Ode to Walt Whitman *

Bart Buch

Open Eye Theatre
506 E 24th St
Minneapolis, MN
https://www.openeyetheatre.org/ode-to-walt-whitman

Bart Buch’s acclaimed ODE TO WALT WHITMAN is a tender, silent puppet poem that uncovers a dialogue between Walt Whitman and Federico Garcia Lorca. Within the context of an online gay chat room, their poetic dialogue contrasts Whitman’s America, a nation full of lovers and comrades, with what Garcia Lorca sees, an America inundated with machines and tears.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant (2005)

May 29 - June 8, 2025
Thurs - Sat at 7pm
Sun at 2pm

$30

Party Animals *

Sarah Nolen of Puppet Motion

Puppet Showplace Theater
32 Station St
Brookline, MA
puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2025/06/07/party-animals-by-sarah-nolen-of-puppet-motion-world-premiere

World Premiere! Party Animals follows four furry friends as they navigate the biggest social hurdle of their young lives — throwing their first party! Meet a bunny with boundless energy, a sloth with social anxiety, a hedgehog wrestling with wrapping, and a skunk who's trying to keep everything cool and under control. Through song, dance, and original rock 'n' roll music by Boston local Phil Berman (of Puppet Playtime & The Holiday Sing-Along), these little stars discover that music can be an exuberant and healthy way to express their inner selves.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant (2022)

June 7 - 15, 2025
Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30am and 1pm

$16-18 all-ages general admission / $12.50-14.50 members

The 4th Witch *

Manual Cinema

Photo by: Manual Cinema

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
101 6th Street
Pittsburgh, PA
https://trustarts.org/production/102016/the-4th-witch

Manual Cinema’s The 4th Witch is a feature-length work inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth, depicting the story of a young girl, orphaned from war, who becomes apprenticed to the three witches. Told through shadow puppetry, actors in silhouette and live music (without dialogue or narration), The 4th Witch begins on the eve of an invasion of a small town by the local warlord, Macbeth. The girl flees the invading army and escapes into the nearby forest. There, she is rescued by the witches. They agree to take the girl on as an apprentice, on the condition that she must never use her powers for revenge. Consumed by grief and rage, the girl comes to realize that it was Macbeth who killed her parents – and that she must choose between reconciliation or vengeance.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Production Grant (2025)

October 25, 2025
7pm–8:15pm

$17.25+

"Simplicity and Profundity in 'Ruination Puppetry'"

Zero Untitled Productions

Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse
79 St. George Street, Toronto
Toronto
https://www.torontoschoolofpuppetry.com/fresh-ideas-puppetry-day/

Mini-documentary film explaining the impetus for our "Ruination Puppetry" series. Show at the Fresh Ideas in Puppetry Festival and Conference in Toronto.

May 31 - June 1, 2025
Program Sequence TBA

$20 (online afternoon only) / Both afternoons $40

Paper Mache Cathedral Shows

Bread & Puppet

Bread & Puppet Paper Mache Cathedral
753 Heights Rd
Glover, VT
https://breadandpuppet.org/product/friday-night-show-06-13-25-7-p-m

Join us in the Paper Maché Cathedral for a brand new, urgently-needed puppet show. Keeping the work up-to-the-minute, the show will evolve over the course of the summer.

June 6 - August 29, 2025
See website for performance times

$15

Sandglass Theater Summer Series Presents: Book Of Stars

Georgia Beatty

Sandglass Theater
17 Kimball Hill
Putney, VT
https://sandglasstheater.org/special-events/summer-series

A newly written folktale told through magic lantern performance and original music
By Georgia Beatty

THE BOOK OF STARS is the folktale of the Light Queen, written and performed by fiddler and folk artist Georgia Beatty. The show combines original music with the old projector technology known as a “magic lantern” to tell the story of the cosmic queen who is reborn every 3,000 years to learn the songs of Light, and use them to heal Earth from oppressive powers.

Exploring resonance as both a musical and ancestral concept, visuals, song and story guide the audience through a grounding ritual to discover the present body as a living archive; capable of healing a broken world.

