Tickets on sale now for next Fest: January 15-26, 2025

January 15-26, 2025

Once Again, Puppetry Takes Center Stage

The 2025 Chicago Puppet Fest will span 12 days and dozens of Chicago venues, presenting  an international pageant of puppet artists sharing more than 100 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. 

Need a Place to Stay?

Use code PUPPETFEST25 for discount at The Warwick Allerton Hotel. Reservations: 312-440-1500

in the heart of winter

Artists from Around the World

The Chicago Puppet Fest is celebrated for consistently excellent and unforgettable puppetry experiences. It is an oasis of fascination and artistry — representing a breadth of style, quality of work and spectacular depth of artistic achievement. This winter, warm up to a wildly diverse range of classic and contemporary puppetry styles from around the world: South Africa, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Scotland, Norway, Puerto Rico, and the U.S.

from the artistic director & founder

Welcome to our 7th Edition!

Blowing in like Chicago’s winter, the Chicago Puppet Festival brings a flurry — of puppets! 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!

Blair Thomas. Photo Saverio Truglia

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More than 100 Events over 12 Days!

2025 FESTIVAL partners

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How it Happens: With Your Support

The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival exists because of the generous donations of our partners and friends. To ensure the future vitality of the Festival, please make a donation online today!

breaking news

Chicago Puppet Festival Launches Online Archive

Whether you are a puppeteer, a scholar, or a fan, you are welcome to immerse yourself in our free archive to gain inspiration, read deeply about puppetry performances, learn new skills, or appreciate a culture that may be different from your own. This archive is helping to redefine the mainstream understanding of puppetry and foster enduring cross-cultural understanding in a pluralistic world.

This project is made possible by generous funding from the Walder Foundation.