 - 24, 2026
Camp Ramah New England (Special Program) July 27 - 31, 2026
Generator Makerspace Burlington, VT (Tentative) TBD
Waterfall Arts, Belfast, ME (Tentative) TBD
Artistree, South Pomfret, VT "This Is Puppetry" August 17 - 21, 2026
Fall Events:
Generator Makerspace Burlington, VT (Deluxe Sock Puppets) October 2, 2026
Railcity Fanfest, St. Albans, VT October 3 - 4, 2026
Easthampton Puppetry Club (8 week afterschool program) January 28, 2026
Gaylord Library, South Hadley, MA (Simple Mech Puppets) April 9, 2026
Easthampton Public Library, Bunraku-style workshop April, 10, 2026
Berkshire Art Center, Giant Parade Puppets - spring camp April 20 - 24, 2016
Odyessy Bookshop (Deluxe Sock Puppets) April 25, 2026
Creative Community Space, Epping, NH (Stuffed Animal Puppets) May 15, 2026 (Kids)
Creative Community Space, Epping, NH (Stuffed Animal Puppets) May 16, 2026 (Adults)
Vinalhaven School Residency (Phamtom Tollbooth) May 18 - 22, 2026
Pittsfield First Friday with the Berkshire Art Center (Banner Decorating) June 5, 2026
Easthampton Public Library, (Mechanism Puppets) July 2, 2026
Pittsfield Independance Day Parade with the BAC July 4, 2026
Summer Camps:
Berkshire Art Center "Illuminated Puppets" Ages 11 - 14 July 6 - 10, 2026
Berkshire Art Center "The Puppet Show" Ages 8 - 10 July 13 - 17, 2026
Creative Community Space "This is Puppetry" Ages 9 and up July 20 - 24, 2026
Camp Ramah New England (Special Program) July 27 - 31, 2026
Generator Makerspace Burlington, VT (Tentative) TBD
Waterfall Arts, Belfast, ME (Tentative) TBD
Artistree, South Pomfret, VT "This Is Puppetry" August 17 - 21, 2026
Fall Events:
Generator Makerspace Burlington, VT (Deluxe Sock Puppets) October 2, 2026
Railcity Fanfest, St. Albans, VT October 3 - 4, 2026
**All current registration Links to these below**
Berkshire Art Center: (Formerly IS183)
Citizens’ Hall
13 Willard Hill Road
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Citizens’ Hall
13 Willard Hill Road
Stockbridge, MA 01262
Gaylord Library
47 College Street
South Haldey, MA 01075
(Free workshop, limited space must register to get in)
Odyssey Bookshop:
9 College Street
South Hadley, MA 01075
(Registration Link to come soon)
9 College Street
South Hadley, MA 01075
(Registration Link to come soon)
Easthampton Public Library:
9 Park Street
Eashampton, MA 01027
Phone: (413) 527-1031
9 Park Street
Eashampton, MA 01027
Phone: (413) 527-1031
Generator Makerspace VT:
40 Sears Lane
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: (802) 540-0761
40 Sears Lane
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: (802) 540-0761
Rail City Fan Fest:
Collins Perley Sports Complex
890 Fairfax Road
Saint Albans, Vermont
[email protected]
Collins Perley Sports Complex
890 Fairfax Road
Saint Albans, Vermont
[email protected]
Photo by Michael Moore of ELF Magazine-The Keene Sentinel (copyright)
Homeslice Puppetry News:
Fresh off the presses!!!
March 2, 2026: Got into the Newspaper again for my 8-week program with the Easthampton School ELF Program.
Read the article here:
March 2, 2026: Got into the Newspaper again for my 8-week program with the Easthampton School ELF Program.
Read the article here:
Beauty & The Beast 2025
|
Last year I was commissioned by the South Hadley Middle School Drama Club to build them a "Beast" puppet for their spring play of "Beauty & the Beast". After a bit of discussion we decided that a full body puppet was the way to go. They couldn't really afford a puppet of this magnitude but I just couldn't resist the challenge of building it. So our compromise was that instead of purchasing the puppet, after the show the puppet would be returned to me so that I could start to rent it out to future schools who are doing the show. So if your school is doing this show please contact me if you are interested in renting the beast. The student who puppeteered it did such a fantasic job.
Check out the link below where you can see the recording of the complete show. |
|
PIET (Puppeteers In Education and Therapy): Puppets & STEAM in Education 2025
One volunteer orgainization which I play an active role in through Puppeteers of America is PIET. I have been on there planning board now for about 2 years. Last March I was featured in one of our Zoom talks along with two other fantastic puppeteers, Linda Wingerter and Kurt Hunter. I was so honored to be up there with them. We each showed how we use Science and Math to educate through our work. Below is the YouTube posting of the talk, please enjoy, my part starts at about 1 hour and 3 minutes in.
NOM Crowdsourced Cinema Project 2021 & 2022
In 2021 and 2022 I participated in the Northamton Open Media: Crowd Sourced Cinema Project. For these projects NOM chooses an old film, you form a team, and then they asign your team a scene from the film to recreate. In 2021 we had "Jurassic Park" as the film and we got the scene "Must go faster", here is the film, our scene starts at: 1:13 (https://youtu.be/f8HdXVlhq-I?si=_d7d81UTuM7dpfJ4)
In 2022 we got holy grail of scenes to recreate, the "Cantina" scene from "Star Wars", our scene starts at 46 minutes into the film. Thank you to both of my team(s): Ana Ciarlo (Bloodhound), Steve Shanley (Tizer), Griffin Davey (Hot Dog Stand), David Herrera, Cesar Becerra, and Edwin Guevara Ramos (Magoo)
The YouTube link to watch is below:
In 2022 we got holy grail of scenes to recreate, the "Cantina" scene from "Star Wars", our scene starts at 46 minutes into the film. Thank you to both of my team(s): Ana Ciarlo (Bloodhound), Steve Shanley (Tizer), Griffin Davey (Hot Dog Stand), David Herrera, Cesar Becerra, and Edwin Guevara Ramos (Magoo)
The YouTube link to watch is below:
Puppet Building Challenge 2017:
Back in 2017, I had a chance meeting with a former puppeteer of Jim Henson, Bill Diamond, and got a chance to show off my stuff. He liked what I had built a lot, and so I asked him for some advice. As someone just starting out in this field, my question was, what should I work on next? He told me that I had great material of existing characters, and ones of my own invention, but not any of someone else's original idea or design. So I asked a good friend of mine to if he wouldn't mind creating a character for me.
I completed my summer project, and it was a great challenge from my good friend Johnny Robbie Benny. John gave me the challenge to turn his cartoon of aliens into a puppet. Picture below:
I completed my summer project, and it was a great challenge from my good friend Johnny Robbie Benny. John gave me the challenge to turn his cartoon of aliens into a puppet. Picture below:
Here is the finished product: (I am pretty proud of this creation)
**2023 follow up. At the Rail City Fan Fest is St. Albans, VT, I was a featured artist along with Bill Diamond and had the chance to remind him of our meeting several years earlier. I just so happened to have the aliens with me for the event and got to show him what I did with his challenge.
Please contact me at: [email protected] (subject line: Homeslice Puppetry),
follow me on Facebook at Homeslice Puppetry,
or go to my Contact page and leave me a message.
