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Ed&ulitsa

Ed Christie with the cast of Ulitsa Sesam.

Edchristie

Christie with puppets from Carnival!.

Edward Gustav "Ed" Christie (b. May 20, 1956) is a puppet designer and builder who has worked with Sesame Street and Henson Associates since an internship with Henson in 1978. Christie graduated from UMass/Amherst with a BFA/Education in 1979.

The first Muppet Christie created was Butch, originally designed as a sabertooth tiger used in the "Toothbrush" skit of the Caveman Days series on Sesame Street.[1][2]

After years of learning Muppet design techniques, and building many of the classic Muppet characters, he was promoted to Muppet Supervisor in charge of Sesame Street (1991-1996). He was later promoted to Vice President/NY Muppet Workshop Supervisor (1997-2004) as well as Art Director for Henson on Sesame Street. He also contributed his skills to Henson Licensing and Publishing.

In 2004, Christie left Henson and was contracted by Sesame Workshop where he is currently designing characters for the domestic version of Sesame Street and Sesame Street International. He has designed the Muppet characters for Sesame in the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Russia, Israel, South Africa, Egypt, China, Poland, France, Mexico, Canada, Japan and others. Christie is featured in the 2006 documentary The World According to Sesame Street.

He has won eight Emmy Awards for his work on Sesame Street and many nominations for other Henson productions. Christie's work was also seen in the Broadway productions of Doonesbury, Peter Pan, Sugar Babies and Encores! Carnival. He also designed, built and performed in the 2007 production of Carnival! at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. From December 5 to January 25, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum displayed the exhibit Rods and Monsters: the Puppets of Ed Christie.

Christie lives on Cape Cod and is an artist represented by the Alden Gallery in Provincetown, MA.

Interviews[]

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation interviewed Christie in 2004 for the Archive of American Television. The hour and a half interview was posted on YouTube in 2009.

Muppet Credits[]

Designer[]

For Jim Henson Productions

For Sesame Workshop/International

Performer[]

Non-Muppet Credits[]

  • Carnival!: 2007 Kennedy Centre production of the Broadway musical
  • "Big City Park" BBC - designed Rauiri, Dara The Fox, & Billy Badger
  • Alden Gallery - www.aldengallery.com

Sources[]

  1. Goldstein, Meredith. "Muppet master", The Boston Globe, Boston, MA. December 12, 2008.
  2. The Barretta Brothers: Episode #7, with Ed Christie, July 11, 2020 (YouTube) (1:22:50)
  3. The Barretta Brothers: Ep #07 Alton Brown, Ed Christie, Ed Eyth (01:25:56)

External links[]

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