MicheLee Puppets was formed in 1985 by Tracey Conner to empower lives through the art of puppetry.  Conner got her first taste of puppetry as a theatre student at Bowling Green State University.  Upon graduation, she relocated to Orlando and recruited her former puppet partner, Michael Prazniak to help her start the company.  They combined their middle names, Michelle and Lee, and MicheLee Puppets was born. 

In their first performance year, 1985-1986, MicheLee Puppets performed for 6,500 children throughout Central Florida.  In early 1987 Prazniak left the company.  Conner hired and trained new puppeteers and began expanding the company’s outreach.  In 1991 MicheLee Puppets was contracted by the Epilepsy Association of Central Florida to create their first issue-based puppet show to prevent epilepsy.   The success of What About Charlie? led to a series of new, original plays on a variety of issues from racial harmony to youth violence to healthy lifestyles.  MicheLee Puppets also traded the proscenium for a camera to produce two puppet videos in 1995 and in 1997.

In 1998 MicheLee Puppets enjoyed a successful collaboration with the Civic Theatre of Central Florida on the production of Mother Goose’s Greatest Hits.  MicheLee Puppets consulted on the puppetry, provided puppeteers and built several of the puppets used in the show.  The very popular Joy of Reading Series also opened that year when MicheLee Puppets toured an adaptation of the beloved children’s book Corduroy.  Subsequent book adaptations have included Stellaluna, and Páginas Latinas, our first bi-lingual production.

In July 2003, MicheLee Puppets received national recognition when we accepted the Marjorie Batchelder McPharlin Award for outstanding contributions in the field of educational puppetry from the Puppeteers of America.  We also expanded our outreach to high school audiences through Every 90 Seconds, a program dealing with the sensitive issue of sexual assault.

The national recognition extended to support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  In 2005, we kicked off a statewide tour of EXTREME Health Challenge, funded through a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and local funding partners.

In March of 2009, a generous grant from the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation gave MicheLee Puppets the opportunity to move our talented team of puppeteers into a 3,600 square foot facility that has revitalize our mission and vision for the future.  MicheLee Puppets has continually strived to grow and improve our business practices, our artistic vision and quality, and the outreach to our young audiences.  Since 1985 we have given more than 1.6 million children and youth the tools to face lives challenges and the motivation to make meaningful contributions to society.