Puppet Building Office Hours with Carole D'Agostino
Sunday, Mar. 8, 2026 at 2pm est
Puppet Building Office Hours is a monthly, community-centered space designed to support the builders and makers in our field—whether you’re just starting out, experimenting with new materials, or refining a long-standing practice.
Each session features a guest host who is a well-established, versatile puppet builder working in the industry today. These artists frequently join us directly from their home or professional studio spaces, offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at real-world puppet-building practices.
This is not a lecture or a polished demo—it’s an open, conversational office hour where you can:
- Ask questions about materials, tools, and techniques
- Get feedback on works-in-progress
- Learn how professional builders problem-solve in their own studios
- Connect with other puppet makers in a supportive environment
Our goal is to create access—to knowledge, to artists, and to the kind of practical insight that often only comes from years of hands-on experience.
Accessibility & Pricing: We believe this resource should be accessible to as many makers as possible.
- Sessions begin at $15
- Participants are invited to pay what they can beyond that amount if they’re able
Your contribution helps us continue to fairly compensate guest artists and sustain this offering for the community.
Who it’s for: Puppet builders, makers, designers, and artists at all levels
Come as you are. Bring your questions, your curiosity, and your in-progress ideas. Puppet Building Office Hours is about learning together—and keeping the craft moving forward.
Replay available for 30 days
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Alex Vernon is an actor, puppeteer, designer and automata engineer. In 2017, the National Puppetry Conference awarded Alex the Eugene
O’Neill Theatre Center Scholarship during which time he studied Mechanisms with Jim Kroupa and Marionette Construction with Jim Rose. Since 2012, Alex has been a company member with
Washington, D.C.’s award-winning Happenstance Theater with whom he has created 11 original productions. With Happenstance, Alex was nominated twice as Outstanding Lead Actor for the Helen Hayes Awards. In the Spring of 2020 Alex taught as an adjunct professor of Puppetry Arts at the University of Maryland, College Park: Jim Henson’s alma mater. Alex built a 6-foot mechanical horse puppet for the Washington Revels, 21 Wayang Kulit puppets for WSC Avant Bard’s Midsummer, and a transforming chair for Theater Alliance’s Mnemonic; a Bunraku-style puppet that also functioned as a weight-bearing chair. He is the resident automata technician at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, maintaining and repairing over 40 pieces from the Cabaret Mechanical Theater collection. He is one half of the puppet theater duo, Alex and Olmsted.