The cast of characters in Roser's Meisterklasse includes alien bugs, banjo pickers, clowns, eggs, men with spoons, masks and scarf marionettes who have little regard for size.

In the Springs of 2004 and 2005 many things blossomed, including much of the talent featured in Meisterklasse, a showcase of puppet vignettes created and developed by the participants of two Master Classes given by World renowned marionette artist, Albrecht Roser, at his private studio near Stuttgart Germany. A true potpourri reflecting the various performers, it runs the gamut from sultry, to whimsical, to the operatic. Meisterklasse has delighted audiences at the Freies Musikzentrum in Stuttgart, the HensonCarriage house and the One Solo Arts Festival in New York City, as well as residents of the charming village of Buoch, Germany.

THE MASTER

Master Marionettist Albrecht Roser's earliest success came in 1951 with his first string puppet, Clown Gustaf, an impish, humorous character. He has been experimenting and developing in this field ever since, based on his study with F. H. Bross. As he build new marionettes and created new scenes over the years, Roser's program of one marionette vignettes, "Gustaf and his Ensemble", was born.

Roser has toured with resounding successthroughout Europe, North Africa, Asis, Australia, North and South America. In addition to his work for the stage, Roser has directed and performed in numerous productions for German Television.

Nate Wilson is a New York based puppeteer, puppet Builder and designer. Nate has taken many workshops with Roser over the past several years, in the U.S. and Germany. He has performed with Cat's Paw Collective at Carnegie Hall in "The Firebird", at the Voice of the Vision in "Mrs. Wright's Escape", directed by Amanda Maddock. Nate has built puppets for a number of projects at Puppet Heap, including "Omar's Mother" and Broadway's "Lestat". He also has built for Disney's "Tarzan", Macy's thanksgiving Parade and Court TV's "The Smoking Gun". Nate can be foundin the New York area performing his own marionette and shadow shows. He is a graduate of UConn's Puppet Arts Program.

Robin Walsh discovered puppets on her first day of college, and has never looked back. She has performed everything from sock puppets to hollywood movie monsters, including "Team America: World Police", "Men in Black" and "Graveyard Jamboree" as well as "The Book of Pooh" and "Bear in the Big Blue House". Her many studies with Albrecht Roser have opened up a new way of looking at and working with puppets. She is happy to join his constant search for Zen and an artistic/technical unity.

Sarah Frechette is a Green Mountain vagabond determined to puppeteer herself acroiss the Globe. She has four times traveled to Germany for intense studies with Roser, absorbing his theories on Zen and the art of puppetry. She toured to Europe with "Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty,' a marionette rock opera directed by Philip Huber for which she constructed puppet costumes. Sarah earned her B.F.A. from UConn's Puppet Arts Program. As Artistic Director of Puppetkabob, Sarah continuously develops her own puppet productions and workshops. As a partner in Dramaton Designs, Sarah built many of the puppets seen on PBS's new children's TV series "SeeMore's Playhouse," for which she also plays the character "Penny Pup."

THE ARTISTS

Matt Brooks' passion as a young boy was for stop motion animation, and he could often be found in his parents basement making clay creature films, instead of playing baseball as any normal child would do. After attending art school, Matt moved to New York City where he worked on theatre, film and television projects for Julie Taymor, the Jim Henson Company and many others. Most recently he is working on his own projects, and is priviledged to have spent the last three winters with Albrecht Roser in Stuttgart, Germany, learning as much as he possibly can from this incredible master and great friend.

In 1977, Roser was invited to spend a semester as a guest artist at The University of Connecticut, USA by the Department of Puppetry. As a result of the experience. he became instrumental in the establishment of the Figurenteaterschule Stuttgart, a school of puppetry at the Conservatory for Music and the dramatic Arts, where he was professor and head of department. In 1996 he founded the Albrecht Roser International Summer Academy, a training program for professionals in string puppetry, which is offered in Stuttgart and at UConn. After the 6th International Academy, Roser invited his most accomplished students to study at his personal studio in Stuttgart during the winter of 2004 and again in 2005.