About Us
Thingumajig Theatre
Thingumajig Theatre creates and performs innovative puppet plays and interactive giant puppet street acts. Based in West Yorkshire, their puppets have played throughout the UK and 17 other countries and have been seen on television and a major Disney film.
Thingumajig’s co-directors Kathy and Andrew Kim met while working as performers on a Horse and Bamboo production in 2002. After several years commuting across the Atlantic to visit each other, they married and settled in West Yorkshire and started Thingumajig Theatre in 2006. They soon expanded to bring in freelance artists as needed and in 2024, they were joined by Reyyan Hammad as a core artist.
Kathy’s Story
Kathy Kim (Performer, Musician, Maker and Director) was born and brought up in Bradford, England. She was awarded a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (flute) before going on to study Drama at Manchester University.
She has worked in theatre as an actor, musician and mask performer for the past 30 years with companies including Solent People’s Theatre, Snap, TheatreVan, Tameside, Theatre Foundry, Forest Forge, Oxford Stage Company, New Perspectives and Horse and Bamboo, touring GB and Europe.
Further afield, Kathy has worked as artist/maker in festivals and outdoor events, including Islewilde Community Arts Celebration and Oregon Country Fair (USA), Illuminares Lantern Procession (Canada), and Dream Parade (Taiwan). Kathy is a founder member of Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade.
Andrew’s Story
Andrew Kim (Puppet and Mask Maker, Performer and Director) was born in Korea, raised and educated in the USA.
Andrew has created and performed puppet and mask plays, parades and events for over 30 years.
Andrew started with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in Minneapolis where he spent 10 years learning all elements of making, performing and directing puppet plays, parades and large-scale spectacles. He trained further working with Bread and Puppet Theatre and studied traditional Korean and Balinese mask theatre.
He is the founder and former Artistic Director of the Hebden Bridge Handmade Parade and the Todmorden Lamplighter Festival.
He also teaches giant puppet and lantern puppet workshops where he builds one or two new giants with up to a dozen artists in two weeks. He has led these masterclasses in England, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Bulgaria, South Korea and several cities throughout the USA.
Reyyan’s Story
Reyyan Hammad (Puppet Maker, Performer and Core Artist) was born and brought up in Rochdale, England. He received a First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art from Leeds Arts University, before being awarded a scholarship to study Contemporary Art at the Royal College Of Art, London.
He has worked in the arts for over 5 years, first encountering giant puppets at Handmade Parade. Reyyan began working with Thingumajig Theatre back in 2021, first starting as a maker before progressing into performing, and creating shows. ‘The Magic Samovar’ was Reyyan’s first show at Thingumajig, as a part of “A la Puppet Carte’.
Reyyan has worked as a freelance artist performing and working on shows for artists and companies across the UK, such as Mr Cleavers Monsters, Chirag Lukha, Inspirate, Skylight Circus, Sonia Sabri, and Handmade Productions. In 2024 Reyyan joined Thingumajig Theatre in the position of Core Artist.