Center for Puppetry Arts founder Vince Anthony talks with Lois Reitzes

In 1978, a frog and a man cut the red ribbon at a new, one-of-a-kind organization devoted to showcasing puppetry, performing puppet shows and displaying puppets from around the world. The the Center for Puppetry Arts was born.

Of course, the ribbon-cutters were Kermit the Frog and renowned puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets and Sesame Street.

Both Henson and Kermit were friends of Center for Puppetry Arts founder Vince Anthony. Henson passed away in 1990 due to a bacterial infection, but his family continued the Jim Henson Foundation, which provides grants for puppetry artists, and the Jim Henson Company, which produces puppetry shows and films.

Jim Henson’s children run these two organizations, and in collaboration with them, the Center for Puppetry Arts now houses 500 of Henson’s puppets from his prolific number of puppetry projects. Currently, the Center is under construction to build a new wing of the museum there to house all of these puppets.

The new wing will add an additional 15,000 square feet to the Center with a library and puppet archive along with the 500 Henson characters on display. Popular characters like Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog and Bert and Ernie will sit side-by-side with lesser known characters like Hoots the Owl and Kermit’s nephew, Robin the Frog.

The new wing is scheduled to open this fall.

Along with renovations, the Center for Puppetry Arts has expanded on other fronts since 1978. No longer a one-man show, Anthony’s organization now has 25 performers, social media staff, development staff, puppet makers, composers, writers and museum personnel.

In addition, Anthony and Reitzes discussed the role of technology, now prevalent throughout the puppetry performances.