Makers of original puppet works, films, physical theater, and mechanical wonder.
Sean Dennie Photography in Calgary, Alberta.
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...amusing, charming, delightful and, at times, utterly and completely astonishing...and I can say, with confidence, that they are out of this world." - Lorraine Treanor, DC Theater Scene SHORT BIO:
Alex and Olmsted, winner of 2 Jim Henson Foundation grants, is an internationally acclaimed puppet theater and film production company based in Maryland, USA. LONG BIO: Alex and Olmsted (Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas) is an internationally acclaimed puppet theater and film production company based in Maryland, USA. In recent years, they have toured abroad at the Festival of Wonder in Denmark, the Puppet Festival Chuncheon in South Korea, the Festival de Casteliers in Montréal, and the Festival of Animated Objects in Calgary. In the United States, they have played Symphony Space in New York City, The Detroit Institute of Arts in Michigan, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, and Black Cherry Puppet Theater in Baltimore, among others. Alex and Olmsted was awarded the 2020 State Independent Artist Award for Performing Arts from the Maryland State Arts Council, the highest honor for performing artists in the State of Maryland and an award that is only given once in the lifetime of an artist or group. Their puppet show, Milo the Magnificent, was awarded a 2017 Jim Henson Foundation Grant, a Greenbelt Community Foundation Grant, and received an excellent mention in the New York Times. They were awarded a second Jim Henson Foundation grant to further develop their outer space show, MAROONED! A Space Comedy. Alex and Olmsted’s short puppet film Marianne’s Onion, produced by Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams, was an official selection of the Maryland Film Festival, the Washington West Film Festival, and the Paris Art Film Festival, among others. Alex and Olmsted is a resident company at Baltimore Theatre Project. Vernon and Thomas are also proud company members of Happenstance Theater with whom they have created 10 productions since 2012. |
AWARDS AND HONORS:2022 Official Selection: Maryland Film Festival for Marianne's Onion 2021 Official Selection: Montréal International Animation Festival - ANIMAZE for Marianne's Onion 2021 Official Selection: Paris Film Art Festival for Marianne's Onion 2021 Official Selection: Washington West International Film Festival for Marianne's Onion 2021 Official Selection: Lunenburg Doc Fest for Marianne's Onion 2021 Winner: Best Animation or Animated Sequence at the Madrid International Film Festival for Marianne's Onion 2021 Emergent Seed Virtual Gig Grant 2020 Quarantine Micro-Commission from Heather Henson's Handmade Puppet Dreams 2020 Regional and State Independent Artist Award for Performing Arts from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) 2020 Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant for Marooned! A Space Comedy 2020 Jim Henson Artist-in-Residence Program at the University of Maryland 2017 Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant for Milo the Magnificent 2017 Greenbelt Community Foundation Grant for Milo the Magnificent 2017 Lisa Simon Scholarship (for Olmsted) :: The National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center 2017 Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Scholarship (for Alex) :: The National Puppetry Conference at Eugene O'Neill Theater Center 2015 National Puppet Slam at the Puppeteers of America Festival at UCONN 2014 National Puppet Slam at the Center for Puppetry Arts |
