This section is full of content about the art and craft of puppetry and object theatre—performances created primarily using puppets and objects, rather than the full bodies of actors. A great introduction to the topic is our 2015 Puppetry series curated by Jean Marie Keevins.
The Latest
Video
A Conversation with Basil Twist
TORCHES: 30+ Years of Downtown Performance
Monday 12 January 2026
New York City
Podcast
Autobiographical Performance for Teaching English as a Second Language
by Ash Marinaccio, Baha Sadr, Chris Ackley, Ana Bess Moyer Bell, Eve Kerrigan, Noga Paulino
Bringing together practicing Festival artists with scholars to consider the intersection of puppetry with other disciplines and ideas
Saturday 22 and Saturday 29 January 2022
Chicago, Illinois
The 2022 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival and The School of the Art Institute Chicago presented The Ellen Van Volkenburg Puppetry Symposiumlivestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network on Saturday 22 January and Saturday 29 January 2022.
The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center presented SEGAL TALKS, about curating, producing and presenting theatre and performance in the time of corona with Basil Jones (South Africa), livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network on Wednesday 17 November 2021 at 9 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 11 a.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 12 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 17:00 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 18:00 CET (Berlin, UTC +1).
HERE presented Taylor Talks: Episode 10 with Maiko Kikuchi and Spencer Lott livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 1 June 2021 at 10 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 12 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).
Dramaturgical Thinking and the Mosaic Scale for Puppetry
9 April 2021
Emily LeQuesne discusses space as it relates to puppetry and shares a practical, five-step dramaturgy system for puppet theatre, which she developed, called the Mosaic Scale.
Reviving a Baroque Puppet Tradition / Recupera los títeres de una tradición perdida
8 April 2021
Emilio Williams sits down with Jesús Caballero to talk about the lost puppetry genre called la máquina real and Jesús’s company in Spain that works to reimagine this Baroque art form. / Emilio Williams entabla una conversación con Jesús Caballero sobre un género de teatro de títeres olvidado de nombre la máquina real y los esfuerzos de Jesús y su compañía en España por recuperar esta tradición barroca.
Antonia Napp, Sonja Riehn, Silke Technau, and Stephan Schlafke share learnings about running KOLK 17, a cultural institution in Lübeck, Germany that combines a puppetry theatre company and puppetry museum, and where the goal is to redefine exhibiting the art form.
Sarah Plummer discusses how puppets aid socially engaged groups during protests in three key ways: amplifying tension, creating accessible messaging, and evoking solidarity.
Esther Fernández and Jason Yancey introduce their series, Where Puppets Move, sharing how the 2020 conference “Puppet Theatre: In the Beginning Were Puppets” at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre inspired their questions about reimagined performance spaces.
Priscilla Solis Ybarra reflects on her experience watching Virginia Grise’s a farm for meme at home, during the pandemic, with her eighty-two-year-old mother whose life shares parallels with the story in the play.
A Conversation with Malaysian Theatre Artist Sabera Shaik
17 November 2020
Jennifer Rodrigo sits down in conversation with Sabera Shaik, the artistic director of Malaysia’s Masakini Theatre Company, about the country’s fragmented arts community, shadow theatre, and more.
Bronx based jazz ensemble collaborates with large scale puppet theater amplifying the sounds and stories of our community
Friday 12 June 2020
Bronx NY, USA
Livestreamed BronX BandA featuring Arturo O’Farrill on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 12 June 2020 at at 11 a.m. HST (Honolulu, UTC-10) / 1 p.m. AKDT (Juneau, UTC-8) / 2 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC-7) / 4 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5) / 5 p.m. EDT.
Marina Tsaplina examines the complexity of the word “disability,” how puppetry can push forward disability justice, and disability aesthetics, offering what she deems a “grammar of animacy” for artists working with disability.
presented by New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and Carpetbag Theatre
Sunday 1 December 2019
Knoxville, Tennessee
New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and Carpetbag Theatre presented the National Theater Project (NTP) Appalachia Regional Convening livestreamed from Knoxville, Tenessee on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Sunday 1 December 2019.
Caroline Reck, artistic director of Glass Half Full Theatre in Austin, Texas, talks about how her company uses clown and object theatre to engage people in the battle against climate change.
Ethos and The VORTEX presented a performance of :HUMPTY livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Friday 27 September 2019 at 9 p.m. EDT (New York) / 8 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 6 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles).
Marco Novelo explores the little-known history of theatre for young audiences in Mexico. / Marco Novelo explora una historia poco conocida del teatro para niños en México.
Dominick DeGaetano takes us to Tbilisi, Georgia’s beloved marionette theatre, the Gabriadze, which was built and runs on the vision of single man, eighty-two-year-old Rezo Gabriadze.
Sandglass Theater presents events from the Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival in Vermont livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Friday 21 September to Sunday 23 September.
The VORTEX and Ethos in Austin, Texas presented Atlantis: A Puppet Opera—a new production of Chad Salvata’s epic story of the final days of Atlantis, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Friday 14 September at 9 p.m. EDT (New York) / 8 p.m. CDT(Chicago) / 6 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles).
