By: Jackson Hawkins

The University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies hosted its annual Jim Henson Award ceremony on Tuesday night. Student recipients presented and performed their fully funded puppet projects.

Faculty selected the Henson Award winners after they entered a competitive process for financial support from the Jim Henson Foundation. According to the Clarice website, Jane Henson ‘55 started the Jim Henson Fund for Puppetry to honor the memory of her late husband.

To start the evening, Maura Keefe, director of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, gave opening remarks to the Cafritz Foundation Theater crowd. She emphasized the importance of students having no creative limitations on their puppetry projects. 

“This is not a puppet show that has complete narrative and tells successful stories of triumph and tragedy, but rather what [students] have explored with the imagination that they bring in,” Keefe said.

Before diving into the three student performances, Jaime Sunwoo, a professional puppeteer and artist, presented some of her work. The average person may not know the difference between puppetry and stop-motion animation but to Sunwoo, there is a clear distinction.

 “The way I define puppetry is animating inanimate objects, bringing them to life through the human hand in real-time,” Sunwoo said.

The student performances, each lasting around ten minutes, focused on various topics, from biblical reenactments to abstract sculpture gardens and even the inner struggles of sisterhood. 

Henson Award recipient Peter Pattengill, a second-year dance MFA candidate, introduced their piece’s vision as a way to reshape the body while offering a new look at identity and expression. 

 “I walked into the program, particularly with an interest in materials, materiality, costumes and abstracting the human form,” Pattengill said. “I was directed towards puppetry . . . that would be a great way to do that.”

Sophomore theater major Miele Murray was another recipient of the Henson Award. While she has focused on acting throughout her life, she found puppetry to be a surprising combination of her favorite art forms. 

“I really like finding the uniqueness of puppets because I’ve been performing all my life,” Murray said. “I’ve only started being interested in puppetry over the past couple of years, so I was like, ‘How can I bring this all together?’”

Featured Image: Jim Henson Award winner Peter Pattengill (center) and other performers bow after their showcase on March 5, 2024. Photo by Jackson Hawkins.