ABOUT

Joel Brubacher has been building and playing with puppets since his early childhood. In May 2005, he established Banjo Puppets to legitimize the work he has been doing for most of his life.

Building

Banjo Puppets specializes in building moving-mouth hand and rod puppets. Most are made from polyfoam covered with fleece or fur. They are premade or custom built to suit your needs, whether it be a puppet version of your own character, an issue-specific puppet for an educational program, a likeness of a loved one, or a fun and interactive play-mate for all ages.

Please check out some of these puppets in the GALLERY.

Performance

Performance experience includes background puppeteering for Mr. Meaty, performing “Jay” for Giselle’s Big Back Yard TVO kids zoo show, Glimpses of Extra-Ordinary Lives with Cardboard Heart, and involvement with RED, SPEAK, Shadowland Theatre, Clay and Paper Theatre, and Threadbare Theatre. Joel was a puppeteer with Kids on the Block for 3 years, travelling to local schools and camps promoting disability awareness.

Training

Joel has taken several workshops, including the following:

Building Workshops

Foam and fleece session with Puppets for Goodness Sake
Polyfoam workthrough with Drew Alison of Grey Seal Puppets
Reticulated Foam workthrough with Nina Keogh as part of the Haliburton School of the Arts.

Movement Workshops

Stop Motion Animation at Cuppa Coffee Animation
Hand Puppet Manipulation workshop with Lampoon Puppet Theatre
Puppets and Television workshop with Rob Mills of Radical Sheep Productions
Puppets and Television with Nina Keogh
Bouffon Intensive with Adam Lazarus

Conferences

Puppet Rampage 2007, St Paul, Minnesota
Celebrate the Puppet 2006, London, Ontario
Puppeteers of America National Festival 2005, St Paul, Minnesota (scholarship recipient)
Puppet Fest Midwest 2003, Trenton, Missouri (scholarship recipient)
FESTIVAL OF POSSIBILITIES! summer 2003, Durham, Ontario (co-organizer, puppet builder, drummer, stilter, well-wisher, rock picker...)