Video: Puppet-Making for Avenue Q

Dallas — When Theatre Three called with news that they would be producing Avenue Q, Michael Robinson jumped at the challenge. As the artistic director of Dallas Puppet Theater and owner of Dallas Costume Shoppe, the resources were at his fingertips and it was an opportunity to work with his partner, director Michael Serrecchia. 

"We built 36 puppets for the show in a matter of three weeks," Robinson says. "And we added an extra week of special puppet training to the rehearsal process." 

Described by The New Yorker as "an ingenious combination of The Real World and Sesame Street," this show has human actors singing along with puppets to songs like "The Internet is for Porn" and "What do you do with a BA in English?" 

In 2004, Avenue Q beat Wicked and Caroline, or Change for the Best Musical Tony award. Since then, it has delighted audiences across the globe, including a 2007 stop at Bass Hall in Fort Worth, and 2010 stint at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. 

For Serrecchia one of the greatest challenges was figuring out the intricacies of the human/puppet relationship.

"We had to figure out how much acting the person behind the puppet had to do," Serrecchia says. "After years of directing, this is proof to me that you never stop learning in this profession." 

We met with the directors, puppet designer and cast at a recent dress rehearsal for this short video: