Noreen Young
Noreen Isabel Young, is a Canadian producer and puppeteer, and is still actively involved in puppeteering. From 2005 until 2016 she was Artistic Director of the Puppets Up! International Puppet Festival in her home of Almonte, Ontario. Young grew up in Ottawa South, Ontario. Young has two younger brothers John and Stephen Brathwaite. Young is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art.
She was the creator and Executive Producer of Under the Umbrella Tree, a popular CBC Television children's series that ran from 1986 to 1993 on the CBC and on the Disney Channel from 1990 to 1997, and was also the puppeteer for "Dodie", a character on Sesame Park, the Canadian version of Sesame Street. Her puppet characters also appeared on many TVOntario productions including Readalong and Telefrancais.
Young featured in the second Care Bears television special, 1984's The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine.
She is also known for her caricature puppets of public figures such as former governor-general Adrienne Clarkson, CBC news anchor Peter Mansbridge and hockey commentator Don Cherry, and of prominent personalities from her hometown of Almonte, Ontario.
She was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1995, for her work in children's television.
Young is widowed since 1995 and lives in Almonte since 1983.
