"Thank you for sharing yourself with my students. You have a special way with kids in which they feel successful and appreciated for their individuality. I loved your relaxed style in each lesson. I know these kids will remember making puppets for years to come!"

Karen McColloch
Third Grade Teacher
Oak Grove Elementary
"The kids had a blast creating their puppets, and will remember the pageant for a long time! You're great! Thanks again!"

Korey Phillips
Pre-K Teacher
Boise Eliot Elementary
"Thank you for your most excellent help and encouragement with the whole puppet parade project. It was such a great experience!"

Jason Hieggelke
Science Teacher
DaVinci Middle School

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

    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.