Tom Bonham has been involved in puppetry all of his life.
He was born in the creative environment of Robinson, Illinois, birthplace of novelist James Jones, and the Heath candy bar.
In 1961, Tom Bonham’s family moved from Robinson to the Saint Louis suburb of Webster Groves, Missouri. Tom eventually moved to a 100+ year old Victorian house in the historic Lafayette Square area of St. Louis. That home had large fish ponds and a small grove of banana trees in the backyard. His current residence is now in Saint Peters Missouri about 30 miles from downtown Saint Louis. He still has a fair sized fish pond with his large butterfly kio and various ornate goldfish
He is also somewhat of a computer guru building computers, writing business application software, and creating and editing photos, soundtracks, and movies on the computer. (He designed and created this entire website with its composite photos, movies, and slideshows.)
Tom Bonham has a Bachelor’s degree in theater from Saint Louis University and Missouri Life-time teaching certification in speech, drama, and English.
Since 1970, Tom Bonham has performed professionally throughout the United States. He performs with rod, hand, and muppet(TM)-style puppets, and, with string puppets (marionettes). While he currently performs primarily in his local area, Tom Bonham has presented his shows in such places as Washington, DC; New Orleans; Denver; Salt Lake City; San Jose, CA; and Minot, ND (in February). He performs in schools, libraries, shopping centers, private clubs, community festivals, and similar events. For seven years he was the puppet company for Westfield Shoppingtown’s Kids’ Club program in all their Saint Louis County, Saint Peters, and Cape Girardeau shoppingtowns (the program sactually started when the center were owned by Centermark Properties).
Tom Bonham creates all of the puppets which he uses in the show, as well as the scenery and staging. He operates most performances alone, although a few shows do require an assistant puppeteer. Tom Bonham is known for imaginative uses of puppetry from his yarn boa that changes shapes into many different creatures, to the highly imaginative puppets in Land of Imagination, to unusual effects such as a rod puppet (with rods to his hands) that puts on a shirt. His latest production “The Carnival of the Animals” is constructed from plastic bottles, plastic tableware, brushes, and various dollar store items in a highly imaginative way. As one teacher said “I will never look at a toilet brush the same.”
Tom Bonham has been a featured performer at two national puppet festivals, two regional puppet festivals, and many local puppet guild events. He has conducted puppetry classes at national, regional, and local puppet festivals. He has been a regional director of The Puppeteers of America, Inc. and president of The Puppet Guild of Greater Saint Louis, Inc. He is currently a member of The Puppet Guild of Greater Saint. Louis, The Puppeteers of Amercia, and UNIMA-USA the United States branch of the international puppetry organization.
