The Amazing Story Machine * - Free Neighborhood Tour with Sandglass Theater Co and Doppelskope - FAMILY

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Various Venues
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/free-neighborhood-tour-with-sandglass-theater-co/

The Grimm family is on the verge of unveiling The Amazing Story Machine, which runs on steam and dreams, and promises to revolutionize how stories are told. When the contraption malfunctions, they have to invent a way to tell stories on the spot. With help from the audience and a cast of unique puppet characters, fairy tales like “The Hare and the Hedgehog,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “The Brave Little Tailor” spring to life with a range of charming of puppetry styles and characters, and live, original music.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant (2018)

January 16 - 26, 2025
See website for details

FREE

Kayfabe * - Josh Rice Projects

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

The Chopin Theatre mainstage
1543 W. Division St.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/josh-rice-projects-ikayfabe-i/

Jump in the ring for this puppet wrestling entertainment spectacular! Puppetry meets pro wrestling, meets rock show; high art meets low art meets Samuel Beckett! A frenetic frenzy slash aburdist love letter combines Bunraku-style table-top puppetry, cart puppetry, live-feed projection (instant replay) & object performance, as well as the wrestling tropes of matches, monologues, and music & video.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant (2023) and Production Grant (2024)

January 23 - 25, 2025
Thursday, January 23 at 5 pm
Friday, January 24 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 1 pm + 8 pm

$43

The Scarecrow * - Anthony Michael Stokes

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center
740 E. 56th Pl.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/anthony-michael-stokes-ithe-scarecrow-i/

In a fabulous mash-up of musical, puppets, and the story of OZ, the newly appointed “Majesty the Scarecrow” is tasked to save the citizens of Winkie country from an ever-increasing horde of crows. Fascinated by how he came to be hanging in a field in the first place, his Majesty follows a journey back home learning who he was and discovering who he must be. Joined by new companions; the Wogglebug, Sawhorse, the Patchwork girl and a perpetually puckish crow, his journey lead to discoveries and connections between Oz and the African-American experience in the United States in the early 1900’s.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant (2022) and Production Grant (2023)

January 24 - 25, 2025
Friday, January 24 at 7 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 5 pm
Sunday, January 26 at 2 pm

$35

Birdheart * - Julian Crouch & Saskia Lane

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Instituto Cervantes of Chicago
31 W. Ohio St.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/julian-crouch-amp-saskia-lane-ibirdheart-i/

Brown paper and a box of sand transform into an intimately, stunning chamber piece of animated theater. A show about transformation, loneliness, and the urge to fly, it holds a hand-mirror up to humanity and offers it a chair. Through a series of fragile images built in front of the audiences’ eyes, here is something achingly beautiful from the humblest of beginnings. Half puppet show and half live music it featuers a set of bird-themed songs led by extraordinary musician, Philip Roebuck.

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Production Grant (2015)

January 24 - 26, 2025
Friday, January 24 at 5 pm + 7 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 11 am + 7 pm
Sunday, January 26 at 6 pm

$33

MAROONED! A Space Comedy * - FAMILY

Alex and Olmsted

Center for Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring St NW at 18th
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/marooned/

MAROONED! A Space Comedy is an innovative sci-fi puppet show, featuring music from the Voyager Golden Record, that takes place at the outer reaches of space. An astronaut crashes on an uncharted planet. Will she be able to survive strange creatures, anomalous atmosphere, and isolation in order to find her way home? See for yourself… in MAROONED!

* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant (2020)

March 6 - 16, 2025

$22.50 for non-members / $19.10 for members

Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster

Manual Cinema

Photo by: Rebecca J Michelson

Minneapolis Children's Theatre Company
2400 3rd Ave S
Minneapolis, MN
https://childrenstheatre.org/whats-on/leonardo/

Leonardo is a terrible monster. He tries so hard to be scary, but he just… isn’t. Then Leonardo finds Sam, the most scaredy-cat kid in the world. Will Leonardo finally get to scare the tuna salad out of someone? Or will it be the start of an unlikely friendship? The plot thickens when this pair meets Kerry and Frankenthaler, an even scaredier-cat and her monster friend. Kerry and Sam need to make a big decision: will they just be scaredy cats or can they become friends?

January 8 - March 9, 2025
See website for performance times

Starting from $15

Nasty, Brutish & Short - Links Hall, Rough House Theater Co, and Chicago Puppet Fest

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Links Hall
3111 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/nasty-brutish-amp-short-wknd-1/

Don’t let the evening end! Come join the fun at this fan-favorite late show where eyebrows meet lowbrows. Enjoy Chicago’s long-standing puppet cabaret with your hirsute host Jameson and somewhat furry friends for a naughty night of raucous, dark, sassy, sad and highly unusual puppet theater. Out-of-towner puppeteers are invited to join local legends for friendly unwinding. All weekends are at Links Hall this year for the Nasty, Brutish & Short puppet cabaret.

January 17 - 25, 2025
Weekend One
Friday, January 17 at 10:30 pm
Saturday, January 18 at 10:30 pm

Weekend Two
Friday, January 24 at 10:30 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 10:30 pm

$20

Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/volkenburg-puppetry-symposium-panel-1/

Panel 1, January 18: This roundtable proposes to explore the challenges, the joys, and the practical and philosophical implications of making intercultural puppetry arts. How do we best engage with people in an intercultural project? What is our relationship to the space where the work is created? How can we engage with objects, materials, and puppets in an intercultural setting? This event centers on the experiences of the following artists: Peter Balkwill (Old Trout Puppet Workshop, Canadian Academy of Masks and Puppetry, University of Calgary, Canada), Ty Defoe (writer, actor, interdisciplinary artist, Ojibwe + Oneida Nations), and Tang Teng Teng Lam (Rolling Puppet Alternative Theater, Macau). Moderated by Gabrielle Houle (University of Lethbridge, Canada).

Panel 2, January 19: The visibility or invisibility of puppeteers manipulating the puppets provokes phenomenological reflection on the nature of human consciousness. What is our relationship to the material world outside of ourselves? In this panel Pam Arciero (Aanika’s Elephants), Julian Crouch (Birdheart), Choiti Ghosh (Maati Katha), and Gildwen Peronno (I Killed the Monster) extend this reflection by commenting on how their shows interrogate humans’ roles in a variety of ecosystems. Moderated by Dr. Paulette Richards.

Panel 3, January 25: Language, music, and soundscapes are especially important elements in numerous works of puppetry this festival. Artists will discuss how the sounds that arise from manipulation of material, the dialogue, the soundscape, and musical accompaniment complement the puppet as a visual object. In this panel Craig Leo (Life and Times of Michael K), Yael Rasooly (The House by the Lake, Edith and Me), Paula Riquelme (Organismo), and Anthony Michael Stokes (The Scarecrow), respond to the question: What do sounds and words contribute to the emotional journey of each story? Moderated by Dr. Paulette Richards.

Panel 4, January 26: Claudia Orenstein observes that the puppet must do in order to be. In this panel Alex Bird (Concerned Others), Giulia De Canio (Untold), Plexus Polaire (Dracula), and Josh Rice (Kayfabe) will address the question of how the puppet as kinetic object and the puppet as visual image work together. Moderated by Dr. Paulette Richards.

January 18 - 26, 2025
10am - 12pm

FREE

Maati Katha - Tram Arts Trust

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Links Hall
3111 N. Western Ave
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/tram-arts-trust-imaati-katha-i/

Clay dolls from the Sundarbans tell how people, wild animals, and rivers are intermingled together in an intricate way in the world’s largest mangrove system

January 21 - 22, 2025
Tuesday, January 21 at 6 pm
Wednesday, January 22 at 5 pm + 8 pm

$20

Arctic Tall Tales - La ruée vers l’or

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

The Biograph’s Zacek McVay Theater
2433 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/la-ruee-vers-lor-iarctic-tall-tales-i/

A joyful and poignant tale that everyone can enjoy…Live music accompany these puppet adventures, humour and craziness as well.

January 21 - 22, 2025
Tuesday, January 21 at 8 pm
Wednesday, January 22 at 5 pm + 8 pm

$43

J.M. Coetzee’s Life and Times of Michael K - Baxter Theatre & Handspring Puppet Co.

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/baxter-theatre-amp-handspring-puppet-co-ij-m-coetzees-life-and-times-of-michael-k-i/

In this stunning transformation of Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel by the same name, a humble man finds solace in nature as he takes an epic journey through a mythical, war-torn landscape. In search of his mother’s ancestral home, he finds strength in his own humanity and a profound connection to the earth. With puppets by Handspring Puppet Company, known for building the War Horse and Little Amal, Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre brings us a new level of exquisite bunraku puppet theater.

January 22, 2025 - January 26, 2026
Wednesday, January 22 at 7 pm
Friday, January 24 at 3 pm + 7:30 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 3 pm + 7:30 pm
Sunday, January 26 at 3 pm

$48

Hungry Garden - Free Neighborhood Tour with Poncili Creación

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Various Venues
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/free-neighborhood-tour-with-poncili-creacion/

Boundless energy and surrealist puppets unite as brothers Pablo and Efrain Del Hierro share their spontaneous style infusing inanimate objects with life. Drawing on tribal symbols such as masks and totems, they evoke ancient forms of storytelling. Living up to the idea that spawned their name, Hungry Garden brings creation and chaotic tranquility.

January 22 - 24, 2025
See website for details

FREE

Organismo - Maraña

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Dance Center Columbia College Chicago
1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/marana-iorganismo-i/

Berlin’s cutting-edge collective brings this celebrated kaleidescope aerial arts piece, combining art installation, contemporary circus, object theater, textile arts, live music — and lots and lots of wool. A trust-filled performance of connectedness and obsessive organic magic, where the division between object and body become indistinguishable, teems in a massive, hand-knit visual feast.

January 23 - 25, 2025
Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 pm
Friday, January 24 at 1 pm + 7:30 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 4 pm

$35

Edith and Me - Yael Rasooly

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

The Biograph’s Zacek McVay Theater
2433 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/yael-rasooly-iedith-and-mei/

A singer is mysteriously muted and immobilized and can no longer perform. Yet she is not alone – the famous singer icon Edith Piaf is there to drag her out of bed and pull her back into life. "Edith and Me" is a one woman show with puppets, objects and singing created by Yael Rasooly.

January 23 - 25, 2025
Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 pm*
Friday, January 24 at 7:30 pm*
Saturday, January 25 at 8 pm*

*Each show will be followed by a short break after which the artist(s) will be present for a talkback.

$43

Skeleton Canoe - Ty Defoe, an All My Relations Collaboration

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

The Biograph’s Richard Christiansen Theater
2433 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/ty-defoe-and-all-my-relations-collective-iskeleton-canoe-i/

Young Nawbin leaves home and sets out on a rite of passage. They journey along the water to discover their truth and find a way back to reconnect to themselves and ancestral knowledge. Along the way they discover unexpected friends, weather storms, and gain a canoe! Through the use of puppetry, traditional Anishinaabe lifeways, and multimedia design, Skeleton Canoe makes known what is just below the water’s surface.

January 23 - 26, 2025
Thursday, January 23 at 6 pm
Friday, January 24 at 6 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 2 pm
Sunday, January 26 at 4 pm

$33

Look! Look! A Work in Development by Vanessa Valliere

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/look-look-a-work-in-development-by-vanessa-valliere/

An eager-to-please Deborah tries – and fails – to meet the high standards of an exceptionally strict playmate. Barbara, ever fixated on her personal development, attends a self help seminar to become her best self. And when June falls in love in a hopeless meet cute, audiences watch her dream life unfold in mere moments, a manifestation of a hope June never knew she had. A work-in-development told in three vignettes with these three women at it’s heart. Created and performed by clown, nerd cheerleader, and Chicago favorite Vanessa Valliere with support from longtime collaborator Lindsey Noel Whiting. It’s a must-see celebration of the gross and beautiful, the sweet and creepy, the euphemistic and earnest and, most importantly, the weirdos.

January 23 - 25, 2025
Thursday, January 23 at 5:30 pm
Friday, January 24 at 5:30 pm + 8 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 6 pm

$20

Untold - UnterWasser

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts, Theater East
915 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/event/unterwasser-iuntold-i/

What cannot be said, cannot be explored nor elaborated upon, so neither can it be resolved. Untold shares a meticulous melding of shadow puppetry, original soundtrack, and illusion to reveal artifice and clues. Images demand the limelight and messages push to the surface in this striking piece of poetic reflection with remarkable technical detail counterpointing the solitude of interior life against a metropolis bustling with crowds and chaos.

January 24 - 26, 2025
Friday, January 24 at 5 pm
Saturday, January 25 at 1 pm
Sunday, January 26 at 1 pm

$43

The Magic City

Manual Cinema

Photo by: Chuck Osgood

Chicago Children’s Theatre
100 S. Racine
Chicago, IL
chicagochildrenstheatre.org/event/manual-cinemas-the-magic-city/

Philomena and her big sister Helen love building miniature cities out of books, toys, and household objects. When Helen begins seeing a new boyfriend, Brandon, Philomena’s world falls apart. Even worse, she’s expected to make friends with Brandon’s son, Lucas: the most annoying boy in the world. Forced to share her perfect life with Helen, Philomena retreats into building the biggest tiny city ever: a magic city only for her. Then, one night, Philomena’s city of found objects comes to life, and she finds herself trapped inside. Will Philomena find her way out—and will she let her new family in? Brought to life through Manual Cinema's magical fusion of actors, puppets, miniatures, and live music, The Magic City encourages us to build bridges rather than walls.

January 25 - February 16, 2025
See website for performance times
Additional Dates:
March 1 - Costa Mesa, CA

$35.25 - $45.25

Rainforest Adventures

Center For Puppetry Arts

Center For Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring Street NW at 18th St
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/rainforest-adventures/

Experience Rainforest Adventures at the Center For Puppetry Arts. Anacondas, howler monkeys, and sloths — oh my! It’s a jungle out there in this entertaining and enlightening peek at the amazing Amazonian rainforest

January 28 - March 2, 2025
Wed-Fri(10:00am & 11:30am), Sat(11:00am, 1:00pm) Sun(1:00pm & 3:00pm)

$22.75

Rainforest Adventures - FAMILY

Written by Jon Ludwig, Stephanie Kaskel Bogel, and Raylynn Hughes

Photo by: Clay Walker

Center for Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring Street NW
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/rainforest-adventures/

Anacondas, howler monkeys, and sloths — oh my! It’s a jungle out there in this entertaining and enlightening peek at the amazing Amazonian rainforest

January 29 - March 2, 2025
see website for dates and times

$22.75 for non-members / $20.50 for members

MOMENTUM

The Mariposa Collective

Photo by: Betsy Tobin

Dairy Arts Center
2590 Walnut Street
Boulder, CO
thedairy.org/event/the-mariposa-collective-presents-momentum/

The Mariposa Collective presents a unique blend of Dance, Aerial, Film, & Puppetry featuring new work from local Dance and Theater artists Lauren Beale, Caroline Butcher & Anna Pillot, Jaime Duggan & Lindsay Temple, Alli Jones, Jeny Jones & Ixeeya Lin, Kim Olson & Gwen Ritchie, Elizabeth Pond & Shreya Venkatesh, Bridget Ryan, Nancy Smith, and Betsy Tobin. “Momentum” will also showcase the talents of four exceptional Colorado musicians – James Hoskins, Jesse Manno, Victor Mestas, and Tober Schorr who have been commissioned to perform original live music for the performance.

January 31 - February 2, 2025
January 31 7:30 PM
February 1 7:30 PM
February 2 2 PM

$15-25

The Snowflake Man - Puppet Kabob/Sarah Frechette

Sandglass Theater's Winter Sunshine Series

Photo by: Sarah Frechette

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

The 18th season of Southern Vermont’s favorite winter puppet program is back in February 2025! Dedicated to serving children, families and teachers through the art of puppetry, Sandglass presents a different live puppetry performance every Saturday throughout the month. The story of The Snowflake Man is inspired by Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, the self-educated farmer and scientist who attracted world attention when he became the first person to photograph a single snow crystal. The Snowflake Man swings audiences into the historic 1920s through creative storytelling, intricately designed Czech-style marionettes, and a striking pop-up book of water color scenery.

February 1, 2025
Saturday February 1st, 2025 at 11am & 2pm

$8 - $12

Lisa The Wise - Puppet Motion/Sarah Nolen

Sandglass Theater's Winter Sunshine Series

Photo by: Sarah Nolen

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

The 18th season of Southern Vermont’s favorite winter puppet program is back in February 2025! Dedicated to serving children, families and teachers through the art of puppetry, Sandglass presents a different live puppetry performance every Saturday throughout the month. When Lisa, a brave young girl with a heart of gold, meets Baba Yaga, the most famous witch in the woods, an epic battle of wits ensues. Dancing houses, enchanted dolls, and hilarious "ghost servants" bring this classic Russian fairy tale to life with a contemporary twist. Imaginative shadow puppetry lights the way in this hilariously spooky story about the experiences that make us wise.

February 8, 2025
11am & 2pm

$8 - $12

Punschi - Sandglass Theater

Sandglass Theater's Winter Sunshine Series

Photo by: Sandglass Theater

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

The 18th season of Southern Vermont’s favorite winter puppet program is back in February 2025! Dedicated to serving children, families and teachers through the art of puppetry, Sandglass presents a different live puppetry performance every Saturday throughout the month. Originally created by Sandglass’ Co-Founder, Ines Zeller Bass, now performed by her daughter, Jana Zeller, Punschi offers a double feature hand puppet show with a special guest appearance of a classic Sandglass character. Meet Kasper, an iconic German children’s hero, and his friend Augustin as they go on adventures together in Kasper and the Cow and The Surprise. Follow them in their journeys with a suitcase and tiny airplanes in this call-and-response adventure!

February 22, 2025
11am & 2pm

$8 - $12

Galapagos George, The Little Tortoise that Could - FAMILY

Barefoot Puppets of Richmond, VA

Center For Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring St NW at 18th
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/galapagos-george-the-little-tortoise-that-could/

Discover the Uplifting tale of 'Lonesome George,' the Last of his Kind. Journey to the far-off Galapagos Islands to meet George, the last tortoise of his kind. This uplifting eco-fable tells the true story of the famous, not-so-little tortoise and the island he calls home. Puppetry Style: Rod, Tabletop, Shadow. Create-A-Puppet Workshop™: Terrific Tortoise Rod Puppet

March 5 - 16, 2025
Wed-Fri(10:00am, 11:30am), Sat(11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm), Sun(1:00pm, 3:00pm)

$20.50 - $22.75

STAND BY — an allegory

Corningworks in collaboration with puppeteer TOM LEE

Photo by: Frank Walsh

Carnegie Stage
25 West Main Street
Carnegie, PA
corningworks.org

STAND BY — an allegory,
a multidisciplinary dancetheater production created in collaboration with renowned puppeteer TOM LEE and CORNINGWORKS, a critically acclaimed dance theater company. Offering a whimsical glimpse into human’s inability to recognize our own mortality — not so much about death or grief or even loss, as about the mysterious and magical continuity of life.

Critically acclaimed Puppeteer TOM LEE brings his practice and expertise of the centuries old Japanese style of Kuruma Ningyo (Cart Puppetry), rarely seen in the US, where the puppeteer sits on a small moveable “cart” singularly manipulating a large puppet attached to one’s body. Lee will create and perform with a 4-foot tall puppet specifically designed for this production, along with 5 nationally & internationally renowned dancers. Combined with Corning’s cache of stunning, critically acclaimed choreography, this new work promises audiences a fresh and provocative theatrical experience.

March 28 - April 6, 2025
MARCH
Fri 28, Sat. 29 @8pm
Sun 30 @ 2pm PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN admission Available ONLY at DOOR
regular reserved tickets available online / or at BOX OFFICE
APRIL
Wed. 2, Thu 3, Fri 4, Sat 5 @8pm
Sun 6 @2pm

$35 - $40

Cat in the Hat - FAMILY

Based on the book by Dr. Seuss

Center For Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring Street at 18th Street
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/cat-in-the-hat/

See Cat in the Hat like you haven't before! Play originally produced by the National Theater of Great Britain. Adapted and originally directed by Katie Mitchell. “It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how!” says the Cat in the tall red and white hat. See all your favorite moments from this literary classic come to life on stage! Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat is presented through a special arrangement with Music Theater International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI

April 8 - May 25, 2025
April: Tues-Fri(10:00am, 12:00pm), Sat(11:00am & 1:00pm), Sun(1:00pm, 3:00pm)
May: Wed-Fri(10:00am, 11:30am), Sat(11:00am & 1:00pm) Sun(1:00pm, 3:00pm)

$20.50 - $25.75

XPT: Xperimental Puppetry Theater

Center for Puppetry Arts, Various Artists

Center for Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring St NW
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/xpt-xperimental-puppet-theater/

What happens when artists join forces to create original puppetry works for adult audiences? XPT! Celebrating close to 40 years of experimentation, come find out what this year holds! From traditional forms of puppetry to films and installation pieces, artists of all disciplines employ puppetry in startling new ways. XPT offers an array of stories, puppetry styles, and sensibilities in a single evening. Guaranteed to inspire, surprise, amuse and provoke. Inspired? – see the XPT application to find out how to get involved in the process!

April 30 - May 4, 2025

$18

Frankenstein

Manual Cinema

Photo by: Manual Cinema

Montclair State University, Alexander Kasser Theater
1 Normal Ave Hall, Suite 171
Montclair, NJ
https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/Kasser/1631/event/1385764?eventidlist=1385764

Love, loss, and creation merge in unexpected ways as Manual Cinema presents its thrilling version of the classic Gothic tale Frankenstein. The Chicago-based performance collective imaginatively combines shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, sound effects, and live music in haunting shows like nothing else you’ve ever seen.

May 3, 2025
8:00pm

Starting at $35

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

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