Henson Day

On September 24th, 2003, this bronze statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog sitting on a red granite bench and weighs 450 pounds was unveiled in a joyous gathering of family, friends, and members of the campus community. It was created by sculptor Jay Hall Carpenter who was awarded the commission after an extensive design competition led by Jane Henson. The statue is surrounded by a memorial garden, designed by landscape architect Philip Cho. The landscaped garden provides a welcoming setting to enjoy Jim Henson's creativity, humor, and positive vision. The entire project cost $217,000 and was funded in part by gifts from the Classes of 1994, 1998, and 1999.

You can read more about the creation of the statue and the Jim Henson Memorial Garden at the University of Maryland at the Muppet Wiki.

To honor the legacy and creative genius of University of Maryland alumnus Jim Henson ‘60, alumna Jane Henson ‘55 established the Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence Program in 2006. The generosity of the Henson family has allowed the school to bring internationally acclaimed puppet artists to campus for a semester-long residency to teach courses, conduct workshops, create puppets for main season productions and mentor student artists with independent study projects.

Recent artists include:

• Blair Thomas
• Ralph Lee and the Mettawee River Theatre Company
• Chinese Theatre Works’ Kuang-Yu Fong and Stephen Kaplin
• Basil Twist
• Zvi Sahar and Leslie Strongwater of PuppetCinema
• Aaron Cromie
• Alex Vernon
• Robin Forhardt
• Kevin Augustine

In 2002, Jane Henson established The Henson Endowment for Performing Arts which supports Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center programs related to puppetry.

In 1996, Jane Henson established The Jim Henson Fund for Puppetry to foster interest in and encourage student work in the art of puppetry. The School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies hosts an annual competition and recipients are awarded funds to create a puppet project or performance. Every year the talented student recipients perform/present their funded projects during the Henson Awards Showcase.

Read more about the a few of The Jim Henson Fund for Puppetry recipients below.

Jim Henson awards showcase brings student puppeteers to the main stage

• By Chris Barylick
  For The Diamondback
• April 3, 2023

Students preform "STUMBLE MERGE," a puppetry-focused original one-act, on March 30, 2023. This project was exhibited during the 2023 Henson Awards Showcase, a collection of performances hosted by the theatre, dance and performance studies school at the University of Maryland, that present student projects funded by the Jim Henson Fund for Puppetry. (Giuseppe LoPiccolo/The Diamondback)

It was a surreal series of performances at the Cafritz Foundation Theater in The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center for the Henson Awards Showcase 2023 Thursday night. In a packed house, five award recipients presented their puppetry pieces and explained the meaning behind them.

The showcase, which was inspired by University of Maryland alum and Muppets creator Jim Henson and collaborator Jane Henson, awards recipients get $1,500 to write, build and perform a piece.

This year’s selections went to Mary Kathryn Ford, a graduate dance major, Charlotte Rachel Richardson-Deppe, a graduate studio art major, Leo Grierson, a graduate theatre design major, Daniel Miramontes, a graduate dance major and Miele Murray, a freshman theatre major.

“I’m really glad we got this award,” Richardson-Deppe said. “It’s been wonderful to be supported. I think as someone who moves between performance and art, this is like a perfect joining of performance and art where I can totally bring soft sculpture and MK [Mary Kathryn Ford] can bring all their dance background. And we can jam.”

The show began with master puppeteer Dr. I Nyoman Sedana, who presented an Indonesian folk story about emptiness and creation.

Sedana, who opened the performance by singing and using his hands as puppets, eventually brought out a series of intricately designed puppets. He then interacted with the crowd, handing them puppets and having them make noises as part of the story.

Ford and Richardson-Deppe performed their piece, “STUMBLE MERGE,” the two beginning intertwined in a giant yellow shirt and pants with interconnected sleeves and legs, using their weight in a way that blurred the idea of whose limbs were whose.

“I’m influenced a lot by my past in the circus, and by thinking about how bodies interact with each other,” Richardson-Deppe said before the showcase.

She was pointed to a large puppet made entirely of stuffed, interconnected pants and leggings that would house her showcase partner, Ford, during one of their segments.

The showcase moved on to Grierson’s “Playing Wolves,” which combined more traditional wolf puppets with comparisons about self-identity, external perception and fitting into a pack or community while also exploring gender identity.

