ALEX & OLMSTED
  • THEATER
    • Milo the Magnificent
    • Marooned! A Space Comedy
    • Happy Birthday, Mon Ami
    • Hubba Hubba
    • Homebodies
    • Variety Acts
    • Crankies
  • FILM
    • Marianne's Onion
    • Kindred Spirits
    • World Puppetry Day Shorts
  • Build Videos & Tutorials
  • UPCOMING
    • 2024
    • 2023
  • SUPPORT
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Photo by Alex U. Griffin 
​Milo ​the Magnificent®
Milo the Magnificent®​ was awarded a 2017 Jim Henson Foundation grant.
Alex and Olmsted's Jim Henson Foundation grant awarded Milo the Magnificent®​ is a highly engaging puppet show about an aspiring magician. This wordless comedy, inspired by turn of the century vaudeville entertainers, is as highly physical as it is charming. Using stunningly innovative puppetry, Milo presents a variety of magic tricks which don’t always go as planned. Great for all ages!

40 minutes. Wordless. No Intermission.​​ All ages.
Available for touring engagements. Tech rider available upon request. 

2025 Milo performances

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Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography
Milo the Magnificent®​ at the Lyric Theater with Pro-Art
St. Paul, Virginia
​February 12, 2025 at 1pm
Milo the Magnificent®​ at the Center for Puppetry Arts
Atlanta, Georgia
​​March 19 - 30, 2025 Tickets: HERE
Milo the Magnificent®​ at Greenspring Community
Springfield, Virginia
April 13, 2025 at 2:30pm
Milo the Magnificent®​ at the Clarice Center for the Performing Arts 
College Park, Maryland
​​May 10, 2025 at 11am & 1pm, Tickets: HERE
Photographs by Kintz and Alex U. Griffin and Sean Dennie Photography
PRESS:
The New York Times:
"Milo is a bit of a cardboard character, but you can’t blame him for that. He’s a puppet: specifically, a huge cutout fellow, whose arms, hands and feet belong to one of his creators, and whose changing facial expressions are recorded on flippable circular cards. The duo Alex & Olmsted — Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas — invented his world, which includes other puppets made of cleverly repurposed materials. Milo, appearing here as part of the Just Kidding series, aspires to be an illusionist, and while his tricks and experiments rarely work out as planned, children will still find them magical." 
- Laurel Graeber, The New York Times (Jan 5, 2018)

DC Theater Arts:

“Weird and wonderful… All in all, Alex and Olmsted’s Milo the Magnificent is a treat for the little ones, and for the adults, an innovative romp through the nature and paradoxes of puppetry itself. It is clear why Alex and Olmsted have the Henson Foundation’s support — their work is a delight that pushes the boundaries of the art.”
- Jennifer Georgia, DC Theater Arts (Sept 14, 2022)

​The Puppetry Journal:
"The anchor of The National Puppet Slam, this piece amazed audiences in more ways than one... Performed so masterfully and effectively, the audience is swept away in Milo's quick changes of expression as he struggles and achieves each feat."
​- Jamie Donmoyer, The Puppetry Journal (Fall 2015)


​Mon Théâtre (Montréal, Canada):
"L’ensemble demeure d’une superbe cohérence avec sa charmante enveloppe surannée (de la musique rétro dont le célébrissime In The Mood de Glen Miller, la présence d’un 45 tours, les diverses expressions faciales de Milo reproduites sur divers cartons blancs). Nous sortons le cœur léger après cette rencontre avec Milo le magnifique." 
- Olivier Dumas, Mon Théâtre (March 11, 2018) 

AWARDS:

