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The Bella Show: Bugs! by Brenda Huggins & Phil Berman

  • Puppet Showplace Theater 32 Station Street Brookline, MA, 02445 United States (map)

Showtimes & Tickets

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$16 per person
$12.50 for members Become a member
$3 per ticket with Card to Culture (WIC, EBT, MassHealth, ConnectorCare) Learn more →

On sale February 24.
Members Only Presale starts February 22!

May 11 (Sat): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm

May 12 (Sun): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm

About the Show

Go on a pink and furry adventure with Bella and her friends through a beautiful garden to meet silly bugs, creepy-crawlers, and musical surprises! Sing along to your favorite tunes like "The Ants Go Marching" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," as well as original songs including "Leg Up on You!" and "Chuck It In." We even get to meet the Very Hungry Caterpillar in a colorful and hilarious adaptation.

Puppeteers Brenda Huggins and Phil Berman combine their talents as puppeteers, early childhood educators, and exceptional musicians — Huggins is a classically trained soprano and Berman is the singer-songwriter frontman of Americana-vaudeville band Phil and the Flying Leap — to create an engaging and interactive puppetry experience ideal for the very young and their grown-ups.

All ages welcome, especially enjoyed by ages 2-5
Mixed puppetry styles: Muppet-style, table top, and rod puppets
Length: 40 minutes
Language: English
From Boston!

This show was developed through a residency at Puppet Showplace Theater.

About the Artists

Brenda Huggins is a puppetry artist, stage director, dramaturg, and opera producer with an MFA in Theatre Education and Applied Theatre from Emerson College. With co-creator Phil Berman, she was commissioned by Puppet Showplace Theater in 2012 to develop a series of interactive puppetry performances with live music for the very young. They performed Puppet Playtime in residence from 2013-2016 and on tour including at the Cambridge River Fest, Outside the Box Festival, Lawn on D, Boston Children's Museum, Boston First Night, Brookline First Light, Boston Public Library, and many schools and private venues. Brenda served as the Communications Director and teaching artist at Puppet Showplace Theater from 2011 to 2016, has taught puppetry and arts education pedagogy at the Urban College of Boston, and is currently the Director of Performing Arts at the Colleges of the Fenway.


Phil Berman is a singer-songwriter, actor, and puppeteer with a BFA in Theater Arts from Boston University. He has performed in shows across the Boston area and the Northeast. He was a co-creator of Puppet Playtime at Puppet Showplace Theater and returns to the showplace with the Holiday Sing-Along every December. Phil has also played music for touring puppetry productions like The Bella Show, The Joshua Show, and What the Moon Saw. When not performing, Phil is a freelance music teacher and founder of Zibi Consulting Group, creating early childhood arts and culture curriculum for schools and daycare centers across New England.