La Mama Puppet Festival Reveals International Lineup

La MaMa has announced the lineup for its 2026 La MaMa Puppet Festival (Denise Greber, Festival Director and Curator, Federico Restrepo, Festival Producing Director), running November 11 - December 6, 2026.

Puppetry has been an integral part of La MaMa's programming since 1962. By setting objects in motion, puppet artists can penetrate linguistic and cultural barriers to tell stories that are accessible to audiences around the world. Bringing international puppet artists together leads to innovation, experimentation, and increased awareness of puppetry as a sophisticated art form. In 2004, La MaMa introduced its Puppet Series, a biannual festival showcasing new contemporary puppet theatre. Since then, La MaMa has produced twelve puppet festivals.

Denise Greber says, “Since its beginnings more than two decades ago, The La MaMa Puppet Series and Festival has provided a home for artists exploring the limitless possibilities of puppet theatre. Year after year, we've had the privilege to witness puppet artists bring bold ideas, unexpected perspectives, and inventive forms to our stages. As La MaMa enters its 65th season, we're thinking deeply about the idea of oneness—about what connects us, even in our differences, and the ways theatre can bring us together. Puppet theatre – with its ability to transform objects, bodies and imagination – offers a particularly powerful space for that exploration. We're grateful to the artists and audiences who continue to make this festival a place of experimentation, discovery, connection, and we look forward to seeing where this shared journey takes us next.”

Performances take place at La MaMa's various spaces. Tickets to all shows are $30 (adults), $25 (students and seniors) and $10 (La MaMa members). First ten tickets to every performance are $10, limit 2 per person. Ticket Packages available: 2 shows ($50), 3 shows ($75) and 5 shows ($120). All ages welcome. 

2026 LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Endless Forms world premiere runs November 11 - 14 at the Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th St.). Performances are Wednesday at 8:30pm, Thursday at 7pm & 9:30pm, Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 12pm.

Creative team includes Monica Lerch (Director, Lead Fabricator & Designer, Puppeteer), Jeshua Bratman (Writer, Producer & Digital Design), Sean Devare (Creative Co-Direction, Puppetry Designer & Puppeteer), Esme Roszel (Shadow Puppetry Designer & Puppeteer), Diane Boyle, Jim Freeman and Will Carter (Puppet Fabricators), Kyle Reid (Sound Design & Composer), MI Leggett (Costume Design), Daniel Montoro (Set Design), Federico Restrepo (Light Design), Kayta Thomas & SJ Munford (Puppeteers), and Aki Nikolaidis (Story Development).

Endless Forms is a science-fiction myth for a post-human future. What seeds of humanity survive each new form, and what will we ache to remember? For Syx, whose body is slowly withering, this ban is a death sentence. Refusing to disappear in the name of purity, she operates in secret: altering herself to survive, building robotic companions, and seeking a form that can hold her. Her journey leads beneath the ocean to a commune of transformed humans who have fled the surface. But the wholeness they offer asks Syx to surrender the self she has fought to preserve. Blending tabletop puppetry, shadow play, digital projection, and electronic music, Endless Forms follows Syx through a series of changes as she seeks a form always just beyond reach. https://endlessformspuppetry.com

Tiresias Presents New Weird Future - A Work In Process runs November 12 - 15 at The Club (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 8:30pm, Friday at 8:30pm, Saturday at 2pm and 6pm, and Sunday at 2pm and 5pm.

Written, directed and composed by Tiresias. Performers are Synead, Wes Garlington aka Klondyke, Ellen Zahniser, Mizuho Kappa, Nicki Kissil, Emily Batsford and Tiresias. Musicians are Darian Donovan Thomas, Angélica Negrón and Tristan Allen. Creative team includes Celia Krefter (Production/Stage Manager), Tom Lee (Lead Puppet Designer), Tristan Allen (Puppet Captain), Zachary Sun & Averly Sheltraw (Puppet Builders), Ezra Moth (Costume Design), Celia Krefter (Light Design), Theresa Buchheister (Fairy Godfather) and Nicolas Baird (Dramaturge).

A speculative eco-opera and puppet pageant-in-process that imagines futures of multispecies flourishing in the ruins of the Anthropocene. A collective act of radical queer defiance against apathetic submission to climate apocalypse, New Weird Future promises utopian visions of eclectic, non-innocent entanglements on Future Earth.

Tiresias is a hybrid writer, director, composer, performer, puppeteer, mythmaker, shapeshifter, drag-thing, songbird and ritualist whose work explores queer ecologies, weird mythologies, and speculative futures. They have presented dozens of original performance works around the world, and received fellowships, residencies, and awards from Ucross, MacDowell, Sitka, Millay Arts, Bogliasco, The Jim Henson Foundation, The Princess Grace Foundation, The Mercury Store, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Luce, Marshall, Fulbright, and elsewhere. https://evansilver.net

The Undercity runs November 14 - 16 at the Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th St.). Performances are Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm and 6pm, and Monday at 7pm.

