Miss Lilly Gets Boned
Puppet Director, Puppet Designer
Rogue Machine Theatre • 2019 • Los Angeles, CA
In this dark and provocative play about innocence, violence, and belief, I designed and directed the life-sized elephant puppet—an emotionally complex creature brought to life by three puppeteers.
REVIEWS
“... Sean Cawelti’s amazing elephant puppet is a design highlight.” - LA Times
“One of the most impressive aspects of the play is Harold’s puppeteer team, led by designer Sean Cawelti. Quinn, who conveys the elephant’s emotions goes deep with his facial expressions, which he pairs smoothly with the gentle control of the elephant trunk. Rachael Caselli and Amir Levi are excellent at maneuvering Harold’s legs and body, portraying a realistic quality to the gentle giant’s gait and grunts..” - Stage Raw
“As for Harold The Elephant himself, Quinn joins fellow puppeteers Rachael Caselli and Amir Levi in bringing Sean Cawelti’s design wizardry to remarkably authentic life.” - Stage Scene LA
Miss Lilly Gets Boned explores the collision of idealism and trauma through the story of a naïve Sunday school teacher and a grief-stricken Rwandan boy. At the heart of the play is a life-sized elephant—both a literal animal and a symbolic presence—that becomes a powerful manifestation of grief, memory, and the unspoken.
Sean Cawelti served as Puppet Designer and Puppet Director, creating and staging the central elephant puppet: a fully articulated, life-sized figure operated by a team of three skilled puppeteers.
The design emphasized emotional subtlety and physical presence, allowing the puppet to function not just as a visual centerpiece but as a character with its own dramatic arc. The result was a striking and unforgettable theatrical element that grounded the play’s themes in visceral, embodied storytelling.