A Queens workshop opened public tours for the first time, letting visitors meet a puppet builder, watch a puppetry demonstration, and take photos and videos with beloved characters. The 80-minute tours cost $150 per person and run on Saturdays. Visitors begin in a large room filled with real show props and creations, which is the only area where photography and videography are allowed. Many items in the workshop remain works in progress or proprietary. The workshop, founded by Jim Henson in the 1960s, has moved locations and has been in Queens since 2009. It also operates a Los Angeles workshop that does not offer tours. The Muppets are owned by Disney, while Sesame controls rights to Big Bird and other Sesame Street characters.
"This year, the company opened the doors of its Queens workshop to public tours for the first time, allowing fans to meet a puppet builder, see a puppetry demonstration and take photos and videos with beloved and iconic characters. Jason Weber, the shop's creative supervisor, said the tours, which cost $150 a person, are an opportunity to celebrate the unsung craftspeople that bring these famous characters to life."
"“There is a level of expertise here that we're sharing. It's not just going to a pop-up store or something like that,” he said during a recent visit. “Things are made one-of-a-kind, made by hand with artisans who have been trained for years and decades.”"
"Visitors start in a large room specially created for the tour that's filled with real show props and creations. It's also the only spot on the tour where visitors are allowed to take photos and videos, as much of what's in the actual workshop are still works in progress or proprietary."
"Besides Kermit, Miss Piggy and other Muppets, Henson was the creative force behind Big Bird, Cookie Monster and other famous “Sesame Street” denizens, as well as the “Fraggle Rock” characters. He died in 1990. Henson originally founded the workshop in the 1960s in Manhattan and it has moved multiple times around the city since."
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