The seventh International Puppet Theater Festival kicks off Wednesday, January 15, further cementing the decade-old dream of its founder, Blair Thomas. “Our festival is going to redefine what the word ‘puppetry’ means to audiences,” he told the Chicago Tribune in January 2015, just prior to the premiere of the fest’s first iteration. Back then, if it became a success, he’d hoped to make the fest a biennial event. Today, instead of happening merely every other year, it’s an annual affair. The largest of its kind in North America, the festival keeps getting more popular with Chicagoans: Last year’s edition set an attendance record.
Running for 12 days in dozens of venues from Rogers Park to the South Shore, the fest draws performers from everywhere in the world, including Puerto Rico, Chile, Norway, Poland, Israel, India, and South Africa. Of course, Chicago represents, too — several locals will present their work before the festival concludes on January 26.
Among them is Vanessa Valliere, a Bowmanville-based artist who mixes puppetry with clowning and performance art. She has participated in every past Puppet Fest, previously as part of the late-night Nasty, Brutish & Short revues. But for 2025, Valliere levels up with her own hourlong prime-time show, Look! Look!, comprised of three separate stories.
“The festival is a pretty remarkable thing,” she says. “It’s really great for Chicago audiences who are up for interesting new experiences. It’s also great for people who think puppetry is exclusively the Muppets — I mean, the Muppets are amazing, but puppetry is such a broad spectrum. I tell people, ‘Just go to one show, so you know what it can be.’ ”
The more than 100 performances range from adults-only to all-ages fare, including two free family-friendly acts touring the city. Meanwhile, these five shows feature local talent:
The Cabinet
Longtime fans of spectacle theater might remember this haunting play, originally created by Frank Maugeri for the sadly defunct Redmoon Theater. Inspired by the 1919 German silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari about a murderous hypnotist, Maugeri and a team of artists have reinvented the show for a larger stage. January 16-19. The Biograph, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave.
Anywhere
This unique piece features a marionette made of ice, which slowly melts during the course of the 50-minute show. It’s a collaboration between France’s Théâtre de l’Entrouvert and the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, which sent two local artists, Mark Blashford and Ashwaty Chennatt, to Arles, where they learned how to puppeteer with frozen water. January 16-19. The Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.
Nasty, Brutish & Short
A fan favorite, these late-night cabarets lure a rotating cast of international performers, often delivering hilarious R-rated acts. Hosted by Rough House Theater (best known for its annual Halloween production, House of the Exquisite Corpse), these shows span two weekends and historically sell out. Too late to buy tickets? Good news: All four Nasty, Brutish & Short revues will be livestreamed. January 16, 18, 23, & 25. Links Hall, 3111 N. Western Ave.
Look! Look!
This work in development comes from Puppet Fest stalwart Valliere, in collaboration with her best friend, Lindsey Noel Whiting. Each of the three thematically connected short pieces depicts characters on a journey of self-discovery. “I guess the simplest way to put it is ‘empowering the weirdo,’ ” Valliere says. “Empowering people, myself included, to believe they are exactly who they’re supposed to be, despite what the world may say.” January 23-25. The Fine Arts Building. 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Magic City
The renowned Manual Cinema has historically participated in past Puppet Fests. This year, the company revives its first all-ages show, a modern adaptation of a 1910 novel with a message about building bridges, not walls. Performances begin on the fest’s closing weekend and continue into mid-February, making it an unofficial ancillary coda to the festival. That’s good news for families with kids ages 6 and up, because they have four weekends to catch Magic City. Saturdays and Sundays, January 25 to February 16. Chicago Children’s Theatre, 100 S. Racine Ave.