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Boston Globe

A professional puppeteer builds a world with its own set of rules

In 'Party Animals,' five friends try to throw a birthday party. It features original music by Boston composer Puppeteer Sarah Nolen will perform her show "Party Animals" on Boston Common July 5. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff 'I told him, 'I want to make a show that has hand puppets and rock 'n' roll. I want it to feel in the vein of ' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up One character wields a yo-yo, another wraps a gift. Both posed engineering problems for the puppet designer: How do you manipulate a poet and his yo-yo? She only has two hands. 'I'm cueing all my music with my foot,' she said. 'It's very much like a one-man band.' Advertisement Sarah Nolen demonstrates how she holds her puppets "The Cheerleaders" when performing. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Where to find her : Age : 38 Originally from : 'I grew up in the hippie cowboy town of Austin, Texas.' Lives in : Waltham Making a living : Puppets are Nolen's full-time job. In addition to her work at Puppet Showplace Theater, she designs and builds puppets for other productions and films, performs her own shows locally, and teaches. Advertisement In Sarah Nolen's Waltham studio, "everything's on wheels." Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Studio : The puppeteer lives in the loft of her Waltham Mills studio. 'I'll come down in the morning and be like, I need to make some breakfast,' she said, 'and then it'll be 11:30 a.m. and I'm in my robe hot gluing something.' Downstairs, 'Everything's on wheels,' she said. 'It's a rehearsal space. Sometimes it's molding and casting. Sometimes it's painting, sometimes it's sewing, sometimes it's woodworking.' Using L200 foam and pool noodles for the mane, puppeteer Sarah Nolen made 'Aslan' for a 2021 Boston College production of 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.' The large puppet calls for three puppeteers. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff How she started : In fourth grade, Nolen created a show about Rapunzel in her living room. 'Toilet paper was the hair,' she said. After college, she worked as a production assistant on reality shows ' What she makes : 'What don't I make?' Nolen said. 'With puppetry, you're building a world that is not human-centric. That world has its own rules, it has its own aesthetic, and it has its own needs. Whatever world that is, it's going to come with different starting points.' A wooden marionette is posed on Sarah Nolen's work table in her Waltham studio. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff How she works : 'You're learning on the job every time,' she said. 'There's always a surprise.' To make giant puppets for an Advice for artists : 'You never know when inspiration will come from,' Nolen said. 'Don't limit your palette of curiosity.' Advertisement Puppeteer Sarah Nolen poses with "Sammy." She made "Sammy" with assistance from puppet builder John Cody, for the 2021 movie 'Don't Look Up.' Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff