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  • Featured

    Wakka Wakka: Dead as a Dodo

    Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    Infused with puppetry, humor, and stunningly innovative visual effects, Dead as a Dodo is a mesmerizing musical odyssey about survival, transformation, and the power of true friendship.

    $40 – $48
  • Featured

    Opening Night Prelude Reception

    Fine Arts Building, 3rd Floor Balcony in the Studebaker Theater 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    Join top supporters, festival leadership, staff and artistic directors from this year’s international companies to toast the opening of the 8th edition of the festival.

    $125 – $250
  • Featured

    Opening Night Post Show Party

    Fine Arts Building, Curtiss Hall, 10th Floor 410 S. Michigan Ave. 10th Floor, Chicago, IL, United States

    Celebrate opening night with the artists who have come to Chicago to share their astonishing and delightful acts for the next 12 days of the festival.

    $75

  • Alva Puppet Theater: The Harlem Doll Palace

    Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Theater East, UChicago 915 E. 60th St., Chicago

    Welcome to The Harlem Doll Palace, based on the true story of Lenon Holder Hoyt, better known as Aunt Len, a public school art teacher for 40 years who created a doll museum in her Harlem brownstone.

    $35 – $43
  • Featured

    Plexus Polaire: A Doll’s House

    DePaul's Merle Reskin Theatre 60 E. Balboa Dr., Chicago, IL

    A Doll’s House brings together puppets, actors, music and video projections in this eerie retelling of Henrik Ibsen’s 1879 play, one of the great Nordic classics.

    $40 – $48
  • Featured

    Manual Cinema: The 4th Witch

    The Biograph's Začek McVay Theater Mainstage 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    A new and fantastic tale from Chicago’s Manual Cinema, inspired by elements of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, in which a girl escapes war and flees into a dark forest.

    $40 – $48

  • KT Shivak: Rhynoceron

    Chopin Theatre Mainstage 1543 W. Division St., Chicago, IL, United States

    A Chicago premiere, Rhynoceron traces the true events surrounding the arrival of a one-horned rhinoceros to Renaissance Europe, sparking an obsession that continued for hundreds of years.

    $35 – $43

  • Laura Heit: The Matchbox Shows

    Constellation 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL

    Miniature raconteur and sequined pyro Laura Heit performs teeny tiny puppet shows inside matchboxes. “The smallest, greatest, bravest, show in the world!”

    $20 – $25

  • Free Neighborhood Tour with Tian Gombau

    Various Locations Chicago, IL, United States

    The Puppet Festival’s annual Free Neighborhood Tour brings free, family-friendly performances to locations outside of Chicago’s theaters to foster an appreciation for puppetry throughout the city.

    Free

  • Free Neighborhood Tour with Alex and Olmsted

    Various Locations Chicago, IL, United States

    The Puppet Festival’s annual Free Neighborhood Tour brings free, family-friendly performances to locations outside of Chicago’s theaters to foster an appreciation for puppetry throughout the city.

    Free

  • The Puppet Hub

    Chicago Puppet Studio, Fine Arts Building, Studio 433 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    The Puppet Hub is 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.

    Free

  • Workshops with Festival Artists

    Fine Arts Building Little Studio, 7th Floor 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    Register for hands-on workshops led by visiting festival artists. Each of these workshops is a 3 hour, free standing event. All workshops take place in the festival’s education space in the Fine Arts Building.

    TBC

  • Exhibitions: Two Ways Down by Laura Heit + Giant Puppet Lanterns with Andrew Kim

    Chicago Puppet Studio, Fine Arts Building, Studio 433 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    A showcase of visiting festival artist Laura Heit’s exquisite hand-drawn animation and film "Two Ways Down" and a Giant Puppet Lanterns exhibition created in the pre-festival workshop with Andrew Kim of Thingamugig.

    Free

  • Nasty, Brutish & Short: Wknd 1

    Constellation 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL

    Hit the Puppet Fest’s fan-favorite late night shows, where raucous, raunchy, dark, sassy, sad and mostly hilarious puppet theater plays to supportive, sold out houses.