Creative team includes Gaby FeBland (Playwright, Puppet Designer & Puppeteer) Sammy Zeisel (Director), Camille Cooper and Natthew Marvan (Puppeteers), Cat Raynor (Scenic Design), Kyle Stamm (Light Design), Liam Bellman-Sharpe (Composer), Veronica Johnson (Costume Design), KT Shivak (Rat King Puppet Designer), Tessa Ramírez-Keough (Stage Manager) and Ethan Eva Karas (Associate Director). Undercity Creative Producing Team includes Producer – Honigman & Sons, Line Producer – Penzi Hill-Vasserman, and Associate Producer – Keeley Dunn Heagerty.

A Spooky Action Theater production, The Undercity is a rat puppet pageant about overthrowing a crumbling empire on the verge of ecological collapse. Set in the great rat metropolis beneath our feet—a 1970s New York-inspired neon-lit underworld—the show follows Rat Girl, as she uncovers a vast conspiracy that threatens the fate of her world.

Gaby FeBland and Sammy Zeisel create multidisciplinary puppet plays that harness the power of communal ritual to cultivate the strange and wondrous. Previous collaborations include Cat (Rattlestick) and Gooey's Toxic Aquatic Adventure (Bushwick Starr). The Undercity, developed during a 2024 residency at Culture Lab LIC, received a Production Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation. Gaby co-founded Foreshadow, a shadow puppetry company that has performed at Lincoln Center, the Carnegie Hall Weimar Festival, and Green-Wood Cemetery. Sammy completed his MFA in Directing at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, where he is currently a Lecturer. https://www.gabyfebland.art

Everything That Follows world premiere immersive event runs November 19 - 23 at the La MaMa Building (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 2pm and 6pm, Sunday at 2pm and Monday at 7pm. Runtime is 60 minutes.

Presented by Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company (USA/COLOMBIA), Created & Co-Directed by Federico Restrepo & Denise Greber, Choreography, Light, Set & Puppet Design by Federico Restrepo. Original Music by Juan Sebastian Monsalve. Musicians are Lina Silva and Juan Sebastian Monsalve. Costume Design by Becky Hubert. Sound Design by Sophie Yuqing Nie. Stage Manager is Amanda Reyes. Featuring Federico Restrepo with Manuela Agudelo, Braulio Basilio, Maria Camia, Katie Leffern, and Ursula Tinoco.

Everything That Follows is a visceral dance puppet theatre piece about what it means to be human. Through movement, puppetry, and visual art, the work dives into the messy, fragile, and often surreal experience of being alive—our need for connection, our instinct to survive, and our constant struggle to adapt and transform. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, the piece blurs the boundaries between human, animal, and environment. Bodies and puppets collide, evolve, and come to life in a dreamlike landscape where vulnerability becomes strength, connection becomes survival, and transformation is inevitable. A visually striking and emotionally charged exploration of who we are, how we relate to one another, and what it takes to remain human in a world that is constantly changing.

Celebrating its 40th Anniversary Season, Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre, founded by Federico Restrepo in 1986, develops and promotes creative productions of theatre, puppetry, dance, visual arts, and music. They aim to be a collective where artistic expression and community meet, providing an environment of creative freedom for artists to explore and develop their artistic practice, and hone their skills. The undertaking of the ensemble deals with themes such as North and South American Culture and History, the Immigrants' experience, and New York City Urban Life. https://www.loco7.org/cause-and-effect

Since 1985, Federico Restrepo has developed a distinctive puppetry practice blending design, dance, and movement. Founder and Artistic Director of Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre, he creates sets and puppets as extensions of the dancer's body, transforming performance spaces into dynamic, ever-changing environments. His work draws on Colombian culture, the history of the Americas, and his experiences in New York City. Restrepo has created, directed, designed, and performed over twenty original works at La MaMa, with productions touring internationally. He is a resident puppet designer, choreographer, performer, and director at La MaMa, and Producing Director of the biennial La MaMa Puppet Festival.

Denise Greber is a theatre artist, producer, and educator who has served as Co-Director of Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre since 2001, contributing as a writer, director, costume designer, and performer. Her recent Loco7 credits include Everything That Follows, Lunch with Sonia, and Don Quixote Takes NY. Since 1999, Denise has been part of La MaMa, where she currently serves as Director of Artistic Operations, overseeing programming, touring, international collaborations, marketing, and special projects including the La MaMa Puppet Series/Festival and La MaMa Kids.

Where Did You Go, Connie? world premiere runs November 19 - 22 at the Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 8:30pm, Friday at 8:30pm, Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 4pm.

