ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar
7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
January 15-26th, 2025
Full Schedule HERE
It's time once again for one of our favorite annual fests -- The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. Here at ChiILMama.com and ChiILLiveShows.com, we've been covering Puppet Fest extensively since their inaugural year back in 2015 with dozens of features and hundreds of photos and social media posts. We've done video interviews multiple times with Puppet Fest Founder and Artistic Director, Blair Thomas, and we know quite a few of the Chicago Puppeteers. We're also always jazzed to welcome new puppeteers from around the world. Chicago is truly the multicultural puppet hub of the world, and we're so lucky to host again, this January 15-26, 2025. We're in for 12 straight days of spectacular shows, intimate works, and special events at dozens of venues all over the city.
There are edgy, adult offerings, family friendly shows, free community productions, in venues across the city. One of our favorite elements of the fest is the community. Puppet people are the best. The performers and audiences are such a unique subset of the theatre scene and we're here for it. Don't miss this! We've got highlights and favorites below, and you can follow our social media for last minute performance additions, changes, and more. Paper schedules are available at the venues and full details including video clips and ticket links are available at the official fest site at chicagopuppetfest.org. Tickets are on sale now. and we suggest you don’t wait. Despite Chicago’s cold January winters, tickets are always a hot commodity and some of the smaller venues will sell out fast!
The 2025 Chicago Puppet Fest will span 12 days and dozens of Chicago venues, presenting an international pageant of puppet artists sharing more than 120 puppetry activities!!! Get set for all-ages spectacle shows in landmark theaters, intimate works on smaller stages, and the always popular, adults-only, late night puppet cabarets.
Warm up to a wildly diverse range of classic and contemporary puppetry styles from around the world, created by puppet artists from China, India and Scotland, the first time for these countries to play a part in the Chicago Puppet Festival, along with Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, Puerto Rico, Poland, South Africa, the U.S. and Chicago.
These stories and more await fans of the 7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, all told by puppet artists from around the world, showcasing different forms of traditional and contemporary puppet styles, from bunraku to shadow puppetry, marionettes to object-based works.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but from Lucy’s point of view, from festival favorite Plexus Polaire (France/Norway).
A play about modern-day Macau told with traditional puppetry and modern day objects, performed by China’s Rolling Puppet Alternative Theatre.
The return after 15 years of The Cabinet, a legendary Chicago puppet work, revived by Chicago’s Cabinet of Curiosity. *We saw several of Redmoon Theatre's renditions of this incredible piece back in the day, and are excited to see Cabinet of Curiosity's production! We've covered many of Cabinet of Curiosity's shows and spectacles over the years, even behind the scenes photos and videos of their works in progress. And for years before that we extensively documented Redmoon's epic installations and community rituals.
An ephemeral Oedipus, portrayed by a puppet made of ice, in Anywhere, a co-production by France’s Théâtre de L’Entrovert and the Chicago Puppet Festival, before its New York premiere in February.
Real time sculpting meets puppetry and storytelling as the Festival’s first performance company from India, Tram Arts Trust, brings Chicago audiences new cultural perspectives with Maati Katha (Earth Stories), featuring an innovative use of clay inspired by traditional doll craft.
Aanika’s Elephants, an adventure into the African savanna with a Kenyan girl who befriends a baby elephant, created by two veteran Sesame Street puppeteers.
A tale about three sisters hiding in a safe room during World War II, from Israel’s Yael Rasooly.
J. M. Coetzee's Life & Times of Michael K, an adventure by a South African Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee, retold with puppets from South Africa’s internationally acclaimed Handspring Puppet Company.
LOOK! LOOK!, a new work in progress by Chicago puppeteer Vanessa Valliere in collaboration with Lindsey Nicole Whiting, debuting in the Fine Arts Building's Little Studio.
Even a puppet wrestling entertainment spectacular, Kayfabe by Josh Rice Projects, from New York City.
2025 marks the return of the popular Free Neighborhood Tour, back twice the size in 2025, presenting two free, family-friendly puppet shows from Puerto Rico and Vermont at venues and community spaces all over the city.
In addition to the incredible pageant of international and U.S. puppetry artists, The Puppet Hub is back and open throughout the festival on the 4th floor of the Fine Arts Building. It’s the perfect place to relax between shows, get a bite to eat, meet up with friends, make new ones, and learn more about contemporary puppetry. Attractions include the exhibits Lessons in Puppetry by Myra Su and Puppetry Under the Sea, featuring puppets designed by the Chicago Puppet Studio for Drury Lane Theatre’s The Little Mermaid, the Pop-Up Puppet Shop, and The Spoke & Bird Pop-Up Cafe, serving coffee, tea, winter soups and baked treats.
