Shows by resident professional troupe and visiting national and international guest artists. Open to the public year-round, 5 days a week. Gift shop with puppets, puppet stages and books. Repertoire consists of classic fairy tales, original stories, and educational programs with a special emphasis on shows that celebrate Arizona’s culture, heritage and ecology. New series features shows for adults.
Puppetry Centers across the US
Bob Baker Marionette Theatre
The theatre was founded some 44 years ago, and is the oldest, longest running puppet theatre in America. Bob Baker, the proprietor, has been doing puppetry for 72 years, starting when he was 8 in 1932. We offer puppet shows in our theatre that seats approximately 250/300. Adults sit in chairs, children sit on the floor around a “magic circle” where the marionettes are brought out to them. (Children parading as adults may sit on the floor, too.)
Childrens’ Fairyland
The Storybook Puppet Theater is the longest on-going professional puppet theater in the United States – founded in 1956. Resident Repertory Puppet Theater Company. Performances year round at 11, 2 and 4 o’clock. June- August: every day; September-October, and April-May: 5 days a week, Wednesday-Sunday; November-March: Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Weekend Puppet Fair in August with guest performers, workshops, exhibit.
Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theatre
Shows year round at the theater. Wednesday through Sunday.
The Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts – California Institute of the Arts
Graduate and Undergraduate degrees in Theater, Art, Dance, Music, Film, and Critical Studies with a major concentration in Puppetry. The Cotsen Center is a laboratory for training and experimentation in the art of puppetry, with an emphasis on aesthetics, ideas, and interdisciplinary exploration. Visiting artists and productions throughout the year.
International Puppetry Museum
The Conservatory of Puppetry Arts, housing the famous puppet collection of Alan Cook, is a benefit to puppeteers and advocates of puppetry arts in the western United States. Our mission: To promote, preserve, and advance the international art of puppetry through outreach programs that blend performance, exhibitions, and education. We are still in the midst of cataloging Alan Cook’s fabulous collection of puppets, books, posters, etc. We welcome visitors.
Puppetry Center of San Diego – operated by the San Diego Guild of Puppetry, Inc.
Exhibits. Literature and curriculum based education outreach programs. Community based, giant puppet parade pageants. Performances by local, national and international artists for children, families, adults. Workshops. Classes. Internships. Custom design: portrait puppets to giant parade figures. Puppet Theatre Writers’ Conference.
Denver Puppet Theatre
Established in 1996, the Denver Puppet Theater is a 100 seat marionette theater performing 6 productions each year from October through mid August. We offer marionette shows of classical and modern themes, hands on puppet play activities for children, a fun filled puppet gift shop, a cafe filled with delicious food and a wonderful outside courtyard.
O’Neill National Puppetry Conference – Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center
Annual 8-day June conference focused on creating new works for the puppet theatre through the collaborative process. Participants work with renowned guest directors, puppet artists and playwrights to develop innovative productions, either conceived by guest artists, or presentations initiated by the conference participants.
Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry
Open year-round with changing exhibits, Friday-Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Call ahead, especially in winter months. Arrangements for special tours and workshops can be made by calling CHERYL GARDNER at (860) 486-4605 BIMP sponsors special performances, educator workshops and other events. Check our website for current news.
UConn Puppetry Arts Program – University of Connecticut
The Puppet Arts Program at the University of Connecticut offers BFA, MA and MFA degrees in the Art of Puppetry.
Pinocchio’s Marionette Theater
Pinocchio’s Marionette Theater preserves the classic European style marionette theater and is home to one of a kind birthday parties.
Puppetry Arts Center of the Palm Beaches
Established in 1993, the Puppetry Arts Center of the Palm Beaches is dedicated to using the art of puppetry to educate, inspire creativity and imagination, and to enchant. Performances year round by resident troupes and guest artists – Saturdays at 11 am and 2 pm Weekdays vary – reservations required – Pineapple Players Youth Puppet Theatre – middle and high schoolers training and performance; Dreammaker Puppeteers – volunteer puppeteer training and performance; Puppet Museum; Gift Shop. Performers visiting southeast Florida – please call. – We cannot pay a lot but if they are here – we are interested.
Additional Information: Facebook Fan Page, Twitter: SunshinePuppet
Center for Puppetry Arts
The Center for Puppetry Arts’ mission is to touch lives through the art of puppetry. The Center for Puppetry Arts is a unique cultural treasure – a magical place where children and adults are educated, enlightened and entertained. Since 1978, the Center has introduced millions of visitors to the wonder and art of puppetry and has touched the lives of many through enchanting performances, curriculum-based workshops and the hands-on Museum, as well as Distance Learning and Outreach Programs.
UNIMA – USA, Inc.
UNIMA-USA, the American Center of the Union Internationale de la Marionnette, is a service organization whose mission is to link puppeteers nationally and internationally; publish information on and for the field; offer support and technical assistance for pro -fessional puppeteers through seminars, conferences, and symposia; stimulate the general public’s interest in the art of puppetry; and promote the visibility of American puppeteers all over the world. Membership office open Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., eastern. Please visit website for more information.
Opera in Focus
To the best of our knowledge, we are the only continuously operating ROD PUPPET OPERA company in the world. We perform on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 1:30 pm. Performances are generally 60 to 80 minutes long and usually consist of three or four scenes, arias or songs. A demonstration of how the rod puppets “work” and a backstage tour follow each performance. Groups of 30 or more may reserve a performance at a day and time of their choosing. PRICES: ADULTS $12.00 SENIORS (Over 60) $11.00 and CHILDREN (Under 12) $7.00 The theater is air conditioned and is fully handicapped accessible. Parking is free and “bus-friendly. A banquet hall with a capacity of 128 is located in the facility and can be serviced by a Park District approved caterer of your choosing.
Redmoon Theater
Redmoon performs throughout the city, but our home is Redmoon Central, a huge warehouse on the west side of Chicago. A former ink factory, this impressive 18,500 square foot facility now houses our build shop, administrative offices, rehearsal area, and ever-transforming indoor performance space. During The Golden Truffle, Redmoon Central was an exuberant cabaret, for Once Upon a Time, an elegant Victorian drawing room. Stop in and find out what’s going on at Redmoon Central today!
The Melchior Marionette Theatre
Since 1983 this 50 seat outdoor theatre, nestled between shops in the downtown of the tourist town Nashville, Indiana. Open on Saturdays (shows at 1 & 3pm) in June, July, September and every weekend in October. “Comedy Cabaret on Strings” ( June, July, September) and “The Slightly Haunted Puppet Theatre” (October) by Melchior Marionettes. Closed in August.
Peewinkle’s Puppet Studio
A quaint old world style 50 seat theatre in downtown Indianapolis, located in a 100 yr. old warehouse building. Shows are scheduled from October thru April, including two weeks of puppet camp in June. Seasonal shows, The Peewinkle Series and Fairytale Series are presented by MMHP Puppet Productions, Inc.
Bil Baird Collection – Charles H. MacNider Art Museum
The largest selection of Bil Baird Puppets are on display at all times, including the puppets from The Sound of Music. Two to three puppet performance opportunities occur throughout the year in our 200 seat auditorium. New to the Baird Galleries is an interactive puppet theater for hands-on puppet shows.
Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre
Owl Glass Puppetry Center presents an annual season of 6 productions. These include 2 productions by the in-house troupe, Eulenspiegel Puppets, 2 or 3 guests from all over the world, and one adult evening – Puppets and Pastries Dessert Theatre. The season also includes one community puppet theatre production. Owl Glass sponsors the annual West Liberty Children’s Festival and offers workshops for adults and children, summer puppet camp, and open studio hours during which locals are encouraged to help build puppets for community events.
The Garden Puppet Theatre
A small mini-museum of changing puppet exhibits promoting the annual Town Beautification Program fund raising tours. Museum exhibits change monthly and are listed on the website.
The Puppet Co. Playhouse
Since 1983, The Puppet Co. has created puppet theatre, especially for children, as an art form synthesizing the visual and performing arts. Hand puppets, rod puppets, body puppets, marionettes and shadow puppets are used in the fully staged productions of the stories, traditional and original, which comprise our ever-growing repertory. Our new theater and resource center at Glen Echo Park had its Grand Opening on May 1, 2004, and is believed to be the first indoor theater in this country, designed and built from the ground up specifically and exclusively for puppet theater. It seats 250 people.
The Puppet Showplace Theatre
Founded in 1974, the Puppet Showplace Theatre is New England’s first and only year-round theatre devoted entirely to the art of puppetry. As a presenting theatre, the Puppet Showplace provides a different show each week, 50 weeks a year. These award-winning shows are performed by local and traveling professional puppeteers, and cover the entire spectrum of this unique art-form.
