Alumni Spotlight: Yanniv Frank '17
For Yanniv Frank (HS ’17), Sesame Street wasn’t just a show he watched as a child. Of course, the iconic puppet-based television show, which has for decades taught children their ABCs and 123s, was formative. But it would be more than that; it would prove to become a basis for his career. “Sesame has definitely been an immense inspiration for me while figuring out what my calling is and what I wanted to do,” Yanniv says.
His connections with the Sesame Street universe grew in high school, when he was introduced to Marty Robinson, who has worked at Jim Henson Productions, the genius behind Sesame Street, since 1980. While internships at Jim Henson Productions weren’t offered to high school students, the two kept in touch. Robinson told Yanniv about a prestigious puppetry intensive at Sesame Workshop in 2018, to which Yanniv applied and was accepted.
The intensive, whose attendees were 28 puppeteers from around the world as well as instructors including Matt Vogel (one of the voices of Kermit the Frog) and Stephanie D'Abruzzo (of the original cast of Avenue Q), culminated in a video which Yanniv made with a partner. Years later, the results of the intensive led to something close to a miracle: an invitation to audition for Sesame Street The Musical. The show is now running Off-Broadway at Theatre Row, with our very own Yanniv as part of the ten-person cast.
“I’d heard about it and was excited to see it,” says Yanniv modestly of the show he’s acting in. The cast squeezes seven shows into four days, making for a very busy weekend. And now he gets to help bring iconic characters to the stage. “We have people of all ages coming and having the time of their lives because there’s something for everybody to relate to and learn from.”
But he’s doing even more. As part of his third year of grad school at the University of Connecticut, Yanniv is also hard at work on his showcase project—one that seeks to teach mindful masculinity and emotional wellness to kids. After receiving a grant to stage a previous show (Feel Your Best Self) on emotional-social learning for children, he decided to delve deeper into this interest—one which aligns clearly with Sesame Street’s values.
“I’ve seen a real shift in what kids are needing from the educational content they consume… there’s been quite a boost in the amount of emotional wellness that’s being taught on kids’ programs,” says Yanniv. “So through my work, what I’ve seen on Sesame Street, and through research on the tools kids need to unlearn the definition of masculinity as it currently exists, a lot lends to discovering how to feel your best self.”
Feeling your best self, as Yanniv discovered, also entails a celebration of uniqueness and selfhood. After attending three separate high schools where he was “being asked to fit into a box,” Yanniv found what he was looking for at Heschel. “At Heschel, everyone is uplifted as the person that they are and are welcomed. Our individuality lends to this beautiful mosaic of our community.”
His senior project at Heschel was totally his own: creating a Milky White puppet for his community theater production of Into the Woods. “John Gatti, my art teacher, made sure I had all the materials I needed, helped me polish my designs, and helped with my fabrication materials. I created a character that had a dynamic to it and something that could feel like it was alive. I spent every free moment that semester in the art room working on that cow. Every lunch, every study hall—it was an experience where I really felt like I was being celebrated for the things that made me unique. I felt that my entire time at Heschel.”
Yanniv’s schedule isn’t easy; he splits his time between New York for the show and Connecticut for grad school, juggling his MFA project and his job as an Off-Broadway actor and puppeteer. But given the perfect meeting of his personal and professional goals, “it’s honestly a dream come true,” he says. To learn more or to see Yanniv in the musical, visit the website.
