Sesame Tree Continues to Grow As Casts Announced

Six local people have been cast as puppeteers to bring the furry new residents of Northern Ireland’s version of Sesame Street to life. Sesame Tree is being produced in association with Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organisation behind Sesame Street.

Auditions were held recently by Belfast-based production company Sixteen South to discover fresh puppeteer talent from local performers and actors. The cast are Paul Currie, Michael McNulty, Mike Smith, Lesa Gillespie, Alana Kerr all from Belfast and Helen Sloan from Ballymena.

The local producers were assisted in their search by Sesame Street Muppeteer, Marty Robinson, who plays Sesame Street characters Aloysius Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster and Slimey the Worm as well as others. Marty Robinson will return to Northern Ireland, for the filming of Sesame Tree later this year.

Although the cast have been selected, the two new Sesame Tree Muppets are currently still in development at the Jim Henson Company in New York and will be introduced to their Northern Ireland audience in the coming months in advance of Sesame Tree’s premiere on BBC Northern Ireland television in Spring 2008.

Sesame Tree’s Executive Producer Colin Williams said: “We are delighted to have recruited our final cast and we are really looking forward to working with them. We saw a great deal of talent over the past few weeks, but the chosen cast of six really stood out for their enthusiasm and ability to move, act and sing all at once! Most of the cast are local performers, with performing arts background, however one of the cast, Helen Sloan has no previous acting experience but the producers were impressed with her enthusiasm and improvisation skills.”

The twenty 15 minute programmes will feature two new Muppet characters, developed by local writers and brought to life by the cast, who seek answers to children’s questions through Muppet scenes, live action sequences in and around Northern Ireland, and classic Sesame Street segments featuring characters such as Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster and Elmo.

Over the next six months Sixteen South’s writers and newly recruited puppeteers will work with Sesame Workshop and local education advisers to develop the series.