Participants will learn and practice fundamentals of puppetry performance, including breath, focus, weight, movement, and stillness concentrating on individual work. Participants will move on to learning & experiencing ensemble puppetry as they work in teams to animate puppets that need more than one puppeteer through a focus on Bunraku-style puppetry. The workshop will cover basic techniques - including lip syncing - for hand-and-rod puppetry (the style popularized by Jim Henson’s Muppets). Participants will walk away with concrete, practicable puppeteering skills and techniques for animating objects and giving them focus. These techniques are applicable to dance and acting work. The workshop series will celebrate its conclusion with an informal showing of the techniques covered for friends and family.