Married puppeteers had a hand in reviving iconic Mr. Rogers characters for film; now they’ve returned to KC (with their studio)

Puppeteers are often anonymous, but Spencer Lott — and his wife and business partner, Grace Townley — are stepping into the spotlight to start their own creative studio, they shared.

The Lawrence-based couple — who built the puppets used in the Tom Hanks film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” about the life of TV’s Fred Rogers — are the talent and creativity behind Simple Mischief Studio, billed as a creative studio with a soft spot for puppets.

Grace Townley and Spencer Lott, Simple Mischief Studio; photo by Ryan Waggoner

“As artists, we know how to work with artists,” explained Lott, who has been a puppeteer with “Sesame Street” since 2014. “We know how to set them up for success. So we want to provide more opportunities for all of these ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Muppets’ and Henson-style creatives. We know people who do the best costumes. We know people who build sets and directors, editors. We know almost every part of the production pipeline.”

“We’re trying to provide opportunities and tell stories that are really thoughtful and inclusive and celebrate uncommon heroes,” he continued. “And we’re just crazy enough to try and do it.”

On top of working with Tristar Pictures for the Mr. Rogers biopic, Lott and Townley have worked with HBO Max, Paramount, and Nickelodeon, for which they created puppet versions of characters from “SpongeBob Squarepants” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” They were also part of the fabrication team for John Krasinski’s upcoming feature “Imaginary Friends.”

Locally, the couple — who moved back to the area from New York City during the pandemic — have been helping to create characters for The Rabbit hOle — the soon-to-open North Kansas City children’s literature museum — and are working on a yet-to-be-announced TV project, plus collaborating with the University of Kansas theater.

Click here to learn more about Simple Mischief Studio.

“We are super excited about the Kansas City community,” Lott said, noting the local talent and potential for tax incentives. “We’re meeting so many artists and the level of production is super high.”

Simple Mischief Studio is more than just building puppets, they shared, like the projects for preschoolers and picture books currently under development.

“We get to play in a lot of sandboxes, which we love,” Lott added, detailing the couple’s desire to tell stories through various platforms. “Sometimes we’re building, but sometimes we’re designing or consulting.”

Starting their own company, Lott noted, provides them some control in an industry where so much is typically out of a creatives’ hands.

“It’s an opportunity to try and generate some success and momentum and to be able to surround ourselves with the kind of talented people that we want to spend time with,” he added.

Yak puppet from a recent Simple Mischief Studio shoot

Empathy with a capital ‘E’

For Lott — who was born in Overland Park and grew up in Lawrence — his love of puppeteering started early in life, he shared.

“It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do,” he explained. “I’ve got a kindergarten paper that says I want to be the next Jim Henson. And I’ve got amazing parents and teachers and mentors who cheered me on and supported me the entire way.”

Since joining “Sesame Street” nine years ago, Lott has played Samuel — the neurotypical brother of Julia — the letter K, and a head of cabbage named Kyle, plus a variety of other animals, vegetables, and monsters. His other credits include “Saturday Night Live,” “Helpsters” and Hello Tomorrow! on Apple+, and Disney’s The Muppets.

“I worked my way up and started doing library shows and things like that and then found my way to ‘Sesame Street’,” he added. “So I’m living the dream.”

Townley — who also grew up in Overland Park and met Lott at KU — is a writer/illustrator, painter, and sculptor who manages the business side of Simple Mischief Studio, as well. She also has 15 years of social work experience, specializing in work with adults who have Alzheimer’s disease.

“Being a social worker, that kind of creates the through line for all of our projects,” she noted. “We’re really trying to create stories that highlight inclusion, belonging, empathy, and also intergenerational things because that’s still close to my heart.”

Fred’s fingerprints

One of Lott and Townley’s first collaborations together was recreating the iconic puppets for “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” the 2019 movie which starred Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers.

Townley shares a special connection to the project, she shared, as Fred Rogers was her godfather.

“He was always very special to our family,” she explained. “My parents were friends with him when they were living in New York and then continued that friendship out here, writing letters. So it really felt like a full circle moment.”

A producer the couple knew through the “Muppets” reached out to them about the project and encouraged them to submit a bid, they said.

“We have this personal connection and we’re going to do it like they were made originally,” Lott added of their approach to building the puppets. “We’re going to be little puppet makers in a little shop, making them by hand. They’re not going to be perfect, but they’re going to feel loved and used. So we think that’s one of the reasons that we ended up with the job. It was pretty magical.”

In order to recreate the Neighborhood of Make-Believe puppets, Lott and Townley were given access to view the original pieces at the Fred Rogers Archive.

“We had just a few precious hours with each puppet to measure them and get color swatches and fabrics and take all the notes of every tiny seam because we wanted to get it as close as we possibly could,” said Lott, who was also the lead puppeteer on the film. “It was a huge amount of pressure. It’s a feature film, so it’s a super quick timeline. I think it was seven puppets and six weeks. It was a total rush.”

Townley noted that she did a lot of the sculpting and painting, as well as assisted with sewing. The couple also worked with costume designers that specialized in knitting and fabric dying to help get the puppets to look like they did in the ’90s, several decades after they had debuted on the show. 

“That was a dream,” she said. “The whole project was really beautiful.”

They got a lot of lovely compliments for their puppets, Lott mentioned, from several people who had worked on the show for decades.

“They came to the set and said, “Oh, I didn’t know you were using the original puppets,” he added. “Our versions are different. They’re new and a little bit different than the real ones, but we feel like we got the essence of them there.”

“It was very intentional,” he continued, “but you could feel Fred’s fingerprints throughout the whole thing. Everyone really wanted to do a really good job.”