“Over the years, I’ve been asked many times to offer a puppetry bootcamp to learn the Jim Henson puppeteering technique. So now we’re doing it! We know that some of the greatest puppeteers started as teenagers, so anyone over the age of thirteen is welcome. This will be an intensive workshop, so participants can expect to work hard.” – Brian Henson
DATES: Monday Feb 23rd, Tuesday Feb 24th, Wednesday Feb 25th, Thursday Feb 26th
AFTERNOON SESSIONS: 2:30PM - 6:00PM
EVENING SESSIONS: 7:00PM - 10:30PM
IMPORTANT NOTE: This Puppetry Bootcamp only addresses puppetry performance, not puppet building. Participants should choose either the afternoon sessions or the evening sessions, not both. All sales are final. Fees – in part or in full - are non-refundable.
This program requires sustained physical activity, including holding and moving a puppet overhead, standing and walking for extended periods, lifting items and materials weighing up to and sometimes exceeding 15 pounds, and performing to a high camera lens that requires participants to be a height of at least five feet, eight inches (or wearing comfortable lifts or boots to achieve that height). These physical activities are essential aspects of the program. Any individual who wishes to participate but may need accommodation is encouraged to contact [email protected] to discuss whether reasonable accommodations can be made. Due to the essential physical nature of the program’s activities, some accommodations may not be feasible without fundamentally altering the program.
Puppetry Bootcamp location details will be shared upon payment confirmation.
If you have any questions or require any special accommodations, please contact us at [email protected]
Allan Trautman has taught puppetry technique for The Jim Henson Company since 1994, training performers in on-camera puppetry, animatronics, and real-time digital character performance. His instruction draws on five decades of professional experience in film, television, and live entertainment.
Trautman joined The Jim Henson Company in 1991, beginning with MuppetVision 3D for the Disney theme parks. He went on to perform as a series regular on Dinosaurs, where he was the puppeteer for the animatronic character Fran Sinclair across 65 episodes. Subsequent work includes puppet performance in Babe, Men in Black, Dr. Dolittle (where he also served as puppet coordinator), The Jungle Book, and The Happytime Murders. Television credits include Unhappily Ever After, Muppets Tonight, Splash and Bubbles, Earth to Ned, and The Barbarian and the Troll. He is a founding cast member of Puppet Up!—Uncensored, the Henson Alternative live improvisation show. He has received two prime-time Emmy nominations for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program.
Trautman began his training as an actor, earning an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. He performed at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and worked in TV, film and commercials throughout the 1980s. His on-camera acting credits include the cult classic The Return of the Living Dead (1985) in which he performed the role of Tarman—the first movie zombie to ask specifically for “Brains!”
Since 2007, Trautman has also taught improvisation, acting, and theater courses at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California. His teaching emphasizes acting fundamentals as the basis for puppet performance. He continues to work as a performer while instructing newer professionals entering the field.
Alice Dinnean is an American film and television puppeteer, best known for her role as the rebel princess Brea in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. She has been a regular performer on Sesame Street, Jack’s Big Music Show, Sid the Science Kid, Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow, and numerous Muppet projects.
Originally from Oakland, California, Alice studied at Oberlin College before training at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia. She later moved to New York City, where she began her career in children’s television, performing principal roles on Sesame Street and The Puzzle Place. Her work soon expanded to include advanced performance systems developed at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in Burbank, California, where she trained in animatronic characters and real-time digital animation.
Alice’s film and effects credits include The Country Bears, Men in Black, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Team America: World Police, Splash and Bubbles, and Word Party, alongside more traditional puppetry work in The Muppets Mayhem, Crank Yankers, The Happytime Murders, and Donkey Hodie.
In 2017, Alice joined the cast of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and relocated with her young son to Windsor, England, for the yearlong production. During the shoot, she performed a wide range of characters and creatures using a blend of traditional puppetry and animatronic techniques.
Now splitting her time between New York and Los Angeles, Alice continues to perform and teach for the Muppets and The Jim Henson Company. Recent projects include Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and The Muppet Show (2026). She is married to fellow puppeteer Peter Linz.
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