June 7, 2025
7:00 PM

$20

The Girl and the Water Carrier show and original cast recording release

The Girl and the Water Carrier

Silverlake Independent JCC
1110 Bates Ave
Los Angeles, CA
https://www.bengown.com/thegirlandthewatercarrier

The Girl and the Water Carrier is a traveling hip hop folk opera with large scale puppetry for family audiences. A love story about a strong young woman who fights the cholera epidemic in her shtetl of Pinsk, this visually inventive show provides family audiences with imaginative responses to the challenges of today’s tech-driven, post-COVID society. The show mixes live acting and puppetry and has a four-person artistic team, including three actors/puppeteers and one musician. With imaginative puppetry by Ben Gown and Jeghetto– the set itself is a giant puppet -- a hip hop inspired original score performed live, and a hilarious and moving story based on the children’s book, The Wedding that Saved a Town, by Klezmer artist, Yale Strom, the 35-minute show provides lessons of hope from generations past. The event on June 8th celebrates the release of original cast recording. The show was created by Ben Gown and directed by Stacey Weingarten.

June 8, 2025
11:30am

Free

National Puppetry Conference Public Performances

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

Photo by: Richard Termine / Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

305 Great Neck Road
Waterford, CT
theoneill.org/pup

The National Puppetry Conference provides a meeting and creating ground for master artisans to pass their craft and ingenuity to new artists in the field of puppetry. Participants gather from across the globe to create works that defy the bounds of contemporary theater and the imagination.

June 13 - 14, 2025
Summer tickets will go on sale to O'Neill members on May 19 at 10am and to the general public on May 27 at 10am.

7:00pm

The Billy Club Puppets

Hip Pocket Theatre

Hip Pocket Theatre
1950 Silver Creek Rd
Fort Worth, TX
https://www.hippocket.org/49th-season-2025

You'll love this lively mix of commedia dell'arte and puppetry! Will Rosita marry her true love, Cocoliche, or be whisked away by the miserly Don Cristobol? This broad tragi-comedy is ideal for all ages and audiences!

June 20 - July 13, 2025
9PM

$25

Amplify: The Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers Showcase

Puppet Showplace Theater

Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre at Boston University
820 Commonwealth Ave
Brookline, MA
puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2025/06/20/amplify-the-creative-residency-for-black-puppeteers-showcase

Discover innovative works at a one-night-only finale to the 5th edition of the Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers (CRBP). The evening will feature “puppet slam”-style performances by the five artists of the 2025 cohort, plus performances by other artists from the CRBP community. From re-examined histories to fantastical narratives, these works are full of surprises. Expect an eclectic mix of puppetry styles, including string marionettes, shadow puppetry, large-scale creations, and more. The artists are traveling from across the country to share their work in this culminating event — you won’t want to miss it!

Featuring performances by the 2025 cohort:
William PK Carter (New York)
ChelseaDee Harrison (Washington, DC)
Fatima Seck (Boston)
Brett Swinney (Chicago)
Khaleshia Thorpe-Price (Maryland)

Plus:
Charlotte Lily Gaspard of Midnight Radio Show, CRBP 2025 Project Mentor
Tanya Nixon-Silberg of Little Uprisings, CRBP 2020 and 2025 Community Curator
Ash Winkfield, CRBP 2023
Roshina Ratnam, South African puppeteer, recently in Handspring Puppet Company’s Life and Times of Michael K, and Project Advisor at the 2025 O’Neill National Puppetry Conference

June 20, 2025
8:00pm

$25 General Admission, $50 Supporter Ticket

A La Carte: In A Fool's Kitchen

Z Puppets Rosenschnoz

Photo by: Bruce Silcox

Midtown Farmers Market
2225 East Lake Street Minneapolis, MN, 55407
Minneapolis
https://zpuppets.org/calendar/2025/6/21/a-la-carte-in-a-fools-kitchen

A LA CARTE is a comic battle between a clown French Chef and a wily lobster set to live accordion music. This playfully interactive comedy features clowning, puppetry, music and a few unruly vegetables.

A LA CARTE begins as the Chef sets the table for the Grand Opening of his 2-seat café. Before the Chef can dazzle his very important guests, dinner’s main ingredient stages a rebellion — again and again and again. Who knew crustaceans could cook up such delicious mischief?

