About Jana

Jana grew up in a family of international puppeteers. In her early years, she joined her parents on many tours, where she experienced puppet shows from around the world. In her teens, she started painting sets and puppets, and continued to design, build, and paint for Sandglass productions including Village Child, Between Sand and Stars, Pig Act, and Isidor's Cheek. She trained with Sandglass co-founder Ines Zeller Bass in children's puppetry and workshops

As a set painter and designer, she worked for the theater, opera, TV, and the movies, while continuing to design and build a wide range of puppets, increasing the breath and depth of her craft.

She trained as a puppeteer in the Sandglass Intensives, created her own shows for adults and children, and continues to tour her work, both nationally and internationally. She has taught countless workshops, residencies and camps, inspiring hundreds of children and adults to invent, design, build, and perform puppets. In 2001 she founded her own puppet company, Spybird Theater, and has performed her original works in the US, Canada, Mexico, Germany, and India.

Jana has been performing the original Sandglass show PUNSCHI since 2013. Additionally, she has been touring with her sister, Shoshana Bass, presenting OMA, a cherished children’s puppet show that the two sisters inherited from their mother. She has also been an associate producer of the Winter Sunshine Series for many years, as well as hosting guest artists, and working on new pieces at Sandglass.

About Kalob

Kalob Martinez is an actor who combined his professional interests in stage combat and voice acting and found puppetry. El Beto stands as the culmination of his theatrical endeavors in puppet arts. He is currently an ensemble member of Sandglass Theater’s, Babylon. He voiced and served as the puppeteer for Arthur Fiedler twice with the Boston Pops as narrator for Peter and the Wolf and A Visit from St. Nick.

For five seasons he was the associate artist at the Classical Theatre Company in Houston, TX. Since 2016 he has performed as the mascot, Buster Brackets for the Tournament Marathon Challenge on ESPN. He also assisted in the puppet build for The Fanstasy Show hosted by Matt Berry on the ESPN app. Martinez is also a seasoned voice over actor for the English dub versions of Anime. The most popular titles include: No 6, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Halo Legends, Bodacious Space Pirates, and Starship Troopers: Invasion. BA Acting, University of Houston. MFA Puppet Arts, University of Connecticut. Advanced Actor/Combatant, Society of American Fight Directors.

Kalob Martinez website