Robin Frohardt

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 and is currently on view at Mass MoCA. Her films have been official selections at The Telluride Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, The One Earth Film Festival, and BAM.

Awards and Honors

2024 Herb Alpert Award

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