WHY: Welcome to the Puppet Renaissance

I believe we are entering a puppet renaissance. With cuts to funding to puppet pioneering media such at PBS, it’s easy to assume puppets are doomed as an art form. That is far from the truth. With the rise of AI, intensifying censorship, and overall digital takeover of mass media, the people are starving for art. Not only are they starving for art, they are hungriest for art that is covered in the fingerprints of humans.

Puppetry has existed for as long as humans have existed. We have always told story. We have used shadow and light, and whatever we have around us, to weave fantasy into our lives. As Toybox (America’s Favorite Cartoon Witch) said to the audience at the puppet slam they recently hosted in Philadelphia, “Puppetry is art that moves.” This struck me in two ways. First, it is true, puppets are art objects that literally move. Hand manipulated pieces of craftsmanship, silliness, beauty, and wonder. There is nothing like it.

This leads me to my second take away, this art moves us. Whether audience, or puppeteer, this art form speaks to something in us humans. Sometimes it’s uncanny, even scary, but often it is also tender, funny, and profound. While puppets can strike fear, as they are often used to depict monsters, ghosts, and ghouls, for me at least, they were also the pathway out of fear. As a child, when I watched the classic 80s monster flick, Alien, I was terrified. Once it was made clear to me that these monsters were actually expertly designed and executed practical effects, with machinery, silicone, latex, milk, and spaghetti, suddenly my fear vanished. Additionally, the illusion was not ruined for me. Instead I became deeply fascinated by and in awe of the skill and dedication it took from an entire group of people to make something so deeply unsettling.

These days I see puppetry everywhere. It’s in music videos, films, theater, and more. This art form is wise, comedic, political, and hopeful. Puppeteers across our country are carrying this legacy into the future, innovating it, and deepening it. I am so proud to be a part of this tide of puppetry, and am committed to celebrating and adding to this story for the rest of my life. 

Check out some of these puppeteers and puppet companies on Instagram:

@toybox_theatre (Asheville, NC)

@puppet_show_at_the_end_of_time (San Francisco, CA) @puppetpersonality (Boston, MA)

@blackcherrypuppettheater (Baltimore, MD)

@wewiggledolls (NYC, NY)

@beyonce_armstrong (NYC, NY)