Baker Artist Portfolios

Jess Rassp (she/they) is a puppet maker and puppeteer who works independently in theatre and film as a producer, performer, designer, and puppet creator. Inspired by nature, culture, and mythology, their work fuels environmentally-centered narratives, emphasizes storytelling through the subtleties of creature expression, and encourages audiences to connect with our natural world. In addition to intensive studies in theatre and fine arts, Jess has a B.A. in English Literature from Brandeis University and is currently studying American Sign Language at CCBC.

"I am a zookeeper. 

I sculpt and construct puppet creatures with animal qualities that capture natural forms and movements through a tension between realism and abstraction.

I give life to these creature puppets using intense focus to transfer enigmatic energy through my hands. This allows me to disappear behind the puppet to become a visible-invisible puppeteer. 

My endearing puppets emotionally connect to audiences, like Lucy the Ice-Picker Bird plucking a delicate feather to reach out for interaction. 

It is in that moment, when the puppet is authentically alive that we discover true magic!" ~Jess

 

FILM CREDITS: 

72 Hour Film Festival, Frederick, MD: Dionaea (2023) 

OUTCALLS band and Urban Arias, Washington DC: Holiday Ex-Lover Music Video (2022)

Grease Digital: Flame (2022) 

 

THEATRE CREDITS: 

Vital Matters (Producer and Performance): All Good Things Must Begin (2023), Winter Seeds (2021)

Interrobang Theatre Company (Production): I Will Eat You Alive (2024), Here We Are (2019)

Funktopia Nation (Production): Dark Tower (2023)

Truepenny Projects (Puppetry Performance): Squidsbury (2022)

Submersive Productions (Puppetry and Performance): Project Katalepsis (2023), rECHOllection (2021), See Also: (2020), MASS/RABBLE (2019), BATS! (2018), 

H.T. Darling's Incredible Musaeum (2017, 2018)

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (Props and Puppetry): As You Like It (2023), A Raisin in the Sun (2022), Dracula (2019), Alice in Wonderland (2018), The Winter's Tale (2018), Othello (2017)

Pointless Theatre (Masks and Puppetry): Rhinocéros (2022)

Single Carrot Theatre (Production): Covid Monologues (2021), Savage/Love (2016), Midlife (2016), Year of the Rooster (2015)

Cohesion Theatre Company (Artistic Director, Production): Tornkid (2019), Frankenstein (2019), La Llorona/The Orphan Sea (2018), Mr. Burns (2017), Sally McCoy (2017), Men on Boats (2017), Schoolgirl Figure (2016)