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.

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

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, 2025
Ongoing, seasonal

Free

Little Shadow's Puppetry Community

Little Shadow Productions

Online
Online
N/A
https://www.littleshadowproductions.com/community

Welcome to Little Shadow’s Puppetry Community—a vibrant space designed for professional puppeteers and dedicated enthusiasts who share a passion for creating extraordinary work. (Or at least are learning to. We love beginners too!)
Here, we focus on nurturing professional artistic voices and providing the tools, vocabulary, and support for our community members to develop their own projects or collaborate with others. Whether you're refining your skills, building new work, or looking to connect with like-minded creators & creatives, this community is your hub for inspiration, growth, and connection.
While we value and celebrate creativity in all its forms, this space is specifically tailored for those committed to advancing their craft in puppetry and storytelling. Together, let’s elevate the art form and build a dynamic, supportive community.

February 14 - December 31, 2025
All day long, every day.

$15

150 Hand Puppet Techniques (Level 1) with Chad Williams

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
chicagopuppetfest.org/spring-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1P3P3,3ICW33,6L0XV,1

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.

March 3 - April 7, 2025
Mondays at 6pm

$250

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

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
chicagopuppetfest.org/spring-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1P3P3,3ICW33,6L0XV,1

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.

March 4 - April 22, 2025
Tuesdays at 6:30pm CDT

$250

Shadow Puppetry II: Mechanisms with Linda Wingerter

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
chicagopuppetfest.org/spring-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1P3P3,3ICW33,6L0XV,1

Shadow Puppetry 2 (Level 2) focuses on the introduction of different mechanism for shadow puppets beyond the basic jointed puppet. The realization of ideas in shadow puppet form stem from concepts and design.

March 12 - 26, 2025
Wednesday 3/12: 7 – 9pm CDT
Thursday 3/13: 7 – 9pm CDT
Wednesday 3/19: 7 – 9pm CDT
Thursday 3/20: 7 – 9pm CDT
Wednesday 3/26: 7 – 9pm CDT

$250

Toy Theater II with Blair Thomas

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
chicagopuppetfest.org/spring-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1P3P3,3ICW33,6L0XV,1

Toy Theater II (Level 2) will be an opportunity for participants to further develop their shows. We will be exploring different ways of articulating and mounting puppets and of enhancing the illusion of depth through stage design and lighting. We will also look at the dramaturgy of the miniature spectacle and isolate the compositional elements of this highly visual theater form as participants prepare for an informal—yet always exciting—showing on the last day.

March 18 - 29, 2025
Tuesday 3/18: 6 – 8pm CDT
Wednesday 3/19: 6 – 8pm CDT
Tuesday 3/25: 6 – 8pm CDT
Wednesday 3/26: 6 – 8pm CDT
Saturday 3/29: 1 -3pm CDT

$250

Prototyping Flat Mechs

Center for Puppetry Arts, Alex & Olmsted

Center for Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring St NW at 18th
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/prototyping-flat-mechs/

Explore the world of mechanisms and their use in puppetry. From shadow puppets to automata, moving components can bring a whole new level of expression to your character. Mechs can seem daunting, but in this workshop we’ll be creating quick mockups using flat materials to test concepts.

March 25, 2025
6:30pm

$50

Puppet Fabrication Workshop

Mighty Oak

Mighty Oak Studio
19 West 21st Street
New York, NY
https://www.mightyoakgrows.com/mighty-oak-ed

Bring your wildest creations to life in this hands-on workshop where you’ll learn to fabricate your very own stop-motion puppet! Whether you dream of building a quirky character for your next animated film or just want to dive into the magical world of stop-motion, this 6-week intensive workshop is your chance to turn imagination into reality.
With expert guidance from our instructors (Anthony Galante, Victoria Arslani and Mikail Ekiz), you'll explore the secrets of puppet-making, from sculpting unique facial expressions and body parts to wiring armatures that can strike the perfect pose. By the end of the 6-week program, you'll not only have your very own custom stop-motion puppet to take home but also the skills to create more! Expect a fun, creative, and hands-on experience where your puppet will soon be ready to star in its own animation. Whether you’re a beginner or a budding animator, this workshop promises a creative adventure that’s anything but stiff! Let’s get puppeting!