The story was told a first time, and then moved into digital puppetry. Their digital wolf avatars, which had been created with Unity software, appeared as puppets on a projection screen behind them, where they recreated the story in a new format.

Miramontes’ “Drops of Gold” segment began with Miramontes entering with dancers carrying mylar sheets they laid down on the floor and carefully unwrapped, gold side up. They began to lift the interconnected mylar sheets, hanging them off their arms like puppets and bouncing them.

As the performance progressed, the movements became pronounced, the crinkling began to sound like the ocean as Miramontes and the dancers finally laid down on the blankets to complete the performance.

“I was looking at videos on Jim Henson, and in one of the videos that I found, something that really stuck out to me was he said that anything can be a puppet,“ Miramontes said.

When asked if he was nervous about the showcase, Miramontes said, “It’s an idea that you’re proposing. And I guess it comes from like a personal place of, ‘I really am interested in exploring this.’”

Murray’s “Here to Wed Socabane” piece concluded the showcase. Murray told the tale of royal puppet intrigue within the kingdom of Evolir and discussed whether portraits and love letters reveal an entire character, especially with marriage at stake.

“I paid a lot of attention to facial structure and to their physical appearances in this show, not only because it’s important to the plot, like for my story, but also because I wanted to create a different world,” Murray said. “I kind of had to find a nice in between of humble materials but also a unique design.”

She combined puppetry, singing and dancing within her work.

Murray also recalled overcoming obstacles in building her puppets and how some of their parts had to be swapped out in a pinch.

“I definitely had to take one of their jaws off. It sounds very, very brutal, but it had to happen. I think that was the most grotesque thing I had to do,“ she said.

Members of the university community came out to watch the performance.

“It’s intriguing that stuff I work with in computer science and immersive media was found here in the fine arts department where I didn’t know they were using any of this stuff,” Stevens Miller, a lecturer in the computer science and immersive media design departments, said. “I thought the limits of puppetry were broader than I expected they might be.”

They've Got the World on a String-or a Rod

Students Bring Their Henson-Funded Puppet Creations to the Stage

• By Sala Levin ’10
• April 03, 2019

Tonight's Henson Awards Showcase will feature puppet-centric pieces from students, including Kristen P. Ahern's sustainably sourced creations and Olivia Brann's Sylvia Plath-inspired puppet (below).

Photos by Stephanie S. Cordle

Tonight's Henson Awards Showcase will feature puppet-centric pieces from students, including Kristen P. Ahern's sustainably sourced creations and Olivia Brann's Sylvia Plath-inspired puppet (below).

Sylvia Plath might not have made much sense as a Muppet—try imagining Fozzie Bear in an adaptation of “The Bell Jar”—but that doesn’t mean she can’t work as a puppet. With long, foreboding black arms and a variety of faces (including one birdlike mask), the famously troubled poet takes puppet form in “Dear Sylvia,” a one-person performance piece created by Olivia Brann ’14, M.A. ’19.

“Dear Sylvia” is part of tonight’s Henson Awards Showcase, a celebration of the student recipients of the Jim Henson Fund for Puppetry, named for the renowned Muppets creator who graduated from UMD in 1960. Puppeteer Jane Henson ’55 (Jim’s wife) started the fund that annually supports four students’ puppet projects. The topics aren’t the lighthearted stuff of Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop: Mental illness, pollution, grief and Jungian psychology are all on the table.

“Just like Jim Henson made ‘The Dark Crystal’ and ‘Labyrinth,’ there is a duality,” said Brann. “It’s for children, but it’s for adults as well.”

After a high school reading of “The Bell Jar”—Plath’s semi-autobiographical novel about a young woman’s experiences with mental illness—Brann became interested in the writer and eventually created “Dear Sylvia” to “say it’s okay to not be okay, but at the end of the day you do have hope. There is light in the world.”

Kristen P. Ahern MFA ’19 was inspired by the Ghost Festival celebrated in Asian countries, in which ghosts and spirits are believed to emerge from their realm. When she learned that air pollution increases dramatically during the festival, she decided to create something environmentally sustainable inspired by the celebration, using recycled and found materials to build her four puppets.

