{"id":102355,"date":"2015-05-27T09:09:28","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T13:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=102355"},"modified":"2016-06-14T14:57:32","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T18:57:32","slug":"puppetry-graduate-branches-out-into-childrens-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/05\/puppetry-graduate-branches-out-into-childrens-tv\/","title":{"rendered":"Puppetry Graduate Branches Out into Children’s TV"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sarah<\/a>
Sarah Nolen ’15 MFA, right, a recent master’s graduate in puppet arts, directs the production of ‘Treeples,’ a TV show that encourages young girls to be independent, smart, and confident. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It takes confidence to stand in front of a television camera next to one of the stars of a network television show, Robin Lord Taylor of Fox\u2019s \u201cGotham,\u201d while dressed for a Hollywood awards ceremony and holding a puppet on your hand. Just a few weeks later, standing in the woods on UConn\u2019s Depot campus, Sarah Nolen ’15 MFA, a recent master’s graduate in puppet arts, demonstrates the same understated confidence directing a production crew.<\/p>\n

Nolen hopes to instill similar attributes in young girls through her work as a puppeteer and film director with the help of a $10,000 grant she received after winning a Mister Rogers Memorial Scholarship<\/a> in April during the 36th College Television Awards, part of the Television Academy Foundation.<\/p>\n

The grant funds, supported by Ernst & Young LLP, are being used by Nolen to complete a pilot film for a children\u2019s television show called \u201cTreeples,\u201d which uses several young actors and puppet characters to tell stories that encourage girls ages 6 to 9 to be independent, smart, and confident. The film is part of MFA project work.<\/p>\n

“Each episode is a different girl dealing with a problem at school,” Nolen says. “She leaves school and escapes into the woods to work out the problem with the Treeples. These three friends support her, they show her that she can tackle anything. When she returns to school, she’s prepared to face the issue.”<\/p>\n

\"Puppet<\/a>
Puppet characters and young actors\u00a0are used by MFA student Sarah Nolen to tell stories that encourage girls ages 6 to 9 to face their fears. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The primary puppet characters, who live in the woods, are Kira, the Explorer, who is the most independent; Zodi, the Athlete, who is the hard-worker; and Maya, the Maker, the artist-scientist of the group. There is also a Monster character that is the manifestation of each girl\u2019s fears. Nolen designed and built the puppets and then auditioned child actors to cast several young girls for the project, which was filmed in early May at locations in and around Mansfield, including the UConn campus.<\/p>\n

In her proposal for “Treeples,” Nolen provides educational objectives for the program, citing research conducted by the Geena Davis Foundation that found children develop \u201cgendered behaviors\u201d much in the same way that they develop other actions, including through watching television programs. She hopes to show the pilot at upcoming film festivals and eventually develop a full season for television on PBS Kids or Nickelodeon.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up, I loved watching strong women like \u2018Xena: Warrior Princess,\u2019 \u201d Nolen says. \u201cThe studies show girls are more prone to playing housewives and not taking action, are more prone to talking than taking action or to be the straight-man and not the funny man. That\u2019s kind of the point of “Treeples,” to show that girls can be confident, funny and they don\u2019t have to subscribe to any social norms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolen grew up in Austin, Texas, and became interested in puppetry as a youngster. Her website includes a photo of her doing a puppet show inside of a cardboard box that serves as a television set. She later earned a degree in cinema and television at Southern Methodist University, using puppets for her film projects. While there, she heard about a summer puppet workshop conducted by Sandglass Theater that was being held at UConn, where she spent three weeks soaking up all she could learn about puppetry and telling visual stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first time I realized there\u2019s more to puppetry than the Muppets, more than Sesame Street,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

After completing her undergraduate degree, Nolen worked as a production coordinator in television for nationally-syndicated programs on networks including CMT and HGTV. But she continued to think about puppetry. After work, she went home and made puppets and did shows at local comedy houses in Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realized I wanted to do puppets full-time,\u201d Nolen says, recalling that she still had the phone number of Bart Roccoberton, director of UConn\u2019s Puppet Arts Program, whom she had met at the Sandglass Theater workshop. \u201cHe said if you ever want to go to grad school, let me know. I called him. They were accepting applications that week. I heard back, and threw everything in my Subaru and came to Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immersed in the MFA program, Nolen has flourished. Her solo puppet works were selected for the National Puppet Slam<\/a> in both 2013 and 2014, and she has performed as a puppeteer at UConn Puppet Slams, Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival, as a puppeteer for the Boston Pops Orchestra, EnvisionFEST Hartford, and The Out of Bounds Festival in Austin. She also developed the Skip Toumalou puppet for the 2013 UConn social media campaign ad \u201cJump In<\/a>,\u201d where she was the writer, designer, director, and puppeteer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSarah\u2019s an absolute leader, a wonderful example of a creative individual,\u201d Roccoberton says. \u201cOur relationship has driven me to stay ahead of her and sometimes catch up with her. Her work has always been exemplary. When we need something done, her hand is always first in the air. She\u2019s also the last one to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolen says she arrived in Storrs with a strong knowledge of film, but the faculty and resources in the Puppet Arts program have allowed her to make \u201cTreeples\u201d possible.
\n\u201cI didn\u2019t have access to puppeteers in Texas, space to build puppets, to rehearse, or to the faculty who know so much,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat we do here is unique. There isn\u2019t a program like it. This project wouldn\u2019t be possible without the MFA set-up here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Nolen ’15 MFA is completing a project for a children’s television show with Treeples puppets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":102430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2459,156,2076,1914,1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-102355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-graduate-students","category-profile","category-research","category-sfa","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 05:31:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102355"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102438,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102355\/revisions\/102438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/102430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102355"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=102355"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=102355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}