2017 Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant
2017 Greenbelt Community Foundation Grant
PRODUCTION HISTORY:
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The 2015 Puppeteers of America Festival. Photo by Chuck Robinson.
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Vermont Vaudeville in Hardwick, VT, 2013.
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With the Diego Rivera Industry murals at the Detroit Institute of Art
INTERNATIONAL:
IMMAGINA Festival Internazionale di Teatro di Figura di Roma (Rome, Italy) - 2023
Die Puppenstars Live Television Show (Cologne, Germany) - 2022
Festival of Wonder (Silkeborg, Denmark) - 2019
Festival of Animated Objects (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) - 2019
​​Puppet Festival Chuncheon (Chuncheon, South Korea) - 2018
​Festival de Casteliers (Montréal, Québec, Canada) - 2018
UNITED STATES:​
Reston Center Stage (Reston, Virginia) - 2024
​Workhouse Arts (Lorton, Virginia) - 2024
Mt. Gretna Playhouse (Gretna, Pennsylvania) - 2024
The National Theatre (Washington, D.C.) - 2023
​Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival (Chicago, Illinois) - 2023
Montgomery County Parks (Maryland) - 2023
The Puppet Co. Playhouse (Glen Echo Park, Maryland) - 2022
Puget Sound Puppetry Fest (Seattle, Washington) - 2022
Port Discovery (Baltimore, Maryland) - 2022 & 2023 & 2024
Mayo Street Arts (Portland, Maine) - 2022
Center for Puppetry Arts (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) - 2020
Goat on a Boat (West Sag Harbor, New York) - 2019
​Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry (Storrs, Connecticut) - 2019
The Greenwoods Puppet Festival (Norfolk, Connecticut) - 2019
Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan) - 2019
​​Sandglass Theater (Putney, Vermont) - 2019
Unexpected Stage Company (Bethesda, Maryland) - 2019
First Night Talbot (Easton, Maryland) - 2018
Puppets off Broad Street (Richmond, Virginia) - 2018
The Columbia Marionette Theatre (Columbia, South Carolina) - 2018
​Puppet Showplace Theater (Boston, Massachusetts) - 2018
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland) - 2018 & 2022
Mayo Street Arts (Portland, Maine) - 2018​
​Symphony Space (New York City) - 2018
Dragon Con (Atlanta, Georgia) - 2017
Black Cherry Puppet Theater (Baltimore, Maryland) - 2017
10 MINUTE SLAM (International & USA):
​​The Dolly Wiggler Cabaret (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) - 2019
Festival de Casteliers Slam (Montréal, Québec, Canada) - 2018
Dragon Con Puppet Slam (Atlanta, Georgia) - 2017
Puppet Homecoming (Kerhonkson, New York) - 2016
Strathmore (Bethesda, Maryland) - 2016
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (New York City) - 2015
Bread and Puppet Theater (Glover, Vermont)
National Puppet Slam (Storrs, Connecticut) - 2015
Puppeteers of America Festival Fringe (Storrs, Connecticut) - 2015
The Shakespeare Theater (Washington, D.C.) - 2014
Dragon Con Puppet Slam (Atlanta, Georgia) - 2014
National Puppet Slam (Atlanta, Georgia) - 2014 
Vermont Vaudeville (Hardwick, Vermont) - 2013
Clown Cabaret (Washington, D.C.) - 2012


TELEVISION:
DIE PUPPENSTARS 
October 2022

We are thrilled to finally announce our television debut with Milo the Magnificent on RTL's DIE PUPPENSTARS! We flew to Germany in August 2022 to film our live segment and met amazing people working at the Bildergarten Studios and some incredibly talented puppeteers. You can watch the show streaming on Germany's RTL+!
We are incredibly grateful to the organizations below for their support.
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All content © Copyright 2011 - 2025 Alex and Olmsted |  All Rights Reserved
  • THEATER
    • Milo the Magnificent
    • Marooned! A Space Comedy
    • Happy Birthday, Mon Ami
    • Hubba Hubba
    • Homebodies
    • Variety Acts
    • Crankies
  • FILM
    • Marianne's Onion
    • Kindred Spirits
    • World Puppetry Day Shorts
  • Build Videos & Tutorials
  • UPCOMING
    • 2024
    • 2023
  • SUPPORT
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT