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PUPPET HAPPENINGS:
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Puppetopia: The Harlem Doll Palace *
Alva Puppet Theater

Photo by: Richard Termine
HERE **
145 6th Ave
New York, NY
https://here.org/shows/puppetopia-2025/
HERE’s Puppetopia, a two-week puppetry state of mind, returns for its fourth annual edition. Curated by HERE Co-Founder Barbara Busackino and Dream Music Artistic Director and star Alum Basil Twist, the festival presents original work. We’re kicking off Puppetopia 2025 with THE HARLEM DOLL PALACE, with more exciting shows to be announced soon—stay tuned! Welcome to Aunt Len’s Doll and Toy Museum! Behind the pink door of a three story Harlem brownstone lies a world created by Lennon Holder Hoyte – affectionately known as Aunt Len. The dolls from her “dollection” seek to keep Aunt Len, their beloved museum founder, alive before the outside world can invoke its realities of life, ashes and dust. As Harlem deteriorates around her beloved doll museum, the dolls recreate their journeys to the museum in an effort to keep Aunt Len’s memory alive. Enter the world of The Harlem Doll Palace. Remember, an appointment is necessary for admission.
* Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Workshop Grant (2023) and Production Grant (2024)
** Recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Presenter's Grant (2025)
May 21 - June 1, 2025
Wednesday - Friday at 7pm
Saturday at 2pm and 7pm
Sunday at 2pm
$37
BOOP! The Musical
Puppetry on Broadway

Broadhurst Theater
235 W 44th St
New York, NY
https://tinyurl.com/2s3mr5xu
Betty Boop longs for an ordinary day off from fame in her black-and-white world. What she finds is an extraordinary adventure of color, music, and love in New York City!
Actor's theater that includes puppetry. Puppet by Philip Huber, performed by Eric Wright.
March 11 - September 28, 2025
See website for performance times
From $59
Becoming Eve
Justin Perkins, Emma Wiseman, Amanda Villalobos

Photo by: Matthew Murphy
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand St
New York, NY
https://tinyurl.com/yb43zh3a
A week before the High Holidays, three rabbis find themselves in a room fighting to save a family by building a bridge between orthodoxy and modernity. One of these rabbis is Chava, the child of a dynastic Hasidic rabbinical family and destined to become a leader of the next generation before the revelation of her trans identity clashed explosively with the strictly gendered world in which she was raised. As we jump through memory and wrestle with theology, truths and secrets emerge that ensure no one will read the old stories the same way again.
Actor's theater that includes puppetry.
March 19 - April 27, 2025
See website for performance times
$26
BALLS: The Monster-Catchin' Musical Comédy
Brandon Zelman & Harrison Bryan

Photo by: Brandon Zelman & Brielle DeMirjian
Caveat NYC
21A Clinton Street
New York, NY
BALLSmusical.com
A wild musical appears! BALLS: The Monster-Catchin' Musical Comédy “wears its Pokémon inspiration proud on its sleeve” (Nintendo Life). Collect ‘em all with the Professor and your sh*tty Rival in this epic, immersive, battle-packed puppet-comedy! Featuring original music, worthless trading cards, and 151 violent/adorable monsters - and it’s different every night! So grab your empty backpack, and say bye to your mom: a world of dreams and adorable violence awaits! -- Where?? At CAVEAT NYC -- the acclaimed Lower East Side comedy venue that “champions nerdy, funny art – and sells cheap drinks.” Limited performances and seats still available - including THE SPLASH ZONE, for only the most brave adventurers!
April 18 - 19, 2025
Fri. April 18 - 7pm ET
Sat. April 19 - 4pm ET
Sat. April 19 - 9:30pm ET
$30 - $45
The Puppet Ball
Tristan Allen, Tiresias, Evolve Puppets, Jacob Graham

Photo by: Virginia Garcia
The Brick
579 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, NY
bricktheater.com/event/the-puppet-ball/2025-05-01/
Tristan Allen presents The Puppet Ball, a spectacle of puppet sorcery by Evolve Puppets, Tiresias, Tristan Allen, and Jacob Graham. The four of us will present tiny epics whisking you away from starless nights and into an ethereal ballroom of the beyond.
To honor the night, we encourage our guests to embody the essence of fairy tale elegance. Adorn yourself in attire befitting an evening of splendor and divinity ~ deep jewel-toned gowns, intricate lace, cloaks, masks, armor or leather… no scepters. Let us leave this wretched land and enter the night.
May 1 - 2, 2025
Doors 7:30pm
Show 8:00pm
$25
The Puerto Rican War
John Vasquez Mejias

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Ave
New York, NY
metmuseum.org
Join us for a costume/puppet performance of The Puerto Rican War (based on the book) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. May 9th. There will be two shows, 6pm & 7pm. This event is free/included as part of the museums admission. The Met will be setting up a reservation registry because space is limited. More information soon.
May 9, 2025
6pm and 7pm
Free with museum admission
Little Shop of Horrors
Off-Broadway

Westside Theatre Upstairs
407 West 43rd St
New York, NY
littleshopnyc.com
The world's most ravenous plant has returned to its acclaimed, sold-out run at the Westside Theatre! Winner of the 2020 Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is “wildly exuberant” (The Hollywood Reporter), and a New York Times Critic's Pick. Get tickets now and enjoy a taste of what we’ve all been craving: live theater!
Tuesdays & Thursdays - 7:00pm
Fridays - 8:00pm
Saturdays - 2:00pm & 8:00pm
Sundays - 2:00pm & 7:30pm
Starting at $59