Honey Goodenough created the first incarnation of the show in 1999. “The story always stayed with me,” said Honey.
Meet our new Marketing and Communications Associate, Hannah Anderson-Baranger!
Last Chance to Support the Wonder of Puppetry!
Meet the Puppeteers for our July Shows!
Jacek Zuzanski, Dream Tale Puppets
Dream Tale Puppets offers quality original puppetry performances for children and families, and theatrical and educational programs for all ages. The theater is dedicated to the study of both traditional and innovative styles of puppetry, and the richness of theatrical and literary cultures of the world.
Jacek Zuzanski, Dream Tale Puppets’ founder, grew up in Poland and studied theater and puppetry in Wroclaw before coming to the US in 2001. Since then, he has worked as a theatre teacher for Island Theater Workshop on Martha’s Vineyard, and cooperated with numerous schools, art organizations, and libraries, including the Cape Cod Children’s Museum, Cape Cod Conservatory, Falmouth Academy, and Polish Theater Institute. https://dreamtalepuppets.com/
Experience a familiar fairy tale like never before with Jack and the Beanstalk, July 2-3.
Jacek will be joined by Honey Goodenough of GoodHearted Entertainment. Read on to learn about Honey!
Honey Goodenough, Good Hearted Entertainment
Honey Goodenough is a puppeteer, educator, and children’s party entertainer. In 2017, she became Puppet Showplace Theater's first resident teaching artist after years of experience working with students in greater Boston, New York City, Vermont, and Texas. She has also taught a wide variety of professional development courses for educators and aspiring puppeteers.
Honey is a trained puppeteer & marionette performer. She has performed with PuppetWorks in NYC, and toured nationally with both the National Marionette Theatre and Frisch Marionettes. She has also produced and performed acts in Puppet Slams across the country. Her show, "Sock Monkey Circus" toured China in fall 2017 and was part of the National Puppet Slam at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Her shows “Sock Monkey Circus” and “Word Play” have appeared at birthday parties and cultural events throughout Greater Boston. Honey holds an MA in Educational Theater from New York University, and a BA in Theater Crafts and Technology from the University of Texas, Austin.
Catch the premier of Honey’s newest show, Stewie's Magic Hat, July 9-10 & 16-17.
Bonnie, Tony, & Brendan, aka The Gottabees
Puppets! Music! Adventure! Invention! The Gottabees started making super fun theater for families in 2013 with the creation of "Squirrel Stole My Underpants." They have since been selling out venues and inspiring homemade puppet shows across the globe. They find it deeply satisfying to create original physical theater so families can do something fun together that allows them all to giggle, gasp, sigh, and cheer in 45 minutes or less.
Performed by Bonnie Duncan, Tony Leva, and Brendan Burns, their shows are often stories told without words—they embrace the physical and the visual in theater. The result is a poetic, nonlinear story that surprises audiences. One of the things that makes members of The Gottabees happiest is when they meet children who have seen a show and parents tell them how their child acted out the entire show for weeks after seeing it. This is the core reason why they make theater for young audiences: The Gottabees want children to know in their hearts that they, too, can make theater wherever they are and whomever they are. http://www.thegottabees.com
Help Sylvie and the monsters find a new home in Go Home Tiny Monster, July 23-24
Mesner Puppet Theater
Mesner Puppet Theater is a globally known professional puppet theatre company based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company performs a local season of plays and tours nationally and internationally, reaching more than 30,000 people annually. Mike Horner joined MPT in 2006 and became the company’s Artistic Director in 2016. As the company’s lead puppet builder, Mike designs puppets for MPT’s shows as well as for other theatrical and video clients. Jerry Manan is a celebrated Kansas City performer who is joining Mesner Puppet Theater for his first puppetry tour!
Delight in the bilingual adventures of Animal Amigos, July 29-30!
Make art with us!
Throughout the year, we offer educational opportunities for learners of all experience levels. For professional puppeteers and curious tinkerers, we teach skill-building classes to learn multiple approaches to puppetry arts such as puppet construction, manipulation, and performance making, as well as scripting and storytelling. For our young people, we provide exciting opportunities to foster a love of puppetry while supporting social emotional learning through self-expression, storytelling, and character development. Visit our website to learn more about our educational offerings.
“What I love most about teaching kids about puppetry is how I can see the world through their eyes in the characters they create. I once met a lovely alien puppet with a pearl necklace and cotton candy hair and when the young artist rushed to proudly introduce it to her parents at the end of the session, I learned that it resembled her grandmother!”
— Leslie Burton, Artistic Director
Taco monsters were brought to life in a family workshop.
Piles of fur became creatures in this adult class.
On Halloween we haunted Brookline with ghosts and ghouls.
The theater will be a-buzz with kids this summer during our Puppet Adventure Program (ages 8-11) with our Resident Artists, Honey Goodenough and Sarah Nolen, and there is still space for more students in Kids Puppet Studio (ages 5-7) the week of Aug 1-5, with puppeteer and teaching artist Rotem Goldenberg.
Brad Shur explains who he designed this class for in a short video on our website! Go to the video →
If you’re curious about puppetry and want to try your hand at developing a short show of your own, sign up for Puppet Slam Camp with former Resident Artist Brad Shur, best known around here for his interactive show Cardboard Explosion! This virtual class for adults and teens begins July 30th.
None of these programs would be possible without the support of donors like you. Please consider making a gift today to help fund arts education and inspire creativity at all ages.
Help us Support Artists!
Cozy Arts films Mr. Cuddles is Missing at Puppet Showplace Theater, Dec 2021.
We are at the halfway point of our spring appeal and have raised 30% of our $25,000 goal. Help us spring to the finish line so we can continue to support puppeteers in the creation and presentation of their work!
We work with our beloved artists in a variety of ways to support their practice, whether by providing grants, space for rehearsals, professional mentorship, skill-sharing opportunities, or creative support for works-in-development. Your contributions make this possible!
Our current season, Summer Puppet Adventures has only just begun, but we’re already engaged in many fun and creative endeavors with our performers…
Thanks to funding from donors like you and a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, artists Tanya Nixon-Silberg and Sarah Nolen spent two intensive weeks rehearsing at Puppet Showplace Theater, culminating in a beautiful remounting of My Night in the Planetarium.
This week, dramaturg and puppeteer Brenda Huggins moves into the space to rehearse her puppet opera about climate awareness titled Mr. Twister. And, stay tuned for the premiere of Honey Goodenough’s Stewie’s Magic Hat next month!
Summer brings us opportunities to explore the stage and share with new audiences for the first time, Join us this Thursday from 7:00-9:00 EST for a virtual Community Sharing from our 2022 Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers cohort. Get an exclusive preview of their work as they share about their inspirations, research, and processes. Then Saturday, join us in person for our Summer Cinema Slam, which will welcome a diverse mix of returning artists and new friends to the theater for a live and in-person slam, with a summer cinema theme!
And all this is just the beginning of our summer adventures with the amazing artists in our community!
Make a gift today to help fund upcoming artists projects and new work development!
Meet the Puppeteers for our June Shows!
Tanya Nixon Silberg, Little Uprisings, and Sarah Nolen
The Planetarium creative team (from left) Sarah, Tanya, Innosanto Nagara, and Roxanna Myhrum. Photo: Tess Scheflan
Tanya is a Black Mother, Artist, Educator, Radical Dreamer from Boston, MA. As an artist in Puppet Showplace Theater’s Incubator program, she co-created a puppet production of My Night in the Planetarium, and also participated in the first cohort of the Black Puppeteer Empowerment program. Tanya is the founder of Little Uprisings, a project that focuses on forming deep relationships with institutions that serve kids to make racial justice an everyday goal. Kids+Art+Justice is her recipe for liberation and kid-powered revolutions. https://www.littleuprisings.org/
Sarah Nolen is a puppeteer and filmmaker originally from Austin, Texas. As Puppet Showplace Theater’s resident artist, she performs regularly for youth and family audiences and teaches puppetry in camps, workshops, residencies, and evening adult classes. Her three original productions, Lisa the Wise, Judy Saves the Day, and The Fairy Tailor have all toured extensively in the Northeast and beyond. In addition to her own shows, Sarah has done puppet builds for Netflix, Suffolk University, Boston College, and more. Learn more about her work on stage and screen at www.sarahnolen.com
To learn about social justice with Tanya and Inno, get your tickets to My Night in the Planetarium, June 11-12
To read more about the development of My Night in the Planetarium and meet the whole creative team, visit our Planetarium page.
John & Megan Regan, CactusHead Puppets
CactusHead Puppets are known for their playful performance style and exuberant creativity. The West Springfield-based company was founded in 2010 by husband and wife team John and Megan Regan. Since then, they have created numerous shows based on favorite, familiar folktales and have toured throughout Western New England. John and Megan are both graduates of the University of Connecticut's Puppet Arts program. Megan is originally from the Kansas City area, where she worked with Paul Mesner Puppets. John is from Western Massachusetts, and is honored to be performing in the same libraries where he saw puppet shows growing up. Megan collects pop-up books, and John has a love for giant monster movies. Both John and Megan were interns at Puppet Showplace Theater, and they are excited to return to Boston to share their work as professional puppeteers. Learn more at http://www.cactusheadpuppets.com/.
To see this silly circus in action, reserve your tickets to Magnificent Monster Circus, June 18-19
Anna Sobel, Talking Hands Theatre
Anna Sobel has been a professional puppeteer since 1998. She first trained and worked a puppeteer for Kids on the Block while at Wesleyan University, and went on to perform with the educational company Blue Sky Puppet Theater (University Park, Maryland). In 2003 she was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study puppetry in India as a tool for social change and education. She spent nine months in India and founded Talking Hands Theatre on her return to New York in 2004. Anna holds master’s degree in educational theater and is also an award-winning teaching artist. Since 2010, she has operated her one-woman company out of Shutesbury, MA, bringing educational shows — and smiles!— to all of New England! Learn more about her work at talkinghandstheatre.com.
To make some buggy friends of your own, reserve your tickets to Bugaboo Revue, June 25-26
Support Community Programming!
This past Saturday’s Spring into Summer event was a joyous celebration of puppetry, community, and art-making! Friends new and old gathered by the hundreds at Emerson Garden to watch free puppet shows, engage in interactive performances, dress-up in processional puppets, and make their own talking, walking, and springing creatures!
Today we ask you to make a donation to Puppet Showplace Theater to help us continue our mission to provide exceptional community programming.
Kids found their voices through their own creations.
We imagined ourselves as changemakers in "Play for Change.”
Giant puppets came to life through imaginative play. (Photo credit: Tess Scheflan)
Kids and grown-ups delighted at furry monsters poking their heads out of a caboose window and cheered alongside Judy as she “saved the day.” One child watched with wide eyes as two cardboard shoe inserts and a brush became a hopping bunny. Families made their way through the ribbons of a “Space for Change,” weaving a web of colors. Others donned masks and full-body costumes of fantastical creatures, parading to the music of a marching trombone while Funny Honey twisted balloons for all to enjoy.
Make a gift today to help fund future community events and support another season of captivating, transformative puppetry!
A Letter from the Artistic Director, Leslie Burton
Leslie Burton speaks to the audience at a 2021 outdoors show.
To the many amazing friends of Puppet Showplace Theater:
I am so happy that my one-year anniversary as Artistic Director occurs at this time of year, when the sun is out, the trees are full of green leaves, and the flowers are blooming again! In the light of the bright June sun, I find myself reflecting on the amazing experiences, challenges, and moments of joy of the past year. However, rather than reflect on the past, today I wish to look ahead because spring is a time for growth, celebration, and springing into summer together!
