The 6th Chicago International Puppet Festival, January 18-28, 2024, is bringing more than 100 puppet shows and events from around the world to venues large and small throughout the city.
It's curated primarily for adults, but the Chicago Puppet Fest has seven outstanding shows on tap for all ages, including the Free Neighborhood Tour, with 10 free performances of Tears by the River by Krystal Puppeteers of Kenya touring to nine locations throughout the city, the return of Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster by Chicago favorite Manual Cinema, a one-day-only, free puppet spectacle from Mexico, wildly inventive shows about astronauts and bugs, an epic Persian adventure, even a family-friendly puppet cabaret.
Following are details about this year's family offerings. Visit chicagopuppetfest.org for information and tickets. Parents, while you’re there, check out the dozens of performances more suited for adults and book a well-deserved parents’ night out. For the latest updates, follow the Festival on Facebook, Instagram or Vimeo, hashtag #ChiPuppetFest.
Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster
Manual Cinema
Chicago
The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th St., Hyde Park
January 26-28
Three shows: Friday, January 26 at 5 p.m.; Saturday, January 27 at 3 p.m.; Sunday, January 28 at 1 p.m.
45 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $30-$40
Leonardo is a terrible monster. He tries so hard to be scary, but he just…isn’t. Then Leonardo finds Sam, the most scaredy-cat kid in the world. Will Leonardo finally get to scare the tuna salad out of someone? Or will it be the start of an unlikely friendship? The plot thickens when this pair meets Kerry and Frankenthaler, an even scaredier-cat and her monster friend. Kerry and Sam need to make a big decision: will they just be scaredy cats or can they become friends? Chicago’s Manual Cinema brings two of Mo Willems' popular children’s books to life with hundreds of illustrated paper puppets, book pages, two-dimensional props, furry monster puppets and original songs.
The Edinburgh Festival for Kids wrote Leonardo is “filled with wonder, humor and oodles of warmth,” and the Chicago Tribune called it “a show that tackles important and serious themes with whimsy, humor and some darn cute puppets.”
Manual Cinema is an Emmy Award-winning performance collective, design studio and film/video production company founded in 2010 by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman, Julia Miller and Kyle Vegter. Manual Cinema tours internationally, combining handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to create immersive stories for stage and screen. Using vintage overhead projectors, multiple screens, puppets, actors, live feed cameras, multi-channel sound design, and a live music ensemble, Manual Cinema transforms the experience of attending the cinema and imbues it with liveness, ingenuity, and theatricality. Recent productions include Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster, co-commissioned by Chicago Children’s Theatre and The Kennedy Center, and Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol. manualcinema.com
Song of the North
Hamid Rahmanian
NY/Persia
Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave., downtown Chicago
Three shows: Friday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 20 at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
80 minutes
All Ages
Tickets: $35-$45
Song of the North, adapted from the “Book of Kings” (Shahnameh), is a visually breathtaking, large-scale, cinematic play of shadow puppetry and projected animation. It tells the classic Persian tale of the courageous Manijeh, a heroine from ancient Persia, who must use all her strengths and talents to rescue her beloved, Bijan, from a perilous predicament of her own making to help prevent a war. This epic love story employs a cast of 500 handmade puppets and a talented ensemble of nine actors and puppeteers, which come together to create a spectacular experience that advances themes of unity, collaboration and experimentation through performance and story.
Le Monde said Song of the North has “breathtaking fireworks of creativity” and Toute La Culture wrote ”the Persian soul and culture vibrate in this original and poetic show.”
Hamid Rahmanian returns to Chicago after presenting Feathers of Fire at the 2nd Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival in 2017. Rahmanian is a 2014 John Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the 2020 United States Artists Fellowship. He undertook the immense task of illustrating and commissioning a new translation and adaptation of the tenth-century Persian epic poem “Shahnameh” by Ferdowsi, entitled “Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings” (2013). This best-selling 600-page art book, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as a “masterpiece,” is in its second edition (Liveright Publishing). In 2017, he released an immersive audiobook version of “Shahnameh” with an introduction by Frances Ford Coppola. In 2018, he released a pop up book, “Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King” (Fantagraphics Books), in English and French. It received a Meggendorfer Prize and was hailed “simply breathtaking” by Le Monde. His films have screened at Venice, Sundance, Toronto, Tribeca, and IDFA film festivals and broadcast on PBS, Sundance Channel, IFC, Channel 4, BBC, DR2 and Al Jazeera. In 2014, Rahmanian shifted his focus to theater arts, working with shadows and digital media. To date, he has created five theater pieces: Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King (2014), Mina’s Dream (2016), commissioned by the Onassis Foundation, and UNIMA-USA award winning Feathers Of Fire (2016) which toured in 23 cities around the world to an audience of over 100,000. In 2019, he was commissioned by Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble to create a video animation for their multimedia project, Heroes Take Their Stand. His latest stage production, Song of the North, premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2022. kingorama.com
A Bucket of Beetles
Papermoon Puppet Theatre
Indonesia
Chopin Theatre (mainstage), 1543 W. Division St., Wicker Park
Four shows: Friday, January 19 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 20 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, January 21 at 3 p.m.