Detroit Institute of Arts – Paul McPharlin Collection
The Detroit Institute of Arts is undergoing a renovation project that will limit the exhibition of the McPharlin Puppet Collection. Tours of the puppet storage area can be arranged through a letter of request to the curator. A 116 page color catalog of the collection published in 2000 and titled Strings Hands Shadows: A Modern Puppet History is available for $19.95 on the DIA website www.dia.org. The DIA will open a permanent, rotating puppet exhibit of the Paul McPharlin Collection on 12/22/10. Forty feet of display cases will change every six months and the regularly scheduled puppet shows can be viewed at the DIA website page: http://www.dia.org/calendar/family-sundays.aspx
PuppetART/Detroit Puppet Theater
PuppetART is a Theater, a Studio, and a Museum. Each visit to PuppetART provides an audience with a performance of high artistic quality followed by a puppet-making workshop. Both events are tied together by an educational and explorative tour through the Museum. PuppetART Theater has an active repertoire of nine shows, staged monthly year around; every Saturday for general public and weekdays for groups. PuppetART Studio provides the opportunity for art education for children, caregivers, and professionals. The mainstream of PuppetART Studio activities is developing and offering hands-on workshops to groups of schoolchildren. Students K-12 learn how to make puppets and recognize, understand and use folk art elements of different cultures. Other workshops on the puppetry art are designed for various levels of interest, including one for teachers especially designed to enhance the curriculum and support an “arts-integrated” education. PuppetART Museum is a source of information on puppetry and how it reflects on history and diverse cultural traditions. The Museum also organizes exhibits to complement repertoire performances. The PuppetART Museum published a book in 2002, entitled “A History of Puppetry in Detroit,” by Gina Granger and Nancy Henk. The book is dedicated to Detroit’s tri-centennial and highlights its important role in the history of professional American puppetry.
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
In the Heart of the Beast produces a season of original, company-generated plays for both families and adults. We teach puppetry and pageantry to students and teachers, teenagers and youth, and community members in our neighborhood and throughout Minnesota. We can seat up to 300.
Open Eye Figure Theatre
Open Eye brings the magic of puppetry to audiences of all ages with whimsical yet profound work in its historic jewel box home in Minneapolis and in neighborhoods throughout the Twin Cities with the award-winning Driveway Tour.
Kramer Marionnette Theatre
Performances year-round by resident troupe and guest artists: Monday-Saturday: 10 am demo, 11:15 show, 1 pm demo, 2:15 show by reservation. Sunday at 1 and 2:15. Exhibit, Store, Workshops.
Paul Mesner Puppets
Five productions a year. We perform at Unity on the Plaza at 47th and Jefferson in Kansas City, MO. The theater will accommodate 320 people. We tour, locally and nationally. Puppet making workshops on an ongoing basis at our studio.
Puppetry Arts Institute
Hazelle Rollins Puppet Museum; Special Exhibits; Puppet Shows; Workshops; Birthday parties; Puppet Research Library; Puppet Repair, Restringing & Appraisal. Hours: Tuesday – Saturday. 10 – 5. Museum Admission: Adults $3, children $1.50. Monthly puppet shows and drop-in or reserved group workshops $6 each, over 10, $5 each
Museum of Television & Radio
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 12:00 to 6:00 Thursday 12-8. Study center has viewing facility. Can find videos relating to television puppetry.
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Theatre on Film & Tape Archive, Billy Rose Theatre Collection. Viewing by appointment only. The collection includes all performances presented at Jim Henson Foundation International Festival of Puppet Theatre.
The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park
Run by the City Parks Foundation, the Cottage, a model schoolhouse, was built as Sweden’s exhibit for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. In 1877, Frederick Law Olmsted moved the Cottage to its present site in Central Park. In 1973 it was remodeled to include a permanent stage. Since then this small wooden lodge has hosted daily marionette shows that bring fairy tales alive for enchanted audiences.
www.cityparksfoundation.org/arts/swedish-cottage-marionette-theatre/
Puppetworks
Weekend Public Performances: 12:30 & 2:30 Weekday Groups: 10:15, 11:30, 12:45 – Also, performances at Macy’s Herald Square, during the Holiday season. Souveniers, Books, Puppets on sale in Lobby. Seats 100.
