Are you looking for a volunteer opportunity? Do you love puppetry, art, and theater? Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts seeks candidates to join our Board of Trustees! This is an opportunity to bring your expertise and passion for the transformative power of the arts to help guide our vision and the business of Puppet Showplace Theater.

Puppet Showplace Theater is New England’s home for puppetry arts, founded in 1974 by visionary educator and puppeteer Mary Churchill. We are dedicated to presenting outstanding professional puppetry to diverse audiences through performances, workshops, and community outreach. As we look toward our theater’s 50th anniversary in 2024, we envision a vibrant, welcoming, and culturally responsive puppetry center that inspires creativity and invites participation by people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. 

Puppet Showplace Theater values diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility and provides equal opportunities without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We encourage Board members from all backgrounds and abilities to apply. 

We are always looking for candidates with experience in law and policy, human resources, finance, fundraising, non-profit management, early childhood education, arts education, marketing, community outreach, and diversity and inclusion. We also seek Brookline residents to join our Board. We value all candidates with a sense of humor.

If you have a passion for performing arts and would like to learn more about joining our dedicated team of professionals, parents, and puppetry fans, please attend an upcoming information session:

• (Online via Zoom) Tuesday December 14, noon-1:00 pm

• (In-person at Puppet Showplace Theater, 32 Station Street, Brookline MA) Date TBD

To RSVP, please email board@puppetshowplace.org. 

Ready to apply? Please submit a letter of interest and resume or short bio to board@puppetshowplace.org. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Puppet Showplace, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation as defined by Chapter 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.  As a nonprofit, the theater is governed by a volunteer board of trustees who are empowered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to act as fiduciary stewards of the organization.

What does the Board of Trustees do?

Our trustees are volunteers who play an active role in shaping the theater’s direction by providing governance and non-profit management. In addition to providing checks and balances and overseeing Puppet Showplace Theater’s finances, human resources, ethics, and success, we provide direct support to the theater through fundraising, outreach, special projects, and participation on committees. We also have a lot of fun!

Why should I join the Board of Trustees?

As a Puppet Showplace Theater Trustee, you will:

• Have a meaningful impact on a cherished arts organization that serves people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.

• Gain valuable non-profit Board and leadership experience.

• Practice and apply your skills in a new environment, with dedicated people who value your knowledge, expertise, and opinions.

• Focus on issues and projects that matter most to you.

• Shape the future of the theater at an important moment of change, and as we plan for our 50th Anniversary in 2024. . 

• Serve the community.

• Help Puppet Showplace Theater to cultivate imagination. 

• Meet great people and work collaboratively to ensure art, theater, and creativity are part of everyone’s childhood.

What are the requirements for becoming a trustee?

Your love for the performing arts and desire to make Puppet Showplace Theater accessible to everyone are the most important requirements. More specifically, we:

• Serve three-year terms, with the option to serve two consecutive terms.

• Meet every other month as a full board. Committees typically meet monthly.

• Contribute to Puppet Showplace via fundraising, donations, and/or in-kind support. 

• Volunteer when needed at Puppet Showplace shows, workshops, and events. 

As part of the onboarding process, trustee candidates are connected with a mentor (a veteran trustee) and are encouraged (but not required) to undertake a project of their choosing to help Puppet Showplace Theater, and to provide you with an opportunity to interact with our Board and Leadership team. 

Want to learn more?

There are several ways to connect with us!

• Visit https://www.puppetshowplace.org/board-of-trustees to learn about us. 

• Send questions or an application (a letter of interest and a resume or short bio) to board@puppetshowplace.org. 

We are excited to talk with you about your interest and experience; the theater and the board; and to answer all of your questions.

We look forward to meeting you!