Over the years, there have been some brilliantly talented women who’ve performed with the Muppets. Often (and unfairly) overlooked in favor of some of the notable male puppeteers, some of them have taken to calling themselves “GLOP” – the Glorious Ladies of Puppetry. Now, GLOP isn’t just an unofficial club, it’s so much more.
Henson Company puppeteers/writers/producers Donna Kimball (Fraggle Rock: Rock On), Alice Dinnean (Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance) and Colleen Smith (Earth to Ned) have teamed up to produce a series of puppet videos starring over 20 of the best and most notable members of GLOP in the industry.
Somehow, magically, GLOP managed to combine puppets from all around the world into each episode, and it’s pretty seamless. We spoke with writer, performer, and producer Colleen Smith, who gave us a little insight on how these were put together.
Each of the puppeteers filmed their characters separately on green screen, directed by Donna Kimball via Zoom. None of the puppets were ever together. Donna story boarded everything before hand and was able to walk everyone through their eye lines and placements. The LA-based crew was up until 3:00am to shoot Louise Gold in London. Donna and Rich (the editor) put everything together, and then Angela Parrish wrote the score for each episode. Everyone involved volunteered their time to help put this production together.
The cast and crew includes:
- Pam Arciero (Sesame Street, Eureeka’s Castle)
- Jennifer Barnhart (Sesame Street, Between the Lions)
- Leslie Carrara-Rudolph (Sesame Street)
- Dorien Davies (Word Party)
- Alice Dinnean (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance)
- Peggy Etra (Puppet Up)
- Genevieve “G” Flati (Earth to Ned)
- Amyee Garcia (It’s a Big Big World)
- Louise Gold (The Muppet Show)
- Elizabeth Hara (Sesame Street)
- Cheri Vanden Heuvel
- Gwen Hollander (Kidding)
- Morgana Ignis (Earth to Ned)
- Donna Kimball (Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Fraggle Rock: Rock On)
- Adrian Rose (Crank Yankers)
- Alison Mork (Pee-Wee’s Playhouse)
- Sarah Oh (Splash and Bubbles)
- Christine Papalexis (Team America: World Police)
- Nicolette Santino (The Happytime Murders)
- Colleen Smith (Earth to Ned)
- Haley Who (Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance)
- Michelle Zamora (The Pee Wee Herman Show: Live on Stage)
What is this, the Expendables of puppets??
The first five videos produced by GLOP are below. For more info and to keep up with their upcoming productions (including a musical episode!), be sure to check out their website and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
