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Jim Martin, the puppeteer who won an Emmy award last year for his directorial work on "Sesame Street," has taken some time to monkey around in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

Prime Stage Theater, Downtown, will benefit from his latest creation. The theater company will feature Martin's 18-inch version of a Capuchin monkey for its production of "A Little Princess," which opens Saturday.

"I was glad to be able to make the monkey for them," says Martin, who splits his time between Observatory Hill and New York.

He's in town until Sunday, when he'll go back to the "Sesame Street" crew in New York. And he's only been here doing the final work on his primate creation since the day after Thanksgiving. He spent the holiday as the puppeteer for Oscar the Grouch on "Sesame Street's" float in the Macy's parade.

Martin is in demand because 30 years of show business have sharpened his skills as a puppeteer and as a director.

Caroll Spinney, the "Sesame Street" puppeteer better known as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, says Martin has come to grips with his work.

"Jim is very innovative, and I expect to see an awful lot of good things from him in the future," he says.

"I consider myself a pretty good puppeteer," Spinney says, "but I could never do the work he does as a director. It's just so different."

Lora Oxenreiter, the director of "A Little Princess," says she was thrilled to be on a project with Martin.

"We have a pro here," she says with a laugh. "There's nothing to worry about."

Martin, 54, is an acting and directing graduate of what is now Point Park University, Downtown. The Mt. Oliver native still calls Pittsburgh his home, owning a house in the crest of the North Side. He does, however, stay with friends about an hour and a half up the Hudson River from Manhattan when he works on "Sesame Street."

While in college, he was doing makeup at the Playhouse Theater in Oakland when the person who was portraying Bimbo the Clown in children's programs couldn't make a show. Martin filled in and made a discovery:

"I liked life behind the mask," he says. "I liked it so much I wanted to do more."

After graduating from Point Park, he formed his own puppet company, the Pupplets, and worked for eight years with the city Department of Parks and Recreation, doing shows in parks and schools.

At that time, he also started work on the local classic kids' show "Capt. Jim's Popeye Club," and with guitarist Joe Negri on "Adventure Time."

Negri remembers one of Martin's puppets disappearing and the creator going crazy with fear.

"It was like he was kidnapped," Negri says with a laugh. "But we found him. Jeffie was all right."

One important moment in Martin's career came in 1977, when he was working on the "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" show and Big Bird stopped in for a visit.

"I got to meet Carroll Spinney -- and to meet the man who did Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch was really great," Martin says.

Through contacts such as that, Martin got a call in 1981 to work on the syndicated television show "The Great Space Coaster," which led to other jobs and more contacts. He became the creator of a Spaghetti-O's spokespuppet and a Fox Network character, the cool-talking D.J. Katz.

Eventually, work led to the "Sesame Street" job and close collaboration with Spinney.

Martin is Spinney's "right-hand man" -- literally -- for Oscar the Grouch. Spinney operates the left arm and head of the big puppet, while Martin is on the right. It's a job that takes a certain blend of personality, Spinney says.

Martin has worked on other shows while doing "Sesame Street." One of them, "Puzzle Place," gave him his start in directing in 1994. Ultimately, he brought those skills to "Sesame Street," which took a few years because "they knew me as a puppeteer."

"Sesame Street" has come to dominate Martin's work. He has worked on Mexican, Israeli, German and Korean versions of the program, but he still keeps his eye out for consulting and performing jobs elsewhere.

Right now, he is involved in planning on the show, "being a sort of troublemaker," he says. "I try to think outside the box and then to even see if that box is necessary."

Work on "Sesame Street" has taught him a great deal, he says. He worked a bit with the late Muppet creator Jim Henson and colleague Frank Oz, but he shies away from bragging about being close.

"I'm not about to say something like, 'When Jim and Frank and I were having a couple beers one day ...'" he says with a laugh.

But he does point out Henson-ian elements that have helped shape his directorial skills. He says Henson helped redefine puppet personas by focusing on big, black eyes that seem to give the creatures a thinking appearance.

That shows in the monkey puppet created for Prime Stage. It has similar big eyes, which blink and give the monkey a real look.

Lisa Ferrugia, an East Liberty resident and dancer from South Side-based Labco, is getting her first theatrical experience operating the monkey.

"Jim told me to make his eyes blink every time I blink mine," she says.

Spinney says Martin has "a good eye" for such matters, which also shapes his work as a director. Because Martin understands the creation of puppet characters and movement, he is able to conceive on-screen actions.

"He's the kind of guy who can look at film and see what's wrong because he knows the way things can be put together," Spinney says. "He also knows the problems that you can have in doing something."

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