Thank you for joining us! This edition of the Festival had some changes since it began right as the Omicron surge was underway, but it was an undeniably thrill to return so completely to live theater with big audiences showing up vaccinated, masked and packing many houses to sold out! Over 70 performances and events Astonished & Delighted audiences at dozens of venues, neighborhoods and civic collaborators all around Chicago. From bunraku, to shadow, to crankie scroll, pageant-style puppets and more, puppets took over for 11 amazing days and nights of inspiration and invention. For 9,800+ national and international guests in 2022, The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival presented a substantial, in-person puppet festival, an oasis of fascination and artistry — representing a breadth of style, quality of work and spectacular depth of artistic achievement from the US. Although only in its 4th iteration, it was again the largest festival of its kind in the nation and remains celebrated for consistently excellent and unforgettable puppetry experiences.

Join us for other events this year and please plan to come back January 19-29, 2023 for the next Festival!