Puppetry enthusiasts are also welcome to check out the free Ellen Van Volkenburg Symposium. Now presented annually, the Chicago Puppet Fest is the largest event of its kind in North America. Last year’s festival attracted a record audience – nearly 20,000 fans of puppetry ranging from Chicago residents to international guests who travel to Chicago in the middle of January to enjoy world-class puppet productions from here and abroad.
“Blowing in like Chicago’s winter, the Chicago Puppet Festival brings a flurry — of puppets!,” says Founder and Artistic Director Blair Thomas. “With hundreds of artists and civic leaders working around the globe and here in Chicago to make it happen, we aim to fan a fire in you that inspires your vigor and heats your soul. We offer a unique and broad range of work from around our planet. You’ll find the puppet particularly adept at embodying the supernatural with such tales as Dracula or The Cabinet. Likewise the puppet holds the gravity of powerful dramas such as Life & Times of Michael K and The House by the Lake. And equally capturing a comic world of I Killed The Monster. Revel with us in the return of Chicago’s jewel: The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival!”
Visit chicagopuppetfest.org for tickets and information about the 7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, and sign up for the festival’s e-news. Follow the festival on Facebook, Instagram or Vimeo, hashtag #ChiPuppetFest.
Opening Night Prelude Reception
Fine Arts Building, Studebaker Theatre, 410 S. Michigan Ave., downtown Chicago, 3rd Floor Balcony
Wednesday, January 15, 5:15 p.m.-7 p.m.
Tickets: $125/$250 benefactor
Join top supporters, festival artistic directors from the shows being presented this year and staff to toast the opening of the 7th edition of the festival at this exclusive, pre-show reception featuring drinks, hors d’oeuvres, early access to claim your opening night seating in person and to visit the exhibitions before they open to the public.
Prelude Reception is immediately followed by the opening night performance of Plexus Polaire’s Dracula: Lucy’s Dream. Show tickets sold separately.
Dracula: Lucy's Dream, Plexus Polaire, France/Norway Credit: Christophe Raynaud de Lage
Dracula: Lucy's Dream
Plexus Polaire
France/Norway
Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave., downtown Chicago
Wednesday, January 15 at 7 p.m.; Friday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 18 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday, January 19 at 2 p.m.
65 minutes
14 and up
Tickets: $40-$48
plexuspolaire.com/dracula-en
France’s internationally acclaimed Plexus Polaire wowed Chicago audiences in 2023 with their spectacular, sold out performances of Moby Dick, and in 2019 with Chambre Noire. Now they’re back at the Studebaker, opening this year’s festival with the Chicago premiere of their internationally acclaimed work, Dracula: Lucy’s Dream, ready to serve up large-scale spectacle, human size bunraku puppets, hypnotic video projection and their signature style of imbuing the puppet with storytelling power.
In her visual adaptation of the famous myth of Dracula, Yngvild Aspeli freely draws inspiration from Bram Stoker's hypnotic tale to tell the story of Lucy. As the character fights against her inner "Dracula-esque" demon she surfaces and reveals an inclination toward domination, dependence, addiction and destructive force. A metaphor of control, both forced and desired, seductive and deceptive.
Opening Night Post-Show Party
Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave., downtown Chicago, Curtiss Hall, 10th Floor
Wednesday, January 15, 8:30-10:30 p.m.
Tickets: $75
Celebrate opening night while enjoying drinks and dessert with the puppet artists and companies coming from all over the world to astonish and delight you for the next 12 days. Enjoy drinks, dessert, live puppetry performance, dancing and a DJ.
Made in Macau 2.0, Rolling Puppet Alternative Theatre, China, Credit: Adriano Ma
Made in Macau 2.0
Rolling Puppet Alternative Theatre
China
Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Ave., Roscoe Village/Avondale
Thursday, January 16 at 5 p.m.; Friday, January 17 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.;
Saturday, January 18 at 5 p.m.; Sunday, January 19 at 5 p.m.
60 minutes
6 and up
Tickets: $15-$20
rollingpuppet.com
Made in Macau 2.0 tells a personal history of the island city Macau. A territory of Portugal for four centuries, Macau was the last mainland colony returned to China in 1999. Today, Macau is a Special Administrative Region and one of the most populated places on earth. Intimate family memories confront present day realities alongside the changing identity of the island city's unique, hybrid culture. Local ideologies resound as serious and comic scenes use contemporary staging with traditional puppets and everyday household objects to reflect Macau’s enormous social, economic and ideological transformations.
