Spring 2025 Workshops
Announcing Spring 2025 Puppetry Workshops!
Take a live online workshop from anywhere in the world! Whether you choose a 1-week intensive, or you prefer one to two nights a week over several weeks, these workshops offer a range of puppetry styles including Shadow, Toy Theater, Hand Puppet Techniques and more with expert instruction to create within a fun, communal format. Live work sessions, group sharing and personal feedback combine to make these some of the most enjoyable and productive workshop opportunities available. See below to select your course and register!
early bird + multi-workshop discount
Get 15% off with the Promo Code PUPPETLOVE if you:
1. Register for a workshop at least two weeks before it starts
—or—
2. Register for two or more workshops in one session
Note: Only one discount can be used per workshop.
for teachers
Are you a TEACHER interested in using these workshops as credits toward your Certificate Renewal? We'd love to help make that happen!
Reach out to us at taylor@chicagopuppetfest.org so we can discuss.
Find the Perfect workshop for you!
One Week Online Workshops
Shadow Puppetry I (Level 1)
with Chinese Theatre Works
March 3 – 9, 2025
1 week: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun
7 – 9pm CDT
Cost: $250
Shadow Puppetry 1 (Level 1) is an introduction to the form for the beginning puppeteer. Students will create a desktop shadow theater, build and create basic shadow figures and environments and devise their own short pieces with music or text. An overview of world shadow puppetry traditions is included as well as an introduction to light sources and fabrication. The course makes use of basic materials including home recyclables.
Toy Theater I: A Miniature Universe (Level 1)
with Blair Thomas
March 10 – 16, 2025
1 week: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun
6 – 8pm CDT
Cost: $250
A Miniature Universe: Intro to Toy Theater (Level 1) introduces the technique of conceiving, designing, building and performing a Toy Theater show using found text or original text. Fabrication and Performance experience helpful but not necessary. Participants will complete a short Toy Theater show.
Crankie 1 (Level 1)
with Myra Su
May 5 – 11, 2025
1 week: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun
7 – 9pm CDT
Cost: $250
Crankie 1 (Level 1) serves as an introduction to the crankie from a performative approach. Participants will learn basic construction tips and tricks as well as a cinematic framework to help storyboard and choreograph a crankie piece. We will also touch upon other performative elements that work well with crankies, like shadow puppets and acting in silhouette. The workshop culminates in a sharing of work by the participants.
Multi-Week Online Workshops
150 Hand Puppet Techniques (Level 1)
with Chad Williams
March 3 – April 7, 2025
6 sessions over 6 weeks:
Mondays: 6 – 8pm CDT
Cost: $300
150 Hand Puppet Techniques (Level 1) is great for beginners or puppetry pros! Participants will create their own hand puppets and learn the best techniques and secrets from a hand puppetry expert. Each week we will build, play, learn, and perform! Puppeteer Chad Williams incorporates moves from Chinese Bu Dai Xi, European glove puppetry, and other traditions into his modern style.
Literature of World Puppetry (Level 1)
with Dr. Paulette Richards
March 4 – April 22, 2025
8 sessions over 8 weeks:
Tuesdays: 6:30 – 8pm CDT
Cost: $300
Why do puppets excel at telling the world’s most beloved stories? Puppets can fly. Puppets can swim. They can be enormous or tiny. They can bring animal, mineral, or vegetable as well as human characters to life. This introduction to puppet dramaturgy will explore the enduring magic of staging the world’s literary masterpieces with puppets. Provided texts include The Ramayana, Punch and Judy, The Love Suicides at Amijima, Anansi stories, and more. Chicago Puppet Fest Symposium curator and author of Object Performance in the Black Atlantic, Dr. Paulette Richards, teaches this seminar.
Shadow Puppetry II: Mechanisms (Level 2)
with Linda Wingerter
March 12 – 26, 2025
5 sessions over 3 weeks: Wednesday 3/12; Thursday 3/13; Wednesday 3/19; Thursday 3/20; Wednesday 3/26
7 – 9pm CDT
Cost: $250
Shadow Puppetry 2 (Level 2) focuses on the introduction of different mechanism for shadow puppets beyond the basic jointed puppet. The realization of ideas in shadow puppet form stem from concepts and design.
Toy Theater II (Level 2)
with Blair Thomas
March 18 – 29, 2025
5 sessions over 2 weeks: Tuesday 3/18; Thursday 3/20; Tuesday 3/25; Thursday 3/27; Saturday 3/29
6 – 8pm CDT
Cost: $250
Toy Theater II (Level 2) will be an opportunity for participants to further develop their shows. We will be exploring different ways of articulating and mounting puppets and of enhancing the illusion of depth through stage design and lighting. We will also look at the dramaturgy of the miniature spectacle and isolate the compositional elements of this highly visual theater form as participants prepare for an informal—yet always exciting—showing on the last day.
Please Note:
- Pricing listed below with each workshop.
- Limited scholarships available upon request, BIPOC encouraged to apply. To request email info@chicagopuppetfest.org with a brief statement of interest/need.
Guide to Levels
Level 1 – Introduction of a particular form, through its basic skills and elements. Ideal for all new to puppetry and those looking to refresh their foundational knowledge.
Level 2 – Offering applied foundational skills and techniques for a specific form. Ideal for those who have some experience working in the form.
Level 3 – Instruction of more advanced skills and techniques for emerging and experienced puppeteers.
Level 4 – Instruction supporting the use of puppetry to create or progress a short form work.
Level 5 – Ideal for artists who are expert in their respective artistic field. These offerings frequently have an application and selection process, are by invitation and are designed to take a work in development to the next level.
