engineering

Michael Curry (puppet designer)

Michael Curry (puppet designer) is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Michael Curry (puppet designer) rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Curry (born March 19, 1958) is an American production designer who lives in Portland, Oregon. He is also the owner and President of Michael Curry Design Inc. in Scappoose, Oregon, which was started in 1986.

Key takeaways

Michael Curry (puppet designer) belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Michael Curry (puppet designer) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michael Curry (puppet designer) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michael Curry (born March 19, 1958) is an American production designer who lives in Portland, Oregon. He is also the owner and President of Michael Curry Design Inc. in Scappoose, Oregon, which was started in 1986. Curry works widely in technical development with such renowned entertainment companies as Cirque du Soleil, the Metropolitan Opera, London's Royal National Theatre, Walt Disney Theatrical and theme parks worldwide. He works regularly with directors such as Robert Lepage, Nicholas Hytner, Julie Taymor and William Friedken. He has also worked with production designers such as George Tsypin and the late Mark Fisher. Curry has been the recipient of many distinguished awards from his peers, including various awards for his puppet and costume work on Broadway, Olympic ceremonies and his continuing creations and work in the field of visual effects and puppetry design. He owns and operates Michael Curry Design Inc., which designs and creates live-performance oriented dimensional characters and productions, such as those seen by worldwide audiences in the 1996, 2002, 2010 and 2014 Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, in the 2000 & 2012 Super Bowl, and New York City's epoch 2000 millennium event.

Olympic work

2002 Winter Olympics Curry shared an Emmy Award with influential Trinidadian Carnival designer Peter Minshall for costume/performance designs created for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in 2002. The first notable American event following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the ceremony blended light, puppets, and story.

Epcot

At Epcot, in Disney World, Curry created 120 towering puppets, which he titled the Tapestry of Nations (would later become Tapestry of Dreams), that paraded around the lake when sunset arrived. This parade featured the largest speaker system in the world, featuring 416 speakers and 137 amplifiers. The parade ended in March 2003 in its Tapestry of Dreams form. The puppets themselves have occasionally been brought out for special events.

Theatrical work Curry works often in theatre, collaborating with the best in the industry. He has worked on Broadway, at The Metropolitan Opera, and at the Royal National Theatre to name a few. He also works as a conceptual and technical consultant in the live performance industry.

The Lion King on Broadway

Curry was made famous not only by the Olympic ceremonies he designed, but also for his puppet co-design with Julie Taymor in the highly acclaimed musical, The Lion Kingin 1998. In 2014 The Lion King has become the highest-grossing musical in history.

The Magic Flute - Metropolitan Opera - Directed by Julie Taymor

L'Amour de loin - Metropolitan Opera - Directed by Robert LaPage 2017 New Production Award for L’Amour de loin at The Metropolitan Opera with Robert Lepage (scenic and costume design) – International Opera Awards

Finding Nemo

Curry designed the puppets used in Finding Nemo – The Musical at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Rivers of Light

Curry is production designer for the night-time show at Disney's Animal Kingdom, Rivers of Light.

Frozen – Live at Disneyland Resort, Frozen on Broadway, Frozen Disney Cruise Lines

Curry designed the puppets that are used in the musical Frozen – Live at the Hyperion at Disney California Adventure., Frozen on Broadway and Frozen Disney Cruise Lines.

Cirque du Soleil Curry has designed on five Cirque du Soleil shows. Kà (directed by Robert Lepage at the MGM Grand Las Vegas, and LOVE (directed by Dominique Champagne at the MGM Mirage, also in Las Vegas). He also designed the illusions for Cirque du Soleil and Criss Angel at the LUXOR 2009. Curry was the scenic and puppet designer for Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson's Immortal World Tour.

Center for Puppetry Arts Three major pieces by Curry are on permanent display at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia - an interactive full-body puppet of a praying mantis, a 9-foot-tall (2.7 m) animatronic original by Curry called the Trashcan Phoenix, and a user-controlled animatronic puppet of Xelas, a shapechanger from Native American mythology.

Awards Emmy Award for the 2002 Olympics Opening Ceremony in Salt Lake City (Outstanding Costumes for a Variety or Music Program) 1998 Tony Award for Best Costume Design for The Lion King (shared with Julie Taymor) Drama Desk Award for The Lion King (Outstanding Puppet Design) Drama Desk Award for Disney's Frozen (Outstanding Puppet Design) Top 100 Honoree by Irish America Magazine, 2000 Cannes Film Festival, Performance Pieces, Art Director (Best Fiction, Short) The American Theater Wing Designer Award for The Lion King Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, (Distinguished Achievement) 2000 Mask & Puppet Design, Co-Designer with Julie Taymor, The Lion King Entertainment Design and Theatre Crafts International, 1999 EDDY Award (Puppet Designer) Featured Artist, Prague Quadrennial (2007) Risorgiomento Creativity Award (for lifelong creativity and risk taking in the fields of technical and Artistic Design), 2001

References

External links Official Website Michael Curry at IMDb Company Profiles-Michael Curry Design Inc. Unofficial Fan Site

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Curry (puppet designer)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Curry (puppet designer) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Michael Curry (puppet designer) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Michael Curry (puppet designer) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Michael Curry (puppet designer)

In research: Michael Curry (puppet designer) appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Michael Curry (puppet designer) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Michael Curry (puppet designer) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1967 births, Animatronic engineers, Artists from Portland, Oregon, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Curry (puppet designer) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Michael Curry (puppet designer) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michael Curry (puppet designer) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Michael Curry (puppet designer) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Curry (puppet designer) in simple terms?

Why does Michael Curry (puppet designer) matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Michael Curry (puppet designer)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Michael Curry (puppet designer).