Explore Puppetry Series

Center for Puppetry Arts

Center for Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring St NW
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/education/education-programming/
404-873-3391

The Explore Puppetry Series offers courses for adults ages 18+ who want to learn more about puppetry. Different classes are offered throughout the year.

Professional Training Internship

WonderSpark Puppets

Photo by: WonderSpark Puppets

The Jim Henson Carriage House, NYC
225 E 67th St
New York, NY
wondersparkpuppets.com/puppet-workshops-adults

Are you interested in a hands-on deep dive into the world of puppetry? WonderSpark Puppets offers a customizable internship program that can enhance your puppetry skills. Our program has been the first professional training many newcomers received on their journey to become skilled working puppeteers. The program runs 2-3 months and classes meet once per week, with homework on the side. Interns engage through structured learning with performance and building. Interns are provided with the support of a skilled mentor to assist and enhance critical hands-on learning. We offer a university-recognized internship credit to be issued at the completion of the program and comply with New York State laws regarding internships - you will not be doing unpaid labor. The program runs seasonally and seats are limited.

January 1 - December 31, 2024
Ongoing, seasonal

Free

Literature of World Puppetry (Level 1) with Dr. Paulette Richards - ONLINE

Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
https://chicagopuppetfest.org/fall-2024-workshops/

Why do puppets excel at telling the world’s most beloved stories? Puppets can fly. Puppets can swim. They can be enormous or tiny. They can bring animal, mineral, or vegetable as well as human characters to life. This introduction to puppet dramaturgy will explore the enduring magic of staging the world’s literary masterpieces with puppets. Provided texts include The Ramayana, Punch and Judy, The Love Suicides at Amijima, Anansi stories, and more. Chicago Puppet Fest Symposium curator and author of Object Performance in the Black Atlantic, Dr. Paulette Richards, teaches this seminar.

October 1 - December 3, 2024
Tuesdays 6:30 - 8pm CDT

$300

Puppet Technology Video Course

Puppets in Prague

Online
puppetsinprague.eu/video-courses?

Join our NEW online course, which combines recorded videos with bi-weekly consultations. We will draw from the instructions in our recently-published book Puppet Technology. Whether you are an experienced carver or just starting out, the course is designed to teach you the fundamental techniques that are essential. You will learn the craft as well as the aesthetics and gain the confidence and skills to become a master.

October 1, 2024 - April 27, 2025
See website for details

$725.17

Puppet Jumpstart: Creating Short Performance - ONLINE

Brad Shur

Online
puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2024/10/03/puppet-jumpstart-creating-short-performance

Whether you're a beginner or just someone ready to take the next step into puppetry, this is the place for you. This workshop will cover every step of the process, from concept through final performance. Participants will receive individualized support and feedback to create a short performance ready for the stage.

October 3 - November 21, 2024
Thursdays 6:30pm - 9:30pm ET

$360

150 Hand Puppet Techniques (Level 1) with Chad Williams - ONLINE

Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
https://chicagopuppetfest.org/fall-2024-workshops/

150 Hand Puppet Techniques (Level 1) is great for beginners or puppetry pros! Participants will create their own hand puppets and learn the best techniques and secrets from a hand puppetry expert. Each week we will build, play, learn, and perform! Puppeteer Chad Williams incorporates moves from Chinese Bu Dai Xi, European glove puppetry, and other traditions into his modern style.

November 4 - December 16, 2024
Mondays 6pm - 8pm CDT

$300

Shadow Puppetry 101

Sarah Nolen of Puppet Motion

Puppet Showplace Theater
32 Station St
Brookline, MA
puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2024/11/05/shadow-puppetry-101-class

In this supportive and introductory level class, we’ll begin with hands-on exploration of different shadow styles & light sources. Then, we’ll craft jointed puppets from durable materials. We will learn how to bring each rodded shadow character to life with movement, sound, and various materials. Focused on the design and animation of a fully realized puppet character, we’ll create short vignettes around these flat figures to add a dimension of drama!