June 21, 2025
10 a.m.

Free

Pocket Moxie

Happenstance Theater

Sandglass Theater
17 Kimball Hill
Putney, VT
https://sandglasstheater.org/special-events/summer-series

A light-hearted homage to the style and spirit of the Great Age of Vaudeville
By Happenstance Theater

Happenstance Theater brings old Vaudeville back - an immensely popular theatre from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries made up of specialty acts, song, and dance.

Happenstance Theater's five versatile players breathe new life into classic old routines from a ventriloquist’s dummy to a magic act that goes awry, from novelty songs and a musical saw to waiters juggling meatballs, all with full live “foley” sound effects. This show is teeming with hijinks, harmonies, nostalgic beauty, and physical comedy. Something for everyone and family friendly!?

Featuring Happenstance Theater’s Ensemble:
Gwen Grastorf, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon

June 26, 2025
3:00 PM
AND
7:00 PM
(2 shows)

$20

The Comical Misadventures of Mr. Punch

Z Puppets Rosenschnoz

Photo by: Bruce Silcox

Midtown Farmers Market
2225 East Lake Street Minneapolis, MN, 55407
Minneapolis, MN
https://zpuppets.org/calendar/2025/6/28/the-comical-misadventures-of-mr-punch

A madcap, call-and-response, hand puppet romp, in which the children must keep the puppets from misbehaving and the Baby triumphs in the end.
When the Baby goes missing, Mr. Punch sets out to the rescue. Tangling with a crocodile, the police and even the devil, Mr. Punch unleashes mischief and mayhem all the way.
Recommended for ages 5+

June 28, 2025
10 a.m.

Free

Baby Dormouse Vs Quizzical Crocodile

Zero Untitled Productions

Texas State Museum of Asian Culture & Education Center
1809 N. Chaparral
Corpus Christi, TX
www.zerountitled.com

Kamishibai-style performance, alongside other puppet performances at the Texas State Museum of Asian Culture's Cherry Blossom Festival event. Will the adventurous Baby Dormouse make it over the dastardly Quizzical Crocodile's bridge? The audience can help shout out answers in this participatory puppet quiz show to help Baby Dormouse solve different questions.

The show will be performed alongside 4-5 other puppet works in rotation and on repeat with ten-minute breaks between show performances.

First show(s) begin at 6:00 pm and are performed in rotation with repeat performances after a ten-minute break. Shows conclude around 8:00 pm.

July 5, 2025
First show(s) begin at 6:00 pm and are performed in rotation with repeat performances after a ten-minute break. Shows conclude around 8:00 pm.

$5 (free performances with museum entrance fee)

The Prince's Charming Snake Ssssamuel

Zero Untitled Productions

Texas State Museum of Asian Culture & Education Center
1809 N. Chaparral
Corpus Christi, TX
www.zerountitled.com

In this classic sock puppet piece, Ssssamuel the Snake will be slithering about the museum and giving improvisational performances to museum-goers as part of the museum’s “Year of the Snake” initiative. Audience participation is encouraged.

First show(s) begin at 6:00 and are performed steadily throughout the duration of the Tanabata Festival, both upstairs and downstairs.

July 5, 2025
First show(s) begin at 6:00 and are performed steadily throughout the duration of the Tanabata Festival, both upstairs and downstairs.

$5 (free performances with museum entrance fee)

Shower Sharon

Zero Untitled Productions

Texas State Museum of Asian Culture & Education Center
1809 N. Chaparral
Corpus Christi, TX
www.zerountitled.com

A Brazilian Lambe-Lambe puppet performance for adults. PG-13. One puppeteer will perform for one audience member at a time, street theatre style. Will poor naive Sharon be able to navigate the trials and tribulations of the dreaded college SHOWER!? Finding out by peeking into the shower...
The show will be performed alongside 4-5 other puppet works in rotation and on repeat with ten-minute breaks between show performances. Sterilized headphones will be given to audience members to hear the show.

First show(s) begin at 6:00 and are performed repeatedly. Shows conclude around 8:00 pm.

July 5, 2025
First show(s) begin at 6:00 and are performed repeatedly. Shows conclude around 8:00 pm.

