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My Night in the Planetarium by Little Uprisings

  • Puppet Showplace Theater 32 Station Street Brookline, MA, 02445 United States (map)

Showtimes & Tickets

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$16 per person
$12.50 for members Become a member
$3 per ticket with Card to Culture (WIC, EBT, ConnectorCare)
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On sale November 24.
Members Only Presale starts November 17!

Feb 3 (Sat): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm

Feb 4 (Sun): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm

Feb 10 (Sat): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm

Feb 11 (Sun): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm

About the Show

Travel back in time with Tanya to bustling 1970s Jakarta, Indonesia! Meet Tanya’s friend Inno, who loves his city, loves his dad (a playwright!), and loves pretending to be a spy. Together with Tanya and Inno, you’ll learn about Indonesia’s delicious spices and history with unfair rulers — one represented by a mustachioed boot! The audience will clap, dance, and shout along as Tanya and Inno discover how joy, the power of togetherness, and the magic of theater can change the world.

Based on the autobiographical children’s book by bestselling author Innosanto Nagara, the story is brought to life with audience interaction, puppet designs by Puppet Showplace Theater’s Resident Artist Sarah Nolen, and a rich immersive soundscape.

All ages welcome, especially enjoyed by ages 5 -8
Hand puppets and pop-ups
Length: 35 minutes
From Boston!

Catch a sneak peek of the show on Instagram.

A Night with the Artists: My Night in the Planetarium: On February 7 join us on Zoom for an intimate conversation with the creative team behind My Night in the Planetarium — Tanya Nixon-Silberg, Innosanto Nagara, Sarah Nolen, and Roxanna Myhrum. Learn more →

About the Artist

Tanya Nixon-Silberg (creator / puppeteer) is a Black mother, puppeteer, educator, facilitator and founder of Little Uprisings, an organization focused on centering racial justice and liberation with kids and their caregiving allies. The My Night in the Planetarium puppet show was co-created while Tanya was an artist in Puppet Showplace Theater’s Incubator program. She also participated in the first cohort of the Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers, and served as the Community Curator for the program in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Little Uprisings’ mission — be it in schools with teachers developing culturally relevant curricula, in a community center with children talking about gentrification, or helping parents develop their own values about racial justice — is actively anti-racist, joyful, and Black-affirming; steadfastly focused on our collective liberation. You will mostly find Tanya playing with and learning from her 11 year old kid, dreaming up fun ways to engage children in racial justice through puppetry, and radically imagining how we all get free together.

Tanya was featured in the Boston Globe in 2023!

Innosanto Nagara (book author & illustrator / voice-over narrator) was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, and moved to the U.S. in 1988 to study zoology at UC Davis. Now an activist and a graphic designer based in California, he writes and illustrates social justice-themed children's books for all ages, including the best-selling board book A is for Activist and its companion Counting on Community. Those publications were followed by picture books My Night in the Planetarium, and The Wedding Portrait. His newest works are Oh, The Things We’re For! and M is for Movement.

Sarah Nolen (production designer / lead builder / co-writer / sound editor) is a puppeteer and filmmaker originally from Austin, Texas. As Puppet Showplace Theater’s resident artist, she performs regularly for youth and family audiences and teaches puppetry in camps, workshops, residencies, and evening adult classes. Her three original productions, Lisa the Wise, Judy Saves the Day, and The Fairy Tailor have all toured extensively in the Northeast and beyond. In addition to her own shows, Sarah has done puppet builds for Netflix, Suffolk University, Boston College, and more. Sarah earned her BFA in film from Southern Methodist University, and an MFA in Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut.

Roxanna Myhrum (producer / stage director / dramaturg) is an award-winning director of opera, theater, and puppetry. From 2010 - 2021 she was the Artistic Director of Puppet Showplace Theater where she curated multiple year-round performance series, oversaw all-ages educational programs, and cultivated new work by local artists. A sought-after puppetry coach and director, she has credits at the Huntington Theatre Company, SpeakEasy Stage (Eliott Norton Award, Hand to God), Company One, the Lyric Stage Company of Boston (IRNE Award, Avenue Q), Wheelock Family Theater, New Repertory Theatre, and Gloucester Stage Company. Her work has been supported by the Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston Grant and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Creative City Grant.

Development of this show was supported by Puppet Showplace Theater’s Incubator program, the Jim Henson Foundation, and the Boston Foundation.