Creative team includes Amanda Card (lead artist), Matthew Keim (sound design), Rowan Magee (director), Jeremy Kadetsky (video design), Marie Yokoyama (light design), Vinny Mraz (set design), Aya Ogawa (dramaturg), and Sarah Lillian (Stage Manager).

An interdisciplinary puppetry performance about the life and disappearance of cult musician Connie Converse, whose introspective songs were recorded in 1950s New York, and who vanished without a trace in 1974. Through a layered integration of shadow puppetry, toy theater, and live-feed video, the piece seeks to conjure Connie's presence, reckon with her disappearance, and examine the meaning of artistic legacy, especially for those whose work was unseen in their lifetime.

Amanda Card (she/they) is a Bushwick-based interdisciplinary artist and puppeteer whose work blends memory, disappearance, and handmade visual storytelling. Select performance credits include Boy Crazy (Ars Nova), Our Bodies Like Dams (Mabou Mines), 9000 Paper Balloons (Japan Society), Daydream Tutorial (La MaMa), Small Acts of Daring Invention (Drama Desk Nominee – HERE), The Greedy Peasant's All Saints' Day Celebration, and Yuliya Tsukerman's The Luminous Crow. She received the 2021 Lipkin Prize for Playwriting and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. https://www.amandacard.com

Mirrored Pool New York premiere runs November 27 - 29 at the Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th St.). Performances are Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 2pm and 6pm, and Sunday at 2pm.

An Eighth Blackbird Production in association with Yara Arts Group with support from the MAP fund. Created and performed by Tom Lee, Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall. Puppets and masks by Jaerin Son. Additional puppet design by Averly Sheltraw. Lighting by Seojung Jang. Puppetry direction by Justin Perkins. Photos by Stacey Bode Photography.

A puppetry/music collaboration between artist Tom Lee and musicians Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall. The piece explores humanity's place in our vast universe, showcasing the virtuosity of Eighth Blackbird's music against the vital, human power of puppetry. Mirrored Pool takes special inspiration from astronomer Carl Sagan, whose work on the Voyager spacecrafts and the Golden Record are now the most distant human-made objects and sounds from our planet — currently 15.7 billion miles away from Earth.

Born in Korea and raised in Hawai'i, Tom Lee is a director, designer and puppet artist. Mr. Lee began his career at La MaMa in New York with the encouragement of Ellen Stewart and later, the St. Ann's Warehouse Puppet Lab. His work often explores the synthesis of manipulated figures and objects using film techniques and animation. Tom Lee creates original puppet theater pieces, performs as a professional puppeteer, designs and fabricates puppets through Chicago Puppet Studio. https://tomleeprojects.com/puppetry

Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall met and began making music together in curriculum ensembles at Oberlin College in 1992, driven by a compatible fascination with rigorous challenges and unexpected outcomes. Together with their ensemble mates, they created Eighth Blackbird, a four-time Grammy Award-winning sextet that commissions and champions the creation of new works, mentoring emerging artists through the Blackbird. https://www.eighthblackbird.org

Jump Start 2026: Work-in-progress presentations run November 27 - 29 at The Club (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 4pm, and Sunday at 4pm.

La MaMa's annual Jump Start series gives puppet artists the opportunity to workshop and showcase current work-in-progress. Five artists will be presented in this year's Jump Start; they include Justin Perkins (Swan Lake Variation), William Carter (Not Yet Buried), Marcella Murray (Other Atlantas: Something Out The Mud), Torry Bend (Coat and Coyote) and Andrew Murdock (Beacon). Learn more about the series at https://lamama.org/jump-start-2026.

Husks from Iran world premiere runs December 3 - 6 at The Club (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 8pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3pm and Sunday at 3pm.

Creative team includes Deniz Khateri (Playwright, Director & Puppet designer), Siobhan Carroll (Co-director) and Bahar Royaee (Composer & sound designer). Performers are Hayley Spivey, Siobhan Carroll and Megan Paldino. Music performers are Bahar Royaee and Pouya Shabanpour.

Husks from Iran follows the story of an immigrant artist from Iran who struggles with language; words don't come to her, and they begin to bend and distort. Feeling incomplete in her second language, she starts looking for ways through art to bridge the gap between Farsi and English. Her search for answers leads her to explore the lives of a couple of exiled Iranian poets, each navigating similar struggles. The English translations of their poems come to life in a shadow world inhabited by shadow puppets inspired by Persian calligraphy, where language is transformed into image, movement, and memory.