I Killed the Monster, Gildwen Peronno, RoiZIZO théâtre_France, Credit: Sandrine-Hernandez
I Killed the Monster
RoiZIZO théâtre
France
Steppenwolf's Garage Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted, Lincoln Park
Thursday, January 16 at 6 p.m.; Friday, January 17 at 9 p.m.; Saturday, January 18 at 7 p.m.; Sunday, January 19 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
40 minutes
9 and up
Tickets: $35-$43
*Crochet ParTay! Following the Friday night and Saturday shows — a gathering for crochet enthusiasts to share their most recent work, talk about the show and meet fellow crochet-ers. There will be cookies!
roizizo.fr
In a small village in France’s Ardennes Forest, peace reigns, and yet, Daniel is a little agitated. Now that he has a new medicine though, some blue pills made by an American pharmaceutical laboratory, everything should be fine…right? A pitch perfect show packed with humor and farcical discoveries, on a simple table using everyday objects. Experience small-scale grandiose art in this clever fable dedicated to the right to be different.
Gildwen Peronno, co artistic director of France's RoiZIZO théâtre, is a master actor, puppeteer, manipulator and jack-of-all-trades who thrives on the edge of art and craft that is object theater. LeMonde says Peronno “goes all out to create an atmosphere that is both creepy and incredibly comical.”
The Cabinet, Cabinet of Curiosity, Chicago Credit: Cabinet of Curiosity
The Cabinet
Cabinet of Curiosity
Chicago
The Biograph's Začek-McVay Mainstage, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincoln Park
Thursday, January 16 at 7 p.m.; Friday, January 17 at 9 p.m.; Saturday, January 18 at 9 p.m.; Sunday, January 19 at 3 p.m.
60 minutes
14 and up
Tickets: $25-$43
cocechicago.com
*Back in the day we caught the original Redmoon Theatre production of The Cabinet in 2005 and their remount 15 years ago, and covered both in depth at ChiIL Mama & ChiIL Live Shows. Can't wait to catch Cabinet of Curiosity's remount! You'll never look at an armoire, or the 1919 black and white film this show is based on, quite the same way again. Don't miss this!
It’s been 15 years since Chicago has seen The Cabinet, the story of the murderous Dr. Caligari and his somnambulist slave Cesare set in an off-kilter world of puppetry and intricate machinery. Evoking the 1919 German Expressionist silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, inspired by the original Redmoon Theatre production from 2005, Cabinet of Curiosity’s Frank Maugeri is creating another abstract “cabinet of curiosities” in which puppeteers manipulate the characters and objects, just as Caligari controlled Cesare’s plight.
Anywhere, Théâtre de L’Entrovert and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, France/Chicago, Credit: Richard Termine
Anywhere
Théâtre de L’Entrovert and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
France/Chicago
The Chopin Theatre Mainstage, 1543 W. Division St., Wicker Park\
Thursday, January 16 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m.;
Saturday, January 18 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, January 19 at 4:00 p.m.
50 minutes
10 and up
Tickets: $35-$43
lentrouvert.com
A marionette made of ice will melt your heart in this exquisite string-marionette work from France’s Théâtre de l’Entrouvert. This Oedipus is ephemeral, a fallen, frozen puppet that gradually melts, then appears as mist and finally disappears in the forest. This Oedipus speaks cold truths about our bodies, our environment, our fragilities, and our wanderings in the infinite circle of renewal.
The Chicago Puppet Festival teamed with Théâtre de l’Entrouvert to present the North American premiere of Anywhere here in 2023. They worked in close collaboration, fundraising to send two Chicago puppeteers, Mark Blashford and Ashwaty Chennatt, to Arles, France to learn how to perform with ice, with the intention of touring the work in the U.S.
That goal will be realized after this return engagement in Chicago, a warm-up for the New York premiere of Anywhere at HERE Arts Center in February, co-presented by Théâtre de L’Entrovert and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, marking the festival’s New York producing debut.
Iniskim: Return of the Buffalo Courtesy Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry
Iniskim: Return of the Buffalo (film)
Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry
Canada
Friday, January 17, 3 p.m.
Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave., downtown Chicago
40 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $10-$15
maskandpuppet.com/project/iniskim
Iniskim: Return of the Buffalo is a cinematic wonder. Watch this collision of drumming, dance, theater and puppets as a group of puppeteers are transformed by their experience of "being buffalo" at night under the stars.
In 2017, history was made when bison were reintroduced to Banff National Park where they continue to roam free today. This 40-minute documentary film about their deep collaborative journey is structured around a ‘Masterclass’ about Indigenous ways of knowing. Filmgoers see the puppeteers working with leaders of the movement to repopulate Banff with buffalo, Leroy Little Bear and Amethyst First Rider, absorbing their knowledge, then integrating it into the creation of both the puppets and the theatrical production.
As Amethyst First Rider says to the puppeteers, “You are the buffalo. With each movement of your hands, each connection, each dream, you’re creating energy and they become a part of you.”
Concerned Others, Tortoise in a Nutshell, Scotland, Courtesy: Tortoise in a Nutshell
Concerned Others
Tortoise in a Nutshell
Scotland
Instituto Cervantes of Chicago, 31 W. Ohio St., River North
Friday, January 17 at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Saturday, January 18 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sunday, January 19 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
45 minutes
14 and up
Tickets: $25-$33
tortoiseinanutshell.com
From its 2023 premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival comes this intimate piece confronting the deadly culture of shame, ignorance and misunderstanding surrounding substance dependence.
Devised and performed by Alex Bird, Concerned Others is an intimate, one-man tabletop performance, a collision of first-hand accounts, hopes and reflections from Scots with lived experience of substance dependency. Intricate miniature worlds unfold before the audience’s eyes, creating detailed, contrasting microcosms of contemporary Scotland, halfway between dream and cold reality.
32mm figurines, shoe box style installations, turntables, micro-projection and immersive soundscapes combine for a rich, multi-textured performance that platforms critically underheard voices – friends, family, caregivers, healthcare professionals, policy makers and people living with addiction. It’s a poignant look at the weight carried by the community surrounding a person living with addiction.
Aanika's Elephants Credit: Zach Hyman
Aanika’s Elephants
Feisty Elephant, Pam Arciero Productions, and Little Shadow Productions
Connecticut and New York
The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th St., Hyde Park
Friday, January 17 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, January 18 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.]
60 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $25-$35
littleshadowproductions.com/aanikas-elephants
From Sesame Street staff writer and children’s book author Annie Evans comes a delightful story of compassion and courage. Aanika, a young African girl meets Little, an orphaned baby elephant living at the sanctuary where her father works. The two grow up together surviving some of the pitfalls of humanity, the loss of family and the threat of poachers. Charming and innovative visuals illustrate perfectly the real possibility of adopting new family and finding beautiful peace in the most unexpected of ways.
After working together for 15 years on Sesame Street, playwright Annie Evans married Martin P. Robinson, who plays the elephant-like character Mr. Snuffleupagus and designed all the puppets for this production. When she’s not wearing the director’s hat for Aanika’s Elephants, Pam Arciero has been a principal puppeteer on Sesame Street for more than 30 years, performing numerous characters, most notably the trash- and Oscar-loving Grundgetta Grouch.
The House by the Lake Credit: Nir Shaani
The House by the Lake
Yael Rasooly
Israel
MCA Chicago, 205 E. Pearson St., downtown Chicago
Friday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 18 at 8 p.m.;
Sunday, January 19 at 1 p.m.
60 minutes
15 and up
Tickets: $40-$48
yael-rasooly.com
Awaiting their mother's return, three sisters in World War II distract themselves as they hide in a tiny, cold room working to preserve a semblance of the life they once knew. While reality is falling apart, their bodies come together from pieces of broken dolls – and memories.
A fantastically absurd world full of humor, but not skirting the seriousness of the situation, The House by the Lake swings expertly between musical cabaret and contemporary puppetry, exploring a world of stolen childhoods, life and family torn apart. But even in the face of the darkest of nightmares, the power of imagination and creation cannot be silenced.
Nasty, Brutish & Short Credit: Richard Termine
Nasty, Brutish & Short
Rough House Theatre Co. and Links Hall
Chicago/International
Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Ave., Roscoe Village/Avondale Thursday, January 16, Saturday, January 18, Thursday, January 23, and Saturday, January 25 at 10:30 p.m. *Update: Thursday nights replaced the Friday night shows originally announced in October
60 minutes
16 and up
Tickets: $15-$20
roughhousetheater.com/nbs
Hit the Chicago Puppet Fest fan-favorite late night shows, where raucous, raunchy, dark, sassy, sad and mostly hilarious puppet theater plays to supportive, sold out houses. The best part? Fancy international out-of-town puppet artists will join cabaret host Jameson, his somewhat furry friends, plus legendary Chicago puppeteers for a wild night of puppet revelry and fellowship followed by friendly unwinding. All four Nasty, Brutish & Short cabarets will also be streamed live. Check website for details.
Mattti Katha Credit Abhisar Bose
Maati Katha (Earth Stories)
Tram Arts Trust
India
Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Ave., Roscoe Village/Avondale
Tuesday, January 21, 6 p.m.; Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
65 minutes
12 and up
Tickets: $15-$20
tramarts.org
Real time sculpting meets puppetry and storytelling as the Festival’s first Indian performance company brings audiences new cultural perspectives and with an innovative use of clay inspired by traditional doll craft. Maati Katha (Earth Stories) is set In the dangerous and magical land of Sunderbans, a vast forested delta of rivers and islands between West Bengal (eastern India) and Bangladesh. In this region of extreme ecological and environmental vulnerability, life is a fragile balance between land and water, forest and field, domestic and wild, human and human, human and non-human, calm and storm, each encroaching upon the other’s space.
Regional legends and everyday aspects of Sunderban life are depicted by the traditional and contemporary doll-makers of Sunderban. Maati Katha brings their dolls – originally used for worship, child’s play and display – into the theater for the first time, combining Indian art and craft traditions with contemporary object and material theater practices. Shape-shifting ‘maati’ – soil, earth, clay, land, mud – not only form the dolls, but define the land, the grounds and the philosophy of the region.
