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Puppetry and Object Theatre

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

Dark & Delicious
Video
Dark & Delicious
A Safe Havens Freedom Talk
Thursday 28 March 2024
The Ellen Van Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium
Video
The Ellen Van Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium
Bringing together practicing festival artists with scholars to consider the intersection of puppetry with other disciplines and ideas.
Sunday 28 January 2024
United States
Global Puppetry in the United States
Video
Global Puppetry in the United States
A Presentation of Excerpts from Chinese Theatre Works (New York) and US Karagöz Theatre Company (Washington)
Monday 30 October 2023
New York City
Performance of The God Projekt by Lone Wolf Tribe
Video

Performance of The God Projekt by Lone Wolf Tribe

Sunday 9 October 2016
New York, NY, United States

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York City presented a performance of The God Projekt by Lone Wolf Tribe livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Sunday 9 October at 4pm EDT (New York) / 20:00 UTC / 9pm BST (London) / 22:00 CEST (Berlin) / 1pm PDT (Los Angeles). On Twitter, follow @LaMaMaETC@HowlRoundTV and use #howlround.

Performance of Atlantis: A Puppet Opera
Video

Performance of Atlantis: A Puppet Opera

Friday 16 September 2016
Austin, TX, United States

Ethos and The VORTEX in Austin, Texas presented Atlantis: A Puppet Opera—a mythic tale of powerful warring religious zealots who are obsessed with world domination and non-renewable energy, livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Friday 16 September at 9 p.m. EDT (New York) / 8 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 6 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles). Share your thoughts on Twitter and Instagram with #howlround.

Stretching the Canvas in Ethan Lipton’s Tumacho
Essay

Stretching the Canvas in Ethan Lipton’s Tumacho

6 September 2016

Ethan Lipton discusses making music, making theatre, and combining the two in his full-length play-with-music Tumacho at Clubbed Thumb.

The Brutal Made Beautiful
Essay

The Brutal Made Beautiful

Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed

25 August 2016

David Bruin on the world premiere of Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed, futurist puppet plays by Fortunato Depero, translated, designed, and directed by Dan Hurlin at Bard SummerScape.

The Language of Objects
Essay

The Language of Objects

A Puppeteer in Five Acts

25 July 2016

In this installment of La Esquinita, puppeteer Stephanie Diaz shares her journey to puppetry and discusses her creative process.

Shared Vocabulary and Puppetry in Ramesh Meyyappan’s Butterfly
Essay

Shared Vocabulary and Puppetry in Ramesh Meyyappan’s Butterfly

21 June 2016

Ramesh Meyyappan and Gavin Glover discuss their wordless adaptation of Madame Butterfly, replete with kites and puppets, and their hopes for hyphenate theatremakers.

A New Hope for Wayang Kulit
Essay

A New Hope for Wayang Kulit

Peperangan Bintang Re-Awakens Tradition

9 May 2016

Jenna Gerdsen on a reinvention of wayang kulit—the ancient Southeast Asian puppet theatre form.

Staging The Glass Menagerie with Puppets
Essay

Staging The Glass Menagerie with Puppets

15 March 2016

Eric Bass discusses the dramaturgy of puppetry in a production of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie in Germany.

Puppets and Politics in South Africa
Essay

Puppets and Politics in South Africa

29 January 2016

Josh Williams discusses the Barrydale Reconciliation Day Puppet Parade and its socio-political impact in contemporary South Africa.

How to Tour Theatre Like a Punk Band
Essay

How to Tour Theatre Like a Punk Band

28 September 2015

Eli Keel discusses Rough House Theater and their strategies for touring their work like a punk band.

Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival
Video

Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival

Saturday 12 September 2015
Putney, VT, United States

Sandglass Theater in Putney, Vermont, USA presents six conversations from the Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival livestreaming on the commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Saturday, September 12 to Sunday, September 20. In Twitter, use #howlround and follow @howlroundtv.

One Thirty-Second of an Inch to the Left
Essay

One Thirty-Second of an Inch to the Left

A Measured Look at Puppet Building

3 September 2015

Puppet builder Matthew Laird discusses the joys and challenges of crafting puppets for live performance.

