A fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and director of Ireland’s first university theatre department, John McCormick took early retirement in 1998 to work full-time as a puppet researcher and performer. His publications include People’s Theatre, Popular Theatres of Nineteenth-Century France, Dion Boucicault (1820-1890), and (with Bennie Pratasik) Popular Puppet Theatre in Europe, 1800-1914.