    $15 – $20

  • Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium Session 1 – The Labor of Gratitude

    Fine Arts Building Little Studio, 7th Floor 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    Moderator:
    Paulette Richards

    Panelists:
    Drew Dir and Julia Miller (The 4th Witch)
    Ashe Winkfield and Alva Rodgers (Harlem Doll Palace)
    Laura Heit (The Matchbox Shows

    Free

  • Laura Heit Short Films

    Music Box Theatre 3733 N Southport Ave., Chicago, IL

    Laura Heit presents her short film work spanning two decades. This program showcases numerous animation techniques including drawing, stop-motion, and puppetry.

    $15 – $20

  • Book Talks with Alissa Mello, Mark Down, Dr. Dassia Posner & Claudia Orenstein

    Fine Arts Building Little Studio, 7th Floor 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    This year’s free Book Talks series presents three moderated discussions with leading national puppet scholars, discussing books and topics including race, gender and disability in puppetry.

    Free

  • Blind Summit: The Sex Lives of Puppets

    The Biograph's Začek McVay Theater Mainstage 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    The Sex Lives of Puppets pulls back the covers on puppet sex in contemporary Britain: filthy, funny, shocking and touching…lots of touching.

    $40 – $48

  • Plexus Polaire: Trust Me for a While

    Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts, Performance Hall 915 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL, United States

    Trust me for a while is a ventriloquist show gone off the rails. A horror comedy with dark humor, putting an end to depressing contemporary meta-theatre and crappy puppeteers.

    $35 – $43
  • Featured

    The Roald Dahl Story Company: The Enormous Crocodile

    Studebaker Theater at the Fine Arts Building 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    This mischievous musical based on Roald Dahl’s snappy book has toe-tapping tunes by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab, a rib-tickling book and lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra, and additional music and lyrics by Tom Brady.

    $32 – $48

  • Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust: About Ram

    Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    About Ram is an experimental theatrical piece using excerpts from the Bhavbhuti’s “Ramayana” told through animation, digitally projected dance, masks and puppets.

    $15 – $35

  • Sofie Krog Theatre: The House

    Steppenwolf’s Merle Reskin Space 1624 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL

    The House is a puppet comedy thriller for teens and adults that tells the story of the Warehouse Family Funeral Home. On her deathbed, the undertaker changes her last will and testament, a secret begins to unravel and an evil plan is formed.

    $35 – $43
  • Featured

    Untitled Theatre Company No. 61 and Yara Arts Group: The Left Hand of Darkness

    Northwestern University’s Wirtz Center Chicago Abbott Hall 710 N. Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL

    The Left Hand of Darkness is a new work based on the 1969 novel by famed sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin, wherein a lone human emissary to an alien world tries to facilitate inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization.

    $30 – $35

  • Geumhyung Jeong: Oil Pressure Vibrator

    Chopin Theatre Mainstage 1543 W. Division St., Chicago, IL, United States

    In Oil Pressure Vibrator, Geumhyung Jeong breaks into the complexities of sexuality. Her quest is narrated live (with English subtitles), interwoven with performance, documentary film and genre-defying video work.

    $35 – $43

  • Nasty, Brutish & Short: Wknd 2

    Constellation 3111 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL

    Hit the Puppet Fest’s fan-favorite late night shows, where raucous, raunchy, dark, sassy, sad and mostly hilarious puppet theater plays to supportive, sold out houses.

    $15 – $20

  • Volkenburg Puppetry Symposium Session 4 – The Art of Asking

    Fine Arts Building Little Studio, 7th Floor 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    Moderator:
    Paulette Richards

    Panelists:
    Anurupa Roy (About Ram)
    Geumhyung Jeong (Oil Pressure Vibrator)
    Tom Lee and Edward Einhorn (The Left Hand of Darkness)

    Free
  • Featured

    Closing Cabaret

    The Rhapsody Theater 1328 W. Morse Ave., Chicago, IL, United States

    Festival favorite Joshua Holden and his right-hand man, the charmingly misanthropic Mr. Nicholas, co-emcee this final must-see evening of wildly unforgettable puppetry featuring Blair Thomas, Silas Thomas, Mark Down, and more.

    Various Levels