$5 (free performances with museum entrance fee)

First Buds of the Garden

William PK Carter

Ma's House
159 Old Point Rd
Southampton, NY
https://www.mashouse.studio/event/first-buds-of-the-garden-puppet-performance-at-mas-house-by-william-pk-carter/

First Buds of The Garden is a 30–40 minute performance that weaves together the short-form fantasy works of resident artist William PK Carter into a vibrant patchwork quilt of self-discovery, identity, and reclaiming personal agency. With hand-crafted puppets and magical realism, this piece invites audiences of all ages into a world of introspection, community, and creative spirit.

July 6, 2025
6PM

FREE

Summer Circus

Bread & Puppet

Bread and Puppet Circus Field
753 Heights Rd
Glover, VT
https://breadandpuppet.org/product/circus-and-pageant-07-27-25-3-p-m

The one and only Bread & Puppet circus is back, presenting urgently-needed puppet spectacles for this exact moment. Join us in the circus field for a raucous spectacle composed of short acts ranging in mood from slapstick to the sublime, all powered by a riotous brass band.

July 13 - August 31, 2025
Sundays at 3pm

$15

Ba Pot-Bellied Pigs

Zero Untitled Productions

Texas State Museum of Asian Culture & Education Center
1809 N. Chaparral
Corpus Christi, TX
www.zerountitled.com

Kamishibai-style performance, alongside other puppet performances at the Texas State Museum of Asian Culture's Tanabata Festival event. A retelling of the classic British children’s tale with the cultural addition of Japanese and Vietnamese influences.
The show will be performed alongside 4-5 other puppet works in rotation and on repeat with ten-minute breaks between show performances.

First show(s) begin at 6:00 pm and are performed in rotation with repeat performances after a ten-minute break. Shows conclude around 8:00 pm.

July 15, 2025
First show(s) begin at 6:00 pm and are performed in rotation with repeat performances after a ten-minute break. Shows conclude around 8:00 pm.

$5 (free performances with museum entrance fee)

Puppet Up!

Brian Henson Presents

Kirk Douglas Theatre
9820 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA
https://www.centertheatregroup.org/shows-tickets/douglas/202526/puppet-up/#buyTickets

Henson Alternative’s Puppet Up! – Uncensored returns to LA for two weeks of adult comedy, puppet mayhem, and new surprises at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The new VIP experience includes preferred seating and an exclusive pre-show VIP cocktail party! Mix and mingle with puppets and puppeteers, sip cocktails, snap photos alongside iconic Henson characters from Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, and more, and enjoy a rare behind-the-scenes conversation with legendary puppeteer and show creator Brian Henson.
Created by award-winning director, producer, Brian Henson (“The Happytime Murders”, “Muppet Christmas Carol”, “Muppet Treasure Island”), and actor, director, and improv expert Patrick Bristow (“Ellen,” “Seinfeld,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”), Puppet Up! – Uncensored is never the same show twice, effortlessly blending increasingly unhinged feats of improv comedy with the unparalleled skill and originality of Henson puppeteers. Based on suggestions from the audience, the puppet anarchy – starring the unforgettable Miskreant puppets - is two shows in one: the improvised puppet action projected live on screens above the stage, and the puppeteers racing around below in full view of the audience to bring it all to life. So surprise the comedy fans, movie buffs, Henson aficionados, and anyone else who loves to discover the best experiences in LA with a gift they will never forget – a night of naughty puppet comedy with Puppet Up! – Uncensored! See you at the show!

July 16 - 27, 2025
Wednesday - Friday at 8pm
Saturday at 4pm and 8pm
Sunday at 3pm and 7pm

From $40.25

9000 Paper Balloons * - Film

Maiko Kikuchi & Spencer Lott

Photo by: Richard Termine

HERE - URHERE, online
here.org/shows/9000-paper-balloons-urhere/

Inspired by the stranger-than-fiction secret weapons that floated over America during World War II, 9000 Paper Balloons is a poetic and eerie performance that examines distance – the distance between two friends, between two enemies, two cultures and two generations. Japanese artist Maiko Kikuchi and American puppeteer Spencer Lott blend puppetry, animation and mask as they weave their own family histories into a surreal and visually stunning collage that speaks to the past and the future. 9000 Paper Balloons is available on demand on URHERE, a one-of-a-kind, rigorously curated virtual platform for outdoor and digital premieres. URHERE aims to occupy an important part of the art ecosystem which nurtures experimentation, sparks dialogue, and creates engagement with the local community.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Production Grant (2020) and Workshop Grant (2019)

