Chicago Puppet Studio
Chicago Puppet Studio
The Chicago Puppet Studio is the design and manufacturing arm of The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, creating original puppetry designs for a wide range of clients nationally and internationally. Under the leadership of co-founders Blair Thomas and Tom Lee, Chicago Puppet Studio artists design, fabricate and implement high quality puppetry for productions in theater, opera, television, film & spectacles. Services include the design and fabrication of puppets, creating puppetry designs that are a unified, essential part of the total design of a production, creating and devising puppetry sequences through storyboards, training actors, performers and puppeteers in puppet manipulation, and directing puppetry in collaboration with artistic teams. Chicago Puppet Studio works in all puppetry styles (including shadow, bunraku-style, marionette, hand and rod, large scale spectacle, miniatures, live feed video) and materials (wood, foam, metal, latex, fabric, thermoplastic, paper mache) to bring clients’ artistic ideas to fruition.
For inquiries, please email: studioprojectmanager@chicagopuppetfest.org
For inquiries, please email: studioprojectmanager@ chicagopuppetfest.org
Recent Projects
2024-25
The Little Mermaid
Drury Lane Theatre, Chicago
Nearly thirty puppets with a variety of mechanisms.
Design, build, and training for Drury Lane Theatre’s production of The Little Mermaid, directed by Scott Weinstein. Chicago Puppet Studio created nearly thirty puppets with a variety of mechanisms, our most complicated being a bunraku style puppet of Ariel and Eric, then Flounder, Flotsam and Jetsam with moving bodies and mouths, Scuttle the seagull with flapping wings and moving mouth, and Sebastian with a hand and rod design. To flesh out the under the sea crowd there were many simple puppets including a stingray, two trumpet fish, a squid, two schools of fish, a sturgeon, two turtles, three simple seagulls, two flamingoes, two firefly clouds, and two lost souls.
Puppet Design: Caitlin McLeod and Zachary Sun
Associate Designer: Tom Lee
Puppet Direction: Tom Lee
2024
See What I Wanna See
Out of the Box Theatrics, New York City
Drama Desk Nomination
Two bunraku style puppets, as well as a collection of shadow puppets including a larger than life dragon head.
Design and creation of original puppets for Out of the Box Theatrics production of See What I Wanna See, directed by Emilio Ramos. Chicago Puppet Studio created two bunraku style puppets, Kisa and Morito, as well as a collection of shadow puppets including a larger than life dragon head.
Puppet Design: Tom Lee
2023-24
Matchbox Magic Flute
Goodman Theatre, Chicago
Design and creation of a dragon puppet for Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of the Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
The puppet needed to flap its wings, have light up eyes, and breathe smoke. Along with the dragon the team also created three animal headpieces for costume designer Ana Kuzmanic; as well as a small prop baby bird with feet that rode in a small buggy.
Puppet Design: Tom Lee
Headpiece design: Ana Kuzmanic
Baby Bird Prop Design: Caitlin McLeod
2023
Little Amal Goes to Sleep
CIPTF Project, Chicago
A large scale public spectacle welcoming Little Amal to Chicago in her trek across the U.S. raising awareness of the plight of refugees during summer 2023.
The 14-foot girl puppet (built by Handspring Puppet Theater) invited collaborators to welcome her and Chicago Puppet Studio did so at scale—conceiving of and designing a new narrative spectacle from the ground up designing the puppets, managing the project build, engaging community partners, directing rehearsals, and ultimately presenting the show in Chicago’s Maggie Daley Park and drawing an audience of ~1800. Chicago Puppet Studio created dozens of spectacle sized puppets replete with native flora, fauna and challenges including deer, fish, rats, stormy weather, passage by boat, urban traffic and more.
The Walk Productions in association with HandSpring Puppet Company
Concept and Production Design: Blair Thomas
Co-directors: Blair Thomas and Jerrell L. Henderson
Puppet Design: Tom Lee
2023
Florencia en el Amazonas
The Metropolitan Opera, New York
Design and fabrication of puppets for Mary Zimmerman’s production of Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas at The Metropolitan Opera.
Chicago Puppet Studio designed animals of the Amazon including life size alligators, pink dolphins, a monkey, iguana and fish for the first Spanish language opera to appear on the Met Opera stage in almost 100 years.
Puppet Design: Tom Lee and Blair Thomas
Puppet Direction & Puppet Captain: Tom Lee
2023
Monkey: A Kung Fu Puppet Parable
Whitesnake Productions, Paramount Theater, Boston
Designed and fabricated objects and stage elements for Boston-based opera company Whitesnake Productions’ Monkey: A Kung Fu Puppet Parable in 2023.
Chicago Puppet Studio designed and fabricated three puppets for this adaptation of the Chinese epic Journey to The West, including Sun Wukong (the Monkey King), Sha (a sand demon) and Zhu ( a gluttonous human trapped in a pig’s body). Directed by Roxanna Myhrum.
Puppet Design: Tom Lee
2022-23
Christmas Carol
Alliance Theatre Atlanta, Atlanta
Designed, build and rehearsal support for Alliance Theater’s production of Christmas Carol premiered in 2022 and subsequently remounted annually in Atlanta.
Creation and rehearsal of the Marley Door, flying Ghost of Christmas past, and other elements, which Chicago Puppet Studio created for the original production.
Puppet Design: Tom Lee
2022
Imagination Circus
The Galaxie, Chicago
Creation of a large-scale elephant for The Galaxie’s (cruelty-free) Imagination Circus production at Chopin Theatre in Chicago.
Puppet Design: Tom Lee
2020
Vancouver
Collaboration with Ma-Yi Theater,
New York
Award-winning puppet film collaboration with Ma-Yi Theater of New York. Chicago Puppet Studio created and executed the production design of this made-for-film puppet theater production from Ralph Peña’s original script.
Three main puppet characters, a dog, fully realized set and props were designed in a process that included storyboarding, sound integration and puppetry. Filmed at the height of the pandemic in rural Wisconsin at Tiny Tempest Farm.
Puppetry Direction: Tom Lee
Production Design: Jaerin Son
Puppet Design: KT Shivak and Mark Blashford
2018-19
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago
Jeff Award Winner
Chicago Puppet Studio completes integrated design and manufacture of numerous puppet and stage elements for Chicago’s celebrated Lookingglass Theatre Company’s production of The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Puppets include the notable large scale baby puppet head among others.
Puppet Design: Tom Lee & Blair Thomas
2019
Pinocchio
House Theatre of Chicago, Chicago
Jeff Award Nominee
Design and creation of original Pinocciho puppet for the House Theatre of Chicago’s production, directed by Chris Mathews. Pinocchio is a complex bunraku style puppet, featuring a growing nose.
Puppet Design: Tom Lee
2016-17
Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth
Lookingglass Theatre Company, Chicago
Jeff Award Winner
Design and creation of original, key puppets in a variety of forms (shadow, bunraku, etc.) for Lookingglass Theatre Company’s full theater production of Mr. and Mrs. Pennyworth including a large-scale wearable boar, as well as wolf, human, and pig puppets.
Puppet Design: Blair Thomas
