31
L AT I N S C H O O L O F C H I C A G O
A few years later, at Grinnell College, a classmate
introduced Morton to puppetry, which offered
an exciting new direction to take her love for the
performing arts. "It's theater in a more multimedia
way," she explained.
After graduation, she moved to California and
landed a job as a puppeteer, model maker and set
dresser for George Lucas' visual effects company,
Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), where she
worked for 13 years on everything from the Pirates
of the Carribbean movies to special-edition versions
of Star Wars films. She enjoyed bringing to life the
vision that Lucas had when the technology to create
it did not yet exist.
When it became clear that computer graphics would
replace models and miniatures, Morton left ILM for
Folkmanis Inc., a specialty puppet company, where
she oversees manufacturing. Her personal creative
pursuit is shadow puppetry. A few years ago, Bose
Audio commissioned Morton to do a shadow
puppetry film, e Little Dragon, which Bose
showed in stores to demonstrate surround sound.
Morton also was the first American to perform
in the International Shadow eatre Festival in
Germany, and she has participated in the summer
puppetry program at the Eugene O'Neill eater
Center in Connecticut. Next summer she plans to
perform at the Flock eatre, also in Connecticut.
