{"id":105365,"date":"2025-05-08T04:48:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T09:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=105365"},"modified":"2026-01-01T16:05:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T22:05:27","slug":"chicago-pulls-strings-to-become-international-puppetry-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-pulls-strings-to-become-international-puppetry-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago pulls strings to become international puppetry hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Paulina Czupryna<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Medill Reports\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a puppet is \u201ca small-scale figure (as of a person or animal) usually with a cloth body and hollow head that fits over and is moved by the hand.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Puppeteers might disagree. They can debate the definition for hours \u2014 a \u201ccommon joke,\u201d said Elaine Petkovsek, a veteran attendee of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, as she exited the parking garage beneath the Museum of Contemporary Art to watch \u201cThe House by the Lake\u201d earlier this year. Since the festival debuted in 2015, attendance has reached record highs a decade later.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"
2025 Festival Flyer | Photo courtesy of Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As puppetry participation continues to flourish, so do opportunities to practice the innovative art form. Chicago, home to the U.S.\u2019 largest puppet festival, the 10-year-old International Puppet Theatre Festival, is increasingly regarded as a puppet capital, said Matthew Cohen, a puppet professor at the University of Connecticut.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His expertise, although broad, specializes in an arm of the diverse artform focused on puppetry in Indonesia, including its historic shadow art known as wayang. Cohen also specializes in global traditions of puppet theater with years of training in art hubs such as London and the Netherlands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A scholar with decades of expertise, Cohen said, \u201cChicago has momentum.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chicago festival, held Jan. 15-26, showcases performances at multiple venues, including the DuSable Black History Museum and the Studebaker Theater, home of the NPR show \u201cWait Wait \u2026 Don\u2019t Tell Me.\u201d As the number of puppet shows, shops and classes grows, so do diverse opportunities to practice the innovative art form.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Historically, a puppet can take many forms, each revealing a new and unexpected message.\u00a0For some plotlines, they tell a simple story. In other shows, puppets hold deeper meanings that expand an audience member\u2019s direction of thought.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Festival
Festival Founder Blair Thomas | Photo courtesy of Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Blair Thomas, artistic director and founder of the International Puppet Theatre Festival, a puppet is a “surrogate figure of a human, animal or spirit.”\u00a0 A puppeteer since he was 12, Thomas said he loves the creativity and \u201csophistication\u201d in shows like this year\u2019s \u201cThe Life of Michael K.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thomas received awards for excellence in the art of puppetry from the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA-USA), whose mission links global puppeteers together. He was also awarded the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship and nominated for the Jeff Awards, which grant recognition to theater excellence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Holding an annual festival welcomes thousands of attendees, inviting dynamic storytellers to share their work overseas. This year, creators from Israel, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, France, Italy, China and Germany brought their work to Illinois stages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEach year the festival sells more tickets,\u201d Thomas said. Introducing the festival to about 14,000 attendees in 2015, the show reached a record high in 2024 with more than 19,800 audience members. This included volunteer sign-up spots that filled up \u201csuper fast,\u201d Thomas said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly doubling its opportunities, the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival now holds more than 120 annual puppetry events.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Spoke
Spoke & Bird Pop-Up Cafe in the Fine Arts Building | Photo courtesy of Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Along with the city\u2019s global recognition, groups such as PuppetQueers, the Chicago Puppet Guild, the Chicago Puppet Studio and the Puppet Lab contribute to a puppeteer\u2019s opportune city scene. Pop-up events such as the Puppet Hub Cafe, where visitors can dine among life-size puppets, along with student internships and scholarships, allow enthusiasts to collaborate with puppeteers worldwide. Free neighborhood tours, or family-friendly events in locations outside the city, work to \u201ccreate opportunities of community enjoyment while expanding the base of puppet enthusiasts,\u201d according to the festival\u2019s website.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the exact number of puppet scholars is impossible to count, \u201cpuppetry education is growing,\u201d said Cohen. Today, the art holds \u201chuge possibilities for online opportunities\u201d and virtual workshops, puppet studios and one-on-one Zoom classes with global practitioners. The city has many of Cohen\u2019s students who, according to him, have \u201cgone to Chicago because of its opportunities.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scholars can pursue a puppetry bachelor of fine arts, a minor in puppetry and a graduate master of fine arts certificate at the University of Connecticut. Puppet education is also available at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and DePaul University, which have offered classes such as “Digital Puppet Animation” focused on puppetry and object performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The popularity of puppetry fluctuates in the U.S. \u201cIt\u2019s kinda a spiral,\u201d said Jessica Thebus, a theater artist, director and professor at Northwestern University.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Baxter
