JOEL K. ORR, artistic director, graduated from the University of Houston with a BA in English Literature. There, he was accepted into Edward Albee’s Playwright’s Workshop on the merit of his first play, a puppet show entitled Free Advice. Between 1989 and 1992, Orr produced his first theater pieces, the puppet shows Free Advice and Humanagram, and the plays Sisyphus Distracted, There and Bobbindoctrin. Orr dropped out of the creative scene for a few years while he worked on his degree at UH and enjoyed steady employment at Houston’s Landmark Theatres (where he learned the fine art of making people do a lot for almost no money, and how to spell theater ‘theatre’.)
     In 1995, Orr was approached by Houston artist Jim Pirtle to perform a puppet show for Zocalo’s 1995 Self-Indulgent Crapfest. The idea of producing something inherently self-indulgent and crappy was liberating to Orr, and he decided to write a play about the general uselessness of his education. The resulting five-minute piece, Punchface, told the story of poor little Punchface, who is entrusted to the care of the evil Dr. De Generiste after his father dies of liver failure. This production was the first puppet play to bring together the founders of Bobbindoctrin: Dennis Clay, Frog Gilmore, Larry Olivarez, Joel Reed Parker and Doug Spearman. It was the talent and competence of these artists that inspired Orr to found Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre. Little did he know that this decision would cost him his job and his fiancé. And little would he have cared.
     After some strategic meetings with his co-founders, Joel Orr expanded the Punchface story into The Punchface Trilogy. This serial was performed over the summer of 1996 at Instant Karma, Brasil and The Orange Show.

     DENNIS CLAY, technical director, is the founding technical director of Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre. He has built stages and effects for pretty much every Bobbindoctrin show, including The Punchface Trilogy, The Black Box, The Mole, Corruption of the Species, Freakin’ Amazing City, The Mauist, The Crime of the Assistant Master Butler and Why Do the Children Rust?
     To make a living, Dennis works as a key grip on film productions across the country. Past film credits include Nightmare on Elm Street, Waiting for Guffman, Rushmore, and Tornado!
     You can normally see Dennis’s award-winning work, his VW Bug “Mirror Image” during the Orange Show’s annual car parade.

     AARON JACKSON, associate technical director, has a BFA in Theater Design from Baylor University. He has studied puppetry at Damu in Prague with Petier Matesek, and while there he co-designed the Quadrennial Performance.
     He recently left his post as Technical Director at Klein High School to be a carpenter for A.D. Players, the Resident Designer at Second Thought Theatre Co., and associate Technical Director of Bobbindoctrin.

     CHRISTOPHER DANIELLO, a/v tech, joined Bobbindoctrin in 2003 while working on technical aspects of The Travels of the Dung Beetle (in which he hid in a treehouse and sang the caterpillar song), and has since provided audio, video, puppeteering, and miscellaneous expertise on Edge of Space, Why Do the Children Rust?, Oh, Lenin!, and Danse Macabre. Christopher has several musical projects under his belt including a ukulele act, an 80's themed band, an Elvis homage, and has constructed soundtracks for both Bobbindoctrin and theatreCollide and has danced for FrenetiCore. He possesses a dubious computer science degree, maintains this website, and has also ridden over 200 rollercoasters.

     MELISSA WINTER, artist, studied theatre at the University of California at Davis and the Yale School of Drama summer internship. She toured Northern California with both Fantasy Theatre, the professional chidren's theatre run by B Street Theatre and with Miller Beer's ill-fated comedy improv troupe, the Beerhunters. She is a frequent performer with Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre and Infernal Bridegroom Productions in Houston. Favorite roles include Charlotte/Marat Sade, Jeanie/Hair, Meryl/Jerry's World and Marilyn Monroe/Wilhelm Reich in Hell. She was also a stylish third round loser on The Weakest Link with Anne Robinson. A self-taught artist, Melissa's artwork has been displayed at The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Saks Fifth Avenue, and on Good Morning America. She was a selected artist for the 2004 CatchArt Superbowl Footballs and one of only twelve Houston artists chosen to design a door for the Fall Creek "Opening Doors" show in 2004. She has won first place in both the Houston Art Car Parade and the Seabrook Pelican Promenade and her costume designs have received numerous awards. She is continously inspired by her husband Stephen and her 5 fur children, all of whom lovingly tolerate her puppetphilia.

     BILL SAVOIE, artist, made his puppet stage debut in Danse Macabre Part 1 and went on to be cast in Puppet Liberation Front. He has a BA in Music from the University of Houston and has studied percussion with Tom Phares, Joe Raynor, and Larry Van Landingham at Baylor University. He is very pleased to have been invited to join Bobbindoctrin and is looking forward to the puppets taking over.

     JENNY CAMPBELL, artist, has been creating original puppet theater for several years. She has been known to write and direct original works for the puppet stage, puppeteer in contemporary theatre productions in Houston and elsewhere, and teach theatre and puppetry in Houston. She recently puppeteered in Hansel and Gretel directed by "world renowned puppetry artist Basil Twist for the Houston Grand Opera. As a company member of Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre or with support from DiverseWorks Art Space, Jenny wrote and directed 9 experimental puppet theatre performances. Some favorites were: The Gift of Night, Why do the Children Rust?, Mt. Hubris and the Darm Machine, and We Ate the Tortoise.

     YELENA ZHELEZOV, artist, has been trained in design and will soon graduate with a degree in theatre from University of Houston where she designed costumes for several productions. She was the principal designer of puppets, costumes and sets for Bobbindoctrin/ Infernal Bridegroom production of The Noblest of Drugs and had created and built puppets for The Crime of the Master Butler, and Ivan the Fool before creating The Travels of the Dung Beetle, Edge of Space: Living Room and the Perils of Ambition, Why Do the Children Rust?, and Oh, Lenin! with Jenny Campbell.