SESAME TO THE RESCUE

In a shoebox-size studio at Sesame Workshop’s headquarters on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, cast and crew members expert in all things Muppet are preparing to film a 90-second video starring Elmo and his new friend, Karli, a lime-green monster with yellow-feathered pigtails who is in foster care. The purpose of the scene, as with so many Sesame stories, is to use pretend play to address a real-world issue “without overstating it,” says Kama Einhorn, a senior content manager for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that creates both Sesame Street and a slew of other educational materials that, like this video, live entirely outside the show.

The cast reviews the plan for the scene: Elmo and Karli will use their stuffed animals to construct a castle out of blocks. But when Karli’s stuffed elephant accidentally knocks