November 5 - December 3, 2024
Tuesdays 6:30pm - 8:30pm

$180

How to Make Puppets from Nothing: Workshop

Puzzle Theatre

Puppet Showplace Theater
32 Station St
Brookline, MA
puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2024/11/21/how-to-make-puppets-from-nothing-workshop-with-puzzle-theatre

Immerse yourself in the world of object puppetry! Professional puppeteers Pavla Mano and Csaba Raduly will share their expertise in theater performance and their unique style of object puppetry. They’ll cover some basic and more advanced techniques of manipulation, and introduce fun exercises for creating characters from different materials. Discover what you can create with whatever you happen to have on hand! Participants will be invited to bring found objects from home to work with, and will leave with new approaches and inspiration to tell their own stories.
This workshop is great for puppeteers, movement artists, drama teachers, and anyone excited about puppet animation or creativity in general!
Adults & teens 16+

November 21, 2024
6:00pm - 9:00pm

$80

Puppeteering Basics with Stacey Gordon: Intermediate

Greenfeather Foundation

Carriage House Annex
225 E 67th St
New York, NY
greenfeather.org/event-details/puppeteering-basics-with-stacey-gordon-intermediate

Come level up your puppetry skills with Stacey Gordon! This group coaching session is designed to work on areas where you feel challenged & give you an opportunity to practice them in a group setting. You’ll learn about lip sync, how to explore senses and emotions with puppetry, and how to effectively connect with your audience. We're going to work out together in ways to hopefully help you better understand puppetry & have loads of fun to boot!

**This workshop is intended for adult participants and is perfect for puppeteers, librarians, teachers, play therapists, or youth leadership who have some puppetry experience and are looking to flex those muscles.

November 23, 2024
3:00PM - 5:00PM

$45, Pay What You Can

Puppeteering Basics with Stacey Gordon: BEGINNER

Green Feather Foundation

The Henson Carriage House
225 E 67th St
New York, NY
greenfeather.org/event-details/puppeteering-basics-with-stacey-gordon-beginner

Join Stacey Gordon for an introduction to puppetry. In the class you’ll learn about how to bring simple puppets to life and work your way to moving-mouth puppets. You’ll learn about lip sync, how to explore senses and emotions with puppetry, and how to effectively connect with your audience.

Already know a little? Then we'll not only reinforce the basics, but also give you the practice you need to build confidence in your performances!
— but with a whole lot of joy and fun because PUPPETS!

This workshop is intended for adult participants and is perfect for beginning puppeteers, librarians, teachers, play therapists, youth leadership, or anyone who just wants to learn new skills and add to their puppeteering toolbox.

November 23, 2024
12-2pm

Sliding Scale

Shadow Puppetry Workshop

Drama of Works

Photo by: Richard Termine

DOW Studio
320 Dean Street
Brooklyn, NY
https://www.dramaofworks.com/workshops

We will help participants with all aspects of shadow theater: screen material, lights, and puppet making/performance. You could be working on a show, wanting to incorporate puppetry into your teaching, just wanting to enhance what you already know, or are a complete novice to the form - either which way - we've got you! Learn some of the techniques we used for shows like Sleepy Hollow, Blood Red Roses, our Poe shorts and more!!

December 8, 2024
12-3pm

$50 (all materials included)

One-Day Puppet Making Workshop

Puppetry Plus - Los Angeles

Photo by: Roberto Ferreira

Puppetry Plus West Hollywood Campus
8581 Santa Monica Blvd.,#476
West Hollywood, CA
puppetryplus.com/product-page/los-angeles-one-day-puppet-making-workshop

Spend a day at Puppetry Plus making your puppet. In this 7-hour class, you will cut, glue, and sew your version of our monster pattern. Our simple and easy-to-follow design allows for nearly unlimited customization, so the character you create is up to you and your glue gun.

