Featured Puppets

HAMLET the Monkey

Hamlet is the eternally optimistic and unassuming leader of The Guild of Thespian Puppets. However, he does have a mischievous side that comes out every now and again.

Hamlet began his life as a stuffed monkey. His career as a performer started by making appearances in several home movies. From there he was cast in a few independently produced short films. Eventually Hamlet outgrew the limitations of being a stuffed animal and made the decision to become a puppet. It was then that he joined The Guild of Thespian Puppets and naturally slipped into the leadership role of the chaotic puppet troupe.

Hamlet is an entertainer and he also loves to travel, which he does as often as he can manage. He has a huge appreciation for the English language and is very interested in words. One of his favorite words is “reciprocity,” something that he tries to bring into practice when working with the Guild. He also has a deep interest in science and the workings of the universe and has always had a fascination with theoretical physics.

CLEMENS the Alligator

Clemens is by far the oldest active contributor in The Guild of Thespian Puppets and a founding member of its first ensemble-cast back in 1874. There is little actual record of Clemens’ origins and activities prior to formation of the Guild, and he certainly proclaims that he “don’t remember a flib-diggin’ thing” about his early, formative years. His Mother and Grandmother, both still alive and also of indeterminate age, are retired and enjoy many leisure activities but cannot be counted on for any accurate re-telling of Clemens’ personal history without rambling nonsensically and veering way, way, way off-topic.

Currently in the Guild, Clemens acts as both a mentor and a meandering slightly befuddled lovable curmudgeon, who is often out-of-sorts due to an inability to keep up with his desired napping schedule. He favors roles with bold yet indecisive characters and tends to add chaos rather than control, and seems to be eternally perturbed whenever working with Dickens the Cat, though audiences enjoy their dichotomy. His musical preferences lean towards blues and folk Americana, with some ragtime vaudeville influence as well. Clemens currently resides in a hollowed-out stump near the Utica Marsh, and works part-time in his Mother’s Sarsaparilla Shoppe.

Tag-lines: “Hey! I’m napping here!” – “Can it, Cat.” – “Sweet-fancy fudge-buckets!”

DICKENS the Cat

We’ll level with you, Dickens the Cat is mostly a jerk. Almost entirely a jerk. You know how some people are jerks with a heart of gold, just looking to shine through their jerkiness and then eventually render them entirely golden? Yeah, no. That’s not Dickens. Dickens would find that guy, melt him down and then sell the gold to a shady pawn shop that asks no questions.

But to paraphrase the philosopher, every cat has his reasons. As a kitten, Dickens was a naïve and slightly-dim orphan with nothing but a Cockney accent and his fur to his name. Over the years, he pulled himself up by his furry little bootstraps into an erudite cat-about-town with a snark in his step and impeccable taste in vests.

And don’t get us wrong, he’s an incredibly valuable member of The Guild Of Thespian Puppets. He’s the second most classically trained actor after William Shakesbear and certainly the most clever member of the troupe. His worldly cynicism is a counter-weight to Hamlet’s endless optimism.

But mostly, Dickens the Cat is a terribly-funny terribly-clever fuzzy little jerk.

BARRY Plumpit

We don’t know where Barry Plumpit came from. We don’t know where he’s going. It is entirely possible he is older than the stars themselves and will outlast those stars in turn. It’s possible he doesn’t know, either. But he appeared one day and we are all the richer for it.

that man is actually a squirrel.

Here’s what we can say about Barry: the man knows a deal. He delights in finding the best bargains on clothes and various sundries and he loves telling you about it. He’s not rubbing it into your face, he’s happy to tell you where he got it. Sometimes four times!

He loves to tell you what his favorite things are but he’s not judgmental, he’s just opinionated. You can see things your way, he just sees things his and he likes to tell you about it.

Flappy

And then there’s Flappy. There is not much to say about Flappy, other than he is a simple yet loveable bag puppet that longs to one day be a real puppet like the rest of the puppets in the Guild.