Available on-demand on URHERE

The Fortune Teller * - Film

by Phantom Limb Company | Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko With Music by Danny Elfman

HERE - URHERE, online
https://here.org/shows/urhere/

Seven strangers’ twisted tales are brought to life in this marionette play and woven with haunting music to tell an eerily comic story of fate and fortune. On a dark night, the strangers are invited to the mansion of a deceased millionaire, and learn that their inheritances will be based not on a will, but on the readings of a fortune teller. Each soon meets a gruesome end in this production developed through HERE’s Dream Music puppetry program. The Fortune Teller played at HERE November 28 - December 4, 2010. The Fortune Teller is available on demand on URHERE, a one-of-a-kind, rigorously curated virtual platform for outdoor and digital premieres. URHERE aims to occupy an important part of the art ecosystem which nurtures experimentation, sparks dialogue, and creates engagement with the local community.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Production Grant (2006)

Available on-demand on URHERE

The Scarlet Ibis - Film

Beth Morrison Projects

HERE - URHERE, online
urhere.art/archive/ibis

The Scarlet Ibis is an opera about family, illness, and the power of the imagination to soar above what’s considered “normal.” This world premiere by composer Stefan Weisman (Darkling) and librettist David Cote (Blind Injustice) fuses singers, puppetry, and multimedia stagecraft to tell the story of a remarkable disabled boy nicknamed “Doodle,” whose older brother pushes him to be like other kids. Set in rural North Carolina a century ago, The Scarlet Ibis contrasts notions of physical wholeness with mystical otherness The narrative (inspired by the short story by James Hurst) draws on elements of Southern Gothic, boy’s adventure, and domestic tragedy. Mallory Catlett directs; Steven Osgood (Dead Man Walking, Metropolitan Opera) conducts the American Modern Ensemble. For audiences 10 and up. The Scarlet Ibis was a part of the 2015 PROTOTYPE Festival, co-produced with Beth Morrison Projects

Available on-demand on URHERE

Spirited Away (Live on Stage) - Film

Based on the animated feature film by Hayao Miyazaki

On Demand
gkids.com/films/spirited-away-live-on-stage/#watch-now

Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award®-winning animated feature film comes to life in this first-ever stage adaptation, full of dazzling sets, captivating musical numbers, and wondrous puppets of beloved characters. Adapted and directed by Tony Award®-winner John Caird (Les Misérables), two unique casts and performances were filmed during the show’s acclaimed 2022 run at Tokyo’s historic Imperial Theatre, featuring Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi as Chihiro.

Send for the Million Men * - Film

Joseph Silovsky

HERE - URHERE, online
urhere.art/archive/sftmm

The “crime of the century” of the 1920s jolts to life in modern-day New York City in Joseph Silovsky’s micro-history multimedia tale, Send for the Million Men. With a compelling command of animatronics, robotics, puppetry, and handmade projectors, Silovsky examines the controversial executions of notorious anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti. Their bleak fates intertwine with Silovsky’s own micro-tragic biography in a humorous and captivating history-rethink.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Production Grant (2010) and Workshop Grant (2009)

Available on-demand on URHERE

Symphonie Fantastique * - Film

Basil Twist

Photo by: Richard Termine

HERE - URHERE, online
here.org/shows/symphonie-fantastique-urhere/

Twenty years ago in 1998, Basil Twist debuted his boundary-breaking response to Berlioz’s 1830 “Symphonie Fantastique” to universal acclaim. In this revival, accompanied live by virtuosic pianist, Christopher O’Riley, the exquisite Liszt transcription, Symphonie floats and swirls in a 1,000-gallon water tank neatly disguised as a puppet stage. For the many who never saw it, and for those who relish seeing it again and again, the return of this tour de force to HERE is the event of the season. Watch on-demand on URHERE.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Production Grant (1998) and Workshop Grant (1996)

Available on-demand on URHERE