puppetmaker | In Remembrance of Jim Henson

18 years ago I was finishing up my MFA at the YSD. I had a job lined up at the Williamstown Theater festival which started shortly after I graduated. I was doing my last work study as stage crew for "Pygmalion" at the Rep. It was a Wednesday and we had a matinee for school kids. I can remember standing in the green room and hearing the news. I went up to the deck and had a good cry. Various people who knew how much Jim meant to me came up and checked on me.

During the memorial service they read a letter that Jim wrote before he died to be opened and read after his death. The line I will always remember was

Please watch out for each other. Love and forgive everybody. It's a good life. Enjoy it.

I walked out of that service feeling better about my self and the world. Jim may have passed but I knew that his legacy would live on into the ages. And since then I have been trying to be an ambassador for puppets and puppetry. I have tried to educate people about puppets and what they can do. I have taught adults and children. I have created a bunch of people who know how to operate a basic hand and rod puppet. I am trying to pass on my love of puppetry to another generation who won't know a time when Jim Henson was alive.

I have met a lot of people through my love of all things Henson. I have made some serious friends through my work in puppetry. Puppetry has been my touchstone for as long as I can remember and Jim Henson made it shine for me in ways I never thought about.

We still miss you Jim and we honor your memory with our work.

I am grateful that I have people I can talk to about Jim who get the same far away look in their eyes when talking about him and his work.