March 27 - May 18, 2025
Thursdays 5:30pm - 9pm
Saturdays 1pm - 4:30pm
Sundays 4pm - 7:30pm

$650

How to Win at Details: Project Planning for Puppetry Artists

Caitlin McLeod

Zoom
tickettailor.com/events/roughhousetheaterco/1620823

What goes into a puppet-budget anyhow? Where do we find that speciality material? How do you help everyone stay sane during project crunch time? How much should this project pay? Insights on these questions and more in this three-hour crash-course on the dirty details of puppet project management! Caitlin McLeod –Puppet, Costume, Scenic Designer and Project Manager of the Chicago Puppet Studio– will walk participants through best practices, example scenarios, practice budget activities, and more to help equip you with the tools to manage your puppetry projects with confidence!

March 29, 2025
1pm - 4pm

Sliding Scale

Puppet Prototypes: How to "Sketch" Your Puppet Ideas With Paper, Tape, and String

Amanda Gibson

Puppet Showplace Theater
32 Station St
Brookline, MA
puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2025/04/03/puppet-prototypes-class-with-amanda-gibson

Want to build your own rod or tabletop puppets, but don’t know where to start? Are you unsure about what size your final puppet needs to be? Wondering where the mechanism should be located or how the handle should be angled? Are you attempting a new technique, but are worried about using up all your fancy materials in the testing phase? These answers — and more! — can be found through puppet prototyping! Think of it as the “sketching” phase of puppet building, a way to test out your ideas before you have to commit to them. Puppet builder Amanda Gibson — who most recently designed puppets for Wheelock Family Theatre’s Flora & Ulysses — will guide students through the process of designing a puppet, from starting point all the way to creating a fully articulated, actual-size test puppet. Using easily found materials, such as paper, cardboard, masking tape, and yarn, students will leave this class prepared to continue testing their future puppet ideas at home — and will take home a finished prototype of a rod or tabletop puppet! This class is great for anyone who has ideas for a puppet, but is unsure how to execute it! Recommended for adults 18+

April 3 - 24, 2025
6pm - 9pm

$200

Make Your Own Shadow Puppet Theater In A Shoe Box

Little Shadow Productions

Zoom
Zoom
n/a
https://www.littleshadowproductions.com/shadow-puppet-class

Are you an educator, teaching artist, or theater enthusiast looking for an accessible and engaging way to bring storytelling to life? Join Jean Marie Keevins for our sought-after Shoe Box Shadow Puppet Theater Workshop—a hands-on, interactive experience designed to help you create and teach your own shadow puppet theater.

In this live STEAM-focused session, you’ll build a shadow puppet theater alongside us using simple materials and gain practical techniques for integrating shadow puppetry into your classroom or creative practice. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have the skills and confidence to teach this same lesson to your students and communities.

April 5, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM | EST

$35

Acting Like an Animator with Jennifer Barnhart & Jake Bazel

Jennifer Barnhart & Jake Bazel

Studios 797
797 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10019
New York, NY
jakebazel.com/coaching/intensive

Join Jennifer Barnhart (Sesame Street—Emmy Nom; Original B-way Cast, Avenue Q) and Jake Bazel (Disney's Winnie the Pooh, Sesame Street) for this in-depth, hands-on introduction to voice acting designed to help you build your toolbox as a character voice actor. This two-part intensive will help you tackle the unique challenge of the job: approaching each read as an actor and an animator at the same time.

Whether you are looking to explore voice work for the first time, or to broaden your character range, or to punch up your vocal tools in your work as a puppeteer, or simply to hone your technique as a working voice actor, we've got you covered!

April 6 - 13, 2025
1-4 pm on two consecutive Sundays (April 6 and 13)

Discount Code for Puppet Happenings readers: INTENSIVE10

Los Angeles One-Day Puppet Making Workshop 4/12

Puppetry Plus - Los Angeles

Photo by: Roberto Ferreira

Puppetry Plus West Hollywood Campus
8581 Santa Monica Blvd #476
West Hollywood, CA
https://www.puppetryplus.com/product-page/los-angeles-one-day-puppet-making-workshop-02

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

At the end of class, bring your puppet to life by performing on-camera. (Warning: once you take this class, you may catch the puppetry bug. When you start registering for all of our other courses, don't say we didn't warn you.)

Assistance using a sewing machine is available, but it helps if you're a crafty person.

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

250

Make a Puppet Movie in One-Day - Sunday, 04/13/2025

Puppetry Plus - Los Angeles

Photo by: Roberto Ferreira

Puppetry Plus West Hollywood Campus
8581 Santa Monica Blvd #476
West Hollywood, CA
https://www.puppetryplus.com/product-page/make-a-puppet-movie-in-one-day

We are incredibly excited to share this class with you. Roberto is combining his two passions (Filmmaking & Puppetry) as he teaches you how to make your very own puppet movie—maybe your first movie with puppets, and maybe your first experience with filmmaking in general—in just ONE DAY!

