EMMY-WINNING AND TONY-NOMINATED JOHN TARTAGLIA NAMED VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION AT THE JIM HENSON COMPANY

Acclaimed Creator, Producer, Writer, Director, and Puppeteer Expands Position to Develop and Produce New Projects While Continuing as Creative Supervisor of the Fraggle Rock Brand

LOS ANGELES, June 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jim Henson Company has promoted John Tartaglia to Vice President of Development and Production. In this role, Tartaglia, the Tony-nominated and Emmy-winning creator, producer, writer, director, and puppeteer, will develop and produce projects across all media, with a primary focus on television and theater, and he will continue to creatively supervise the Company's popular Fraggle Rock franchise. The announcement was made today by Lisa Henson, CEO of The Jim Henson Company, to whom Tartaglia reports.

"Over the many years that John has been a key partner on projects like the Emmy-winning Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, Splash and Bubbles, Wowsabout, and the newly released Jim Henson's Monster Dance, he has proven to be a true 'quadruple threat.' As an award-winning producer, an exceptional director, a prolific writer, and a gifted puppeteer, John makes each project better and adds a joyful creative spirit to our team," said Lisa Henson.

Tartaglia has been a long-time collaborator with The Jim Henson Company on a variety of projects, chief among them serving as an executive producer, writer, director, and puppeteer (Gobo Fraggle, Sprocket, and multiple other characters) on the Emmy-winning Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock. Other projects include directing and performing lead character Ronald in the recent PBS KIDS special Wowsabout, and co-creating and executive producing the newly released Amazon Kids+ series Jim Henson's Monster Dance. Other television projects include the TV series Splash and Bubbles for PBS KIDS (for which he served as Creator, Executive Producer, Writer, and Emmy-nominated puppeteer), and development projects like The Kissing Hand. As a puppeteer, Tartaglia has been featured in a range of projects for the Company including Word Party, Julie's Greenroom, Slumberkins, Happytime Murders, and the live show Puppet Up!.

Tartaglia has also produced, written, and directed several live shows for The Jim Henson Company. Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock LIVE is currently having its New York City premiere at The New Victory Theater through June 21^st, with a second national tour launching in the fall. Other stage credits include Fraggle Rock: A Space-y Adventure for the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, and Jim Henson's Inspired Silliness for Princess Cruises, Sid the Science Kid Live, and Dinosaur Train Live.

About The Jim Henson Company

The Jim Henson Company has remained an established leader in family entertainment for over 70 years and is recognized as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics, and digital animation. The Company's most recent credits include the Amazon Kids+ series Jim Henson's Monster Dance, the PBS KIDS special Wowsabout, the hit holiday special for Apple TV The First Snow of Fraggle Rock, and the Emmy-nominated Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip for Disney+, as well as the Oscar®-winning Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio for Netflix, and the Emmy®-winning Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock for Apple TV. Other television credits include Slumberkins and Harriet the Spy for Apple TV; Dinosaur Train, Splash and Bubbles, and Sid the Science Kid all for PBS; Earth to Ned for Disney+; and the Netflix series Word Party and the Emmy-winning The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Iconic catalogue titles include Fraggle Rock, The Storyteller, Farscape, and the ground-breaking fantasy classics The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

Headquartered in Los Angeles with additional locations in New York and London, the Company is also home to Jim Henson's Creature Shop™, a pre-eminent puppet and creature-building group and industry leader in puppeteered digital animation, with international film, television, theme park, and advertising clients.

About John Tartaglia

John Tartaglia is an acclaimed actor, director, writer, and puppeteer, known for his Tony-nominated roles in Broadway's debut company of Avenue Q, for originating the role of Pinocchio in Shrek the Musical, and as the Emmy-nominated star of Disney Channel's Johnny and the Sprites. His theatrical directing credits include Stephen Schwartz's The Secret Silk and Jim Henson's Inspired Silliness (Princess Cruises), Elf the Musical (Bucks County Playhouse), Kinky Boots (3D Theatricals), Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Maltz Jupiter Theatre), Claudio Quest (six-time winner at NY Musical Theatre Festival), Shrek The Halls (DreamWorks Theatricals), Because of Winn Dixie (Arkansas Rep and Goodspeed Opera House development), Jim Henson's Musical World (Carnegie Hall), national tours of Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train Live and Jim Henson's Sid the Science Kid Live! (The Jim Henson Company), and ten productions at the St. Louis MUNY, most recently Disney's Frozen and the upcoming Shrek the Musical.

John serves as Vice President of Development & Production for The Jim Henson Company, serving as the creative supervisor of the iconic brand Fraggle Rock, including the Emmy-winning reboot Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, for which he is also an Executive Producer, Writer, and Puppet Captain, and performs Gobo Fraggle, Architect Doozer, Gunge, Barry Blueberry, and Sprocket the Dog. Other television credits include the upcoming Jim Henson's Monster Dance for Amazon Kids+ (Co-Creator, Executive Producer), Wowsabout (Co-Executive Producer, Director, Puppeteer of Ronald), several seasons of Sesame Street, Johnny and the Sprites (Emmy-nominated, creator, star and co-executive producer), Ugly Betty, Bear in the Big Blue House, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Silent But Deadly, Hollywood Squares, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, Animal Jam, Blues Room, Sesame English, and JoJo's Circus.

John can be heard every Sunday on SiriusXM On Broadway on his show "Sunday Funday with John Tartaglia."

SOURCE The Jim Henson Company