Tom Lee

Ten incredible Chicago artists who have spent the past eight months creating new, original puppet theater shows while in residence at the Chicago Puppet Lab, will present a mini-festival of their works in progress, June 1-11 in the Chopin Theatre Basement, 1543 W. Division St. in Wicker Park. 

Hot on the heels of the 5th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, its largest and most successful ever, the Chicago Puppet Fest is pulling strings again this spring, dangling two delightful opportunities for Chicago audiences to enjoy the art and craft of contemporary puppetry.

As part of its current Performing Arts Season, Fall 2022—Spring 2023, Japan Society presents a staged reading of I'm Trying to Understand You, But… by Japanese playwright Yuri Yamada, led by NYC-based director NJ Agwuna, taking place Monday, March 13 at 7:30 PM at Japan Society.

AKUTAGAWA is a stage portrait of Ryunosuke Akutagawa, father of the modern Japanese short novel and best known for In a Grove, the basis of Akira Kurosawa's landmark 1950 film Rashomon.  

Tickets are now on sale for the 5th Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, the largest of its kind in North America, returning January 18-29, 2023, at venues large and small throughout the city.

The Alliance Theatre's annual production of the Charles Dickens classic, A CHRISTMAS CAROL adapted by David H. Bell and directed by Leora Morris, runs on the Coca-Cola Stage until December 24, 2022. Described as 'one of Atlanta's most treasured holiday traditions,' this production is Alliance’s 34th. It is also a remount of last year's reimagined staging, design, and performance features 'stunning new costumes, beautiful live music, exciting puppetry, and a reconceived set design.' It's easy to say Alliance's A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a holiday gift in itself. The story is a timeless reminder of what a little kindness, generosity, and gratitude can do to not only change your own life, but also your community that surrounds you.

Writers Theatre will continue its 2022/23 Season with Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol, a Manual Cinema production adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens, devised by Manual Cinema with additional writing by Nate Marshall. Manual Cinema’s Christmas Carol will be presented November 29 – December 24, 2022.

Lookingglass Theatre Company has announced the cast for the return of Chicago's beloved holiday tradition, The Steadfast Tin Soldier! The ensemble cast features Lookingglass Ensemble Members Kasey Foster as Ballerina and Anthony Irons as Goblin, with Christopher Donahue as Nursemaid, John Gregorio as Rat, and Adeoye as Tin Soldier. 

THE CENTER AT WEST PARK (CWP), the Upper West Side's cultural hub for diverse, engaging, and boundary-pushing performing arts, announces the Cohort of resident artists selected for the 2022/2023 Object Movement Puppetry Residency & Festival, an annual presentation of new short works developed in residence at The Center at West Park.

​​​​​​​ Five Boroughs Music Festival (5BMF) – champions of chamber music in all corners of NYC – has announced its Fall 2022 season, which features the Queens, Bronx, and Manhattan premieres of the Five Borough Songbook, Volume III, and Love Affects by Castle of our Skins featuring Angel C. Dye.

La MaMa ETC’s 61st season will feature world-premieres by John Kelly, Erik Ehn, Elizabeth Swados, Witness Relocation/Dan Safer, Bobbie Jene Smith and Ping Chong, along with the live, in-person stage debut of Split Britches’s 2021 digital production LAST GASP and the first-ever revival of Maria Irene Fornes’ EVELYN BROWN.

Japan Society has announced its upcoming season of live, in-person performances at the Society with programs spanning traditional to contemporary, across the disciplines of opera, theater, traditional noh, puppetry, dance and more, slated for Fall 2022 and Winter/Spring 2023.

Dancers over 40 presented a sold out one-night-only special event: A Toast to Harvey - Celebrating the Life and Career of Harvey Evans on Wednesday, June 22nd, 6 – 9PM at The Triad Theatre. The evening was hosted by Broadway legend, Lee Roy Reams and featured performances and remembrances by Jim Brochu, Anita Gillette, Kurt Peterson, Marianne Tatum, Penny Worth and Tony Yazbeck.

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center has announced its 2022 summer season, which features the return of some beloved in-person public events put on pause during the virtual and hybrid seasons of 2020 and 2021. 

Each of the writers worked independently to generate dialogue and/or actions for two performers, one playing a 7-year-old and the other a 77-year-old. The non-linear tale that emerges is developed in collaboration with creative technologists, embodied by performance artist Agosto Machado and a puppet by Tom Lee, performed by Leah Ogawa and Maria Camia, and will explore interactivity and connection with the online audience.

Ma-Yi Theater Company – which recently celebrated a return to in-person events with the four-time Lortel nominated production of Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady at The Public Theater – has announced additional programming running May 1–September 18, 2022.

The Autry Museum of the American West announced today the successful conclusion of a six-year, $80 million comprehensive fundraising initiative, the Challenge, Discover, Celebrate campaign.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL, Alliance Theatre's annual holiday production, returns to the Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre November 12 – December 24, 2021. 

La MaMa – one of the first major theatres in the U.S. to present contemporary puppet artists and their work on its mainstages – will begin its 60th season with the celebrated, biannual LA MAMA PUPPET SERIES from September 29 to October 24 at the Ellen Stewart Theatre and Downstairs Theatre.

It's been surprisingly busy the past 18 months at the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, as organizers have piloted new programs and retackled festival planning, all while developing major expansion plans following a year-long strategic planning process.