“It’s just about letting the universe know what you want, and working toward it, while letting go of how it comes to pass.”
— Jim Carrey
Mary Boatman
Mary Boatman
Originally from Buffalo, New York, Mary earned her BFA in Theatre/Performance from Niagara University. Her favorite course was Physical Theater, and she quickly grew a passion for non-verbal theater, animation, puppetry, and circus arts. Currently she is working towards earning her MS in Themed Experience through the University of Central Florida, a program for designers to create themed environments and immersive spaces for theme parks. In 2012, she relocated down south to begin working as a Youth Entertainment Hostess for Disney Cruise Line.
After sailing on the Disney Dream for a year, she moved shore side and began her career in Entertainment for both Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Florida. Some of her favorite credits over the past decade have been Festival of the Lion King (stilt walker, puppeteer), Tales of Beedle the Bard (Beckett), Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle (Death Eater), and Merry Menagerie (puppeteer). You can find a full list of her credits on the performance resume below.
Over the years, Mary expanded her passion for performance into the production side of entertainment. She joined Disney’s Character Training team, Disney’s Puppet Specialist team, and later became a trainer and puppet captain for the roles of Beckett and Donkey at Universal Orlando. Most recently, Mary has taken on dual roles with Universal’s Art and Design and Entertainment Events teams as a Performance Coordinator. She was also selected to workshop and originate the role of Stormfly at Epic Universe’s Isle of Berk—a full-body, walkaround puppet that has proven to be one of her most challenging and rewarding experiences to date.
Most recently, Mary has been tackling more behind-the-scenes roles with her production of Becoming Santa. She took on the tasks of producing, directing, and writing this new show for the 2024 Orlando Fringe Festival, which was remounted later at Fringe ArtSpace. Her next project is A Horror Filming Goes Wrong which she hopes to debut in 2026.
Performance Reel
Watch below for a sampling of Mary’s performance work for Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando.