Phoenix mom Stacey Gordon joins cast of ‘Sesame Street’
Stacey Gordon’s experience as a puppet artist and as the mother of a boy with autism made her the perfect choice to play Julia, the first new character to arrive on “Sesame Street” in 10 years.
But Gordon, who lives in Phoenix, says she was always told she could never do puppetry on television because she was too short. Apparently, TV puppeteers are preferred to be of similar height, so they can hold up their foamy alter egos at the same level for the camera. So Gordon was surprised when Sesame Workshop reached out to ask her to audition for the long-running children’s program.
“My parents would always joke, ‘When is “Sesame Street” calling?’” Gordon says. “Turns out they don’t call, they email.”
The character of Julia was introduced in online-only cartoons in 2015 as part of “Sesame Street’s” “See Amazing in All Children” initiative. And the orange-haired 4-year-old made a big splash this week when Sesame Workshop announced she would be joining the cast of characters on the TV show starting April 10. Gordon appeared in a 15-minute story on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on March 19 and has been fielding calls from the media ever since.
“Even if I were not in the role, this character would still mean the world to me,” Gordon says. “She’s important, and it’s important to me that I treat her with reverence, with respect and with reality. She needs authenticity, and I have so much respect for ‘Sesame Street’ for seeking out a puppeteer who has experience with autism, because as a mom in the autism community, I want to see characters represented in a realistic way.”
Gordon started building and performing with puppets with a church group when she was a high-school student in small-town Ripon, Calif. After attending college in Colorado, she moved to Arizona in 2001 with her new husband. She’s been active in the local scene ever since, performing with the Great Arizona Puppet Theater, for both kids and adults, and with various improv comedy troupes. In the latter category, she’s one-half of an improv duo dubbed Die Puppet Die. She also builds puppets and teaches other artists at her own studio, Puppet Pie, at Bragg’s Pie Factory on Grand Avenue.
“She’s really good with the kids and really good at making sure the kids are organized,” says Nancy Smith, CEO and artistic director of the Great Arizona Puppet Theater. “And she can sew. Like, ‘Oh, you need a hat? Let me sew a hat!’”
Gordon’s first day job in Phoenix was working with special-needs kids for HOPE Group, which provides behavioral health services for people with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental and neurological issues.
“I consider myself a fairly patient human being, and I always just had a heart for the kids,” she says.
So when her own son was born with autism in 2003, she knew the signs. But she also knew that her journey with her son would be unique.
“Autism is different for every person,” she says. “You’ve probably heard people say, ‘If you’ve met one kid with autism, you’ve met one kid with autism.’ …
“Julia can’t represent everyone on the autism spectrum. Julia represents Julia on the autism spectrum, and hopefully Julia represents inclusion for everyone. I want autism destigmatized. I want kids who are neurotypical to have a better understanding as they go into their classrooms, their preschools, their playgrounds, if they see behaviors that could be associated with autism or even just behaviors that they don’t understand, that they aren’t afraid.”
Because she is active in the national puppetry scene, Gordon knew a couple of “Sesame Street” staffers, who recommended her to producers when they decided to bring Julia to the small screen. So Gordon flew to New York for auditions. Now she flies out for weeklong stints to shoot episodes, then returns to her life in Phoenix.
And, of course, it turns out she’s not too short for “Sesame Street.” That’s because the show’s fuzzy characters interact with humans onscreen, so the puppeteers perform while sitting on little scooters — they call them “rollies” — during taping.
And when they do shoot a scene standing up, Gordon adds, she just wears 6-inch platform heels.