Richard Termine

Richard Termine is a puppeteer, puppet designer/builder, and photographer who held a Master of Fine Arts degree in puppetry from The University of Connecticut. In 1980, he joined the Muppet Workshop to work with the Sesame Street team while being supervised by Caroly Wilcox. For his Sesame Street job, Richard puppeteered several characters throughout the mid 1980's and performed a house called 2104 Shady Lane in a sketch. In addition to that Richard designed and built several characters like Placido Flamingo, Meryl Sheep, and Wolfgang the Seal. However, he only received credit as a builder, not as a puppeteer. I did not know this, but I read Termine was on the board of the Jim Henson Foundation since the mid 1980's, and is probably still on the board this current day. He soon became proficient in photography, and was eventually hired by CTW for set photography, B-rolls, and press kits. Richard Termine is still doing photography this current day and is also doing photography for Sesame Street Magazine. He's probably the only puppeteer and puppet builder on Sesame Street to get a promotion when working behind the scenes. Richard has also built puppets on Fraggle Rock and has worked with the Muppets in a crossover Christmas special titled A Muppet Family Christmas. Why didn't he puppeteer on Fraggle Rock as well as Sesame Street? Probably because Termine was too busy on Sesame Street that he didn't have time to do so. His only outside work is being one of the few art photographers for The New York Times specializing in performing arts. Richard is probably one of the only puppeteers to transition into photography. He's doing such a spectacular job at taking pictures for Sesame Street and The New York Times. Richard Termine, not only are you wonderful at puppetry, but you are also the fantastic photographer. I hope you keep working on Sesame Street taking beautiful pictures and keeping you're position on the board of the Jim Henson Foundation. Maybe you can make you're own puppet and use it for photography. Anything is possible when you try Richard Termine!