HERE Arts Center, Dream Music Puppetry Program
One of few programs in the country to grow and commission contemporary, adult puppet works, Dream Music provides performance opportunities to puppet artists, and encourages multidisciplinary collaboration to develop new puppetry techniques. This program was inaugurated with the premiere of Basil Twist’s OBIE-award winning Symphonie Fantastique in 1998. Under the artistic direction of Twist, with producing direction from HERE co-founder Barbara Busackino, the Dream Music aesthetic is geared toward puppet works that feature live music as a collaborative element.
Spaghetti Dinners – PS122
Monthly community events on Tuesday evenings including vegetarian spaghetti, new work by Great Small Works and guest artists, and live music.
Teatro SEA (The Latino Children’s Theatre)
TEATRO SEA/The Latino Children’s Theatre at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is New York’s Only Latino Children’s Theatre, and possibly the Only Latino Children’s Theatre in the United States. Society of the Educational Arts, Inc. (SEA) offers a year-round season of professional Puppet and Children’s Theatre, as well as art workshops. SEA’s repertory of shows, are performed in Spanish, English and bilingual. SEAson runs from September to June.
The Shadow Box Theatre
The Shadow Box Theatre is currently the resident children’s company at the Theatres at 45 Bleecker St., Manhattan. With the magic of live theatre, music and puppetry, SBT has served over 2,000,000 children in 41 years in schools, theatres, community centers and parks throughout New York City. SBT also conducts creative arts workshops and publishes storybooks and CDs based on its shows.
Puppetry in Practice
Our main site is still at Brooklyn College and open to teachers and the community but this summer we opened the Puppetry in Practice Museum, an outreach center in the Marine Park section of Brooklyn. We have been hosting parent workshops to supplement our school programs and meetings with other puppeteers and performing artists.
Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre
Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre (founded 2001) is a community puppet theatre committed to introducing young children and their families to a life-long love of theatre and the creative arts. Winter/spring season runs November-March and includes in-house performances, guest performers (Saturdays at 11 and 3) puppet playgroups (for children 3 years and under) and after-school workshops. Summer season runs June-August and includes Tot Camp, puppet playgroups, family workshops and performances Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 11:00. The theater seats 70.
Open Hand Theater
A World of Puppets performance series for families on the first two Saturdays of the months October-April featuring great puppetry performances from across the country. Touring mask and puppet performances, arts-in-education programs and workshops, collaborations with other arts organizations and mask and puppet museum.
Madcap Puppets
Public shows each season in the Hats Off Young Audience series. Production and project development for orchestra and opera performances. Arts integration master classes for teachers and puppet building workshops for children and adults. Professional development and training for puppet theater artists.
Tears of Joy Theatre
FAMILY SERIES (and school programs) in Winningstad Theatre at Portland Center for the Performing Arts, Portland, OREGON, seating 280. 100 performances. Series runs November – March (largely our own programs). Lobby exhibits mounted for each production. SHOWCASE PERFORMANCES for adults November-March (includes guest performers). TOURING year around.
Hole in the Wall Puppet Theatre
The Hole in the Wall is a 60-seat Victorian style theatre in downtown Lancaster founded in 1990 by Robert Brock. Marionette performances of classic stories and fairy tales are presented on weekends for the public and by arrangement for groups during the week.
Mock Turtle Marionette Theater at the Ice House
Now in our seventeenth year of family performances at our city-based IceHouse Theater in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Mock Turtle supplies the Lehigh Valley area with a ten to fourteen show family series called Saturday’s Child and a literacy-based field trip series for elementary schools called Early Reader Field Trips. In addition to our work at the IceHouse, Mock Turtle runs a puppet-based child abuse prevention program for the county and engages in artistic partnerships with community arts groups such as the Pennsylvania Sinfonia and Touchstone Theatre.
Pittsburgh Children’s Museum
It offers interactive experiences with puppets, outreach programs and field trips.
Spiral Q Puppet Theatre
Spiral Q Puppet Theater seeks to mobilize communities and illuminate the victories, frustrations and possibilities of living in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia and similar urban settings through the construction of full-scale giant puppet parades, toy theater and neighborhood pageantry.
Perishable Theatre – Blood From a Turnip
Blood from a Turnip, Rhode Island’s only Late Night Puppet Salon, was founded on the belief that puppet, toy and object theatre is an invaluable artistic medium. This bi-monthly invitational brings to Providence emerging puppeteers from New England and New York.