Puppetry
Essay

Puppetry

Theatre or Television

2 September 2015

Pam Arciero, Oscar the Grouch's girlfriend Grundgetta Grouch, considers the differences between being a puppeteer on television and on stage.

Puppetry for the Modern Shaman
Essay

Puppetry for the Modern Shaman

1 September 2015

Puppeteer James Godwin explores the philosophical and spiritual implications of puppetry.

Why Puppetry? Musings of a Solo Puppet Artist
Essay

Why Puppetry? Musings of a Solo Puppet Artist

31 August 2015

Solo puppet artist Marsian De Lellis discusses their inspiration and process for creating object/puppet theatre.

Puppetry, the Insular Art That Takes a Village
Essay

Puppetry, the Insular Art That Takes a Village

30 August 2015

Puppeteer Jean Marie Keevins reports on 2015 National Puppetry Conference and the Puppeteers of America National Puppetry Festival.

a puppet
Special Work in Progress Showing of The Return by Puppeteer Tom Lee 
Video

Special Work in Progress Showing of The Return by Puppeteer Tom Lee 

Tuesday 9 December / Wednesday, 10 December
New York, NY, United States

CultureHub SeoulArts/La MaMa presented a special work in progress showing of The Return by puppeteer Tom Lee in collaboration with the Seoul Institute of the Arts and Sarah Lawrence College livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 9 December at 5:30 p.m. PST (Los Angeles) / 7:30 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 8:30 p.m. EST (New York) / Wednesday, December 10 at 1:30am GMT (London) / Wednesday, December at 10:30 a.m KST (Seoul). In Twitter, use #howlround to share this event.

Puppetry from the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center.
When the Puppets Come to Town
Essay

When the Puppets Come to Town

3 June 2014

The O’Neill’s motto is “Risk, Fail, Risk Again” for goodness sake. Puppeteers at all levels, novice to advanced, are able to grow within themselves while focusing on strengthening their work. And, as word has spread about the magic of the O’Neill, the mystique of the O’Neill in puppetry circles has died down, and our family has grown. To this I say, "hell yeah".

The Myths of Puppet Theater
Essay

The Myths of Puppet Theater

14 May 2014

Eric Bass provides insight into the art of puppet theatre. 

Exemplary Youth Theater in Albany Park Theatre Project’s God’s Work
Essay

Exemplary Youth Theater in Albany Park Theatre Project’s God’s Work

6 May 2014

Dani Snyder-Young writes about the Chicago-based Albany Park Theatre Project, a youth theatre ensemble. She reviews APTP's 2014 remounted production of God's Work, at the Goodman Theatre.

Photo from Winter Pageant.
Winter Pageant at Redmoon
Essay

Winter Pageant at Redmoon

23 January 2014

Dani Snyder-Young writes about Winter Pageant, a collaborative spectacle piece created by the (now closed) Redmoom in Chicago.

Cave painting of a lion.
Other Worlds Bleed Through
Essay

Other Worlds Bleed Through

31 July 2013

While examining the Paleolithic period, Eric Coble investigates the power of fluidity and permeability in theatre.

A photo from The Daisy Theatre.
A Stunning Bouquet
Essay

A Stunning Bouquet

Ronnie Burkett's The Daisy Theatre

18 July 2013

Matt McGreachy writes about Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes’s production of The Daisy Theatre at the Luminato Festival in Toronto.

A woman in a shopping cart holding a mannequin head.
The Austin Puppet Revolution
Essay

The Austin Puppet Revolution

17 April 2013

Caroline Reck reminds us that puppetry is originally for adults through her company’s commitment to it. With that, it has caused a renewal of theatrics tools in Austin, TX.

Three performers control a puppet of a man.
A Perverted Guide to Watching Under the Radar
Essay

A Perverted Guide to Watching Under the Radar

3 January 2012

Meiyin Wang contrasts Electricity, Originality, and Authenticity in the context of the 2012 Under the Radar Festival, and how selected productions challenge these concepts.