Puppet Showplace Theater

Puppet Showplace Theater Puppet shows, classes, vacation programs, and field trips for all ages in Brookline, MA! Serving audiences as New England's puppet theater since 1974.
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Puppet Showplace Theater is dedicated to presenting outstanding professional puppetry to diverse audiences through performances, workshops, and community outreach. Each year, we present over 300 performances at our historic theater, located in Brookline Village. Our touring shows reach thousands more at schools, libraries, and cultural centers throughout the Northeast region. We offer workshops, c

lasses, summer camps, and training opportunities to both children and adults, and we partner with local and emerging artists to develop exciting new work.

06/18/2026

What a night! 👏 Last Saturday, an incredible community of artists and performance lovers gathered at Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre () for Amplify, the one-night-only showcase celebrating this year’s Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers (CRBP) fellows and their innovative works!

From projection and shadow puppetry to moving mouth puppets, crankies, songs, and more, the evening showcased a beautifully diverse array of puppetry styles, inspiring all who attended. The evening came to a close with a two-way Q&A, offering the audience a chance to learn from this year’s artists, as well as answer questions from the artists themselves!

The evening featured performances from the 2026 cohort:
⭐ Beyonce Armstrong (Brooklyn, NY) | )
⭐ Majeedah Johnson (Parkville, MD | )
⭐ Samuel J. Lewis, II (Chicago, IL | )
⭐ Danyett Tucker (Baltimore, MD | )
Plus performances by
✨ Marcella Murray, CRBP 2026 Project Mentor
✨ Tanya Nixon-Silberg () of , CRBP Community Curator & CRBP 2020 fellow
And remarks from Residency Coordinator Ash Winkfield (.music,) MC Charlotte Lily Gaspard (), Puppet Showplace Theater’s Executive Artistic Director Veronica Barron and Board Member Sarah Sonnenfeld!

Thank you to Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre (), Brookline’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Relations (), and Brookline Community Foundation (), for supporting this event!

If you missed the show, or would like to learn more about the program, you can sign-up to be notified about future CRBP happenings, as well as other puppet shows for adults and teens, via our newsletter. 💌 Sign-up, here: https://www.puppetshowplace.org/bio-newsletter?utm_source=fbpost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=newsletter

06/16/2026

🃏 Folly brought light to the Dark Ages… in 2026, foolishness still offers relief from impending doom! Join us for “Death & The Fool: A Tarot-Inspired Medieval Folly” by Happenstance Theater — coming to Puppet Showplace on June 22 & 23 — featuring slapstick comedy, music from the middle ages, puppetry, and whimsy.

As the Fool faces Death and seeks guidance, you too can consult the Oracle, be comforted by the High Priestess, trust in the Doctor if you dare, and give your troubles to the Crone.

This ensemble production is coming to us from Maryland — don’t miss the laugh-out-loud fun, fit for both adults and kids!

➡️ Find tickets & more info: https://www.puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2026/06/22/death-and-the-fool-a-tarot-inspired-medieval-folly-by-happenstance-theater?utm_source=fbpost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=DATF-26

06/15/2026

Have you ever seen a juggling marionette? 🤹 Step into an enchanted garden, where fairies, field mice, and other small critters dance, play instruments, juggle, contort, transform, and fly through the air with the greatest of ease, all to the music of favorite classical composers.

Join us for a dazzling display of circus acts and turn-of-the-century style trick marionette puppetry with “The Fairy Circus” by Puppet Showplace-favorite Tanglewood Marionettes on Sunday, June 21!

➡️ Find tickets & more info, here: https://www.puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2026/06/21/the-fairy-circus-by-tanglewood-marionettes?utm_source=igstories&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TFC-J-26

📖 From crankies that illustrate healing journeys to repurposed-material puppets that educate through performance, the wo...
06/11/2026

📖 From crankies that illustrate healing journeys to repurposed-material puppets that educate through performance, the works of our 2026 Creative Residency of Black Puppeteers fellows are boldly imaginative.

New on our blog, we spoke to fellows Danyett Tucker () and Majeedah Johnson () — both hailing from Maryland — about their puppetry inspiration, experience with the CRBP community, and the innovative new works they’ve developed over the course of the residency.

➡️ Head to puppetshowplace.org/blog to read Q&As with all of this year’s artists — and to get 🎟️🎟️🎟️ to see their work LIVE at Amplify: The Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers Showcase, this Saturday, June 13, 2026 at Boston University’s (, ) lovely Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre!

Get tickets, here: https://www.puppetshowplace.org/calendar/2026/06/13/amplify-the-creative-residency-for-black-puppeteers-showcase?utm_source=fbpost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Amplify-26

Ticket sales cover about half of our costs, so it is your generosity that keeps this special place alive and thriving! 🌱...
06/09/2026

Ticket sales cover about half of our costs, so it is your generosity that keeps this special place alive and thriving! 🌱

Your gift ensures that children (and their grown-ups!) can continue to find joy, understanding, and connection here at Puppet Showplace.

