Michael J. Meindl (Producer/Director) is an independent digital media artist, scholar, and teacher currently living in New York City. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Media from the University of Georgia, as well as an MA and BA in Theatre Studies. Past projects he has been involved with include a theatre piece featuring a live actor intereacting with a puppet and animated character, an educational video featuring a puppet named Barry the Bulldog, a short documentary for the National Civil War Naval Museum, and the reality series Mystery Manhunt on the National Geographic Channel. Michael is a member of the Puppeteers of America and has taken workshops with such artists as Steve Whitmire and Basil Twist. As a puppetry scholar, he has presented on the topic at various conferences, including the Association for Theatre in Higher Education's annual meeting and Puppetry and Postdramatic Performance: An International Conference on Performing Objects in the 21st Century. Finally, he teaches film and digital media at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

 

Sara Ciccone (Intern) is a New Jersey native and is studying Animation and Illustration at Montclair State University. She hopes to find a job at an animation studio, but is also keeping her options open to other art-related career paths. While she does not have any experience in puppetry, she is excited to learn about the art form as she works on this project..