Upcoming mainstage performance series, Summer Puppet Adventures!
This season, we are thinking about who we are, who we want to be, where we want to go, and how to speak our truth along the way. I can’t wait to present our upcoming series, Summer Puppet Adventures! We’ll have shows about bugs and bears, giants and monsters, magic and mischief — and even more performances about making friends across boundaries, finding one’s place and one’s purpose, and taking a stand even when it seems scary.
A children’s summer program student sews puppets with resident artist Honey Goodenough.
There will be artists rehearsing in the theater all summer long, preparing to bring you amazing new work in coming months; children will spend their days at 32 Station Street, learning from our expert artists, making and performing with puppets during our unique vacation programs.
As always, we will continue to provide opportunities for adults and teens to take classes, get involved, and experience a whole different world of puppetry through our Puppets at Night series. On June 16th we welcome you to join us for a virtual Community Sharing by our 2022 Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers cohort!
The participants and mentors of the Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers on a Zoom call. From left to right, top row: Leslie Burton, Tanya Nixon-Silberg, and Christine Langford. Bottom row: Leah Lara, Zetta Elliott, and Cori Barefield.
None of this would be possible without you! Thanks to your support, we will continue to offer the best of puppet theater from New England, across the country, and the world. Thanks to your support we can provide classes, grants, artistic development opportunities and rehearsal space puppeteers! Thanks to your support, we are making our way past the setbacks of the past couple of years and looking forward to all the wonderful things on the horizon!
Today I’m asking you to look forward with us, and to help us spring into this new season at Puppet Showplace Theater. Whether you’ve been a friend to the theater for many years or our friendship is just beginning, please consider making a donation to Puppet Showplace so that we can Spring into Summer — and beyond!
With gratitude and excitement,
Leslie Burton
Artistic Director
Meet the Puppeteers: Everybody Loves Pirates & Woodland Cinderella
Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers
Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers, founded in 2000, is a puppetry troupe based in Bar Harbor, Maine, comprised of three siblings: Erik and Brian Torbeck and Robin (Torbeck) Erlandsen. The traveling trio has performed their original productions at fairs, festivals, theaters, schools, libraries, and some of the finest petting zoos across the United States and Canada. They write and create all the shows they perform and have received three Citations of Excellence from UNIMA-USA, the highest national award in puppetry. In addition to "The Legend of the Banana Kid," their repertoire includes "Everybody Loves Pirates" and "The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow."
To adventure with Frogtown Mountain, reserve your tickets to Everybody Loves Pirates, May 14 - 15.
Deborah Costine Nature Puppets
Deborah Costine is an artist, author, amateur naturalist and award-winning professional puppeteer who has been presenting performances throughout New England for over thirty years. She’s been performing at Puppet Showplace Theater for almost as long as we’ve been around! Debbie grew up in Lancaster, NH in a region known as ''The Great North Woods.'' There were no visiting assembly programs and the only puppet Debbie had ever seen was Bunny-Rabbit on ''Captain Kangaroo.'' When she was ten she made a puppet all on her own—a papier maché clown that still sits in her studio today. In 1974 Debbie co-founded the well-known ''Gerwick Puppets'' with Len Gerwick. Debbie now also performs solo as Deborah Costine Nature Puppets, creating shows inspired by her interest in nature and the environment.
To see Deborah’s award-winning adaptation of the classic fairy tale, reserve your tickets to A Woodland Cinderella, May 21 - 22.
Meet the Puppeteers: I Spy Butterfly & I Love Tacos
Faye Dupras & Max Weigert, Cozy Arts
Faye Dupras & Max Weigert are the original team behind I Spy Butterfly. Faye is a theater artist who began her puppet journey over twenty years ago when she met and apprenticed under her childhood hero, puppeteer Noreen Young. Since then she has performed around the world and has worked as a director, designer and educator throughout Eastern Canada and the USA.
Max is a singer/songwriter and children’s performer who has appeared in venues throughout New England and abroad. Since completing his degree from Berklee College of Music, Max has been teaching music across the Boston area.
Faye & Max are two founding members of Cozy Arts. Founded in Boston in 2018, Cozy Arts is an organization dedicated to creating original puppet productions and resources that invite children, and their adults, to develop the qualities, attitudes and skills needed to cultivate trusting relationships, welcoming communities, and a healthy planet.
To learn, grow, & transform with Faye & Max, reserve your tickets to I Spy Butterfly, April 30 & May 1.
Brad Shur, Paper Heart Puppets
Puppeteer, puppet builder, and arts educator Brad Shur is the founder and lead artist of Paper Heart Puppets. Brad began performing as a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. From there, Brad went on to tour nationally with Wood and String Puppet Theatre and Vermont Puppetree. As a freelance puppet builder he has created puppets for American Idol, Dollywood, and more!
In 2009, he became the Resident Artist here at Puppet Showplace Theater where he served as the lead teaching artist and touring puppeteer for eight years. During that time, Brad developed six original shows and revived several classic shows created by Resident Artist Emeritus Paul Vincent Davis. In 2017, Brad left Puppet Showplace for Poughkeepsie, NY and founded Paper Heart Puppets, dedicated to sharing and expanding the art of puppetry.
To be the first to see Brad’s brand-new show, reserve your tickets to I Love Tacos, May 7-8.
And don’t miss the chance to make your very own taco puppet in our I Love Tacos workshop, Saturday, May 7 at 2:00 pm.
Meet the Puppeteers: Word Play and Big Broken Business
Good Hearted Entertainment
Good Hearted Entertainment creates performances that combine puppetry and clowning to educate and delight. The company was founded by Honey Goodenough. Word Play was a Puppet Showplace Incubator show, and is inspired by Honey’s experience learning to manage her own dyslexia and literacy challenges. Word Play was co-created with Harry LaCoste, a local puppeteer who audiences may know from Puppet Playtime, and features music arranged & composed by Paul Watkins, PST’s former Box Office Manager!
To experience this play on words, reserve your tickets to Word Play, April 16 & 17.
Justin Lander, Modern Times Theater
Justin is a performer, puppeteer, musician, and cheap artist. He studied performance art, improvisational theater, and neuroscience at Bates College. He plays the cornet and upright bass, and specializes in novelty instruments such as the slide whistle, the bicycle pump and the human xylophone.
As one half of Modern Times Theater, along with his wife, Rose Friedman, he has been making and touring puppet shows and variety acts, and creating public community events since 2007. Working in populist theater forms, Modern Times seeks to reinvent and reimagine classic American entertainment.
To see Modern Times’ brand new show (directed by Rose!), reserve your tickets to Big Broken Business, April 22 - 24.
Meet the Puppeteers: The Three Billy Goats Gruff & A Tale of the Monkey King
John McDonough, founder of Pumpernickel Puppets
John was four years old when he saw his first puppet show, and he immediately knew that he wanted to be a puppeteer. By his teens, John was presenting shows all over the New England area. For each production, John creates and performs all of his own puppets, which range from small hand puppets to larger-than-life figures. In addition to his appearances at Puppet Showplace Theater, John has performed at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the prestigious International Festival of Puppet Theatre sponsored by the Jim Henson Foundation at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre in New York, and more!
To see John’s colorful creations in action, reserve your tickets to The Three Billy Goats Gruff & The Lion and the Mouse, March 26 & 27.
Margaret Moody Puppets
Margaret Moody studied Bu Dai Xi (‘cloth bag theater’) style puppetry with the I Wan Jan Traditional Hand Puppet Troupe in Taiwan in the 1980s. She loves the acrobatics of Taiwanese puppetry – puppets flipping on stage, jumping through windows– as well as the subtle movements of sitting or walking. You may also have seen her working with all sorts of puppets as a member of Jacek Zuzanski’s Dream Tale Puppets.
To see Margaret’s Bu Dai Xi skills in action, reserve your tickets to A Tale of The Monkey King, April 2 & 3.
Hello from The Selkie Project!
We are delighted to be in Boston!
We hear the call of the sea and the taste of the salty air and the promise of adventure! We are the Selkie Project, Josephine from Ireland and Roksana from Poland, visiting Boston to eat doughnuts and play with puppets.
We are adapting the Selkie myth into a puppet show, using the Irish, English and Polish language. The Selkie myth is famous in Ireland, Scotland and all across Europe. It is about seals that can turn into humans. Our story involves the troubled relationship between a fisherman and a Selkie, and how they struggle to communicate and understand each other.
Work on this project began in the middle of a very hot summer in 2021, where we worked online from Ireland, England, Poland and Italy. Only being able to see each others’ little faces on a tiny screen, we could hardly imagine what our show would look like. Now we are finally able to work in-person here in the beautiful seaside city of Boston to bring our show to life before an audience
Our show uses different languages as it weaves our two cultures together. It is exciting for us to work on it in a whole new way, in person for the first time!
We look forward to seeing where our work takes us, and to exploring this new city and culture!
Want to see what The Selkie Project has been up to during their time in Boston? Register for the sneak peek & workshop today!
Meet the Puppeteers: The Three Little Pigs & The Snowflake Man
Kimberley Van Aelst, founder of Oompapossum Puppets
Kimberly is thrilled to be bringing her twisty tale of The Three Little Pigs to the Puppet Showplace Mainstage! She has been performing her beloved children’s puppet shows for over a decade in libraries, schools, museums and at festivals throughout the tri-state area. She also acclaimed for her adult puppet shows. In 2019, Kimberly joined former PST resident artist Brad Shur & puppeteered in his production of Error Code at the Jim Henson Carriage House in Manhattan. Puppet at Night fans might remember her film Curse of the Lemon that was featured at the December 2021 Puppet Slam.
To see Kimberley’s beautiful hand-carved puppets in action, reserve your tickets to The Three Little Pigs, March 5 & 6.
Sarah Frechette, founder of PuppetKabob
Sarah founded her award-winning touring puppet company Puppetkabob in 2001. Sarah is a puppeteer, designer, and arts educator whose work has been experienced in theaters, museums, art galleries, TV and film. The Snowflake Man was inspired in part by the spirit her grandfather. Behind all of the puppet shows Sarah creates is the memory of her Vermont heritage, her grandparents, and her relatives who work with their hands and with their hearts!
To watch Sarah travel back in time, reserve your tickets to The Snowflake Man, March 12 & 13.
Meet the Puppeteers: The Fairy Circus & What is Magic?
Peter Schaefer, co-founder of Tanglewood Marionettes
Peter is a Boston-born puppeteer who practically grew up in the greenroom at Puppet Showplace and even served as an usher in his teens. He founded Tanglewood Marionettes with his wife Anne in 1993 and they've been performing at Puppet Showplace ever since. Tanglewood Marionettes believes above all that a performance is a communal experience, with connections established not only with the performers, but also between members of the audience themselves as they laugh together, gasp together, and cheer together when the good guys prevail!
To see Peter become the ringmaster, reserve your tickets to The Fairy Circus, Feb 19, 20, 21.
Scotty Swan, puppeteer & magician
Growing up in Western Massachusetts as an only child, puppeteer & magician Scotty Swan used his puppets and stuffed animals to create full productions in his bedroom. Scotty was also fascinated by a magician named Sky. The first and only African American magician from the same city, Sky really captured Scotty's attention and performed at his birthday party. These life changing events sent him on a course of artistic discovery that continues to this day. Past Puppets at Night attendees may recognize Scotty from his work with Puppet Showplace on Midnight Zoo in 2016 and Just Another Lynching in 2019.
To see what Scotty's got in his bag of tricks, reserve your tickets to What is Magic?, Feb 26 & 27.
Announcing: A Season of Many Marvels
Just in time for February Vacation Week, our Season of Many Marvels features magic and myth, science and discovery, and just a few familiar fables for good measure. We are so excited to welcome you back to live performances at 32 Station Street! Learn more and purchase your tickets here!
A SEASON OF MANY MARVELS 2022 SCHEDULE:
The Fairy Circus by Tanglewood Marionettes, (Sat 2/19 - Mon 2/21)
What is Magic? by Scotty Swan, (Sat 2/26 - Sun 2/27)
The Three Little Pigs by OompaPossum Puppets, (Sat 3/5 - Sun 3/6)
The Snowflake Man by PuppetKabob, (Sat 3/12 - Sun 3/13)
The Three Billy Goats Gruff & The Lion and the Mouse by Pumpernickel Puppets, (Sat 3/26 - Sun 3/27)
A Tale of the Monkey King by Margaret Moody Puppets, (Sat 4/2 - Sun 4/3)
In accordance with town guidelines, masks are required indoors, and proof of vaccination is required for all eligible audience members. For more information, visit our Public Health page.
A Letter from our President
To our wonderful, generous community:
As I reflect on the past year and a half, I am truly grateful. So much has happened, and yet, here we are: Puppets on stage! People in the theater! Children, masked and sitting with a bit more space around them, once again giggling at the adventures of favorite characters. I recently watched the most adorable little fuzzy grey rats besiege the town of Hamelin, much to the chagrin of the puppet inhabitants — and to the delight of the young audience in the theater. And for adults and teens, the Puppets at Night series returned with the season opener, “Flying Lessons,” a stunner with graceful, mysterious shadow puppetry by Caitlin Brzezinski and Libby Schap.
The hands of the puppeteers are often hidden during puppet shows – inside a puppet, beneath the stage, or behind a curtain. But, hidden or not, those hands are needed to tell the story, create the excitement, and bring the puppets to life. Today, we at Puppet Showplace are asking you to lend us a hand.
Over the summer, Puppet Showplace hosted a hugely popular series of free outdoor puppet performances in Brookline. We offered six weeks of summer education programming to aspiring puppeteers, aged 7-10. And, this fall we welcomed audiences back to our historic theater with “A Season of Friends and Neighbors” featuring in-person and virtual shows, and hosted a 5-week adult puppet making class with Veronica Barron.
We are planning for another year of amazing puppetry, featuring classic favorites, new friends, and plenty of puppet antics for all to enjoy: mainstage shows, vacation week programming, a third round of our Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers, physical upgrades to make our theater more accessible to performers and audiences, and new educational offerings for children and adults.
If you have given before, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity: Puppet Showplace is here today because of you! If you are new to Puppet Showplace: Welcome! Whether you are a longtime friend of the theater or new to this magical place, please consider giving to our year-end fundraiser, because every puppet needs a hand!
With gratitude,
Margueritte Murphy
Board President
Puppet Showplace Theater Seeks Candidates for Board of Trustees
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!
Announcing: A Season with Friends and Neighbors
We are so excited to resume in-person events! Virtual performances will also be available. Learn more and purchase your tickets here!
FALL 2021 SCHEDULE
“Lisa the Wise” by Sarah Nolen, Resident Artist (Sat 10/23 - Sun 10/24).
“Hansel and Gretel” by Tangelwood Marionettes (Sun 10/31).
“The Pied Piper of Hamelin” by CactusHead Puppets (Sat 11/6 - Sun 11/7).
“The Perils of Mr. Punch!” by Modern Times Theater (Sat 11/13 - Sun 11/14).
“Squirrel Stole My Underpants” by The Gottabees (Sat 11/20 - Sun 11/21)
“Sir George and The Dragon” by Pumpernickel Puppets (Sat 11/28 - Sun 11/29)
Learn more about our policies on the Public Health & Programming page!
