Book a Field Trip
This show is available as a field trip on Friday October 23 2026, between 9:30 am and 11:30 am — you choose the specific time when booking
$16 per person, including children and adults
Subsidized tickets are available through our Mary Churchill Memorial Fund
About the Show
Curriculum Connections: classical music, seasons of the year, friendship, family, SEL
Classical music, plus lots of gentle humor, bring to life this beautifully illustrated story of seasonal change and a parent-child relationship.
Big Fox is only concerned with all the chores that must be done each season. Little Fox only wants to play with Bird. But when winter comes, Bird must fly away. Will Big Fox keep doing chores, or stop and play with Little Fox to cheer him up?
Set to Vivaldi’s violin compositions of the same name, The Four Seasons invites us to watch through Little Fox’s eyes as the seasons transform — with the help of innovative magnetic sets and charming, bright puppets designed by Estonian illustrator Kristiana Pärn.
Drama of Works is a New York-based, award-winning puppet theater company that travels the world with its imaginative shows. The Four Seasons is performed with modernist-influenced flat metal puppets — as if picture book illustrations peeled themselves off the page and came to life on stage! — in a contemporary twist on a style of puppetry known as “toy theater.”
All ages welcome, especially enjoyed by ages 3 - 8
Toy theater (flat tabletop puppets)
Length: 40 minutes
Language: wordless
From New York City!
Written by Drama of Works ensemble
Directed by Gretchen Van Lente
Designed and built by Kristiana Pärn
Music by Antonio Vivaldi
Performed by AnJu Hyppolite and Gretchen Van Lente
About the Artist
Drama of Works is an award-winning, internationally-acclaimed puppet theater company led by Artistic Director Gretchen Van Lente. Based in New York City, Drama of Works has taken its unique brand of theater to venues as diverse as New York’s P.S. 122, the International Festival of Children’s Theatre in Subotica, Serbia, and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The company’s main forms of puppetry are shadow puppetry and toy theater, and the company creates shows suitable for all ages, as well as some specifically for adults and some specifically for little ones. Drama of Works has been called “New York’s tightly organized satirists” (In Pittsburgh) and is known for its innovative works “high on fantastic production value” (Village Voice) that cross the line between actors and puppeteers.
Gretchen Van Lente is the Artistic Director of Drama of Works (DOW), a freelance theater director and a full-time Special Education public school theater teacher. She has been working in the field of puppetry and visual theater since 1995. Since this time, outside of the over a dozen award-winning shows she has created with DOW, she has been a freelance director, designer, and teaching artist. She has taken DOW to over 11 international festivals, from as close as Canada, to as far as Indonesia. She was the youngest president of UNIMA-USA since Jim Henson when she served previously on the board and also served as an international councilor. She received her BFA in illustration from Parsons School of Design, her BA in theater from Eugene Lang College, an MFA in directing from Brooklyn College, and an MS in Education from Pace University.
AnJu Hyppolite (she/her) is a Haitian-American, award-winning stage and film actor, writer, and educator working at the intersection of theater, technology, and social equity. Her poetry has been showcased in venues and media nationwide, including NYC City Hall and Photoville NYC. She was a 2020–2021 Haiti Cultural Exchange artist-in-residence, where she explored Haitian-American identity through storytelling and poetry.
Her plays include Joumou, L.O.R., L.O.R.: The Ex Files, and The Words Between Us. AnJu is an inaugural member of the New Federal Theatre’s Solo Performance Collective.
She has collaborated with Drama of Works since 2019, with credits including Rent Party, Water, and Four Seasons. She is currently working with the company on The Falcon King, an original puppet production exploring the environmental impact of systemic insecticides from the perspective of birds.
Kristiana Pärn is an award-winning children’s illustrator, originally from Estonia. She focuses her designs (often created on wood panels) on animals and nature, inspired by the northern forests of where she grew up. If you like the show, check out Kristiana’s work on Etsy and Instagram @kristiana_parn.
How to Book a Field Trip & General Information
How do I book a field trip at Puppet Showplace?
Fill out the field trip inquiry form to start the booking process!
Where do field trips take place?
Field Trips take place at Puppet Showplace Theater in our 100-seat theater at 32 Station St. Brookline, MA 02445. We have a step-free entrance, an accessible bathroom, and accessible seating. Please let us know if you have any specific access needs, we are happy to make accommodations.
Schools travel to our location in many different ways, including on foot, by bus, and by MBTA. We are located directly across the street from the Brookline Village MBTA stop on the Green “D” Line. Bus drop off takes place at our front door. We do not have dedicated bus parking, but bus drivers have no problem finding a spot to wait on our street. We have ample municipal parking nearby available for car parking if needed.
Need us to bring the show to you? We also offer Touring School Visit shows.
When do field trips take place?
Field trips are typically held between 9:30 am and 11:30 am. You choose the time that works best for your group!
Our school year field trips are offered October through June, typically on Thursdays and Fridays, as well as other days upon request.
If you do not see a date that works for your group, please fill out the field trip request form and indicate your preferred date — our team will get back to you and let you know whether we can accommodate and which shows are available! Or consider booking a Touring School Visit show.
How much do field trips cost?
Field trip tickets are $16 per person, including children and adults. If price is a barrier for you, our Mary Churchill Memorial Fund provides full and partial scholarships for groups with limited access to financial resources or those who serve low-income populations. You can apply while filling out the field trip inquiry form, and applying takes about 5 minutes.
There is a $600 minimum to run a field trip. If you are a small group, ask in your request form about dates when another group is already attending to lower your cost, or we suggest coordinating with another teacher to bring multiple classes to the same field trip performance.
What about the other details of our visit?
We do not have a lunch room on site, but we can recommend places nearby.
Many school groups combine a visit to our theater with play time and outdoor lunch at one of several nearby playgrounds. Our staff is happy to guide you!
Our staff and/or puppeteers typically offer a post-show Q&A or puppet demonstration. Let us know if you have any special requests.
While we don’t have classroom space available, we can send a teaching artist to your school before or after your field trip for workshops that support the curricular tie-ins of any given show.