Born and raised in Tehran, Deniz Khateri is a New York–based multidisciplinary artist working in theater, experimental music-theater, contemporary opera, and animation. Her work explores memory, grief, immigration, and home. She is a PEN America Dream Out Loud selected playwright with additional residencies at the Orchard project, Theaterlab, University Settlement, New Perspectives Theatre, and the Center at West Park. Her writing has been published in American Theatre magazine, Puppetry International, and by Brill. She received the Al-Bustan Award for her solo show A Bach'eh who wanted to become Bach, the UNIMA-USA Nancy Staub Award for excellence in writing for puppetry, and grants supporting her projects from NYFA, NYSCA, and the Jim Henson Foundation. https://www.denizkhateri.com

En Mer Avec Louise Bourgeois world premiere runs December 3 - 6 at the Community Arts Space (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 2pm.

Creative team includes Michelle Beshaw (Creator/Performer/Designer) and Deborah Beshaw-Farrell (Performer).

A haunting found-object puppet piece inspired by the memories, fears, and obsessions that animated Louise Bourgeois's work well into her 90s. Discarded domestic objects are transformed into bodies, ghosts, and fragments of memory, creating a surreal landscape where childhood, family, desire, rage, and repair collide. Through playful and uncanny transformations, the objects reveal a world in which the past is never quite gone—and everything can be broken, stitched back together, and made new.

Michelle Beshaw is a Brooklyn-based theatre artist and performer whose work has appeared at La MaMa, PS 122, city parks, community centers, stairwells, and even a broom closet. Her original works include The Napier Project, developed as a resident artist in the Mabou Mines Suite; Sheep Musing, presented in St. Ann's Warehouse's Labapalooza; and Wave: An Incantation, featured in La MaMa's 2019 Puppet Slam. Michelle is a company member of the Czech-American Marionette Theatre and a longtime collaborator with the Puppeteers Cooperative. She is delighted to be working once again with one of her favorite performers, Debbie Beshaw-Farrell, with whom she has shared a lifelong creative partnership. https://www.instagram.com/beshawmichelle

La MaMa Kids: The Dandelion's Wish runs November 14 - 15 at the Community Arts Space (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Saturday at 11am and Sunday at 12pm.

Written and designed by Fatima Sambo Schoenfelder (USA/GHANA). Creative team includes Kervin Peralta (Director/Puppeteer), Shabbi Sharifi (Shadow Puppet designer/puppeteer), Alyssa Parkhurst (puppeteer) and Elise Gomez (Lights & Sound).

First performed at La MaMa in 2023, The Dandelion's Wish is a charming children's show about a lonely little dandelion who dreams of exploring the world but is stuck in the same place, rooted to the ground. The Dandelion's Wish teaches young viewers the importance of perseverance, kindness, and believing that even the biggest dreams can come true. The show won a 2024 Henson Grant Award.

Fatima Sambo Schoenfelder is a first-generation Ghanaian-American multi-disciplinary artist. She is the author and illustrator of The Dandelion's Wish, her first children's picture book and creator of the companion tabletop puppet show. https://www.instagram.com/skylarkartsstudio

2026 LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL SPECIAL EVENTS

Assortment from November 12 - December 6 projected in the lobby of building 74a.

Created by Avery Vang and Paige Vang, Assortment is a collection of stop-motion and digitally animated films that explores the diverse possibilities of animation as an art form. Bringing together a range of techniques, styles, and visual approaches, the collection highlights the creativity, experimentation, and storytelling that animation makes possible. From tactile, frame-by-frame movement to digitally crafted worlds, these films offer a glimpse into the many ways images can be brought to life, inviting viewers to experience animation through a variety of perspectives and imaginative expressions.

From Concept to Ask – A workshop on Saturday, November 21 from 10:30am to 5:30pm at Great Jones Studio (35 Great Jones St.).

Led by Jean Marie Keevins. $100 per person, includes workshop, performance and talkback. Learn more at https://lamama.org/from-concept-to-ask.

Turning a puppet show from an idea into a real production means facing a budget and a pitch, two things most puppet artists were never trained to build. A strong show can stall for the simple reason that the numbers were never worked out or the ask was never made clearly. From Concept to Ask is a one-day intensive with producer and puppet artist Jean Marie Keevins, built for artists who already have a project, or a dream project, in mind. Over the course of the day, participants build a working budget and a working pitch for that project, grounded in real numbers rather than guesswork.

Intuitive Hand Puppets on Saturday, November 28 from 12pm to 3pm at the Community Arts Space (74A East 4th St.).

Tickets are $25 per person. Ages 10+. Learn more at https://lamama.org/intuitive-hand-puppets.

Join Puppeteer and Fiber Artist, J Hann, in this hands-on puppet making workshop. Participants will let the materials guide them as they learn techniques on fabric manipulation, layering, and creating texture to make unique hand puppets. Everyone will leave with knowledge on how to manipulate their new fantastical puppet creation.

Performance lineup subject to change.