Director
Abigail Baird
Abigail Baird is the Director of the Online Certificate Program in Puppet Arts at the University of Connecticut. She is a visual and performing artist, director, and producer whose work bridges puppetry, animation, physical theater and aerial acrobatics. Abigail is the founder of Aerial Animation, an internationally recognized performance company that advanced to the semifinals on America’s Got Talent and La France a Un Incroyable Talent. Her performances have been described as “like opening up a storybook and watching the pages come to life,” blending puppetry, animation, and aerial acrobatics into unforgettable theatrical experiences.
Abigail’s stage credits include The Odyssey (American Repertory Theater), Library Lion (Boston Public Library/Calderwood Pavilion), Nothing Really Matters (Connecticut Repertory Theatre), Metamorphoses and She Kills Monsters (Nafe Katter Theater), and Salvage (Kinetic Arts Center). She holds an MFA in Puppet Arts from UConn, a BFA in Technical Theater, Sculpture, and Puppetry from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico, and a Certificate in Circus Arts and Physical Theater from Circomedia in Bristol, England. As a professor and arts educator, Abigail is dedicated to developing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to puppetry, animation, and the performing arts while inspiring emerging artists to bring their own stories to life.
Email: abigail.baird@uconn.edu
Core Faculty
Paul Spirito
UConn's Puppet Arts Program's Technical Supervisor, Paul guides students through the process of designing, creating, and performing puppets for their projects and for the Connecticut Repertory Theater. His profound love of machines and the parts that make them go, along with his obsession with the people of the industrial age, are the driving forces behind much of his work. Paul's goal is to push puppetry forward by infusing traditional forms and techniques with 21st century materials and processes. Says Paul:
"Most of our online students can't interrupt their lives for two years to come to campus to study puppetry. The online graduate certificate program offers the perfect solution. You can try out one course or take the entire four-course program. Plus credits are directly transferrable to the MA or MFA in Puppet Arts at UConn. Some students use the program as a stepping stone to getting a Master's degree. Whether you choose the traditional route or go online, you'll get the benefit of our program’s 50 years of teaching puppetry, along with all the resources and networking opportunities that a large university like ours provides."
Email: paul.spirito@uconn.edu
Meagan McNerney
Megan McNerney is a puppeteer, designer, and educator with an MFA in Puppet Arts from UConn. Her work spans scales from sewing tiny stop-motion costumes with miniature stitches to performing life-size remote-operated dinosaurs in basketball arenas. She has served as adjunct faculty in the graduate and certificate Puppet Arts programs. Megan continues to explore the intersections of puppetry, performance, and pedagogy through the ongoing development of a biomechanics-based system for puppetry performance training.
Email: Megan.McNerney@UConn.edu
Annie Rollins
Annie Katsura Rollins is a researcher, theatre and puppetry artist, and practitioner of Chinese shadow puppetry, studying as a traditional apprentice since 2008. Rollins has received a Fulbright Fellowship, the Confucius Institute Joint PhD Research Fellowship and a Canadian SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship for her research. She was named valedictorian for her dissertation at Concordia University’s Interdisciplinary Humanities PhD program on the precarity of safeguarding traditional puppet forms. Selected venues for exhibitions, lectures and performances include The Art Institute of Chicago, The Montreal Botanical Gardens, The Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Bucknell University, Luther College, the Linden Center in Yunnan China, and the Rietveld Academie in the Netherlands. Annie has published articles in Puppetry International, Asian Theatre Journal, Manip, and Anthropology Now and created the first comprehensive Chinese shadow puppetry site in English at www.chineseshadowpuppetry.com.
Email: annie.rollins@uconn.edu
Portfolio: www.anniekatsurarollins.com
newcomer engagement lead www.mabellearts.ca
co-founder and curator www.concretecabaret.com
professor at Centennial College and University of Connecticut
Affiliated Faculty
Susan Tolis
Susan Tolis has worked extensively in the areas of costumes, puppetry, specialty props and masks for many theatre, dance and opera companies, such as Jim Henson Productions, Lincoln Center Theatre, Boston Ballet, Hartford Stage, NetWorks, Disney and more. She currently serves as the Costume Shop Manager for the University of Connecticut’s Department of Dramatic Arts and The Connecticut Repertory Theatre where she teaches costume technology courses and mentors undergraduate and graduate students in theatrical costuming. She also has a love of art dolls, and designs and creates one of a kind faerie and fantasy sculptures for commission and sale through her website www.fernwoodfaeries.com.
Email: susan.tolis@uconn.edu
Matthew Sorensen
Matthew Sorensen is a puppeteer, theater artist, filmmaker, educator, and museum exhibition designer based in Connecticut and New York. He is also adjunct faculty for the Dramatic Arts program at the University of Connecticut and for the University of Utah. When he’s not in the classroom, Matt can be found preparing exhibitions, hosting events, and leading tours and workshops at the Ballard Institute in Museum of Puppetry. He received his MFA in Puppet Arts from UConn in 2022. While finishing his studies, Matt formed a puppet production company, Puppet Bucket Productions, and has designed and built puppets for theater and film around the world.
Email: matthew.sorensen@uconn.edu
John Bell
One of the preeminent historians and theorists of Puppet Theater in the U.S., Dr. Bell is the Director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and an Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts at UConn. He is a founding member of the Great Small Works Theater Collective; was a member of the Bread and Puppet Theater Company from 1976 to 1986; and received his doctoral degree in theater history from Columbia University in 1993. He is the author and editor of many books and articles about puppet theater, including American Puppet Modernism, Strings, Hands, Shadows: A Modern Puppet History and The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. Says Dr. Bell:
"One of the basic challenges we face is how to communicate, not with our faces, but with our hands. In both the hand puppet and shadow puppet courses, you'll learn types of manipulation that help you develop hand dexterity. We teach students how to figure out the different positions and movements of the hand to enable the puppet to communicate thoughts and feelings. And we always look at traditional forms of puppetry from other countries to help students understand what makes a good performance, what kinds of stories can be told, and what contexts are useful for them to take advantage of in their own performances."
Email: john.bell@uconn.edu
Bart Roccoberton, Jr.
Director of the Puppet Arts Program, Bart is recognized worldwide as a leading advocate for Puppet Arts in the United States and abroad. Inspired by his knowledge and enthusiasm, UConn’s Puppet Arts alumni have worked on Broadway shows, including The Lion King, Little Shop of Horrors, and Avenue Q; in major motion film, including Spiderman 2; and on PBS’s Between the Lions and Sesame Street, as well as forming their own touring companies. Says Bart:
"In our program, we open our students' eyes and ears to the myriad of possibilities. Nothing is impossible. In fact, our graduates are renowned around the world for being exceptionally well qualified to do any type of work in puppetry – one of the key reasons so many of our students have gotten puppeteer positions in major motion films and Broadway productions."
Article of Interest: UNIMA Cites Roccoberton as ‘Chancellor of Puppetry Education’ for Global Influence
Email: BP.Roccoberton@UConn.edu