A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, i.e. a puppet, in order to create the illusion of life in the object. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience depending on what type of puppet show is being performed.  There are many ways a puppeteer can manipulate their puppets.  The puppeteer can indirectly move the puppet by using strings, rods, wires, or even electronics.  The puppeteer can also directly move the puppet by using his or her own hands placed inside the puppet, for example to move the puppet’s mouth so it looks like it is speaking. There are a wide range of styles of puppetry, but whatever the style, the puppeteer’s role is to manipulate the puppet in such a way that the audience views the puppet as life-like.  Puppetry is a “live art” and is different from animation in which animators make a puppet move by using a special film technique called “stop motion”, in which puppets are moved only a tiny bit in each frame of the film.

A special type of puppeteer is a ventriloquist.  A ventriloquist uses a puppet and the art of manipulating ones voice to make it appear that his or her voice is coming from the puppet and not the puppeteer.   In English, making ones voice seem like it is not coming from one’s own mouth is often referred to a “throwing one’s voice.”  A puppeteer who can throw their voice is called a  ventriloquist.  Sometimes the puppet used by a ventriloquist is referred to as a “dummy,” not a puppet.  Dummies are called by this name (a dummy = a person who isn’t very smart or who doesn’t speak) because they are objects that cannot speak on their own, thus they are “dumb.”

Although he was never a busker himself, Jim Henson is perhaps the most famous American puppeteer.  He was the inventor of the the puppets called the Muppets and the puppets used on Sesame Street.   Some of his most famous puppets, including Kermit the Frog and his Muppet friends seen in the video below.

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