Arctic Tall Tales, La ruée vers l'or, Canada Credit: Louis-Martin LeBlanc
Arctic Tall Tales
La ruée vers l'or
Canada
The Biograph's Začek-McVay Mainstage, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincoln Park
Tuesday, January 21 at 8 p.m.; Wednesday, January 22 at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
85 minutes
10 and up=
Tickets: $35-$43
annelalancette.com/larueeverslor
In the mid-1900s only a handful of intrepid hunters and adventurers remain scattered across Greenland’s northeast coast. Inspired by writings from Jørn Riel’s scientific expedition in the 1950s and 1960s and the subsequent, celebrated graphic novels created 2009-2018 by Frenchman Hervé Tanquerelle, Arctic Tall Tales brings tales of adventure, independence, isolation and nature. It’s not easy to keep a cool head in the harsh conditions, and yet, the vast wilderness, the majestic snow-covered expanse and the unlikely fates of trusty comrades leave us asking: are they truths, lies or myths? Regardless, together they are larger than life, with puppetry, storytelling, and a live Foley artist generating sound effects in real time. The effect is a universe both uproarious and poetic.
J.M. Coatzee's Live and Times of Michael K
J. M. Coetzee’s Life & Times of Michael K
Based on J.M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name
A Baxter Theatre Centre and Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus production Adapted and directed by Lara Foot In collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company
Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave., downtown Chicago
Wednesday, January 22 at 7 p.m.; Friday, January 24 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, January 26 at 3 p.m.
115 minutes
12 and up
Tickets: $40-$48
pemberleyproductions.com/michaelk
In this hauntingly beautiful transformation of Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee's Booker Prize-winning novel, a humble man finds solace in nature as he takes an epic journey through a mythical, war-torn landscape. In search of his mother’s ancestral home, he finds strength in his own humanity and a profound connection to the earth.
Handspring Puppet Company, who stunned us with War Horse and stole our hearts with Little Amal, joins Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre to transform J.M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel into exquisite puppet theater. Don’t miss the standout hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Galway International Arts Festival, and a New York Times Critics Pick hailed “a marvel to behold…a radical artistic gesture…captivating and transportive.”
Kayfabe, Josh Rice Projects, New York City Credit: Richard Termine
Kayfabe
Josh Rice Projects
New York City
The Chopin Theatre Mainstage, 1543 W. Division St., Wicker Park
Thursday, January 23 at 5 p.m.; Friday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.
70 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $35-$43
joshriceprojects.com
Jump in the ring for this puppet wrestling entertainment spectacular! Puppetry meets pro wrestling, meets rock show; high art meets low art meets Samuel Beckett! A frenetic frenzy slash absurdist love letter combines Bunraku-style table-top puppetry, cart puppetry, live-feed projection (instant replay) & object performance, as well as the wrestling tropes of matches, monologues, music and video.
Josh Rice is a multidisciplinary theater artist in New York specializing in puppetry and improvisation. Kayfabe, his absurdist love letter to professional wrestling through puppetry, was the recipient of a 2024 Jim Henson Foundation Production Grant.
Vanessa Valliere Credit: Joe Mazza brave-lux
LOOK! LOOK!
Vanessa Valliere
Chicago
Little Studio, Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave., 7th Floor, downtown Chicago
Thursday, January 23 at 5:30 p.m; Friday, January 24 at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
60 minutes
Ages 14+
Tickets: $15-$20
vanessavalliere.com
An eager-to-please Deborah tries – and fails – to meet the high standards of her exceptionally strict doll/playmate who she worships. Next, Barbara, ever fixated on her personal development, attends a self help seminar in hopes of becoming her best self. And when June evokes lonesome passages from her diary, audiences watch a full life in fast forward, a manifestation of a hope June never knew she had.
These three women are at the heart of LOOK! LOOK!, a work-in-progress told in three vignettes created and performed by Chicago favorite Vanessa Valliere with the support of her longtime collaborator Lindsey Noel Whiting. It’s a must-see celebration of the gross and beautiful, the sweet and creepy, the euphemistic and earnest and, most importantly, the weirdos.
Skeleton Canoe
By Ty Defoe
an All My Relations Collaboration
New York City
The Biograph's Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincoln Park
Thursday, January 23 at 6 p.m.; Friday, January 24 at 6 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 2 p.m.; Sunday, January 26 at 4 p.m.
50 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $25-$33
Note: The Great Lakes Lifeways Institute will offer free birch bark carving workshops two hours before three of the four performances: Friday, January 24 at 4 p.m., Saturday, January 25 at 12 p.m. (noon), and Sunday, January 26 at 2 p.m.
allmyrelations.earth/collective
*I caught a workshop version of Skeleton Canoe two years ago as part of the Chicago Puppet Festival, and I'm eager to see the finished piece. Defoe will take the now-finished puppet play on a national tour after this Chicago run.