50 minutes
Ages 5 and up
Tickets: $30-$40
Wehea lives in a big rainforest where even the smallest of beings are his friends. Inspired by the drawings of a four-year-old and imbued with the exquisite puppetry of Indonesia's Papermoon Puppet Theatre, comes a story of a beautiful friendship, of enchanting creatures and of the delicate connection between humans and nature.
Papermoon Puppet Theatre believes that anything can come alive. Every creature, every object, every single thing in the world holds life somewhere inside of it. The company was founded in 2006 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia by Co-Artistic Director Maria Tri Sulistyani (Ria). She has since nurtured, developed and expanded the company with Co-Artistic Director Iwan Effendi, a visual artist and Papermoon’s puppet designer. The company works with a collective of puppeteers including Anton Fajri, Pambo Priyojati, Beni Sanjaya, Muhammad Alhaq and Hardiansyah Yoga. To date, Papermoon Puppet Theatre has created more than 30 puppet performances and visual art installations and exhibitions, which have toured more than 10 countries, from Japan to the Netherlands, from Australia to the U.S. In 2008, the company launched Pesta Boneka, an international puppet biennale that welcomes puppeteers from around the world to their home in Indonesia. papermoonpuppet.com
People Comments: A Bucket of Beetles
MAROONED! A Space Comedy
Alex and Olmsted
Maryland
Chopin Theatre (mainstage), 1543 W. Division St., Wicker Park
January 22-24
Three shows: Monday and Tuesday, January 22 and 23 at 7 p.m.; Wednesday, January 24 at 5 p.m.
60 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $30-$40
An astronaut traveling 87,000 light years into space crash-lands on an uncharted planet, where she must resort to emergency measures to seek rescue. From the award-winning team Alex and Olmsted, elegant puppetry design meets joyful, meaningful storytelling. Live performance, shadow puppetry and marionettes shine to delightful effect in MAROONED!, recent winner of a prestigious UNIMA USA Citation.
"Achingly beautiful" hailed MD Theatre Guide. "Amusing, charming, delightful and, at times, utterly and completely astonishing” raved DC Theatre Scene. This is puppetry life support of the best kind - at just the right moment.
Alex and Olmsted (Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas) is an internationally acclaimed puppet theater and filmmaking company based in Maryland. They have toured at festivals in Italy, Denmark, South Korea, and Canada, and have performed at numerous venues within the United States. Alex & Olmsted was awarded the 2020 State Independent Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council, the highest honor for performing artists in the State of Maryland. Their works have been supported by the Jim Henson Foundation and Greenbelt Community Foundation, recognized by the New York Times, and named an official selection of the Maryland Film Festival, Paris Art Film and others. Alex and Olmsted is a resident company at Baltimore Theatre Project. alexandolmstead.com
An astronaut traveling 87,000 light years into space crash-lands on an uncharted planet in Alex & Olmsted's Marooned! A Space Comedy.
The Beast Dance (or The Secret Spell of the Wild)
La Liga Teatro Elástico
Mexico
Presented by the National Museum of Mexican Art and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., Pilsen
One show only: Saturday, January 20 at 2 p.m.
75 minutes
All ages
Free
La Liga Teatro Elástico celebrates the important role of the wildest predators within our natural ecosystem using spectacle and community interaction in reverence to the wolf with The Beast Dance (or The Secret Spell of the Wild). This spectacle revives the ancient dance of the hunter and the prey to the rhythm of festive traditional sounds. Workshop participants young and old who have spent the prior week building puppet-beasts will assemble the production right in front of the audience and then release it into the public space. It’s been performed more than 50 times in streets, squares and parks on three continents, where people have participated to the rhythm of Oaxacan sones, Basque trikitritxas or Otomi tunditos on beaches, mountains, semi-deserts or snow. Now Chicago will take its turn continuing to evolve and enrich this community spectacle featuring the live band, Los Héroes del Destierro.
