SERVICES
- Puppet, mask & prop design, construction and consulting services for stage and screen
- Providing Puppeteers and voice-over artists with extensive experience, versatility and vast repertoires
- Creative
educational solutions with custom lesson development and artist
residencies using theatrical play, puppetry or puppet building to suit
your classroom needs - any issue or subject can benefit from our alternative teaching approach
- Non-Traditional teaching approach to traditional theater art subjects: Acting, Improvisation, Puppetry, Voice-Over and Comedy
- Art direction and design for film and television projects
HISTORY
Puppet
Junction was founded in 2005 by puppeteer, voice actor and costume/prop/puppet builder Serra
Hirsch. With over ten years in the industry and a background in
performing, education and puppetry arts, Serra has cultivated a wide resource
of artists, educators and collaborators that she brings on board to help tackle
the scope of Puppet Junction's projects.
Commercially, Puppet Junction builds sets, props, puppets and large-scale
costumes for theater, film and television companies all over the New York City metropolitan
area. The company also provides services in education, art direction and
consulting, as well as devising custom workshops in puppet building,
puppeteering, improvisation, acting, voice work and general theater arts.
Creatively, the artistic vision of Puppet Junction remains focused on
completing The Dalí Project, a full-length hybrid puppet play about the
artist Salvador Dalí - all the while keeping a watchful eye on a variety of
smaller creative projects throughout the year.
BIOS
SERRA
HIRSCH (Founder, Artistic Director) is a graduate of Emerson
College's Theater Arts Program (BFA) and
received a Master's in Educational Theater from New York University.
She has studied
puppet building and performance at the Eugene O'Neill
Puppetry Conference and the Institut
International de la Marionnette in
Charleville-Mézières, France.
As a puppet builder/performer for the stage,
Serra's
work has been featured
in the Great Small Works'
Toy Theater Festival, Manhattan Children's
Theater, Off-Broadway at 59E59
Theater, HERE, Theater for the New City,
PS122, One Arm Red, Chashama, Dixon Place, St. Ann's Warehouse, a touring show with TheatreworksUSA called Virtually Me and in both National and
International puppetry festivals. She has performed with companies such as Blind Summit, Cosmic
Bicycle Theater, Drama of Works,
David Michael Friend,
Amanda Maddock, Jane
Catherine Shaw, imnotlost and
Exploding Puppet
Productions, to name a
few. On film/TV, Serra has appeared on the Style Network's Craft Corner Deathmatch,
created original figures for Comedy Central's Colbert Report, Fuse Network's "Hip Hop President" series
as well as numerous creations for PSA’s and small film projects.
For her her large interactive costumes, Serra was awarded the 2007 "Best Costume" Prize at the
34th Annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade for her
costume, The Claw (featured in a documentary entitled "The
Claw"), which she followed up with a win on the Today Show's 2009 "Best Costume" contest with The Damsel in Distress.
When Serra is not immersed in puppet and costume pursuits, she leads
workshops, works in Voice
Overs for TV/Radio/Animation and dabbles in
interior design consulting. You can contact Serra at
Serra@PuppetJunction.com.
SOPHIA REMOLDE (Associate Director) is a
theater, film, dance, and puppetry artist based in New York City. Sophia
wears
many hats, including writing, directing, performing, designing, and all
that is
needed to collaborate and create. Sophia started working with puppets at
a young
age, creating hand puppet shows and performing them around the local
community.
She has since returned to her love of puppetry and is interested in
exploring
the diversity of puppetry and the strong impact that it has in art.
As a performer, Sophia has appeared in numerous
productions
at the HB Playwrights Foundation and collaborated with such artists as
George
Bartenieff, Aya Ogawa, Jane Catherine Shaw, imnotlost, SHUA Group, and
members
of SITI Company. Her puppet building and performance has been featured
at La
Mama, Dixon Place, Chashama, Theater for the New City, and St. Ann’s
Warehouse.
Sophia’s work stems from her vast movement
background. She
consistently trains in the Suzuki Method with The South Wing and SITI
Company
(in addition to Viewpoints with the latter), and choreographs as a fight
director. Sophia is thrilled to be co-creating The Dalí Project through Puppet Junction. You can contact
Sophia at sophia@puppetjunction.com.
TESTIMONIALS
"Art production, art education, drama education, drama improvisation, drama direction and class management were all skills masterfully demonstrated by Serra of Puppet Junction in her tie at Langley School. I recommend Serra Hirsch without reservation as a fine teacher to do almost any variety of Art or drama program with young people. It was a pleasure to work with her."
-Charles Schmidt, Fine Arts Head, The Langley School
"Excellent, age appropriate program. Good response from the children. Highly recommended."
-First Grade Teaching Staff, Hillside Elementary, Hastings, NY
CLIENTS