Young Nawbin leaves home and sets out on a rite of passage. They journey along the water to discover their truth and find a way back to reconnect to themselves and ancestral knowledge. Along the way they discover unexpected friends, weather storms, and gain a canoe! Through the use of puppetry, traditional Anishinaabe lifeways, and multimedia design, Skeleton Canoe makes known what is just below the water’s surface.
Skeleton Canoe marks the Chicago return of Ty Defoe, a Grammy-winning writer, actor and interdisciplinary artist of the Oneida and Ojibwe Nations of Wisconsin, who wrote and co-created Ajijaak on Turtle Island, the festival’s unforgettable opening production in 2019.
Edith and Me, Yael Rasooly, Israel, Credit: Kristin Aafløy Opdan
Edith and Me
Yael Rasooly
Israel
The Biograph's Začek-McVay Mainstage, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Lincoln Park
Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 8 p.m.
60 minutes
15 and up
Tickets: $35-$43
yael-rasooly.com
Based on a true story, Israeli vocalist, actress, puppeteer and director Yael Rasooly brings her virtuosic vocals and puppetry to share the struggle of a singer nearly silenced at the hands of political leaders, immobilized, and perhaps never to perform again. Yet she is not alone – the famous singer icon Edith Piaf is there to drag her out of bed and pull her back into life.
Edith and Me is a one woman show doubling the power of French cabaret. Revel in the virtuosic talents of two exceptional, classically-trained, wildly entertaining artists: the world-celebrated Rasooly, with the incomparable accordionist, Iliya Magalnyk, originally from Moldova.
Organismo, Maraña, Chile/Germany, Credit: Pablo Hassmann
Organismo
Maraña
Chile/Germany
Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave., downtown Chicago
Thursday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 24 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 4 p.m.
60 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $15-$35
maranaperformance.com
Berlin's cutting-edge collective Maraña brings their celebrated kaleidoscope aerial arts piece, combining art installation, contemporary circus, object theater, textile arts, live music -- and lots and lots of wool. A trust-filled performance of connectedness and obsessive organic magic, where the division between object and body become indistinguishable, teems in a massive, hand-knit visual feast.
Maraña is an interdisciplinary performance company founded in Berlin in 2018 by international artists, known for its immersive wool art installations created by Chilean artistic director Paula Riquelme.
Birdheart, Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane, New York City Credit: Jill Steinberg
Birdheart
Julian Crouch and Saskia Lane
New York City
Instituto Cervantes of Chicago, 31 W. Ohio St., River North
Friday, January 24 at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday, January 26 at 6 p.m.
80 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $25-$33
juliancrouch.com
Brown paper and a box of sand transform into an intimately, stunning chamber piece of animated theater. A show about transformation, loneliness, and the urge to fly, Birdheart holds a hand-mirror up to humanity and offers it a chair. Through a series of fragile images built in front of the audiences' eyes, here is something achingly beautiful from the humblest of beginnings. Half live music performance, half puppet show, Birdheart opens with a set of bird-themed songs led by extraordinary musician, Philip Roebuck. Singing along is encouraged!
Untold, UnterWasser, Italy, Credit: Elisa Vettori
Untold
UnterWasser
Italy
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, East Theater, UChicago 915 E. 60th St., Hyde Park
Friday, January 24 at 5 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 1 p.m.; Sunday, January 26 at 1 p.m.
50 minutes
16 and up
Tickets: $35-$43
unterwassertheatre.com/works/untold
Three transparent blocks. Three women crouched inside them. It’s dark. The light goes on. A jumble of threads materializes inside the blocks. Thus begins Untold.
Untold shares a meticulous melding of shadow puppetry, original soundtrack, and illusion to reveal artifice and clues. Images demand the limelight and messages push to the surface in this striking piece of poetic reflection with remarkable technical detail counterpointing the solitude of interior life against a metropolis bustling with crowds and chaos. The visual theater language melds with an original soundtrack, an integral part of the play. Italy’s Gli Stati General said it best: “Valeria Bianchi, Aurora Buzzetti and Giulia De Canio show how high-level theater can be done with shadows.“
The Scarecrow, Anthony Michael Stokes, Texas, Credit: Richard Termine
The Scarecrow
Anthony Michael Stokes
Texas
The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th St., Hyde Park
Friday, January 24 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, January 25 at 5 p.m.; Sunday, January 26 at 2 p.m.
50 minutes
14 and up
Tickets: $25-$35
anthonymichaelstokes.com/kesstokreatures
The Scarecrow is a fabulous mash-up of musical, muppets and the story of The Wizard of Oz by Texas puppeteer Anthony Michael Stokes, who is soon relocating to Chicago. His work captivates audiences, provokes thought and inspires change through innovative puppetry, powerful storytelling, and culturally relevant music.
