Jim Henson's Creature Shop Opens Queens Workshop to Public Tours

Jim Henson's Creature Shop opened its Queens workshop to public tours this year. The 80-minute visits occur on Saturdays and cost $150 per person. The tours begin in a dedicated room containing show props and finished pieces. Visitors may take photos and videos only in this first room; the rest of the workshop remains off-limits to cameras.

The shop was founded in Manhattan in the 1960s and has occupied its current Queens location since 2009. A second workshop in Los Angeles does not offer tours. Staff members build custom puppets and costumes for projects that include a "Fraggle Rock" musical opening later this month near Times Square.

" The Muppets are owned by Disney; Sesame owns the rights to Big Bird and other "Sesame Street" characters. Jason Weber, the shop's creative supervisor, said the tours allow visitors to see work made by hand by artisans trained for years and decades.

Melissa Creighton, the shop's director, stated that everything produced at the facility is custom. Senior puppet builder Sierra Schoening described the position as her "pie-in-the-sky" dream job and said she is now making the illusions she once wanted to understand.