Mission

The Mudeye Puppet Company is an educational puppetry arts organization dedicated to providing esteem-building arts workshops, reducing waste, encouraging creativity through use of reused materials and offering local communities exciting neighborhood-based puppet performances and parades.

Frog People on Parade
 
History

In the fall of 2002 Bruce Orr moved to Portland from Philadelphia, where he worked as Education Coordinator of the Spiral Q Puppet Theater. With Spiral Q, he taught in marginalized urban areas where stories about day-to-day struggles and dreams came to life in the form of puppet pageantry. From the giant Martin Luther King puppet at Strawberry Mansion to the massive Peoplehood parade, Orr witnessed the power of art as catalyst for change again and again. The use of reused materials and the revival of traditional outdoor pageantry inspired Orr to envision his own puppetry arts organization.

In January of 2003, he created the Mudeye Puppet Company. From the first residency at the Robert Gray Middle SUN School, Mudeye’s programming and partnerships grew rapidly. As of this writing, the Mudeye Puppet Company has taught reused puppetry workshops to over 2000 children and adults in schools, community centers, homes for the disabled, churches, neighborhood celebrations and after-school programs. Mudeye has been featured twice in the Oregonian, and is a roster artist in the current Young Audiences 2007-2008 resource guide.

The Company

    Dia Varano – Instructor/Performer

    Dia VaranoDia Varano grew up in Pennsylvania but came to Portland after adventures in New York City, Massachusetts, New Orleans, Vermont and Hawaii. She earned her B.A. in Theatre from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA in 2002. For five years she made a living exploring the arts with kids through various organizations, such as the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club. In 2007 she moved to Portland and became a touring puppeteer for Tears of Joy Theatre, and also performed in two of their shows at the Winningstad Theatre in downtown Portland – Petrouchka and When Animals Were People. She’s also worked locally with New Moon Musical Theatre Camp, Irvington Extended Day, Alameda Pre School, and Grace Art Camp where she met Mr. Bruce Orr of Mudeye Puppet Company. Dia became a Mudeye full-timer in the spring of 2009, and is incredibly happy to be performing, building, writing, and teaching for a company that, through creative reuse, combines two of her passions – puppetry and environmentalism.

    Bruce Orr – Founder/Performer/Instructor

    brucepicBruce Orr grew up in Delaware City, Delaware. He has a bachelor’s degree in illustration from the University of the Arts and a Master’s in Art Therapy from Hahnemann University. He has been making puppets since he was 4 years old. Bruce has been a freelance illustrator, a street caricaturist, an Art Therapist on an acute psychiatric unit in Philadelphia, the painter of SCRAP’s first mural, and a puppeteer. He started the Mudeye Puppet Company in January of 2003 and couldn’t be happier with its progress. Bruce is talking about himself in the third person like Elmo, but loves the old muppets much, much more.

    Chloe Paisley – Office Manager

    chloepicChloe Paisley likes to make things move. Chronic collector, trash-picker, and treasure hunter with a strong taste for the absurd, she has been creating and performing ever since she first made someone laugh. She is pleased to join forces with the Mudeye Puppet Company, as we learn and grow together.