Year-Round Team

Blair Thomas

Artistic Director, Festival Founder,
& Chicago Puppet Studio
Co-Director

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Sandy Smith Gerding

Executive Director

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Taylor Bibat

Festival Coordinator &
Director of Education

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Cameron Heinze

Business Manager

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Deidre Huckabay

Grants & Giving Manager

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Jess Mott Wickstrom

Web & Visual Communication Designer

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La Mar Brown

Business Manager

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Zach Sun

Studio Coordinator

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Caitlin McLeod

Chicago Puppet Studio
Project Manager

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Tom Lee

Chicago Puppet Studio &
Puppet Lab Co-Director

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Jay Kelly

Press Relations

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Shawn Lent

Marketing/Communications Support

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Additional Key Roles

Grace Needlman

Chicago Puppet Lab
Co-Director

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Vanessa Valliere

Chicago Puppet Lab
Co-Director

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Anastar Alvarez

Chicago Puppet Lab Coordinator

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Frank Rose

Co-Production Manager

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Margaret Nelson

Co-Production Manager

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Rich Norwood

Co-Production Manager

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Dr. Paulette Richards

Symposium Co-Director

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Samuel J. Lewis II 

Catapult Facilitator

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Erica Mott

Catapult Facilitator

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Veronica Timble

Administrative Support

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With Gratitude to Past Team Members:

Dominique Atwood, Nic Barnum, Samuel Barr, Ana Díaz Barriga, Sarah Best, Mark Blashford, Molly Bryson, Andrea Burke, Rocio “Chio” Cabrera, Dayna Calderon, Anne Cauley, Breanne Dengler, Kelley Dorhauer, Eduardo Felix, Sarah Goone, Kristin Haverty, Meggie Keiser, Jacky Kelsey, Andrew Kim, Nathalie Lam, Daniel Robles Lizano, Paulette Maher, Lauren Marin, Yolanda Cesta Cursach Montilla, Alex Monroe, Jesse Mooney-Bullock, Mimi Newcomb, Nicole Nienow, Mike Oleon, Julia Rohed, Doreen Sayegh, Averly Sheltraw, Marley Smith, Lucinda Sponholz, Claire Geall Sutton, Laura Miracle Tamarkin, Lucy Wirtz

Please let us know if we missed you! info@chicagopuppetfest.org

Special thanks to our fabulous Box Office Team, Drivers, and Volunteers !