Workshops During the Festival
Festival Workshops
Register for hands-on workshops led by visiting festival artists. Workshops are designed for adult professional artists working in any discipline. Everyone welcome. No application required. All workshops during the Festival will be in an education space at the Fine Arts Building's 7th floor Little Studio.
Limited scholarships available upon request, BIPOC encouraged to apply. To request, email info@chicagopuppetfest.org with a brief statement of interest/need. Priority application deadline is January 10th.
discounts
Register for Two Festival Workshops, Get the Third 1/2 off!
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11 Special Workshops with Festival Artists
Thursday, January 16
Plexus Polaire (Dracula: Lucy’s Dream)
The Art of “Chorus-Manipulation”
This workshop will look at how to give life to the puppets through precision of gestures and movements, and how to “write” a theatrical situation through play and improvisations. The participants will work with puppets in three scales brought by the company; human-sized, middle-sized and small puppets as well as objects. The workshop will focus on the relation between actor and puppet, and look at how this relation can be a “dramaturgical key”. Why is it interesting using puppets to tell a story? What can the puppet allow us to express differently than an actor? A central part of the work will be how to combine being an actor and a puppeteer, and “chorus-manipulation”; how a group of actors together can make a theatrical situation and at the same time give life to the puppet.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Friday, January 17
Gildwen Peronno (I Killed the Monster)
Object Theatre, Poetry and Imagination as Playground
What if you came to rub shoulders with the incredible poetry of object theater? Starting with a heap of motley, obsolete objects, we’ll try to discover what lies behind each of them, beyond their utilitarian function: what common memory, what character, what emotion, what personality, what landscape? From there, we’ll do a few “stylistic exercises” with manipulation, writing and acting, and find the keys to making these objects real playmates. Note: This will be a repeat of the workshop, “Object Theatre, Poetry and Imagination as Playground,” taught in Fall 2024.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Saturday, January 18
Alex Bird (Concerned Others)
Miniature Worlds
A three-hour workshop all about the miniature worlds within our own. A chance to play, explore and create using the smallest of things to tackle universal subjects. Come and join Tortoise in a Nutshell’s Co-Director, Alex Bird, and collaborate in a session aimed at discovering the joy and imaginative potential of working with miniatures. A session designed for people with or without experience of working with small-scale design.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Sunday, January 19
Rolling Puppet Alternative Theater (Made in Macau)
Directing Your Own Stories – Puppet and Object Documentary Theatre
Participants will explore the profound connection between objects, memories and personal narratives, and learn the skill of transforming them into a short piece that resonates with authenticity and depth.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Monday, January 20
Yael Rasooly (Edith & Me, House by the Lake)
The Performer, The Object, The Secret in Between
In this short and intense workshop, Yael Rasooly invites participants on a creative journey into the universe of object theatre and solo creation. Participants will explore the dialogue and relationships between the performer/character and “ready-made” objects. They will look for objects that are “loaded” with meaning, either from the use of the object or from its symbolic associations, or objects that contain an emotional load linked to memory and personal history. Exercises and improvisations will be carried out in groups, also touching on the theme of individual creation as a starting point for future development. Above all, the workshop aims to immerse participants in the process of creation itself, providing tools for individual and group work. We will dive together into a space of invention and playfulness, working quickly, with increased sensitivity and insisting on pleasure in the creative process.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Tuesday, January 21
La ruée vers l’or (Arctic Tall Tales)
Create Your Own Tall Tale
In this workshop, participants will create a short tall tale with foam scraps and foley material. Each team will choose a personal story that they are inspired to expand and exaggerate with humour. With only a few foam scraps and foley elements, they will tell their tall tale to the other participants, in the style of the show “Arctic Tall Tales” from the collective La ruée vers l’or.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Wednesday, January 22
Tram Arts Trust (Maati Katha)
Theatre with Objects, Material & General Rubish
Focusing on visual communication at various levels & visual storytelling, this workshop celebrates the most ordinary objects and materials found all around us. The participants will experience how to communicate with objects and materials to create layers of symbolic meaning. This type of theatre is simple, yet deeply poetic, associative and layered. Objects and the Theatre of the Objects carry the playfulness of the child hand-in-hand with the critique and commentary of the adult. Focusing on non-verbal & visual communication / storytelling, the workshop will attempt to bring focus to the power of symbolism, association as well as delve into how ordinary objects & materials can tell extraordinary stories. From an array of objects, materials & general rubbish brought together by everyone in the room, the workshop will focus on communicating ‘themes’ through ordinary object-based images. The attempt will be to work towards evocative, poetic and layered imagery.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Thursday, January 23
Craig Leo (J.M. Coetzee’s Life & Times of Michael K)
LET’S START WITH BREATH
This workshop offers an exciting opportunity to explore the power of breath in puppetry, guided by Craig Leo and puppeteers from The Life and Times of Michael K. It draws on the foundational principles of puppetry that are central to the work of the Handspring Puppet Company. The focus of the session will be on how breath can transform characters by creating an emotional experience that goes beyond simply mechanical movement. The workshop will guide participants through a focused exploration of using breath as a central tool for storytelling. Breath, as a powerful and essential signifier for life, has the ability to infuse puppets with vitality, making them more authentic and connected to emotional expression. Through this process, participants will learn how manipulating breath can give life to their puppets, shaping both their physicality and emotional depth. By emphasizing the importance of breath in puppetry, the workshop aims to deepen the connection between the puppeteer and the figure, encouraging an authentic and transformative experience that speaks to the heart of puppetry as a medium for storytelling.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Friday, January 24
Josh Rice (Kayfabe)
Puppet Wrestling with Josh Rice
A three-hour Bunraku-style workshop that is inspired by the spectacle, physicality, characters, and choreography of professional wrestling. The class will watch videos of wrestling spectacle, moves, and matches, then through kinesthetic learning, work to understand how to safely translate this choreography from people to puppets, culminating in creating short matches with paper puppets. Participants are invited to wear comfortable clothing for physical activity.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Saturday, January 25
Maraña (Organismo)
This workshop will explore different areas of the performing arts: Dance and Simple Choreography, Improvisational Games, and Physical Preparation. Participants will explore spontaneous creativity, experiment with movement and rhythm, and learn exercises that prepare us physically and mentally to better connect with ourselves and others. No matter your style, color, profession, how you live, what you eat, or what you believe in, we’ll focus on enhancing your unique talents and supporting you in finding new ways to express yourself.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
Sunday, January 26
Poncili Creación (Hungry Garden)
Possibilities of Matter
Poncili Creacion delivers a crash course on materials, design, construction, performance, object manipulation and scavenging. Championing DIY culture and artistic risk they will explain why they see no limits when it comes to acquiring and transforming matter in the service of humanity. The workshop features a different approach to the production and creation of ideas in our modern world. Every participant will have the opportunity to test new materials and unleash their creativity in an attempt to bring an idea from the mind into the 3D world. The ultimate goal is to create an object that is useful to you be it a puppet or a tool against the apocalypse or both. This is not a workshop directly intended for artists—anybody can benefit from using their creativity more wisely.
Time: 10 am – 1 pm
Location: Fine Arts Building, Little Studio, 7th Floor, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Cost: $60
Ages: 18 and up (everyone welcome, working artists encouraged)