La Liga Teatro Elástico is a theater company founded by actress/stage director Jacqueline Serafín and artist/puppet designer Iker Vicente, focused on objects and animated figures. Starting from an interdisciplinary approach, the company develops projects that exist somewhere between sculpture, theater, performance and teaching. Their work melds street theater with games and celebration as a strategy for a new set of foundations and meanings inside the theater, museum, or urban spaces where they occur. The company has presented plays, installations and workshops at international festivals in America, Africa and Europe, including frequent collaborations with other artists and companies. laligateatro.com
La Liga Teatro Elástico celebrates the important role of the wildest predators using spectacle and community interaction in The Beast Dance (The Secret Spell of the Wild).
Will Leonardo finally get to scare the tuna salad out of someone? Watch Manual Cinema's trailer for Leonardo! A Wonderful Show about a Terrible Monster.
Free Neighborhood Tour: Tears by the River
Krystal Puppeteers
Kenya
Presented by the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Navy Pier the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parksm and UChicago
January 18-28
10 performances at 9 locations throughout the city
35 minutes
All ages
Free
Tears by the River beautifully blends traditional Kenyan puppetry, artistry and vocals to tell this classic folktale about the brave monkey called Libendi. A great famine sends him seeking a far away river and a better life. Crossing valleys, mountains, deserts, and barren land, Libendi risks everything and although many animals of the forest honor, respect and praise him, others will do anything for fame.
Bring the family to enjoy one of 10 free public performances at nine sites around the city:
Thursday, January 18, 4:30 p.m.
Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, 4046 W. Armitage Ave., Hermosa
Friday, January 19, 4:30 p.m.
Marshall Fields Garden Apartments/Art on Sedgwick, 1408 N. Sedgwick St., Old Town
Saturday, January 20, 4 p.m.
Theater Y, 3611 W. Cermak Rd., North Lawndale
Sunday, January 21, 2 p.m.
345 Art Gallery, 345 N. Kedzie Ave., Garfield Park
Wednesday, January 24, 6 p.m.
Berger Park Coachhouse, 6205 N. Sheridan Rd., Edgewater
Thursday, January 25, 10:30 a.m. (school groups) and 7 p.m.
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Performance Hall, The University of Chicago, 915 E. 60th St., Hyde Park
Friday, January 26, 6 p.m.
Mandrake Park, 3858 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Bronzeville
Saturday, January 27, Noon and 2 p.m.
Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave., downtown Chicago
Sunday, January 28, 3 p.m.
South Shore Cultural Center Paul Robeson Theatre, 7059 S. South Shore Dr., South Shore
Krystal Puppeteers is a Kenyan-German puppetry and performing company established in 1995 in Mombasa, Kenya by puppeteers Fedelis Kyalo and Chrispin Mwashagha. Combining traditional and contemporary puppetry techniques with live music and dances, Krystal puppet shows are not only captivating and creative but also transfer the audience to another world where puppets come alive and become one with the audience. The company has taken part in puppet festivals all over the world including, Spain, Germany, Austria, Poland, Argentina, Ecuador, and Brazil.
Tears by the River beautifully blends traditional Kenyan puppetry, artistry and vocals to tell this classic folktale about the brave monkey called Libendi.
Logan Center Family Puppet Cabaret
Co-presented in partnership with the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts and Theater and Performance Studies at The University of Chicago
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Performance Penthouse,
915 E. 60th St., Hyde Park
Saturday, January 27 at 4 p.m.
60 minutes
All ages
Tickets: $15-$18
Pulling strings: the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival
Originally founded in 2015 as a project of Blair Thomas & Co., the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival has highlighted artists from nations including Iran, Korea, Japan, Chile, South Africa as well as from Europe, Chicago and across the U.S. with the goal of promoting peace, equality, and justice on a global scale. Already, the Chicago Puppet Festival is the largest of its kind in North America, attracting more than 14,000 audience members every edition to dozens of Chicago venues large and small to enjoy an entertaining and eclectic array of puppet styles from around the world.
This year’s 6th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, January 18-28, 2024, will present a wide range of classic and contemporary puppetry created by puppet artists from Belgium, Chile, Norway, Germany, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Poland, the U.S. and Chicago. The 2024 Festival spans 11 days and dozens of Chicago venues, attracting an international pageant of puppet artists who will share more than 100 puppetry activities including all-ages spectacle shows, intimate works on small stages, even an adults-only, late night puppet cabaret.
Visit chicagopuppetfest.org for tickets, information and to sign up for the festival’s e-news. Follow the festival on Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, hashtag #ChiPuppetFest.