Welcome to Puppet Showplace Theater!
Our Mission
Puppet Showplace Theater is dedicated to presenting outstanding professional puppetry to diverse audiences through performances, workshops, and community outreach activities.
About the Theater
Puppet Showplace Theater is New England’s center for puppetry arts. Each year, we present over 300 performances by professional puppet companies to audiences of all ages at our intimate Brookline Village theater. Our touring productions reach thousands more at schools, libraries, theaters, and cultural centers throughout the Northeast region and beyond.
We offer workshops, classes, summer programs, and training opportunities to both children and adults, and we partner with local and emerging artists to develop new and innovative puppetry productions.
After decades in operation, our theater has become a treasured cultural institution. Puppet Showplace is run by an experienced staff and volunteer board of trustees. We are supported by contributions from individual donors, local businesses, and foundation and government grants. From children’s birthday party performances to provocative Puppets at Night shows, our programming is designed to reach a large and diverse audience of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.
VISION
As we look ahead towards Puppet Showplace Theater’s 50th Anniversary in 2024, we envision a vibrant, welcoming, and culturally responsive puppetry center that inspires creativity and invites participation by people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.
Together, we will:
Make Station Street a Destination that proclaims our commitment to excellence, preserves our theater's legacy, welcomes new audiences, promotes access, provides comfort, and flexibly adapts to our ever-evolving programming.
Enhance Professional Artistry through investments in shared artistic resources including tools, educational materials, production equipment, workspaces, and technology.
Cultivate New Work that Reflects our Values by empowering diverse local artists to address contemporary issues, respond to community needs, explore the far realms of their imaginations, and engage audiences wherever they may be.
Foster Long-Term Community Partnerships with organizations and supporters who extend our reach, deepen our impact, broaden our perspectives, smash barriers to participation, and help us learn and grow.
Expand Education by developing new programs that teach technical skills, promote artistic literacy, encourage experimentation, foster collaboration, and build confidence in students of all ages to express themselves through puppetry.
Our History
Puppet Showplace Theater was founded in June 1974 by visionary educator and puppeteer Mary Churchill. Mary’s company, The Cranberry Puppets, performed shows featuring a cast of crocheted characters. Mary was known for her witty adaptations of children’s stories that featured strong female protagonists. She was a regular performer, tireless administrator, and generous benefactor of the theater until her death in 1997.
Mary Churchill, Founder of Puppet Showplace.
From the day it opened, Puppet Showplace became a home for touring puppet companies from across New England and beyond. Many performers became regulars, appearing on stage each season and contributing to the financial support and governance of the theater. Puppet Showplace also became the official home of the Boston Area Guild of Puppetry (formerly known as the New England Puppetry Guild).
In 1977, puppeteer Paul Vincent Davis became the theater’s Artist in Residence. While at Puppet Showplace, Paul developed over a dozen productions for youth and family audiences. Paul received 5 UNIMA citations for his work, the highest recognition in American puppetry. He was also the subject of the book Puppeteer by Karen Lasky, which documented the behind-the-scenes development of his production of “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.” Paul remained active as a performer until his retirement in 2007. He continues to teach and mentor young puppeteers in his role as Resident Artist Emeritus.
In 2009, Brad Shur of Paper Heart Puppets started a new generation of resident artists. Under Paul Vincent Davis’ mentorship, Brad trained in the art of glove puppetry and learned to perform three of the master puppeteer’s classic shows. He also began developing original productions that incorporated numerous styles of puppetry, from elaborate shadow puppets to intricately sculpted characters. In partnership with the staff, he significantly expanded the theater’s all-ages educational offerings.
Sarah Nolen, Puppet Showplace’s Resident Artist
In 2017, Sarah Nolen became the theater’s current Resident Artist. Originally from Austin, TX, she has quickly earned a reputation in Boston as a skillful performer across multiple puppetry styles and a visionary designer on large-scale creative projects. Sarah has introduced new adult classes and launched monthly “Gym Jam” TV puppetry workout nights. She works with local schools to provide hands-on arts education, preserving the art of puppetry for future generations.
Puppet Showplace now serves a diverse audience, with patrons in recent years coming from 38 states, 10 foreign countries, and from hundreds of towns across Massachusetts. We sell over 20,000 tickets each year, host over 110 field trips, and reach thousands more with touring shows and workshops.
Our programming has grown over the years to include camps and classes, school residencies, and presenting collaborations with major cultural institutions. Puppet Showplace is also credited with creating the country’s first adult “puppet slam,” a cabaret-style of short form puppet theater now popular across North America.
Puppet Showplace has received numerous awards and recognitions over the years, from an Eliot Norton Award Citation for “Keeping the ancient art of puppetry alive for audiences of all ages,” to Boston Magazine’s “Best Birthday Party Venue.” Today, Puppet Showplace Theater’s success is reflected in our audience, which includes the children of children who attended shows when the theater was first founded.
Incubator: New Works by Local Artists
Puppet Showplace supports the development of world premiere puppetry productions by local artists. Incubator puppeteers become part of a supportive artistic community and receive rehearsal space, a materials stipend, and fiscal sponsorship for outside funding. They also participate in peer reviews and periodic works-in-progress showings with members of the community.