“One of the things I’ve always been interested in as a designer is the waste that is created as we design,” said Ahern. “We put up plays or musicals or operas for two weeks and then everything gets thrown away or put into storage until it gets thrown away 20 years later.”

Using shipping boxes, bubble wrap, scrap fabric, elements of shelving units and more, Ahern created puppets inspired by fire, water, air and earth. (No puppets will be harmed during the fire component, she promises.)

Also presenting their projects will be Christopher Brusberg MFA ’19 and Lauren Duffy, whose work focuses on the grieving process, and MFA dance candidate Stacey Carlson ’19, whose piece explores Jungian theories of personality.

The showcase isn’t the only puppet-centric offering in the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies this semester; the course “Puppet Cinema: When Film and Puppetry Meet on Stage” gives students the chance to learn about the craft from puppeteers.

Puppetry is “a part of both dance’s history and theater’s history,” said Maura Keefe, interim director of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. “It’s a great part of Maryland’s history as well because of Jim Henson’s legacy.”

In January 2005, The Jane Henson Foundation and The Jim Henson Legacy generously donated videos and funding to support the creation of the Jim Henson video collection at the University of Maryland (previously known as The Jim Henson Works). 

This collection makes available to UMD’s community of students, scholars, and visitors 68 digital videos spanning 35 years of Henson’s groundbreaking work in television and film. These full-length videos are available for viewing at public computer stations within the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, McKeldin Library, and Hornbake Library. 

Researchers can also contact SCPA to arrange for time-limited remote access to the videos. The University provides a wide range of research opportunities into Henson's work and puppetry in the performing arts. It also hosts exhibits and websites, develops interactive interpretive content, and takes part in celebrations of Jim Henson's life. 

From the very beginning, Jim Henson and his Muppets combined play and learning through singing, dancing, and acting, all with the timeless use of puppets as performance objects. It is ideal this collection resides within the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, as the Center is a leading academic institution training future performance professionals and scholars. 

Each resident department of the Center will find its own use for such a collection: the Theatre Department now hosts a Jim Henson Artist in Residence and offers courses in puppetry, the School of Music offers various classes in popular music and culture, and the Dance Department is known for its cutting edge performance program where multidisciplinary projects are encouraged. 

Yet, elsewhere on campus, this collection will also be of use to UMD’s American Studies program where studies in popular culture and humor are offered. Really, the possibilities are endless

The Edward L. Longley Collection on Jim Henson covers the period from 1957 to 2003; the bulk of the materials date from 1979 to 1997. The collection includes a brief biography and lesson plan on puppetry, but the majority consists of newspaper clippings and various periodicals featuring narratives on Jim Henson's career. Also included are a few photographs of Jim Henson, his artwork, and two paper-mache heads, one male and one female.

Kermit the Frog comes home to UMD in guest lecture

Statue of Kermit the Frog and Jim Henson outside of Stamp Student Union. (Mateo Pacheco/The Diamondback)

September 30th, 2024

by Cameron Lee

Crowds flocked to The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center Friday for a lecture from “the world’s most famous amphibian” — Kermit the Frog. 

Muppet performer Matt Vogel joined the talking frog during the discussion alongside the evening’s host — arts and humanities college dean Stephanie Shonekan. 

Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets and Kermit’s main performer for decades, graduated from this university in 1960. On campus, he and the iconic frog are memorialized in a bronze statue depicting the two sitting on a red granite bench outside Stamp Student Union.”

The event, part of this year’s arts and humanities dean’s lecture series, also included a Q&A with Kermit and performances of famous muppet tunes by members of multiple musical groups at this university. 

“I grew up with The Muppet Show and Kermit, so this is just really exciting ” junior history major Melody Freed said. 

After performances of “The Muppet Show Tonight,” “Mahna Mahna” and a rendition of “Happy Feet” by Kermit himself, the lecture began with Vogel, Kermit’s main performer since 2017. In it, he discussed his background as a muppet performer and his feelings on the craft.

Vogel’s reverence for Henson was evident as he spoke, as was his passion for the art of puppeteering and the joy it brings others.

“I really liked how personal everything felt, all the questions,” sophomore music education major Marli Banner said. “He was speaking from his heart, even through Kermit.”