The class is composed of 5 parts:
Formation of Crew,
Write a Sketch,
Casting
Shooting
Post Production

At the end of the day, you’ll get a copy of the movie you just made to show your friends & colleagues on social media

April 13, 2025
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with 30 minutes lunch break

250

Paper Heart Puppets Workshop

Hudson Valley Puppetry Festival

Ellenville Public Library
40 Center St
Ellenville, NY
https://www.artsmidhudson.org/hvpf

A make and take workshop

April 19, 2025

FREE

Character Voice Acting for Puppetry with Jake Bazel

Little Shadow Productions

Photo by: Michael Hull

Zoom
n/a
n/a
https://www.littleshadowproductions.com/voice-vocal

10-Week Group Program
Great puppetry performances start with great characters. In this 10-week workshop, you’ll develop the toolbox you need as a character voice actor to bring bold, dynamic characters to life.

We’ll dive deep into the foundations of character voice acting—exploring vocal placement, emotional authenticity, the comedy behind our characters, and how to quickly find distinct voices that fit any project while staying true to you.
Designed for puppeteers, voice actors, and performers looking to sharpen their character skills, this is your chance to play, explore, and expand your character range for projects on television, in theatre and beyond.

April 26 - June 28, 2025
Every Saturday from 2-3:30 PM EST

$750

Crankies I with Myra Su

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
chicagopuppetfest.org/spring-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1P3P3,3ICW33,6L0XV,1

Crankie 1 (Level 1) serves as an introduction to the crankie from a performative approach. Participants will learn basic construction tips and tricks as well as a cinematic framework to help storyboard and choreograph a crankie piece. We will also touch upon other performative elements that work well with crankies, like shadow puppets and acting in silhouette. The workshop culminates in a sharing of work by the participants.

May 5 - 11, 2025
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun: 7 – 9pm CDT

$250

MASS MoCA Wood Carving & Puppet Design Residency Workshop

David Lane / New England Puppet Arts

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
1320 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA
https://www.assetsforartists.org/workshops-in-residence

The wooden puppet lab returns for another edition in residence at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art where we’ll dig deep into traditional European style carving techniques and create beautiful, inspired wooden puppets together. Topics include: character design, carving technique, controls, joints, painting, and simple costume patterning.
Space is limited so sign up early to ensure a spot!

June 12 - 16, 2025
Formal instruction and demonstrations begin each day at 9 am and run until dinner. The evenings will include open studio and specialized programming such as a show-and-tell and puppet-film night. Field trips to the Clark Art Museum, forest hikes, and impromptu picnics can be organized as the spirit moves.

Tuition: $950 (includes materials & accomodations)

Sandglass Theater's Summer Intensive Puppetry Training

Sandglass Theater

Sandglass Theater
17 Kimball Hill
Putney, VT
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdkeTOIgX6FqjlddGZISt1AYvQHOgNfp76n5hQMtwWG2cQCCA/viewform

Sandglass teaches a method of puppet performance that has been developed over 30 years of workshops around the world. Morning training will be led by Ines Zeller Bass (Co-Founder), Eric Bass (Co-Founder), Shoshana Bass (Artistic Director), and Amanda Maddock (Sandglass Associate Artist). Applicants must select a first choice and second choice for the afternoon track. We will do our best to accommodate your first choice. Classes are scheduled five and a half days per week. Participants will have evening access to work spaces. Applicants must select a first choice and second choice for the afternoon track. We will do our best to accommodate your first choice.

Applications open March 1, 2025. Final application is due in our office on Thursday, May 1st, 2025. (If sending via USPS, please allow at least 7 working days for the mail to arrive in our office on time). Applications accepted via email as well. Please visit sandglasstheater.org for more information.

July 6 - 19, 2025
Two week program

Tuition and Expenses Course Fee: $1450 Housing: $500 Communal evening meals: $160 Monday – Friday (10 days) Participants are responsible for all travel, other food and incidental costs.

2025 New England Puppet Intensive

New England Puppet Arts / Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry

The Old Trout Puppet Workshop
3640 15a St SE
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
https://newenglandpuppet.org

NEPI is on the road this year in Calgary, Alberta — taking up residence at the Old Trout Puppet Workshop for eleven days of performance training, design, ensemble devising, community building and exchange. ?The program culminates in a public performance at the C.A.M.P. Cabaret. Space is limited — sign up early to ensure your spot!

August 4 - 16, 2025
Program hours are 9am to 9pm, ?most ?days.

Tuition: $1550 ?CND (Includes ?instruction, ?materials, ?family ?style ?lunch ?& ?dinner.)

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 are open now through February 6th.

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.