At the end of class, bring your puppet to life!

January 12, 2025
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (with a one-hour lunch break)

$250

The Art of Chaos Manipulation - Plexus Polaire

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor
410 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/workshops-during-the-festival/

This workshop will look at how to give life to the puppets through precision of gestures and movements, and how to “write” a theatrical situation through play and improvisations. The participants will work with puppets in three scales brought by the company; human-sized, middle-sized and small puppets as well as objects. The workshop will focus on the relation between actor and puppet, and look at how this relation can be a “dramaturgical key”. Why is it interesting using puppets to tell a story? What can the puppet allow us to express differently than an actor? A central part of the work will be how to combine being an actor and a puppeteer, and “chorus-manipulation”; how a group of actors together can make a theatrical situation and at the same time give life to the puppet.

January 16, 2025
10am - 1pm

$60

Beginning Professional Puppet Building

Puppetry Plus - Los Angeles

Photo by: Roberto Ferreira

Puppetry Plus - West Hollywood Campus
8581 Santa Monica Blvd #476
West Hollywood, CA
puppetryplus.com/product-page/la-beginning-professional-puppet-building-weho

Join us for a 3-day hands-on workshop that introduces several ways of creating a professional foam rubber puppet. You will get a comprehensive overview of "Muppet-style" puppet building covering different kinds of materials and techniques, including both rod-arm and live-hand designs. You will go step-by-step, tracing, cutting, gluing, and sewing (both by hand and using a sewing machine), and on the final day, have a new furry friend to take home.

January 17 - 19, 2025
Friday through Sunday, January 17, 18 and 19, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (includes a 1-hour lunch break)

450

Object Theatre, Poetry and Imagination as Playground - Gildwen Peronno

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/workshops-during-the-festival/

What if you came to rub shoulders with the incredible poetry of object theater? Starting with a heap of motley, obsolete objects, we’ll try to discover what lies behind each of them, beyond their utilitarian function: what common memory, what character, what emotion, what personality, what landscape? From there, we’ll do a few “stylistic exercises” with manipulation, writing and acting, and find the keys to making these objects real playmates. Note: This will be a repeat of the workshop, “Object Theatre, Poetry and Imagination as Playground,” taught in Fall 2024.

January 17, 2025
10am - 1pm

$60

Miniature Worlds - Alex Bird

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/workshops-during-the-festival/

A three-hour workshop all about the miniature worlds within our own. A chance to play, explore and create using the smallest of things to tackle universal subjects. Come and join Tortoise in a Nutshell’s Co-Director, Alex Bird, and collaborate in a session aimed at discovering the joy and imaginative potential of working with miniatures. A session designed for people with or without experience of working with small-scale design.

January 18, 2025
10am - 1pm

$60

The Performer, The Object, The Secret in Between - Yael Rasooly

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/workshops-during-the-festival/

In this short and intense workshop, Yael Rasooly invites participants on a creative journey into the universe of object theatre and solo creation. Participants will explore the dialogue and relationships between the performer/character and “ready-made” objects. They will look for objects that are “loaded” with meaning, either from the use of the object or from its symbolic associations, or objects that contain an emotional load linked to memory and personal history. Exercises and improvisations will be carried out in groups, also touching on the theme of individual creation as a starting point for future development. Above all, the workshop aims to immerse participants in the process of creation itself, providing tools for individual and group work. We will dive together into a space of invention and playfulness, working quickly, with increased sensitivity and insisting on pleasure in the creative process.

January 20, 2025
10am - 1pm

$60

Create Your Own Tall Tale - La ruée vers l’or

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/workshops-during-the-festival/

In this workshop, participants will create a short tall tale with foam scraps and foley material. Each team will choose a personal story that they are inspired to expand and exaggerate with humour. With only a few foam scraps and foley elements, they will tell their tall tale to the other participants, in the style of the show “Arctic Tall Tales” from the collective La ruée vers l’or.

