Features
Preserving the Age-Old Art of Malaysian Shadow Puppetry
In the north of the country, Wayang kulit Kelantan is being revitalized through contemporary storytelling and the long-overdue inclusion of women.
Puppetry
Art
Meet the People Cultivating the Indigenous Art of Puppetry
The inaugural Indigenous Puppetry Institute saw the convening of contemporary practitioners of a form practiced for centuries.
Art
The Magical Life of Lyndie Wright’s Puppets
Wright’s human, animal, and fantastical characters span 65 years, a career that has shaped British puppetry over the past several decades.
Art
Internet Goes Wild Over Outdoor Gym of Hindu Puppets
Indian artist Diptej Vernekar attached puppets of Hindu avatars to exercise equipment that anyone could activate and engage with.
Art
Is Shadow Puppetry a Dying Art Form?
There are tensions between those who wish to preserve the nature of shadow play and those who want to see it evolve.
Art
A Historic Marionette Theater in LA Lives On, and It’s Still Magical
The Bob Baker Marionette Theater — the country's longest-running puppet theater — has found a new space that seems like a natural fit.
Film
The Dark Crystal Is a Marvelously Imaginative Puppet Series
The Netflix prequel series to the 1982 Jim Henson film faithfully embodies both the craft and spirit of the original.
Art
Painting Four Decades of Change in the East Village
New Works and the Avenue A Cut-Out Theatre, Anton van Dalen’s first solo show in eight years, charts the shifting landscape of New York City. Populated with imaginative characters, the artist’s latest work vividly documents the forces of gentrification and change.
Performance
Lesbian Noir with Hard-Boiled Wooden Puppets
LOS ANGELES — Last week, Automata mounted Concrete Folk Variations, a noir puppet play set in McCarthy-era Los Angeles that was written, directed, and designed by artist Susan Simpson.
Opinion
Surreal Puppets Retell the Jabberwocky
SAN FRANCISCO — At San Francisco's annual Dickens Fair, I learned about the work of Darren Way, whose Dangerous Puppets creations feature fanciful characters and bizarre imagery bordering on the fantastical and grotesque.
Performance
Politicizing Puppets at St. Ann's
Great Small Works’ International Toy Theater Festival is in its 10th year of celebrating miniature puppet works of all kinds. The last two weeks saw the festival transform St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO, Brooklyn into a family circus-style labyrinth festooned with hand-painted banners, dividing the sp
Art
Nick Cave’s Equine Exercise in Puppet Magic
I first learned about Nick Cave's work in an undergraduate puppetry class. Puppetry, like architecture and some other disciplines, is the synthesis of a myriad of techniques both artistic and mechanical, attracting sculptors, dancers, and engineers in equal number. Similarly, Cave's 30-strong herd o