The next edition of the Chicago Puppet Fest will be here before you know it, and it is all thanks to our family of supporters. In a world where almost everything is disposable, our donors help sustain our work—and our thanks is eternal.
Make a donation of any amount by May 15, 2026 and enjoy a special thank you—an exclusive link to view “BAG,” a staggering short film, Robin Frohardt, the visionary behind The Plastic Bag Store.
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Thank You for making the 8th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival a great success!
We hope you had as much fun as we did! Let us know how you think the Festival is doing and you could win a $50 Festival gift certificate.
TAKE THE FESTIVAL SURVEY
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📷: Suki from BlindSummit @blindsummit “The Sex Lives of Puppets”
Introducing 🌍 PEOPLE IN PUPPETRY: A GLOBAL GALLERY !!!
This is a living, growing gallery of puppeteers, designers/builders, curators, teaching artists, directors, filmmakers, and others in the world of puppet theater. We want to include as many people in puppetry as possible.
→ Add yourself today. Share the link with the puppet people you know.
✨ PeopleInPuppetry.com
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📝 Then take our short, anonymous Survey of Puppeteers and help shape the future of the Festival. You could win a 2026 Festival Artist Button — free entry to any show with available seating at the 2026 Festival!! 🎟️🔥
You don’t need to be in the gallery to take the survey — but we hope you’ll do both!
📸: Courtesy of the Artists. See the “People In Puppetry” gallery for details.
#PeopleInPuppetry #GlobalGallery #PuppetryCommunity #PuppeteersUnite #PuppetryFestival @peopleinpuppetry
🌍 PEOPLE IN PUPPETRY: A GLOBAL GALLERY !!!
Check out this living, growing gallery of puppeteers, designers/builders, curators, teaching artists, directors, filmmakers, and others in the world of puppet theater.
→ Add yourself today. Share the link with the puppet people you know.
✨ PeopleInPuppetry.com
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📸: Courtesy of the Artists.
Vanessa Valliere @vanessavalliere
Dan Kerr-Hobert @dankerrhobert
Linda Wingerter @pollysonic
Noah Ginex @colonelernie
Toby Olie @tobyolie
David Ronston @esmereldathepuppet
Rachel Singer @practiceofimagination
Derek Lux @thedlux
Leah Lara @lootie_draw
Julia Miller @thejuliamiller
Sarah Fornace @manual_cinema
Sam Locke @samclocke
Bernard J Brown @_goodacademy_
Ana McKenzie
Last Call. Make a donation of any amount in support of the 2027 Festival today and enjoy a special thank you—an exclusive link to view “BAG,” a staggering short film entirely made of cardboard, Robin Frohardt, the visionary behind The Plastic Bag Store.
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/support/
🌍 PEOPLE IN PUPPETRY: A GLOBAL GALLERY !!!
Check out this living, growing gallery of puppeteers, designers/builders, curators, teaching artists, directors, filmmakers, and others in the world of puppet theater.
→ Add yourself today. Share the link with the puppet people you know.
✨ PeopleInPuppetry.com
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📸: Courtesy of the Artists.
Sharaina Turnage @sharaina_latrice
Sarah Olmsted Thomas @saraholmstedthomas
Michele Stine @michele_joy_stine
Arlee Chadwick @arleechadwick
Alissa Hunnicutt @puppetmissy
Joe Mazza @brave.lux
Kim Campbell @kimzyn
Aya Nakamura @mademoisellelychee
Christopher Knowlton @chrisknowlton
TJ Jacobs
Cinna Vesterberg
Carol Trobe
Liana Bedwi @lianabdewi
Angelo Aiello
Design, build, and training for Curtis Opera Theatre’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Sarah Ina Meyers in Philadelphia. Chicago Puppet Studio created a changeling child puppet that came from the fairy world of nature, and combined together into a small child swaddle.
Puppet Design: @tlee668
Puppet Direction: @jstnprkns
Built by: @zzzzacharyyyy@averlysheltraw@rorowena_
Chicago Puppet Festival presents an extraordinary opportunity to experience the 160 year old Japanese traditional puppetry style Kuruma Ningyō (cart puppetry). Fifth Generation Master Puppeteer Koryū Nishikawa V, headmaster of Hachiōji Kuruma Ningyō in Japan, will lead a master class with assistance from his student Tom Lee.
🗓️Sunday, May 31 at the Fine Arts Building.
Limited scholarships available upon request.
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Emergency: We all need a good laugh!
Join us TONIGHT for the Spring 2026 Living Room Tour at the Arts Club of Chicago!
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These events are intimate, one-of-a-kind fundraisers set in remarkable spaces. Your ticket includes drinks, dinner, dessert—and a puppetry performance designed to astonish and delight.
Program:
- What to Do in a Puppet Emergency — Mark Down’s extremely important (and equally entertaining) puppet lecture
- Edward Gorey’s The Insect God — a tabletop pop-up book performance by Blair Thomas @blairmodernity , with designs by Jaerin Son @jaerin_puppet
- An added bonus tonight only… Lisa Kaplan of Eighth Blackbird performs special short works by Joe Hisaishi and Nico Muhly
📸: Blind Summit Theater @blindsummit
There’s one more weekend for WHITE ROOSTER at @lookingglasstheatre
Photos by Ricardo Adame
Written, Directed, and Co-Composed by Matthew C. Yee
Scenic: Natsu Onoda Power
Costumes: Mara Blumenfeld
Lighting: Hannah Wien
Sound and Co-Composer: Justin Cavazos
Puppets: Caitlin McLeod
Choreography: Kasey Foster
Props: Amanda Hermann
New Works Consultant: Heidi Stillman
Intimacy: Sheryl Williams
Stage Manager: Tess Golden
Cast:
Karen Aldridge
Sunnie Eraso
Elliot Esquivel
Louise Lamson
Nik Kmiecik
Mark L. Montgomery
Noelle Oh
Reilly Oh
Daniel Lee Smith
It’s Time for “Extreme Puppetry”!
A one-time, in-person workshop with Mark Down (the artistic Director of Blind Summit @blindsummit Theater who brought us “The Sex Lives of Puppets”)!
Sunday, April 26
In Person | 1 x 3hr session
Get yourself signed up, friends.
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