The Daily City
Fans taking photos of Sesame Street puppeteer Fran Brill
Sesame Street puppeteer Fran Brill
November 9, 2008; Orlando, Florida
Victoria Andrew, www.thedailycity.com
For Orlando’s 4th Annual Puppet Festival, the Orange County Regional history Center was packed with an enthusiastic crowd to witness renowned actress and Sesame Street puppeteer, Fran Brill on Nov. 9th. Fran dazzled the audience with the grand odyssey of Sesame Street’s conception, evolution, and current trends along with a surprise appearance of her spunky, most famous Muppet, Zoe.
Brill astonished admiring fans with the technical challenges, advanced acting techniques, and acrobatic feats Sesame Street puppeteers perform, such as hiding behind crates, performing on rolling lawn chairs, and even wearing spandex to match blue screens to be to be invisible from the camera. Brill claims, “ In the early 70s, I answered an ad to be a puppeteer. I never imagined how challenging it could be, yet I love how there is always something new to learn. With Sesame Street, we are always growing and learning as performers.”
She revealed with tantalizing detail her multifaceted career, which has covered a myriad of fields including Muppets, voice overs, and commercials, Off – Broadway, soap operas, TV, and blockbuster films. She says, “Often I feel as though I’m a circus performer who spins several pie plates, yet nothing has been as rewarding as creating Muppets, Prairie Dawn and Zoe.”
Prairie Dawn was born when Sesame Street was completely dominated by all male performers. Similar to Shakespearean times, all of the Muppets were performed by men including female characters in a falsetto voice. Yet, with the dawning of the feminist movement in the early 70s, Sesame Street adapted to the times. Brill thus created the “quintessential little girl” Muppet named Prairie Dawn, whose ultra femininity and sophistication differs from her later gender – bending, spunky tomboy Muppet, Zoe.
Brill enlightened her packed audience with Sesame Street’s philosophy that children learn more when watching the show with adults. Thus, writers invented parodies of popular shows to appease both children and adults, such as “Meal or No Meal”, “Desperate Houseplants”, and “Monsterpiece Theater,” which had the History Center crowd roaring with laughter.
An entertaining yet educational morning was closed with a moving tribute to Sesame Street’s ingenious creator, Jim Henson, and his trailblazing philosophy that the Muppets curriculum should be “funny yet educational.” It was Henson’s mission to “always has a positive attitude, treat everyone with respect, and to leave the world a better place than before.”
Jim Henson’s daughter, Heather Henson, will be the featured speaker at the History Center’s grand opening night event of “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” Exhibition on Thursday, Feb. 5 2009. Call (407) 836 – 8580 to reserve your spot.
Fans taking photos of Sesame Street puppeteer Fran Brill
Sesame Street puppeteer Fran Brill
November 9, 2008; Orlando, Florida
Victoria Andrew, www.thedailycity.com
For Orlando’s 4th Annual Puppet Festival, the Orange County Regional history Center was packed with an enthusiastic crowd to witness renowned actress and Sesame Street puppeteer, Fran Brill on Nov. 9th. Fran dazzled the audience with the grand odyssey of Sesame Street’s conception, evolution, and current trends along with a surprise appearance of her spunky, most famous Muppet, Zoe.
Brill astonished admiring fans with the technical challenges, advanced acting techniques, and acrobatic feats Sesame Street puppeteers perform, such as hiding behind crates, performing on rolling lawn chairs, and even wearing spandex to match blue screens to be to be invisible from the camera. Brill claims, “ In the early 70s, I answered an ad to be a puppeteer. I never imagined how challenging it could be, yet I love how there is always something new to learn. With Sesame Street, we are always growing and learning as performers.”
She revealed with tantalizing detail her multifaceted career, which has covered a myriad of fields including Muppets, voice overs, and commercials, Off – Broadway, soap operas, TV, and blockbuster films. She says, “Often I feel as though I’m a circus performer who spins several pie plates, yet nothing has been as rewarding as creating Muppets, Prairie Dawn and Zoe.”
Prairie Dawn was born when Sesame Street was completely dominated by all male performers. Similar to Shakespearean times, all of the Muppets were performed by men including female characters in a falsetto voice. Yet, with the dawning of the feminist movement in the early 70s, Sesame Street adapted to the times. Brill thus created the “quintessential little girl” Muppet named Prairie Dawn, whose ultra femininity and sophistication differs from her later gender – bending, spunky tomboy Muppet, Zoe.
Brill enlightened her packed audience with Sesame Street’s philosophy that children learn more when watching the show with adults. Thus, writers invented parodies of popular shows to appease both children and adults, such as “Meal or No Meal”, “Desperate Houseplants”, and “Monsterpiece Theater,” which had the History Center crowd roaring with laughter.
An entertaining yet educational morning was closed with a moving tribute to Sesame Street’s ingenious creator, Jim Henson, and his trailblazing philosophy that the Muppets curriculum should be “funny yet educational.” It was Henson’s mission to “always has a positive attitude, treat everyone with respect, and to leave the world a better place than before.”
Jim Henson’s daughter, Heather Henson, will be the featured speaker at the History Center’s grand opening night event of “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” Exhibition on Thursday, Feb. 5 2009. Call (407) 836 – 8580 to reserve your spot.