January 21, 2025
10am - 1pm

$60

Theatre with Objects, Material & General Rubbish - Tram Arts Trust

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/workshops-during-the-festival/

Focusing on visual communication at various levels & visual storytelling, this workshop celebrates the most ordinary objects and materials found all around us. The participants will experience how to communicate with objects and materials to create layers of symbolic meaning. This type of theatre is simple, yet deeply poetic, associative and layered. Objects and the Theatre of the Objects carry the playfulness of the child hand-in-hand with the critique and commentary of the adult. Focusing on non-verbal & visual communication / storytelling, the workshop will attempt to bring focus to the power of symbolism, association as well as delve into how ordinary objects & materials can tell extraordinary stories. From an array of objects, materials & general rubbish brought together by everyone in the room, the workshop will focus on communicating ‘themes’ through ordinary object-based images. The attempt will be to work towards evocative, poetic and layered imagery.

January 22, 2025
10am - 1pm

$60

Los Angeles Intermediate Professional Puppet Building

Puppetry Plus - Los Angeles

Photo by: Roberto Ferreira

Puppetry Plus - West Hollywood Campus
8581 Santa Monica Blvd., #476
West Hollywood, CA
puppetryplus.com/product-page/la-intermediate-professional-puppet-building-weho

If you can imagine it, it can be a puppet! In this course, you will discover how to take the designs in your head and create a pattern for them from scratch. You will learn how to dye and work with Antron fleece (often referred to as "Muppet fleece"). After 3 sessions, you'll have a finished puppet that literally came from your wildest dreams.

January 24 - 26, 2025
January 24 - 26, 2025
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (includes a 1-hour lunch break)

$525

Puppet Wrestling with Josh Rice

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor
410 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL
chicagopuppetfest.org/workshops-during-the-festival/

A three-hour Bunraku-style workshop that is inspired by the spectacle, physicality, characters, and choreography of professional wrestling. The class will watch videos of wrestling spectacle, moves, and matches, then through kinesthetic learning, work to understand how to safely translate this choreography from people to puppets, culminating in creating short matches with paper puppets. Participants are invited to wear comfortable clothing for physical activity.

January 24, 2025
10am - 1pm

$60

National Puppetry Conference

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

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

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
305 Great Neck Road
Waterford, CT
www.theoneill.org/pup
860-443-5378

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. Applications for the 2025 National Puppetry Conference will open at the beginning of 2025.

Puppets in Prague - Online & In-Person Courses

New Workshops!

Puppets in Prague
puppetsinprague.eu

Choose from our wide range of top-quality long-term classes. With us you can turn your dreams into a reality, plus become a part of the flourishing Puppets in Prague community.
Marionette Carving In-Person - June 2024
Marionette Carving & Performance In-Person - August 2024
Automata: Online Course in 7 Modules - September 15, 2024 - April 28, 2025
Puppet Technology: Wooden Marionettes - September 2024 - March 2025

Distance Learning, The Center for Puppetry Arts - ONLINE

Center for Puppetry Arts

Center for Puppetry Arts, ONLINE
puppet.org/programs/?type=digital-learning-workshop

The Center for Puppetry Arts uses the latest technology to offer nationwide Distance Learning programs for PreK-adult through videoconferencing, webinars, and streamed content. Arts-infused workshops are conducted via videoconferencing and are tailored to specific classroom topics and curriculum for K-12 groups. For K-5, hands-on puppet building integrates with science, social studies, language arts and other disciplines to create a dynamic, interactive virtual classroom for a virtual field trip experience. Middle School/High School programs are discussion based. Programs complement national curriculum standards in language arts, social studies, science, math and other areas. The Center provides a comprehensive study guide and materials list for most programs. Webinars (both live and streamed) and streamed workshops and lectures are available for teachers seeking demos and professional development (also available via videoconferencing). Streamed workshops are also ideal for anyone interested in learning about puppetry.