Stephanie Elgersma

Stephanie Elgersma is a puppeteer, puppet maker, and puppet director working in both Vancouver and London. As a puppeteer, she studied with puppetry icons such as Sue Buckmaster, Mervyn Millar, Sandglass Theatre, Pickled Image, and Blind Summit. She has puppeteered for House of Cats Theatre, a music video for Alexis Taylor (London), star star theatre, The Only Animal, Axis Theatre, UpintheAir Theatre, LongGrass Studio, and Vancouver International Children’s Festival (Vancouver). As a maker, she interned with award-winning puppeteer and fabricator Oli Smart; worked on 101 Dalmatians for the Birmingham Rep and A Christmas Carol for Wilton’s Music Hall; and built for Mervyn Millar’s company Significant Object. The majority of her making work has been with Nick Barnes Puppet Studio, where she assisted on shows for Les Petits, The Old Vic, and Disney Paris. Stephanie moved back to Canada in 2021, and since then has made puppets for shows with LongGrass Theatre (Calgary), the NAC (Ottawa), Bad New Days (Toronto), Brock University (St. Catharines), Carousel Theatre, and Little Onion Theatre (Vancouver). Stephanie’s biggest passion is directing puppets for the stage and training puppeteers, and she has shifted her attention in this direction. She started by directing the puppetry for Blackheath Halls Opera in London. In Vancouver, she returned to Studio 58 to co-create, co-design, and co-direct Zoetrope – a 10-person non-verbal puppet show set to music – with fellow alumnus and puppet artist Shizuka Kai. She has also directed the puppetry for CTORA, Little Onion Theatre, two different shows with Savage Society, three different shows for Carousel Theatre, and consults on many projects. Most recently, Stephanie was appointed Interim Co-Artistic Director of Studio 58 and fills the rest of her time teaching puppetry there and around Vancouver. www.stephelgersma.com