Dear Members of the Puppet Showplace Theater Community near and far,

After two years of cautious, socially-distanced holiday seasons, 2022 finally allowed us to bring families, friends, puppets, and puppeteers back together in one magical space to celebrate—and now here we are, in 2023, ready for a whole new year’s adventures to begin!

There is much to say about all of our amazing upcoming programming—Puppet Playtime will return with Harry LaCoste on Tuesday mornings for the little ones, our mainstage for all ages will be back in full force starting with Sarah Nolen’s The Fairy Tailor for all of MLK weekend, we’re kicking off this year’s adult classes with Puppet Jumpstart, a class on creating short-form puppetry performances with Brad Shur.

BUT! Before we dive in, we want to say a tremendous “Thank You!” to everyone who contributed to Puppet Showplace during our winter fundraiser.

With your help and generosity, we were able to raise over $38,000 by year’s end. These dollars benefit the theater in so many ways, making it possible for us to upgrade our equipment, increase our outreach efforts, and most importantly, to support our artists and staff to bring you the best possible puppetry experiences.

This winter, our goal was to raise $50,000—and we were not too far off! 

With $12,000 remaining to reach our goal, we’re asking you one last time to help close that gap. So, with great optimism for the future and deep appreciation for all that you have already done to support us, we are reaching out now to ask for those of you who are able to make a donation, great or small, to help us continue to bring the highest caliber of professional puppet performance and workshop instruction to the Greater Boston Area in 2023.

Puppet Showplace Theater is the oldest dedicated puppet theater in New England, and not only do we strive to preserve our legacy and support this traditional performing art, we also aim to expand its boundaries, foster innovation, and truly create an artistic space that welcomes all. But we can’t do it on our own; as we’ve said throughout this campaign, and as is always absolutely true, There is No Puppetry Without U—or You!

Hoping to see you in the theater often in 2023,

Leslie Burton
Artistic Director

P.S. Please don’t hesitate to write to me with any thoughts or questions you may have, or even just to say hello, at artistic@puppetshowplace.org. My email door is always open.