President

Joshua Holden

Joshua is an award-winning international puppeteer, actor, and joy-maker and was named one of “20 Theatre workers You should Know” by American Theatre Magazine. He was on the Broadway national tour of AVENUE Q, the Lead Puppeteer in Peter Pan 360 (ThreeSixty Entertainment), and garnered an Arts Impulse award  as well as an IRNE nomination for “Best Actor In a Musical” as Bill Snibson in Me & My Girl (Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston). He worked with international artist Banksy on his controversial piece Sirens of the Lambs. His one-man show, The Joshua Show, was awarded “Best Performance” and was voted “Audience Favorite” at the Puppeteers of America’s National Festival. He currently works as the puppet wrangler for the off broadway company of Avenue Q. A proud Massachusetts native and an alumnus of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, he earned a B.F.A. in Acting from The Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University. joshuashow.com  @ohohmygoshua

vice President

David BIzzaro

David Bizzaro is a first-generation Latin American TV and film writer, director, and puppeteer based in NYC. He has almost two decades of film and videography experience, including four years of work on music videos, concert backing videos, and eclectic fan merchandise for three time Grammy award-winning band, The Flaming Lips. He wrote and co-produced The Pits—an award-winning short film about an avocado finding its other half. The Pits premiered at the 2017 New York International Children’s Film Festival and was also selected as one of 22 films to be on the NYICFF Best of Fest world tour out of approximately 100 total films. It has played in 40+ film festivals around the world and was featured by the NY Times as a part of the Jim Henson’s Foundation short film selections. David is also a freelance builder and puppet wrangler for The Jim Henson Company and Sesame Street. He was awarded a 2018 Made In NY Fellowship where he is developing his next short film.  @davidbizzaro   www.davidbizzaro.com 

corresponding secretary

Katie mcgeorge

This is Katie McGeorge’s first year in NYC! She’s working steadily, building props and puppets with friends such as The Juilliard School, Sleep No More, NYU Tisch, Wonderspark Puppets, Sinking Ship Productions’ Puppet Playlist, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Puppet Kitchen, among others. She moved to the city after graduating from Ithaca College, where she earned a B.F.A in scenic design & technology, with a secondary focus in playwriting. katiemcgeorge.squarespace.com

Recording secretary

Jenny Hann

Jenny is an actor, puppeteer, and teaching artist from Yorktown, Virginia. Before making New York City her home, Jenny performed internationally in Italy and Hong Kong. Currently she performs with WonderSpark Puppets (named one of the best puppet theaters for kids by TimeOut NY). Jenny built puppets for and performed in the Off-Broadway production of The Greatest Pirate Story Never Told. She participated in the inaugural The Catapult professional artist program at the 2017 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival and is a three-year participant of The Eugene O'Neill Puppetry Conference. As an actor she has worked with The Dah Theater Company in Belgrade, Serbia and was a nominee for Best Newcomer by the Hong Kong Arts Guide in 2012. Jenny is the proud holder of a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University.  jennyhann.com

treasurer

Eric WRight

Eric became a puppeteer as a way to combine his passions for Theater, Design, Music, and Making, and began his career under the instruction of Dan Hurlin at Sarah Lawrence College from 1999-2003. He studied further at UConn’s Puppet Arts Program from 2001-2002, and attended the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference as a participant and as an Emerging Artist in 2004. He, Emily DeCola, and Michael Schupbach co-founded the Puppet Kitchen in 2008, which continues to offer puppetry services to stage and screen productions worldwide.  puppetkitchen.com

Board member

Penny Jones

Penny Jones is a longtime member of the guild and at one point, served as president.  She is the creator of over 28 produced puppet shows and is the director of Penny Jones & Co. Puppets. She has worked for Suzari Marionettes, The NY Park Department Marionettes, Pickwick Puppets, Dozari Marionettes, Bil Baird, and Sesame Street. Commercially, Ms. Jones’ puppets were commissioned by David Hockney for the Metropolitan Opera’s Parade and by Carol Channing for a record cover of Peter and the Wolf. Her work has been featured in a variety of publications, commercials, and tv shows. In Schools, Penny has used her puppetry expertise to foster Early Childhood Language Literacy in a variety of ways throughout the us and Europe.  pennypuppets.org

Board member

Liz joyce

Liz Joyce has toured New York and the East Coast with her company, A Couple of Puppets since 1992. Trained as a fine artist, she also was certified in Art Education K-12. She apprenticed with Richmond puppeteer, Terry Snyder and honed her carving skills working with traditional puppet carvers in Prague. Liz's puppet operetta, Sing a Song of Sixpence was awarded an UNIMA Citation. For the past 15 years, Liz has hosted many talented puppeteers at Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY where she is founder and artistic director.  She recently served on the Board of Directors for the Jim Henson Foundation.  goatonaboat.org

Board member

Tanya khordoc

Co-Artistic Director of Evolve Puppets with Barry Weil: Home, currently in development, together with Tom Lee and Jared Mezzocchi (2011 Jim Henson Foundation Grant, PATCH, Dixon Place). World premiere production of former Czech President Vàclav Havel’s play Motormorphosis. Puppets and models for UTC61’s adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. Puppet design/direction for Theater East’s musical, Devil and the Deep, co-written by Graham Russell of Air Supply. Secrets History Remembers (Great Small Works’ 10th Annual Toy Theater Festival at St. Ann’s Warehouse, The Brick Theater, and the P of A 2009 National Festival). The Wizard of Ounces (HERE Arts Center and La MaMa). Tanya is also the puppeteer and voice of the character “Phoenix” in the children’s webshow Rosie’s Place and is the creator of a TV show in development, Meow Meow & Friends. evolvepuppets.com

Board member

Peter lewis

Peter Lewis had a thirty-four year career in NYC as a graphic designer/art director, with a number

of major corporations. Puppetry has always been a fascination. He has built puppets as a volunteer, and on commission, and occasionally, performed with them. For PGOGNY, Peter was at various times, over the 

past thirty years, President, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer. He continues as Editor of PuppetMaster.

Board member

carol sterling

Carol has been a proud member of the Puppetry Guild of Greater New York since the l970s.  Former positions she has held include: President of UNIMA-USA, Education Consultant for Puppeteers of America and advisory board for The Puppetry Journal.  She is the recipient of the Puppeteers of America’s Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin Award for Contributions to the Field of Education.  Carol has served as a U.S. Fulbright Program Specialist in Educational Puppetry in Uganda (2012) and India (2015) and has conducted over 100 educational puppetry presentations and workshops in eight countries and throughout the United States. She has authored articles for Puppetry International,  The Puppetry Journal, as well as PGOGNY’s PuppetMaster.  She is currently serving on the Jim Henson Foundation Board, the Penny Jones & Co. Puppets and Early Childhood Puppet Theatre Board, among others,  and is working as a Teaching Artist in Educational Puppetry for Brooklyn Arts Council and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.