Cinna Vesterberg is originally from Sweden. She came to New York to study acting and fell in love with the art of puppetry. For the past 25 years she has worked at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater. In 2025 Cinna directed Pippi Longstocking for the Puppet mobile in partnership with the Swedish Consulate. Other credits include Beppo the Clown 2018, as part of Ingmar Bergman’s 100th birthday celebration. As a grant recipient for the second time from LMCC, Cinna is now in full swing working on another show to be revealed late 2025...
​
​
​
Cinna Vesterberg: Writer, Director, Producer
Kevin White- Sets and puppet builder
Kevin White is a Brooklyn-based puppeteer and puppet builder. Specializing in woodcarving and marionettes, his puppets have been commissioned by Puppet Kitchen, Tom Lee, Harvard University, New York Historic House Trust, and the Metropolitan Opera. He is a 25-year veteran puppeteer and puppet builder at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park. Kevin’s original work has appeared at St Ann’s Warehouse’s Labapalooza! in 2010 and 2018. Kevin was a recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation workshop grant as well as a grant from Brooklyn Arts Council.
Fatima Sambo Schoenfelder: Puppeteer
Fatima Sambo Schoenfelder is a first-generation Ghanaian-American multi-disciplinary artist. For nearly a decade, she’s been a puppeteer at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, one of New York City’s premier puppet performance stages. She is also the author and illustrator of The Dandelion’s Wish, which is a children’s picture book and companion table top puppet show about achieving dreams through patience and luck. Additionally, she has been an educator, arts facilitator and performer at many New York City institutions, including the American Museum of Natural History, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Abrons Arts Center, La MaMa, and the New York Botanical Gardens.
Emmanuel Elpenord: Puppeteer
Emmanuel Elpenord is an actor, puppeteer, improviser and voice-over artist from Brooklyn, NY. Select credits: original Off-Broadway cast of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh: A New Musical Adaptation, 1st national, international, Off-Broadway cast of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, World of Eric Carle Youtube Series (Rockefeller Productions); Puppeteer at Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater for over 8 years.
Arlee Chadwick: Puppeteer
Arlee Chadwick (puppet designer and builder) has performed for kids all over the world. Recently as a puppeteer for Off Broadway's Very Hungry Caterpillar Show and as "Rose" in That Golden Girls Show! a Puppet Parody at the DR2. She also pulls strings at The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park. She has appeared as a puppeteer in international tours of ImaginOcean, The Little Prince, My Little Pony Live!, Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train Live!, and regional productions of Mouse King, and Reusable the Musical at the Bronx Zoo. She has helped many Muppets with their dance moves on several productions of Sesame Street Live. She has worked as a puppet designer and builder on several shows, but a favorite has been building for “The Very Hungry Caterpillar" under Rockefeller Productions.
Elsie Gomez: Program Operator
Elsie Gomez is the program operator of the show, running the lights and sound. They Graduated from Brooklyn College with a B.F.A. in Theater. Gomez did a fellowship in Lighting at The Public Theater. When they are not working behind the scenes, Gomez can be found at The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre as puppeteer.
Hommy Rosa: Musician
Hommy is fairly new to puppetry, having made his debut in Tillie this year. He is a lifelong musician with drums being his instrument of choice. He started playing in Puerto Rico as a toddler and has since played in numerous bands. Everything from Salsa to metal- Hommy loves it all
​
​
​
​
​
​
Zlata Godunova (she/her) is a performer, puppeteer, and designer. Classically trained at the National Academic Theatre of Drama and Musical Comedy in Ukraine, she recently starred in the one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.
She puppeteered in Magic of Light with Yara Arts Group and Tom Lee at La MaMa, and was part of the International Puppet Slam in 2024.
Zlata recently completed work on three new backdrops for the City Park Foundation’s Puppetmobile Pippi Longstocking (Swedish Cottage).
You can find her in Central Park, where she works as a puppeteer at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater.
She is glad to be part of this project! @Zlata_god zlatagodunova.com