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Jeff Kavanaugh
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Emily Bricker has a dream job if there ever was one. Bricker, who grew up in Kansas City, is a Dinoteer for Jurassic World Live Tour, a Feld Entertainment production, a live show that combines some elements from the Jurassic World movie with stunts, fight sequences, and, of course, humongous dinosaur puppets. (Yes, there’s a T-Rex. Yes, it’s huge.) The audience will be transported to Isla Nublar to watch an Indominus rex escape and wreak havoc in the park. Then, join a group of scientists as they try to save Jeanie, a Troodon dinosaur, Bricker's character, from a terrible fate. You'll get to see other dino icons such as Blue the Raptor, a Stegosaurus, and a Triceratops.
Jurassic World Live will stop by the Enterprise Center for its St. Louis show December 16–18. We chatted with Bricker to learn more about the show.
Courtesy of Jurassic World Live Tour
Dinoteer Emily Bricker
How did you get into puppetry?
I went to school for musical theater, but I didn't train in puppetry until I was already a working professional. I did a show with Nickelodeon, Paw Patrol Live.
Oh, I know it. It’s very revered in our household.
So fun. Yes, so I did that with them and it involved a lot of large puppets. I did Nick Jr. Live with them as well. I've auditioned for this [Jurassic World Live] contract three times. It was something that was a huge goal of mine.
Was it because you were a dino person as a kid? Or was it more because of the company or production?
I was not as much of a dinosaur person as a kid. I was brought into it in middle school and high school. And then the Jurassic World movies came out, and I felt like I had that fire reignited. I thought this would be the perfect job for me because I thought it would be really amazing to be a dinosaur and be able to bring that joy into children's lives every day and hear their reactions to the beautiful creatures coming out on stage. And I really love the company. I've admired their work for a long time.
Tell me about your dinosaur puppet.
Her name is Jeanie. She's an original dinosaur to our story. She's a Troodon, which was thought to be the smartest dinosaur that ever roamed. The job is one of the most unique puppetry experiences I've had. The dinosaur itself is about 125 pounds, and that's on the lighter end of our dinosaurs. The other ones can range up to 150 pounds. But luckily, I'm in the smallest one. You have to wear this backpack that straps this creature to you and then you have these controls inside of the body that you're using to manipulate the head, neck, and mouth. And you can make it nod and turn its head and everything, but you use your own legs to propel the puppet and dinosaur through space. It's really cool because you actually have just a screen to see the whole world through—it's a camera.
That sounds really hard.
It's definitely harder. We do a lot of fighting with the dinosaurs, and that has to be super-precise. I do a lot of tail hits to people with my dinosaur. It's a lot of whacking people, and it's pretty challenging—you have to really engage your core. Because we do work with pyrotechnics, motorcycles, and stunt actors, if you're not in the right spot, you could be in a little bit of trouble. We rehearse a lot outside of the costume. We worked up to having the full costume on from having no costume to the frame of the costume. It's a really long process. We trained for about six weeks and then rehearsed for four more.
You mentioned wanting to bring joy to children. What has the audience’s reaction been like?
It's so rewarding. I get to interact with the audience a lot, so I walk up to them and sniff them, and the children say my dinosaur’s name or they hold things up to her. It’s so sweet. The kids are so smart. It’s like, “How do you know her name already?”
If there’s a kid who’s a little unsure about the giant dinos, do you try to avoid them?
Definitely. If we see a kid who does not want to be interacted with, we're not going to pick on them at all. We always try to gravitate toward the kids that we think are a little more open to that interaction. Hopefully seeing that will make the shy kids feel a little more comfortable interacting with the dinosaurs.
What else can the audience expect?
It’s a super-thrilling show with crazy pyrotechnics, beautiful motorcycle stunts, and a story with a lot of heart. A lot of people leave the show feeling like their heartstrings have been tugged. There are lots of Easter eggs from the movies. Our T-Rex is probably the star of our show. She takes three shipping containers to travel and she can move 16 miles an hour, which is only 1 mile an hour less than a real T-Rex could move. She’s completely remote-controlled. There are around three people controlling her during the show. It really looks realistic.
That’s so interesting. How do we know what realistic looks like?
We worked really closely with NBC and Steven Spielberg to build the puppets and create all of the magic in the show. I'm no scientist, and I cannot imagine having to interpret how these creatures will move, but luckily we have all of these amazing resources from the creators.