Fascinated by how he came to be hanging in a field, the Scarecrow follows a journey back home learning who he was and discovering who he must be. Joined by new companions – the Wogglebug, Sawhorse, the Patchwork girl, and a perpetually puckish crow – his journey leads to discoveries and connections between Oz and the African-American experience in the U.S. in the early 1900s. Meanwhile, the Scarecrow realizes his true purpose and the impact he can make in the world.
The Midnight Show
Poncili Creación
Puerto Rico
Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Ave., Roscoe Village/Avondale
Saturday, January 25, 12 p.m. (midnight)
45 minutes
Adults only
Tickets $15-$20
See what happens when Puerto Rican punk-DIY performers Pablo and Efrain Del Hierro, identical twin brothers, let loose and challenge institutional norms for making theater. You won’t believe your eyes. Adults only.
Free Neighborhood Tour
January 15-26
All ages
Free
The Chicago Puppet Festival Free Neighborhood Tour is back bigger, better and twice as nice as before. This year, a festival “first”: two different family-friendly puppet shows will travel to venues around the city, offering more than a dozen free performances at venues large and small. Catch one show, or both…they’re free!
The Amazing Story Machine
Sandglass Theatre Company and Doppelskope
Vermont
45 minutes
All ages
sandglasstheater.org
Thursday, January 16 at 4:30 p.m.
Austin Town Hall Cultural Center, 5610 W. Lake St. (Austin)
Friday, January 17 at 4:30 p.m.
Marshall Field Garden Apartments/Art on Sedgwick, 1408 N. Sedgwick St. (Old Town)
Sunday, January 19 at 2 p.m.
345 Gallery, 345 N. Kedzie Ave. (Garfield Park)
Wednesday, January 22 at 6 p.m.
Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St. (Lakeview)
Thursday, January 23 at 7 p.m.
eta Creative Arts Foundation, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. (Grand Crossing)
Friday, January 24 at 5 p.m.
Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. (Hyde Park)
Saturday, January 26 at 10 am + 2 p.m.
Berger Park Cultural Center – Coach House, 6205 N. Sheridan Rd. (Edgewater)
Sunday, January 26 at 2 p.m.
South Shore Cultural Center Paul Robeson Theater, 7059 S. South Shore Dr. (South Shore)
The Grimm family is on the verge of unveiling The Amazing Story Machine, which runs on steam and dreams, and promises to revolutionize how stories are told. When the contraption malfunctions, they have to invent a way to tell stories on the spot. With help from the audience and a cast of unique puppet characters created by Vermont’s Sandglass Theatre Company, fairy tales like “The Hare and the Hedgehog,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “The Brave Little Tailor” spring to life with a range of charming of puppetry styles and characters, and live, original music.
Hungry Garden
Poncili Creación
Puerto Rico
45 minutes
All ages
Instagram.com/poncilicreacion
Wednesday, January 22 at 6 p.m.
Theatre Y, 3611 W. Cermak Rd. (North Lawndale)
Thursday, January 23 at 10:30 a.m. + 7 p.m.
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts , 915 E. 60th St. (Hyde Park)
Friday, January 24 at 4:30 p.m.
Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, 4046 W. Armitage Ave. (Hermosa)
Saturday, January 25 at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., GAR Hall & Rotunda 2nd Floor/North (Loop)
Boundless energy, surrealist puppets and controlled madness unite as brothers Pablo and Efrain Del Hierro, identical twins, though differentiated by their distinctly aggressive haircuts, spontaneously infuse inanimate objects with life. Drawing on tribal symbols such as masks and totems, they evoke ancient forms of storytelling as they travel the world with their surreal, crowd-pleasing performances. Hungry Garden brings ”creation and chaotic tranquility,” living up to the idea that the brothers say spawned their name, Poncili Creación.
Narcissister
Narcissister LIVE!
Closing Party
Rhapsody Theater, 1328 W. Morse Ave., Rogers Park
Sunday, January 26, 6 p.m.
Tickets: $35-$2,000
narcissister.com
The festival’s closing night fundraiser stars Narcissister, a New York artist known for her wild, spectacle rich approach to explorations of gender, racial identity and burlesque. Humor, pop songs, elaborate costumes, contemporary dance and her trademark mask are her tools. The show will be emceed by Chicago's own Kasey Foster. Adult audiences only.
