The Puppet Lady
Gallery America, PBS
Oklahoma-based puppeteer Joan McMillan has made puppets for several decades. On this episode of Gallery America on OETA, she shows off her Eufaula playhouse filled with hundreds of her creations, as well as discuss how she uses historic marionettes from Chandler’s Museum of Pioneer History to teach Oklahoma history to students. The tradition began as a WPA project in the 1930s.
Recognition & Career Highlights
- Professional puppeteer since 1975
- 50+ years in puppetry, performance, and arts education
- Oklahoma Arts Council Teaching Artist since 1994
- Oklahoma Arts Council Performing Artist Roster
- Featured on OETA/PBS Gallery America — “The Puppet Lady”
- Featured in The Journal Record — “A Career in Puppetry”
- Described by Contemporary Arts of Tulsa as an “Oklahoma Treasure”
- Flying Heart Theatre touring performances documented across Oklahoma, Georgia, Louisiana, Colorado, and Illinois
Arts, Museums & Cultural Institutions
- Tulsa Symphony
- Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum
- National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- Oklahoma Historical Society
- Museum of Pioneer History
- National Frontier Trails Museum
- Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain
- Contemporary Arts of Tulsa / Liggett Studios
Selected Productions & Programs
- Microbes Always and Everywhere (Current work)
- Miss Fay’s Touring Historical Marionette Theatre — Artistic Director & Puppeteer
- The Last Land Run: Opening of Kickapoo Territory
- Wiley Post: Oklahoma Trailblazer of the Skies
- Oklahoma History Marionette Productions for Students & General Audiences
- Dragons, Bats and Buried Treasure: The Great Cave Adventure
- One World, Many Stories — Puppet Making & Performance Workshop
Community & Special Events
- Rentiesville Dusk ’til Dawn Blues Festival, Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame Festival — Kids Village
- Rock House Summer Music Festival — Missouri
- Children’s Rainbow Pageant — Eufaula, Oklahoma
- The Gathering Place — Spring Break Programming, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Carlton Landing Foundation — Children’s Puppet Making Classes
Plus performances at community festivals, celebrations, nursing homes, senior communities, private parties, groundbreakings, civic events, and public programs.
Schools & Educational Programs
- Oklahoma Arts Council Teaching Artist Roster — Teaching Artist since 1994
- Oklahoma Arts Council Performing Artist Roster
- Eufaula Summer Arts Program
- Oklahoma Public Libraries — Statewide Performances & Summer Reading Programs
Plus decades of performances, residencies, and workshops in public libraries, preschools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and community education programs throughout Oklahoma.