And now — when you give before JUNE 30TH — you’ll help us plan for the coming year and decide what programs we can afford to offer next fall, winter, and spring!

➡️ Visit https://purchase.puppetshowplace.org/Donations to make a contribution and share the transformative power of puppetry this spring!

📸: Photos of last year’s talented Puppet Adventure Program students!

06/08/2026

New sidequest unlocked 🔓 Everyone knows puppets have GREAT taste in art — So when the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston invited us over for a Puppet Takeover last month, we couldn’t contain our excitement!

In these clips from Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, Puppet Showplace let roving puppets loose across Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, allowing the fantastical creatures to gallop, prowl, and swim across the exhibits. Elsewhere in the museum, MFA docents teamed up with a very silly puppet “assistant” (puppeteered by Puppet Showplace Resident Artist, Sarah Nolen of Puppet Motion!) to bring museum patrons a 30-minute tour of works on view, with commentary from a furry puppet monster!

We had the BEST time! Remember: Next time you see a puppet roaming the exhibits, don’t forget to say “hello!”

💜 Puppets courtesy of Puppet Showplace, Puppet Motion , Works With Water , and The Puppet Free Library from The Puppeteers Cooperative

👇 How do kids learn to share? To be a friend? To be brave? They practice. And how do kids practice? They play! As creati...
06/05/2026

👇 How do kids learn to share? To be a friend? To be brave?

They practice. And how do kids practice? They play!

As creative play expert Dr. Susan Linn explains, when children play with puppets, they get to be the one in control. The one that shapes the story. As Dr. Linn puts it: “It's an opportunity for them to be the powerful one, to be the one who knows more — to be the grown-up.”

Will you make a gift today so that all the children in our community can practice being powerful?

➡️ Tap the 🔗 to learn all the ways YOU can make a contribution today: https://purchase.puppetshowplace.org/Donations

📸: An audience member with a paper bag cat puppet they created after a performance of “Hanukkats” by Talking Hands Theatre last December.

06/04/2026

When you have a perfect weekend, you’ve got to post about it more than once! 🤭

Earlier this spring, Chinese Theatre Works treated our community to a weekend-long celebration of the Chinese Zodiac animals with performances of “Hao Bang Ah! Horse!” — featuring traditional Bu Dai Xi puppetry, song, dance, and delightful puppet skits. Filled with tigers, horses, dragons and children, our theater was quite the zoo!

After the show, the audience’s eyes lit up, marveling at the lobby festivities, which featured Chinese calligraphy, coloring sheets, and an awe-inspiring traditional Chinese music performance by Jimmy Zhao Chinese Music Ensemble and Qin Jun, playing on the erhu, guzheng, and more.

As Puppet Showplace continues to welcome bilingual cultural experiences into our theater, we won’t forget how this special weekend inspired children and adults of all ages!

📖 From shadow puppetry and projection to cable-controlled mechanical puppets, the fellows of our 2026 Creative Residency...
06/03/2026

📖 From shadow puppetry and projection to cable-controlled mechanical puppets, the fellows of our 2026 Creative Residency of Black Puppeteers are harnessing puppetry to share powerful, stories.

New on our blog, we spoke to fellows Beyonce Armstrong ( on IG, or, A Buba Creation) of Brooklyn, NY and Samuel J. Lewis, II ( on IG) of Chicago, IL about their puppetry inspiration, experience with the CRBP community, and the innovative work they’ve developed over the course of the residency.

➡️ Tap the 🔗 below to read Q&As with each of these artists — and to get 🎟️🎟️🎟️ to see their work LIVE at Amplify: The Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers Showcase on Saturday, June 13, 2026 at Boston University College of Fine Arts's lovely Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre!

https://www.puppetshowplace.org/blog?utm_source=fbpost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=blog

Today — June 2nd — is Puppet Showplace Theater’s 52nd birthday! 🎂 Swipe through to enjoy photos from our jubilant 3rd an...
06/02/2026

Today — June 2nd — is Puppet Showplace Theater’s 52nd birthday! 🎂 Swipe through to enjoy photos from our jubilant 3rd and 5th birthday celebrations circa the 1970s. (You can practically hear the giggles!)

It’s been 52 incredible years of spreading puppet-y joy to audiences of all ages. From beloved fairy tales to cutting edge evening performances, we believe puppetry is magic, and that magic is meant to be shared.

From the days of our founder Mary Churchill and her partner Paul Vincent Davis — to the present, with new artists about to grace our stage for the first time, and preschoolers who just joined us for the first time last weekend — it’s the people who make this place magical.

Thank you for being part of this special place. 🥂 With your support, we can keep this special place alive and thriving for years to come!

➡️ To make a gift today, visit https://www.puppetshowplace.org/donate?utm_source=fbpost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Donate

📸 Photos, circa 1977 and 1979, shared with Puppet Showplace by Former Puppet Showplace Board President John Lechner

Address

32 Station St
Brookline, MA
02445

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9:30am - 11:30am
Thursday 12pm - 5pm
Friday 12pm - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 2:15pm
Sunday 10am - 2:15pm

Telephone

(617) 731-6400

Website

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