Photo by Shawn Poynter
Known for her rich aesthetic and highly detailed constructions, Robin Frohardt is an award-winning theater and film director. Her narrative based film, puppetry and sculpture, use recognizable materials, often trash, to create richly detailed worlds that make magic of the mundane and highlight the trivialities of daily life. Her theatrical work has earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Creative Capital Award and multiple Jim Henson Foundation Grants. Her play THE PIGEONING hailed by the New York Times as “a tender, fantastical symphony of the imagination,” debuted in 2013 and continues to tour at home and abroad. Her follow-up project THE PLASTIC BAG STORE premiered in Times Square in 2020 and has since toured to Los Angeles, Chicago, Adelaide and Austin. Her films have been official selections at The Telluride Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, The One Earth Film Festival and BAM.
Awards and Honors
2020. Aspen Shortsfest Ellen Award
2019 Made In NY Woman’s Fund Grant Award
2018 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
2018 UNIMA Award of Excellence for The Pigeoning
2016 DisTill Fellowship at UNC
2016 Olson Kundig Artist in Residence
2016 Creative Capital Award
2016 Jim Henson Foundation Project Grant
2016 Residency at The MacDowell Colony
2016 Jim Henson Foundation Seed Grant “The Plastic Bag Store”
2013 Aryln Award for For Puppet Design for “The Pigeoning”
2013 Peggy Irvine Foundation Award for Artistic Excellence
2014 Mid-Atlantic Arts Fund USArtists International Grant Award
2012 Jim Henson Foundation Project Grant for “The Pigeoning”
2012 Artist in Residence at HERE Arts “Dream Music Puppetry” Program
2011 Artist in Residence St. Anne's Warehouse's Puppet Lab
2013 Artist in Residence St. Anne's Warehouse's Puppet Lab