James Kroupa

James Kroupa is a puppeteer, puppet builder, and writer who is known for working on several Muppet productions. He performed various one-time characters on Sesame Street from Seasons 15-36, though he was never credited on the show. James has also performed with the Muppets on The Muppets Take Manhattan, Little Muppet Monsters (as Nicky Napoleon), and Muppets from Space, to name a few. I read that Kroupa also rebuilt characters for many projects like Wow, You're a Cartoonist. Perhaps his best show was on Bear in the Big Blue House where he played various characters such as Otto Otter and Jeremiah Tortoise. He also puppeteered on The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss. Outside of Sesame Street and Bear, James Kroupa is the co-owner of 3/Design Studios, a company known for building puppets and costumes for years. He built and performed puppets for Eureeka's Castle, Gullah Gullah Island, Between the Lions, and Johnny and the Sprites, to name a few. The company also made puppets for Wimzie's House and even Barney & Friends for 5 years. I never knew that James had a lot of talent to make his puppet creations look technical and realistic. Kroupa still works with the NY Creature Shop today on Sesame Street and other Henson projects. He worked alongside Heather Asch, Noel MacNeal, John Tartaglia, and others throughout his years of puppet building and performing. I hope he continues to build and perform puppets. James Kroupa, you are a master puppet builder when it came to working with puppets. Keep on building and performing puppets and you'll be forever known as a technological puppet wiz by your performing partners. With Helpsters, Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, and others, you've made real puppet technology. Excellent job James. You're a mechanical genius Kroupa!