Columbia Marionette Theatre
Celebrating 16 years as South Carolina’s premiere children’s theatre, the Columbia Marionette Theatre offers birthday parties, field trips, traveling shows, artists-in-residence programs, home school programs and even puppet shows for adults!
Green Parrot Puppet Theatre
Classika Theatre is a professional theatre based on the renowned Russian tradition which features productions for both adults and children. The Green Parrot Puppet Theatre usually produces 2 puppet shows a year.
Sandglass Theatre & Sandglass Center for Puppetry and Research
An intimate 60 seat renovated barn theater in Putney, Vermont. We present our own work as well as national and international companies.
Bread & Puppet Theater & Museum
Apprenticeship Program end of June thru July; Summer performances at our farm in Glover, Vermont, July-August. Museum open daily, 10am-6pm, May – October, housing a giant collection of puppets, masks, paintings and graphics in a century old barn.
Northwest Puppet Center – Carter Family Marionettes
Northwest Puppet Center features a season of public performances, weekday school series, museum exhibits, archive/library, touring performances and educational programs. In recent years the Carter Family Marionettes have also begun staging full scale marionette operas and was recently the cover story in the national magazine, Early Music America. In December of 2003, Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s “Best of 2003 – Family”, Northwest Puppet Center was listed as #1 children’s attraction. “Pupi per tutti!” (Puppets for all!)
Aurora Valentinetti Puppet Museum & Evergreen Children’s Theatre
The AVPM celebrating its tenth year (2009) has a collection in excess of 1,000 puppets and puppet stage artifacts from around the world. Particular strengths are in the area of Pacific Rim and Asian cultures, American and Pacific NW as well as examples from Europe and other parts of the world. The Museum provides changing exhibits 4-5 times a year. Hours: Wed. through Sat. 11-4. Also open during the First Friday Art Walk from 5-8 each month. Admission: Donation suggested. A well stocked gift shop and children’s play area on site. Evergreen Children’s Theatre the parent organization schedules occasional performances, work shops, story hours and tours throughout the year.
Wonderment Puppet Theater
Hazel Green Opera House
The opera house is where people and puppets come together for fun. This is the home of The Fever River Puppeteers, a nonprofit 501c3, who perform marionette and other puppet shows seasonally. We offer occasional puppetry workshops for children and adults, and we feature guest puppeteers as well. The opera house seats 80 patrons on soft chairs.
Simpich Showcase – Museum, Gallery and Marionette Theatre
The Simpich Showcase Theatre is dedicated to presenting year-round string puppet productions for adult and family audiences. Featuring original plays from the Simpich Marionette Repertoire, the intimate 70 seat theatre plays host to a variety of stories and subject matter, from productions such as The Secret Garden, Hans Christian Andersen Storybook and Great Expectations to original plays by puppeteer David Simpich, as well as Christmas, Easter and other seasonal offerings. The adjoining Simpich Museum also houses rotating exhibits of many marionettes from the Simpich performances, displayed in elaborate settings.
Sassafrass Junction Puppet Theater
We perform private parties, field trips, and mobile touring shows, as well as puppet workshops throughout the rest of the week. Check out our website for showtimes and information.
Puppet Theatre’s, Puppetry Centers & Puppetry Museum’s & Exhibits
Most puppeteers are accustomed to bringing their shows to the audience – to schools, churches, fairs, meetings and other venues. A few organizations, however, have been able to establish fixed locations where the public can experience puppetry on a regular basis. Some centers cooperate in booking touring puppeteers at their puppet centers.A puppet center is defined as: a place and service that is open to the public, with a schedule that is known about in advance. Some are puppetry museums, some are physical spaces dedicated to regular presentation of puppet theatre, and many offer combinations of performances, exhibits, learning materials, workshops and guild meetings.
We realize this list is incomplete. To find other puppetry places check web sites such as www.puppet.org and www.onpuppet.org and www.americantheaterweb.com or www.theatre-resources.net as well as news outlets for year-round theaters who sometimes offer puppetry performances (such as the New Victory theater, NYC, NY.)
If you have a place, a performance season or a museum dedicated to puppet arts that is open to the public, and feel it belongs on this list, please contact: Peggy Melchior Pearson, 3608 Woodland Streams Ct. Greenwood, IN 46143 (800) 849-4853 peewnkle[at]earthlink.net
Puppet Places – under construction
We are in the process of transforming our Puppet Places page into an accessible and interactive resource for everyone. Please feel free to browse the places that we have posted. We will have more information to share soon.