Lessons in Puppetry by Myra Su, a free exhibit at The Puppet Hub
Puppetry Under the Sea, featuring puppets designed by the Chicago Puppet Studio for Drury Lane Theatre’s The Little Mermaid, a free exhibit at The Puppet Hub
The Puppet Hub
Fine Arts Building 410 S. Michigan Ave., 4th floor, Studio 433
FREE
All ages
Hours:
Thursday, January 16, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Friday, January 17, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Saturday, January 18, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sunday, January 19, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
Closed Monday, January 20
Tuesday, January 21, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Wednesday January 22, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Thursday, January 23, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Friday, January 24, 9 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 25, 9 a.m.-7:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 26, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
*Drury Lane Theatre’s The Little Mermaid was one of our favorite shows in a holiday season packed with excellent offerings. It was my great pleasure to catch it on opening night. Aside from adoring Sawyer Smith's epic Ursula, we were gobsmacked by the stellar puppets designed by the Chicago Puppet Studio. My son, Dugan (who has a BA in theatre arts from Northwestern), is friends with one of the eel puppeteers. I'm excited to get a closer look at these aquatic creations at the free exhibit, Puppetry Under the Sea.
In addition to the incredible pageant of international and U.S. puppetry artists, The Puppet Hub is back and open throughout the festival on the 4th floor of the Fine Arts Building. It’s the perfect place to relax between shows, get a bite to eat, meet up with friends, make new ones, and learn more about contemporary puppetry.
Attractions include the exhibits Lessons in Puppetry by Myra Su and Puppetry Under the Sea, featuring puppets designed by the Chicago Puppet Studio for Drury Lane Theatre’s The Little Mermaid, the Pop-Up Puppet Shop, and The Spoke & Bird Pop-Up Cafe, serving coffee, tea, winter soups and baked treats.
Potential Energy: Chicago Puppets Up Close
Exhibit presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., Michigan Avenue Galleries
December 21, 2024 - April 6, 2025
Daily, 10 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
All Ages
Chicago is home to a rich and growing ecology of puppet artists whose work bridges disciplines and communities of makers. This sampling of puppets by local artists challenges expectations about puppetry and inspires the public to tell their own stories. Take the rare chance to look closely at sculptural works usually only seen in motion at a distance. Celebrate material and formal invention, trace networks of collaboration, and discover some of the exciting questions and possibilities that are animating Chicago puppet artists today. Potential Energy: Chicago Puppets Up Close is curated by Grace Needlman and Will Bishop, produced by Elise Butterfield and coordinated by Ashwaty Chennat.
Festival funders: 7th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival funders include Chicago Park District Night Out in the Parks Program, Ferdi Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, Jentes Family Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Manaaki Foundation, Marshall Frankel Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Paul Levy, Pritzker Foundation, Reva and David Logan Foundation, Royal Norwegian Consulate General, and Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Individuals include Ginger Farley and Robert Shapiro, Justine Jentes and Dan Karuna, Cheryl Lynn Bruce and Kerry James Marshall, Julie Moller, Kristy and Brandon Moran, Nina and Steven Schroeder, John Supera, David Pritzker and Beatrice Barbareschi, Cheryl Henson, Jordan Shields and Sarah Donovan, and Deb and Andy Wolkstein.
About the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
Originally founded in 2015 as a project of Blair Thomas & Co., the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival has highlighted artists from nations including Belgium, Chile, France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Puerto Rico, Poland and South Africa as well as from Chicago and across the U.S. with the goal of promoting peace, equality, and justice on a global scale.
Already, the Chicago Puppet Festival is the largest of its kind in North America. Last year’s 2024 festival attracted a record 19,868 audience members to dozens of Chicago venues large and small to enjoy an entertaining and eclectic array of puppet styles from around the world.
In 2022, the Festival moved from a biennial to an annual event, and tripled its footprint in Chicago’s historic Fine Arts Building. It opened an expanded office suite, debuted the Chicago Puppet Studio, which designs and fabricates puppets for theaters and events around the U.S., and launched the Chicago Puppet Lab, an education space and developmental residency designed to incubate more works of boundary-breaking puppetry in Chicago, expand equity in the field of puppetry, and encourage interdisciplinary experimentation in puppet theater.
It’s fitting that the Fine Arts Building is home again to one of the most influential puppetry organizations in the world. In 1912, after Ellen Van Volkenburg famously founded the Little Theater of Chicago in the Fine Arts Building, she needed a name for the actors she had trained to manipulate marionettes while performing Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. So she credited them in the show program with a new word, “puppeteer.” Many agree this marked the initial intersection of traditional puppetry with contemporary theater still practiced today, and now flourishing around the world.
Expanded operations are overseen by Artistic Director and Festival Founder Blair Thomas and Executive Director Sandy Smith Gerding, with Cameron Heinz, Business Manager; Ana Diaz Barriga, Marketing Coordinator; Taylor Bibat, Festival Coordinator; Lucy Wirtz, Events and Engagement Coordinator; Zachary Sun, Studio Coordinator; Tom Lee, Co-Director, Chicago Puppet Lab and Studio; Grace Needlman, Co-Director Chicago Puppet Lab; and Caitlin McLeod, Chicago Puppet Studio Project Manager.
For more information, visit chicagopuppetfest.org.
