CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL PUPPET THEATER FESTIVAL Returns This January

The 8th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival will bring together the world’s leading contemporary puppet artists from January 21–February 1, 2026, transforming the city into a stage for imagination, storytelling, and artistry. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, November 12 at 8 a.m. CT.

Spanning 12 days and dozens of venues, the 2026 festival will feature more than 100 puppetry activities, including large-scale spectacles, intimate performances, and late-night cabarets. Chicagoans and visitors can expect a diverse lineup of styles—from bunraku and shadow puppetry to object-based and multimedia works—performed by artists from England, France, Norway, Denmark, India, Scotland, South Korea, Spain, and the United States.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

The 2026 edition opens with Dead as a Dodo by Wakka Wakka (Norway/New York), a mesmerizing musical odyssey about survival, transformation, and friendship, commissioned by the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.

France and Norway’s Plexus Polaire returns with A Doll’s House, an eerie reimagining of Ibsen’s 1879 classic, combining puppets, actors, video projections, and original music under the direction of Yngvild Aspeli.

From England, Blind Summit—known for their breakout hit The Table—presents The Sex Lives of Puppets, a bawdy, self-aware look at puppet intimacy in modern Britain.

Chicago’s own Manual Cinema unveils The 4th Witch, a darkly inventive riff on Macbeth told through shadow puppetry, silhouettes, and live music performed without dialogue, evoking the feel of a film made in real time.

Local puppeteer and Jeff Award winner KT Shivak presents Rhynoceron, a poetic allegory that follows a life-sized rhinoceros puppet as it transforms from majestic creature to hunted symbol of greed.

France’s Théâtre de la Massue, led by Ézéquiel Garcia-Romeu, makes its festival debut with The Little Theater at the End of the World, Opus II, a miniature spectacle exploring hidden worlds, and La Méridienne, a one-on-one puppet performance paired with a gourmet meal.

New York’s Alva Puppet Theatre presents The Harlem Doll Palace, inspired by the true story of Harlem educator Lenon Holder Hoyt, whose collection of dolls comes to life to tell their journeys to her museum.

Family audiences can enjoy Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile by England’s Roald Dahl Story Company, a musical adventure filled with mischievous humor, jungle escapades, and interplanetary fun.

From Denmark, Sofie Krog Theatre presents The House, a comic thriller set in a family-owned funeral home, where intricate puppetry, lighting, and mechanical effects bring hilarious horror to life.

India’s Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust performs About Ram, an experimental interpretation of the Ramayana, blending animation, masks, and puppetry to explore themes of dharma and humanity.

Portland-based artist Laura Heit brings The Matchbox Shows, miniature puppet performances staged entirely inside matchboxes—what she calls “the smallest, greatest, bravest show in the world.”

From Seoul, South Korea, Geumhyung Jeong presents Oil Pressure Vibrator, an audacious adult work that examines the human body, machinery, and desire through mechanical choreography and conceptual puppetry.

New York and Chicago collaborators Untitled Theater Company No. 61 and Yara Arts Group present The Left Hand of Darkness, an adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1969 sci-fi novel, featuring puppetry by Tom Lee and performances by Chicago Puppet Studio and Chicago Puppet Lab artists.

The festival also welcomes the return of audience favorites Nasty, Brutish & Short, a late-night cabaret of experimental short-form puppetry, and the Free Neighborhood Tour, which brings free, family-friendly performances from Spain and the U.S. to community spaces throughout the city.

THE PUPPET HUB AND ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING

The Puppet Hub, located on the fourth floor of the Fine Arts Building, will once again serve as the festival’s social and creative gathering space. Visitors can enjoy The Spoke & Bird Pop-Up Café, the Pop-Up Puppet Shop, and two free exhibitions: Two Ways Down, featuring Laura Heit’s animation inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, and a display of giant lantern puppets crafted in a pre-festival workshop led by Andrew Kim of Thingamugig.

Puppetry enthusiasts can also participate in the Ellen Van Volkenburg Symposium, the Catapult Artist Intensive, and a range of professional workshops led by visiting artists, offering educational opportunities for performers and designers alike.

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

Now presented annually, the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival is the largest event of its kind in North America. The 2025 edition drew more than 22,000 attendees from across the world, establishing Chicago as a premier destination for contemporary puppetry.

The Warwick Allerton Hotel (701 N. Michigan Ave.) serves as the official festival hotel. Guests can use promo code Puppetfest2026 for discounted rates during festival dates. Reservations are available at warwickhotels.com/warwick-allerton-chicago or by calling (312) 440-1500.

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