Company Bio
“Z Puppets Rosenschnoz bursts at the seams with wild imagination, pure genius and sheer fun.”
— Wendy Jones, Minnesota History Center
Z Puppets leads people of all ages and abilities into the power of playfulness and feats of imagination through performances and workshops. With an inventive blend of hand crafted puppetry, heartfelt humor and whimsical music, they delight children and adults by transforming complex concepts into fun, meaningful arts experiences.
Co-founders and Creative Directors of Z Puppets Rosenschnoz, Shari Aronson (M.A. Drama Education) and Chris Griffith (formerly Education Coordinator at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre and teaching artist for Children’s Theatre Company) have created and toured over 30 original family-friendly productions and a gajillion workshops, since 1998.
These artists have won the support of the National Endowment of the Arts, Jim Henson Foundation, NDN Collective, Puppeteers of America, Ordway Center for Performing Arts, Tiwahe, Jerome and Mcknight Foundations, and over 50 grants from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and Minnesota State Arts Board.
Shari and Chris have also served as creative consultants for the Educational Theatre Association, Perpich Center for Arts Education, Minnesota’s history, science and children’s museums. They have led extensive cross-sector partnerships in rural, urban and suburban communities.
Z Puppets has won national and regional acclaim for their arts education and four main initiatives:
ARTS & MINDFULNESS - Anchored in a musical adventure of a captain navigating the stormy seas of anxiety, distraction, depression and stress, participants in Monkey Mind Pirates cultivate creative tools for finding calm. In workshops and performances, youth and adults take the stage alongside Z Puppets as the special guest stars.
STEAM OF PUPPETRY - Through carefully structured, hands-on creative problem solving and artistic experimentation, participants explore design, engineering and scientific topics while learning styles of puppetry (including shadow, blacklight, recycled object, toy theater).
ARTS FOR ALL ABILITIES - Youth and adults with sensory, mobility, behavioral, developmental and/or cognitive challenges engage in puppetry and theater arts, adapted for each participant’s needs. Z Puppets developed their sensory friendly and adaptive arts practices in multi-year partnerships with Minnesota’s Autism Society and Down Syndrome Association of MN. Z Puppets has worked with many students and teachers in special education classrooms and centers for adults with disabilities.
CHEROKEE LANGUAGE REVITALIZATION - As an enrolled Cherokee tribal member, Chris creatively responds to the Cherokee Nation State of Emergency for Language and the UNESCO declaration of the Decade of Indigenous Languages. In performances and workshops. Z Puppets’ fun storytelling and catchy songs raise awareness and interest in keeping alive endangered languages. These programs have been featured at performing arts centers, museums, music festivals and libraries statewide, national radio broadcasts, American Indian and Native American Heritage Month celebrations in Minnesota and Arizona. Anishinabe media activist Melissa Olson proclaimed, “This is the most fun language revitalization program I have ever attended.”
At the heart of all Z Puppets’ work are the people with whom Shari and Chris work.
“It is a great honor and responsibility to bring youth and adults into the process of making meaning of the world through the arts,” says Shari, who began her work in theater as a playwright.
Chris, who started his career as an accomplished juggler/street performer, adds “We are especially thrilled to instigate the transformative experience of sharing laughter.”
Thus, their company motto: Behold! The Power of Playfulness.
Shari Aronson
creative director
Z Puppets co-Creative Director and Founder Shari Aronson earned an M.A. in Drama Education from the University of Arizona, studied physical comedy with Sigfrido Aguilar in Mexico, Theatre of the Oppressed with founder Agusto Boal and puppetry with Sandglass Institute and OBIE award-winner Paul Zaloom. Shari has written plays for family audiences through commissions from the Minnesota History Center, Science Museum of MN, Mill City Museum and Minnesota Cancer Coalition. Along with collaborator Chris Griffith, she has received multiple awards for their work in puppetry from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, Jerome and McKnight Foundations. Shari has also developed interactive environments for the MN Children's Museum and Science Museum of MN.
Email shari@zpuppets.org
Chris Griffith
creative director
Before Chris Griffith was co-Creative Director and Founder of Z Puppets, he was co-founder and artistic director for 13 years of Galumph Interactive Theater, nationally recognized pioneers in participatory theater. Additionally, Chris served as editor of The Puppetry Cookbook and Education Coordinator for In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater. As a clown/juggler, he has performed for The Minnesota Children’s Museum, the Minnesota Fringe Festival and the Edmonton International Street Performer’s Festival. In addition to their accomplishments in performance, for over ten years, both Chris and Shari have served as arts education consultants for the national Educational Theater Association, Minnesota’s Perpich Center and taught residencies for students of all levels. His work has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, Jerome Foundation. In 2009, Chris received an Ivey award for his puppet design.
Email chris@zpuppets.org
Gustavo Boada
TEACHING & PERFORMING ARTIST
Gustavo Boada, (Perú-1954) is a theater-based multidisciplinary artist with more then 25 years working in professional Theater in Peru, Chile, Puerto Rico and New York, Vermont and Philadelphia. USA.
Since he moved to Minneapolis in 2007, he had been working as Mayday Parade staff and roster artist with Heart of the Beast Mask and Puppet Theater. He also works teaching artistic residencies about puppetry, mask-making, and stilting, and receives commissions to build big puppets and pageants, and tour his children’s puppet shows for diverse community organizations and school districts of Minnesota.
Julie Boada
TEACHING & PERFORMING ARTIST
Julie Boada is an Anishinabe artist, storyteller, puppeteer and arts educator. She has worked regionally and nationally for the past 23 years, both with In the Heart of the Beast Mask and Puppet Theatre and independently. She has worked with many arts organizations including the L.A. Music Center, The Minnesota History Center, and The Fergus Falls Center for the Arts. Recent original work includes Beauty All Around, Between the Worlds, Shota and the Star Quilt, Coyote Stories, and Retelling the World where Julie has served many roles- as designer, performer and director. She has over a decade of experience working on the annual Mayday Parade with Heart of the Beast. Julie has received grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Jerome Foundation and is a 2014 Ivey Award recipient. Julie has a B.A. in Studio Arts and American Indian Studies from the University of Minnesota. She is passionate about work that inspires, builds community and fosters cultural pride.
Graci Horne
TEACHING ARTIST
Hapistinna Graci Horne, better known at Graci, was born and raised in Minnesota. Her bands are the Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota people and Hunkpapa Lakota/Dakota people. Horne holds a degree in Museum Studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM. She has expertise in exhibition design, planning, and curation, as well as educational programming. She loves to combine both art and protecting Grandmother Earth. Horne’s passion projects encompass using art as a way to raise consciousness and engage viewers to preserve the earth. She has created environmental awareness and peace themed art activities for all ages. Horne is a mixed media artist and specializes in water color painting. Her water colors often emphasize the sacredness of water.
Laurie Witzkowski
teaching & Performing artist
Laurie Witzkowski is a maker of theater, music, ritual and gardens in both English and Spanish. She has enlivened space in war zones, sacred sites, on the streets and by rivers across the country and the world, dedicated to ending violence on all levels.
Besides her theater work with many ensembles, she has appeared on stage, screen and recordings as a vocalist, musician and conductor.