Colette Searls is Professor of Theatre at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) where she teaches acting, directing, and puppetry. She is author of A Galaxy of Things: the Power of Puppets and Masks in Star Wars and Beyond (2024 Nancy Staub Publications Award) and frequently gives talks and workshops about puppets, robots, and masked characters in theatre, film, and popular culture.
As a theatre artist, she has received grants from the Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, and the Maryland State Arts Council for her found-object puppetry, and created original works with animators Lynn Tomlinson, Tim Nohe, and Kelley Bell. Past directing credits include Albert's Dream at the Brilliant Baltimore International Arts Festival, Noah Haidle’s Vigils at The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (four Helen Hayes Award nominations), and Fixed Boundary (with Leibe Wetzle’s Lunatique Fantastique) at San Francisco’s Exit Theatre (“Best of the San Francisco Fringe Festival”).
In her early career, Searls worked in the non-profit sector combining arts with human services; she worked with the William James Association's Prison Arts Project, and as project coordinator for their Community Youth Arts Project in Santa Cruz, California.
Contact: [email protected]
As a theatre artist, she has received grants from the Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, and the Maryland State Arts Council for her found-object puppetry, and created original works with animators Lynn Tomlinson, Tim Nohe, and Kelley Bell. Past directing credits include Albert's Dream at the Brilliant Baltimore International Arts Festival, Noah Haidle’s Vigils at The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (four Helen Hayes Award nominations), and Fixed Boundary (with Leibe Wetzle’s Lunatique Fantastique) at San Francisco’s Exit Theatre (“Best of the San Francisco Fringe Festival”).
In her early career, Searls worked in the non-profit sector combining arts with human services; she worked with the William James Association's Prison Arts Project, and as project coordinator for their Community Youth Arts Project in Santa Cruz, California.
Contact: [email protected]