Kermit’s arrival at Friday’s event was met with vigorous applause. The muppet spread a message of love and acceptance, telling the audience that it’s okay if they’re different or have different ideas, as long as they dream big and follow their passions.

The frog urged attendees to look to places that remind them to be “perfectly one of a kind,” such as a song, book or community, he said.

The most memorable moment of the night was the show’s closing, which featured a Kermit-led singalong to “Rainbow Connection.” 

Some people in the audience were moved to tears. Others knew all the words by heart. 

Gracie Morgan, a junior clarinet performance major, said she got tickets to the event as soon as she heard Kermit was coming to this university. 

“It was cool to see all the audience members, young to very old people, just connecting with Kermit,”she said.

In UMD Visit, Kermit Makes a Rainbow Connection With Terps

Famed Frog (and his Performer) Talk With ARHU Dean About Jim Henson ’60, Miss Piggy and Life Lessons From the Muppets

September 30, 2024

By Sala Levin ’10 

Kermit the Frog led a sold-out crowd in a singalong of “Rainbow Connection” on Friday night, when the Muppet appeared at The Clarice as part of the College of Arts and Humanities’ Dean’s Lecture Series.

Photos by Stephanie S. Cordle

It might not be easy being green, but for one lively evening at the University of Maryland, Kermit the Frog sure made it look fun.

On Friday, the loveable lead Muppet took the stage at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Dekelboum Concert Hall to sing, answer questions and, once or twice, throw his hands up and shriek when his emotions got the best of him. As part of the College of Arts and Humanities’ Dean’s Lecture Series, Kermit—along with his puppeteer, Matt Vogel, who spoke about his own journey with the Muppets—chatted (below) with Dean Stephanie Shonekan about the Muppets’ ethos of inclusivity and individuality, what he learned from Jim Henson ’60 and his fraught relationship with Miss Piggy. 
 

 “What we’ve done really hasn’t changed much,” said Kermit. “Fozzie is still trying to find the perfect punchline, Gonzo still goes round and round about how many chickens he can stuff into a wheelbarrow and run the New York City marathon at the same time, Miss Piggy will always expect a big number, even if we’re not doing a show, and I’ll always be seeing the best in my friends and standing by them.”

The sold-out event honored the long history between UMD and the Muppets’ creator. Henson and his wife and collaborator Jane Henson ’55 graduated from the university, and Jim invented Kermit while a home economics major, building the frog out of one of his mother’s coats and a ping-pong ball cut in half.

The all-ages crowd was brought to its feet as School of Music faculty members and students performed “The Muppet Show” theme and “Mahna Mahna.” Kermit teamed up with student tap dancers for a take on “Happy Feet” and partnered with banjo player Lucas Ross (below) for his ode to self-acceptance, “Bein’ Green.” At the end of the night, the audience sang along with Kermit on his signature song, “Rainbow Connection,” accompanied by Arts for All Director Craig Kier on piano.

Here are five froggy takeaways from Vogel and Kermit’s conversation with Shonekan and a Q&A with audience members.

Kermit takes after his human creator. “As I understand it, Kermit is a lot like Jim,” said Vogel: calm, soft-spoken, hardworking and optimistic. There are even aural similarities between Henson and Kermit. “If you heard Jim Henson speaking as Jim Henson, he sounded just like Kermit,” said Vogel, who’s been voicing the character since 2017. (Vogel also plays Big Bird, Count von Count, Lew Zealand and Gonzo’s chicken sweetie, Camilla.)

There’s no bad blood between Kermit and Miss Piggy. Call Page Six! Kermit made a statement on his notoriously tempestuous relationship with his pink porcine co-star in response to an audience member’s question. “Miss Piggy’s doing great,” Kermit said. “We’re really good friends. We talk and text all the time.” Admittedly, it’s not all sunshine and lily pads. “She texted me before the show wondering where I was,” Kermit said. “I didn’t want to tell her because I knew she’d come find the place and take over.

Kermit performs with School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies dance majors and the School of Music Graduate Jazz Quartet.

Kermit might have invented a new flavor for the Maryland Dairy. Vanilla, cookies and cream, even the Dairy’s own Kermit’s Kiss aren’t to his ice cream tastes. When an audience member asked his favorite flavor, Kermit had no trouble answering. “Dragonfly ripple,” he said with a well, duh shrug. “Isn’t it everybody’s?”

UMD’s beloved turtles are just fine by Kermit. In fact, he once had a turtle roommate named Phil, he said, though it didn’t work out. “He didn’t like my banjo-playing, and he just kept snapping at me.” Later, UMD President Darryll J. Pines asked Kermit to say “I’m Kermit the Frog, and I have Maryland pride.” Kermit happily obliged, then asked, “Is it contagious?” 

Kermit lives by the words Jim Henson wrote in a letter to his kids at the end of his life. “He said, ‘Please watch out for each other, and love and forgive everybody. It’s a good life. Enjoy it,’” said Kermit. “I try to remind myself of that every day.”

• Articles
  • Baltimore Magazine: Jim Henson Exhibit Celebrates Visionary Puppeteer’s Legacy—and Maryland Roots
  • Boundary Stones: The Muppets Take Maryland
  • Esquire: A Muppet Is Born Is the Star Is Born Remake We Deserve
  • Film Cred: Jim Henson and the ABCs of Filmmaking
  • KQED: A Deeper Look at Jim Henson, the Man Behind the Muppets, and His Unbridled Innovations
  • Mental Floss: 31 Genius Facts About Jim Henson
  • Mental Floss: Remembering Jim Henson
• Blogs
  • Dangerous Minds: Jim Henson and Muppets’ 1971 appearance on ‘The Dick Cavett Show’ is a sheer delight
  • Discover Walks Blog: Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Jim Henson
  • Henson Blog
  • PBSEducation: How Sesame Street Helps Children Learn for Life
• Commercials
  • YouTube
• Documentaries/Films/Movies
  • Jim Henson Idea Man
  • Muppet Treasure Island
  • Muppets From Space
  • Muppets Most Wanted
  • Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
  • The Great Muppet Caper
  • The Muppet Christmas Carol
  • The Muppet Movie
  • The Muppets
  • The Muppets Take Manhattan
• History & Imagery
  • 37c Jim Henson single stamp
  • Bert Puppet
  • Chicken Liver Puppet from Sam and Friends
  • Cookie Monster Puppet
  • Count von Count Puppet
  • Elmo Puppet
  • Ernie Puppet
  • Fozzie Bear Puppet
  • Harry the Hipster Puppet from Sam and Friends
  • Jim Henson photograph
  • Kermit the Frog Puppet
  • Miss Piggy Puppet
  • Prairie Dawn Puppet
  • Rowlf the Dog Puppet
  • Sam Puppet from Sam and Friends
  • The Muppets Lunchbox
  • The Swedish Chef Puppet
• Music
  • last.fm: A Sesame Street Celebration and Jim Henson
  • Songfacts: Rubber Duckie
• Podcasts
  • Lost at the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi: The Original Muppets
  • Muppet Fan Podcast with ToughPigs
  • Muppet Hub: The Archives
  • Muppeturgy
  • Studio 360: It’s Not Easy Being Evergreen: An Oral History of the Muppets
  • The 'Gentle Anarchy' of the Muppets
  • The Muppet History Podcast
  • The Muppet Show Podcast
• Puppetry
  • World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts: Jim Henson
• Television
  • Fraggle Rock
  • Muppet Babies
  • The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
  • The Muppet Show
• Videos
  • Jim Henson
  • Jim Henson Legacy
• Wiki
  • Fandom: Muppet Wiki
  • Jim Henson

• Exhibits
  • Atlanta, Georgia - Center for Puppetry Arts: World's of Puppetry
  • Baltimore, Maryland - The Maryland Center for History and Culture. From May 26th - December 30th, 2023: The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited
  • Queens, New York - Museum of the Moving Image: Imagination Unlimited
    • Career of Jim Henson
    • Recorded Events from MoMI
    • The Jim Henson Exhibition
  • Washington, D.C. - National Museum of American History: Miss Piggy Joins Kermit the Frog at the Smithsonian
  • Dearborn, Michigan - The Henry Ford: Celebrating Jim Henson and His Legacy
• Plaques
  • Hyattsville, Maryland - Jim Henson and Muppets Memorial
  • London, England - Jim Henson Blue Plaque
• School
  • Northwestern High School, Hyattsville, Maryland - The Jim Henson School of Arts, Media & Communications