LARRY ENGLER is the Creator and Director of POKO PUPPETS, INC., whose acclaimed live appearances have included those with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Buffalo Philharmonic and at The Detroit Institute, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Westbury Music Fair. Mr. Engler and Poko Puppets tour internationally, from India to Israel, Honduras to Singapore, and frequently appear on television, in films, commercials, and even at The Metropolitan Opera House (Manon).

Mr. Engler, who apprenticed at a young age with numerous companies of renown (including the Bil Baird Marionettes and The Muppets), formed his own company while still in high school, in 1966. His puppets immediately demonstrated their own special personality, one that is unique to Poko Puppets. They quickly became a recognized entity and are today an established name in the world of entertainment.

Television credits Include commercials and industrial films for The Sony Corporation, AT&T, Hershey Chocolate, Pepsi-Cola, Parke-Davis, Continental Baking, Johnson and Johnson, McGraw Hill, Northern Bathroom Tissue, Canon USA, H.B.O., The Prudential Insurance Company of America (award-winning series), and Proctor and Gamble (nine months on The Edge of Night).

Mr. Engler is the co-author of the book Making Puppets Come Alive (Dover Publications) which has won awards from The American Library Association and The Puppeteers of America. He is also co-producer of the video Making Puppets at Home with Larry Engler (DMP Productions).

In addition to extensive touring and performing, he presents his highly successful workshops across the country and abroad for schools, universities, and organizations, including The U.S. Information Service (three international tours), New York University, The Kennedy Center, N.Y. Foundation for the Arts, and The Smithsonian Institution. He is also a past President of the Puppetry Guild of Greater New York, and a former member of the Board of Trustees of The Puppeteers of America.