IN Peters Township February/March 2018 | Page 39

A CLASS Act PTHS alum Stephanie D’Abruzzo sings, acts and puppeteers her way through hundreds of characters on screen and stage. BY NICOLE TAFE P eters Township alum Stephanie D’Abruzzo truly is a jack of all….puppets! From “Sesame Street” to “Avenue Q,” the master puppeteer has been the voice behind the puppet—bringing beloved characters to life that warm hearts of all ages. D’Abruzzo, 46, was born and raised in Washington County, and lived in Peters Township from age two until she graduated from PTHS in 1989. She’s lived in New York City since 1993 and is married to Craig Shemin—writer, editor, producer and president of the Jim Henson Legacy—in 1995. “I’m primarily an actor, specializing in puppetry and voiceover performance, and have been a ‘Sesame Street’ Muppet Performer since 1993,” says D’Abruzzo. In addition, she’s a singer, and recently started writing several episodes for “Nature Cat” on PBS. D’Abruzzo, along with her husband, has produced and edited various compilation reels for Jim Henson Legacy screenings at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, NY, as well as video elements for the Jim Henson Collection at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. “Some people may have seen me when I guest-starred in the musical episode of ‘Scrubs’ and appeared as a cameo in their Season 8 finale,” she says. “I also played a Muppet patient when the ‘Sesame Street’ characters appeared on the show.” In her career, D’Abruzzo has performed nearly 450 puppet and animated characters for film and television including, as of 2015, Prairie Dawn on ‘Sesame Street.’” D’Abruzzo made her New York stage debut in the first staged readings of “Avenue Q” in 2000. She made her off-Broadway and Broadway debuts with that show in 2003, receiving a Drama Desk and Tony nomination, and winning a Theatre World Award for her performances. She’s also performed sans puppet at various theaters, cabarets and concert venues, including Carnegie Hall. D’Abruzzo graduated from PTHS in 1989. While there, she auditioned for her first show. She found her tribe with PTHS Thespian Troupe 185 and began to blossom, performing in many plays and musicals. The troupe was then under the leadership of Barry Wood and Cheryl Hamilton. “We did five shows a year, including a student-written Christmas show and a spring musical,” says D’Abruzzo. “It took me a while to get large roles, but I loved everything I did, whether it was chorus roles, lead roles, or helping with sets and publicity. D’Abruzzo feels lucky to have had great teachers at Peters— particularly at Elm Grove Elementary School, including Mary Stimson, Ellie Bradley, Audrey Hrehocik, Harry Casciotti, Valerie Jarrett and OdeliaScier. “Donna Fox taught me violin from fifth grade on and never let me quit—even when she should have,” she Flashback to 2005–D’Abruzzo poses with “Kate Monster” from “Avenue Q.” laughs. “I also credit much of my success to the vast experiences I had being able to take so many arts-related electives at Peters,” she says. “I even went to summer school at Bethel Park so I could get my chemistry credit in order to take a third year of Spanish and keep my Chorus and Orchestra electives. PTHS had an amazing arts program, and I became aware of that blessing when I’d go to Forensics competitions or District Chorus and Orchestra conferences at other schools in the Pittsburgh area, and saw how little they offered when it came to visual, graphic, aural and written arts programs.” Following her time at PTHS, D’Abruzzo attended Northwestern University, where she earned a B.S. in Speech, majoring in Radio/TV/Film production. “It was at Northwestern when I became interested in pursuing puppetry as a career— specifically Muppet-style puppetry,” she says. “It involved all of my passions: strong character performing, singing and improvisation, and it was a great way for me to be a character actor without it mattering what I looked like.” While at Northwestern she taught herself puppetry and, in order to further hone her skills, she wrote and produced a half- hour puppet comedy called “Freeform” as an independent study project. It won a College Television Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 1993. She auditioned for the Jim Henson Company in the spring of 1993 during on open call for female performers. D’Abruzzo soon became part of their pool of performers. “While it took several years to become more established, I’ve worked on ‘Sesame Street’ Continued on next page > PETERS TOWNSHIP ❘ F E B R UA RY / M A RC H 2018 37