Sam Hale Interview Part 13

Sam Koji Hale is an illustrator, sculptor, puppet designer and builder. He has a master of fine arts in illustration from Academy of Art University in San Francisco and has designed and built puppets for a variety of film, video and theatre productions. His credits include Elf and Playhouse Disney's “Clay,” as well as Ahoy Captain Sid, which earned him two regional Emmy nominations. He received The Kennedy Center Award for his puppet design and construction on The Inland Emperor's New Clothes. Hale recently designed and built puppets for a Triumvirate Pi Theatre presentation of The Fox's Lantern (Kitsune No Chochin), a project he co-created and will puppeteer in.

Hale is Adjunct Professor of Theatre Arts at California State University San Bernardino. I asked him to share his thoughts on puppet design.



PJ: What is your next creative project?

SH: I’ve always got a handful of projects at various levels of development. It’s been an exciting and satisfying run on The Fox Lantern as production designer, builder and performer, but I’ve been leaning toward creating some shorter puppetry pieces for video or hybrid animation (something that gives me more excuse to be home with my 1 year-old, Kai).

A few of the bigger ideas percolating right now: “Xamoschi: Village of Crows,” inspired by a “lost” chapter of Gulliver’s Travels; “Trickster,” the misadventures of “misunderstood” Norse trickster Loki; and puppet shorts adapted from stories by Miyazawa Kenji and Jorge Luis Borges.