BIO + HI-RES IMAGES
SHORT BIO
Alissa Hunnicutt is a singer/puppeteer/ukulele artist endorsed by Ohana Ukuleles and PHD Strings. She holds a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music in vocal performance and has been trained in a wide variety of puppetry styles. Her newly-formed children’s music band, PuppetSnaps, is an interactive, singalong, play along, dance along, clap along, music concert with puppetry and ukulele for kids and their grownups!
SINGER
Alissa Hunnicutt is grateful she grew up in a family where everyone sings and attended a public-school system with excellent music programs. She joined the local Iowa City Community Theater where she fell in love with musical theater. She sang with full orchestras in high school, then went on to study classical voice and opera in college. Alissa holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The University of Iowa, and a Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music in vocal performance. She returned to musical theater and performed for many years doing theater for young audiences and developed a cabaret show with puppetry, The Kid Inside.
PUPPETEER
Her puppeteer journey began in 2005 in a class with John Tartaglia. For several years she was the resident staff puppeteer at Mount Sinai Children’s Hospital in NYC, hosting live closed-circuit television shows as part of the Child Life Department’s KidZoneTV. She continued her training at The National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, studying with an array of master teachers and developing her own short-form puppet theater work. Since moving to California, Alissa has performed as a puppeteer on the CBS series “Life in Pieces,” as part of the Pacific Symphony’s production of “The Magic Flute,” did background puppetry on “Sesame Street” and plays Maggie Raccoon on the series “Slugs and Bugs” with Randall Goodgame, as well as live puppet slams across the country. Alissa is currently studying carving and puppet-making with Bernd Ogrodnik as a student in the Academy of the Wooden Puppet.
UKULELE
Alissa is endorsed by Ohana Ukuleles and PHD Strings. She originally picked up the ukulele as a way to sing for fun without needing another musician to play for her. But she was soon playing open mics, coffee houses, and ukulele festivals. Alissa has also taught masterclasses in acting through singing to ukulele players privately, at the Reno Ukulele Festival and the Utah Ukulele Festival. She released her first EP “Something” in 2018.
In 2020 Alissa founded “The Ukulele Club” on the Clubhouse App with a friend in Tokyo, Yoshi Yegul. Since then she has been leading rooms with an open mic, beginner tips, and playalongs every Saturday for musicians from all over the world.
In development: an episodic ukulele video project produced by Ohana Ukuleles – coming soon!
CHILDREN’S MUSIC
She is an early childhood music specialist trained through the Music Together program, teaching with Valley Cat Music (0-5 yrs old). She also teaches kindergarten and first-grade music classes at Camp Mustang, a summer camp program of The Marlborough School in Los Angeles.
Alissa realized the power of children’s music when she was going through the death of her mother and turned to lullabies to soothe her grief. Listening to that music helped so much. She was compelled to put more of that warm, positive music into the world. Especially now. So, Alissa combined her love of children’s music, puppetry, and ukulele and launched PuppetSnaps: an interactive, singalong, play along, dance along, clap along, music concert for kids and their grownups!
PERSONAL
Alissa was born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa. She’s one of seven children in a blended family, including her twin brother. Alissa lived in NYC for twenty years before moving to the Los Angeles area where she now resides with her Partner, Tim, and their two dogs. She also has an amazing parallel career as a video game producer for Free Range Games, leading the production of an unannounced AAA PC/Console game.