The 2025 Chicago Puppet Fest will span 12 days and dozens of Chicago venues, presenting  an international pageant of puppet artists sharing more than 100 puppetry activities. Get set for all-ages spectacle shows in landmark theaters, intimate works on smaller stages, and the always popular, adults-only, late night puppet cabarets.

Schedule of Events:

10:00 pm - 7:00 pm: The Puppet Hub

In addition to the incredible pageant of international and U.S. puppetry artists, the Puppet Hub is back and open throughout the festival. It's the perfect place to relax between shows, get a bite to eat, meet up with friends, make new ones, and learn more about contemporary puppetry. Attractions include:           

Lessons in Puppetry by Myra Su
In this exhibit, Myra Su shares her various puppetry experiments (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and lessons she's learned along the way.

Puppetry Under the Sea
Inspired by coastal parades and spectacles, over 20 puppets that were designed and built by the Chicago Puppet Studio, for Drury Lane Theatre's production of "The Little Mermaid", will be on display.

Pop-Up Puppet Shop
The perfect spot to stock up on your newest Chicago Puppet Fest swag.

The Spoke and Bird Pop-Up Cafe
Stop by The Spoke and Bird Pop-Up Cafe if you're coming to a show at the Studebaker Theater, workshops, readings and special events in the Fine Arts Building, or any Puppet Fest show downtown. Enjoy coffee, tea, winter soups and baked treats in a cozy, puppet-inspired setting, and check out the surrounding exhibits.

5:00 pm: Josh Rice Projects: Kayfabe

Jump in the ring for this puppet wrestling entertainment spectacular! Puppetry meets pro wrestling, meets rock show; high art meets low art meets Samuel Beckett! A frenetic frenzy slash aburdist love letter combines Bunraku-style table-top puppetry, cart puppetry, live-feed projection (instant replay) and object performance, as well as the wrestling tropes of matches, monologues, and music and video.

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7:30 pm: Marana: Organismo

Berlin's cutting-edge collective brings this celebrated kaleidescope aerial arts piece, combining art installation, contemporary circus, object theater, textile arts, live music - and lots and lots of wool. A trust-filled performance of connectedness and obsessive organic magic, where the division between object and body become indistinguishable, teems in a massive, hand-knit visual feast.

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10:00 pm: Nasty, Brutish and Short - Week 2

Don't let the evening end! Come join the fun at this fan-favorite late show where eyebrows meet lowbrows. Enjoy Chicago's long-standing puppet cabaret with your hirsute host Jameson and somewhat furry friends for a naughty night of raucous, dark, sassy, sad and highly unusual puppet theater. Out-of-towner puppeteers are invited to join local legends for friendly unwinding. All shows are at Links Hall this year for the Nasty, Brutish and Short puppet cabaret.

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7:30 pm: Yael Rasooly: Edith and Me

Based on a true story, Yael Rasooly bring her virtuosic vocals and puppetry to share the struggle of a singer nearly silenced at the hands of political leaders, immobilized, and perhaps never to perform again. Yet she is not alone - the famous singer icon Edith Piaf is there to drag her out of bed and pull her back into life. "Edith and Me" is a one woman show doubling the power of French cabaret.

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