Stuffed and Unstrung

Stuffed and Unstrung is a live stage show presented by the Jim Henson Company under their Henson Alternative banner. The show evolved from Henson's previous production "Puppet Up! - Uncensored", which combines puppetry and improv comedy. "Stuffed and Unstrung" will mark the debut of a completely revamped production featuring all new technical effects and original music and staging. The show is being produced by WestBeth Entertainment and Henson Alternative.

""Stuffed and Unstrung" is a madcap multimedia romp in which the skilled art of puppetry and comedic intelligent nonsense collide. Unpredictable, irreverent and rebellious, it’s never the same show twice as a team of expert puppeteers sets off on a trail of twisted sketches and songs at breakneck pace while interaction with the audience prompts the spontaneous storylines unfolding on stage."

Created by Brian Henson and Patrick Bristow, the show is set for a special 10-week limited engagement starting in March 2010 at the Union Square Theatre in New York. With live musical accompaniment and Bristow as host, "Stuffed and Unstrung" will feature a cast of six puppeteers.

The show also features the return of Bobby Vegan and Samson Knight (characters first seen in the Henson Alternative pilot Tinseltown) as the fictional producers of the stage show. A promotional Twitter account and Facebook page were established with regular updates from the two characters as they prepare for the show's debut - Bobby is focused on getting the greatest talent, while Samson more into the show's new technology.

"What we're doing now is we took what was at the essence of the show [Puppet Up!], which was puppeteering and puppets for camera. Cause that's what our puppeteering is, always for camera. In Puppet Up! - Uncensored there's a camera on stage. In Stuffed and Unstrung there's a camera on stage. It's all about puppets on camera. With Stuffed and Unstrung everthing has just been ampted up quite a bit, and there's a lot more cool, clever camera techniques that are being utilized so that basically what we're doing with the camera is just as advanced as what we're doing with the puppetry. So we just basically too the essence of Puppet Up! and just made it bigger."


 * -Brian Henson