Zach Kolo Email and Phone Number

Hello! I'm Zach.I have a strong background in puppet theatre and multimedia art, which I have honed as a maker, performer and teacher working in ensembles for over five years. As a performer, I worked with experienced artists in the Detroit Puppet Company. Each summer, I strengthened my technique in a variety of styles by performing shows many times a day on a mobile outdoor stage. The fast-paced environment sharpened my technical skills. As an ensemble member I learned to develop methods for working intuitively and nonverbally.As a solo performer, I devised and toured a full length comedy puppet show "The Cave of Despacito". I created unique voices for 10 characters and utilized a variety of manipulation styles including hand, rod, and string. As a maker, I had the opportunity to work with craftsmen Mirek Trejnar and Kurt Hunter to build marionettes. These apprenticeships boosted my ability to build and repair puppets. Additionally, they helped me develop a strong process for drafting, character design, prototyping, etc. As a teaching artist for the College for Creative Studies, I have the chance to re-examine puppetry through the eyes of students. I design curriculum for shadow and hand puppetry for students to create superhero self portraits. This process gives students the opportunity to explore meaning with their own characters, while collaborating as a group telling a shared story. My work with kids is also often outdoors. As an instructor for the Adventures in Cardboard (AiC) summer camp I work with a creative team to built cardboard props, costumes, and 3-story castles for role-play games. At AiC I’ve advanced as an improviser, fabricator, and storyteller. On the technical and administrative side, I assisted U of M students with new technologies at Design Lab 1 Makerspace. I used Microsoft Office to log stats about the use of space and products. I made PowerPoints and Excel sheets to present my findings. My work helped create a more dynamic and accessible environment for creative use of technology. Thank you for taking the time to read my bio! I'm excited to continue to dive into specific forms of puppetry and work on long term iterative projects. As I am willing to relocate, I am looking forward to opportunities that would give me a strong footing in the arts community of any given place. I hope to bring my creative and collaborative skills as a teacher, maker, and performer to productions, performances, and programming, while building fruitful professional relationships. Visit zachkolo.com for my 2022 puppetry reel and more.