Baxter Theatre & Handspring Puppet Company\u2019s \u201cJ.M. Coetzee\u2019s Life and Times of Michael K\u201d at the Studebaker Theater | Photo courtesy of Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thebus is an associate artist with Chicago\u2019s Steppenwolf Theatre Company and has attended multiple theater festivals, including Chicago\u2019s International Puppet Theater Festival. She also teaches a \u201ctoy theater class,\u201d which explores miniature puppetry in production, and said puppetry\u2019s growth \u201cpulses\u201d throughout the years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think (the art) creates the atmosphere of inspiration and imagination, where then a lot of artists, who may not have learned that direction before, can really think about the activation of objects,\u201d Thebus said. You can make puppets out of ice or metal, \u201cbut you really can kind of drag cardboard out of the alley and make something pretty amazing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, Thebus holds an end-of-year showcase, displaying work done in her class, consisting mainly of graduate and MFA students. \u201c(The festival) is a huge gift to the city,\u201d she said. \u201cYou start to see the impact on an artistic community of being exposed to that kind of variety of work.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Originally, the festival took place every two years. With the spike in participation, it transitioned to an annual schedule during the last two weeks of January.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already started planning next year\u2019s festivals last summer,\u201d Thomas said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLook, they have a man working the elevators,\u201d a young boy said to his parents while waiting in line for Plexus Polaire\u2019s showing of “Dracula: Lucy\u2019s Dream” at the Studebaker Theater. Located in the Fine Arts Building, the historic artists\u2019 haven still uses hand-operated elevators. It\u2019s also where Chicago Little Theatre founder Ellen Van Volkenburg coined the phrase \u201cpuppeteer\u201d and where the festival houses its main office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Near the historic elevators, volunteers lined up to assist the 60 or so attendees waiting outside the theater\u2019s entrance. Another 70 were inside the awning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\""Dracula:
“Dracula: Lucy\u2019s Dream” at the Studebaker Theater | Photo courtesy of Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the show’s call time approached, Sandy Gerding, the festival’s executive director, asked the audience if they remembered a \u201csmoking puppet\u201d from the 2024 festival that welcomed giggles, chatter and awe from the crowd. Following the show, with almost all floor seats occupied, the audience’s applause ran for more than a minute.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christen Krasch, a festival volunteer, saw seven shows at the 2025 festival. Krasch specializes in clowning, puppetry and comedy. For Krasch, the magic of the craft is how an artist takes \u201can ordinary object and transforms it into something else.\u201d It\u2019s also a gift because it is \u201csomething you can do so independently.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Claudia Orenstein, puppet scholar and founder of the 2024\u00a0International Puppet Journal\u00a0at the City University of New York. The unique ability to animate the inanimate invites audiences to \u201cwatch differently\u201d and engage with a deeply imaginative form of storytelling, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In puppetry, everything on stage \u2014 even the materials themselves \u2014 holds the potential to spring to life. \u201cSeeing materials as expressive\u201d lies at the core of such performances, said\u00a0<\/span>Orenstein.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Yael
Yael Rasooly\u2019s \u201cThe House by the Lake\u201d at the Museum of Contemporary Art | Photo courtesy of Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Major festivals, including the New York Henson International Festival for Puppet Theater, which ran from 1992 to 2000, provide space for mass exposure. Orenstein\u2019s introduction to puppetry began with the Henson festivals. Today, she actively attends other celebrations, including the Chicago\u2019s fest. These public performances are ways of \u201cbringing new people in and allowing people to grow and share their work,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Orenstein spoke on the national influence of New York\u2019s Bread and Puppet Theatre, where puppets are not just for children, but also for art enthusiasts, dialogue experts, authors and artists; puppetry is an innovative practice, filled with endless opportunities. \u201cPuppeteers have created a lot of the infrastructure for themselves,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some puppetry uses minimal dialogue. For example, “Dracula: Lucy\u2019s Dream” had no script. Rather, the puppeteers communicated \u201cin other ways,\u201d Orenstein said \u2014 with emotion, a movement team of creative artists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Puppets give a show \u201clayers of interest\u201d and let artists \u201cdesign their own character.\u201d\u00a0Whether it was a silent but powerful visual representation of a political protest, or if the figure captured a \u201cvisceral moment\u201d for audiences on stage, Orenstein said puppetry \u201ctakes you on a powerful journey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paulina Czupryna is a magazine graduate student concentrating in data at Medill.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n



<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paulina Czupryna\u00a0 Medill Reports\u00a0 According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a puppet is \u201ca small-scale figure (as of a person or animal) usually with a cloth body and hollow head that fits over and is moved by the hand.\u201d\u00a0 Puppeteers might disagree. They can debate the definition for hours \u2014 a \u201ccommon joke,\u201d said Elaine Petkovsek, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1017,"featured_media":105375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,5251,5542,5493],"tags":[61,5503,5505,5504,5502,5506,5507,5508],"class_list":["post-105365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-chicago","category-msj25","category-spring-2025","tag-chicago","tag-festival","tag-growing-opportunities","tag-international-puppet-theater-festival","tag-puppet","tag-puppet-mfa","tag-puppet-scholarships","tag-virtual-opportunities"],"yoast_head":"\nChicago pulls strings to become international puppetry hub - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-pulls-strings-to-become-international-puppetry-hub\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago pulls strings to become international puppetry hub - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Paulina Czupryna\u00a0 Medill Reports\u00a0 According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, a puppet is \u201ca small-scale figure (as of a person or animal) usually with a cloth body and hollow head that fits over and is moved by the hand.\u201d\u00a0 Puppeteers might disagree. They can debate the definition for hours \u2014 a \u201ccommon joke,\u201d said Elaine Petkovsek, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-pulls-strings-to-become-international-puppetry-hub\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-08T09:48:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-01T22:05:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/wp-media-folder-medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/MR-Puppet-7.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"paulinakczupryna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"paulinakczupryna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-pulls-strings-to-become-international-puppetry-hub\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicago-pulls-strings-to-become-international-puppetry-hub\/\",\"name\":\"Chicago pulls strings to become international puppetry hub - 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