CITYWIDE — From the beginning, Blair Thomas had ambitious plans for the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.
Almost a decade ago, in the run-up to the inaugural edition in January 2015, he said, “Our festival is going to redefine what the word ‘puppetry’ means to audiences.”
Fast forward to today: The festival is the largest event of its kind in North America. Under Thomas’ artistic direction, the fest has become annual (except for a pandemic pause), with more than half of the performances selling out. The sixth iteration kicks off Thursday evening and runs for 10 days, with dozens of sites all across the city hosting shows brimming with imagination.
Marionettes, bunraku and shadow puppets; artists from Chile, Kenya and Norway; all-ages fare and an adults-only cabaret — it’s all on the schedule at the Puppet Theater Festival. While most events require a paid ticket, a number of performances and workshops offer free admission.
Although the fest easily earns the “international” part of its moniker, audiences also have the chance to see a number of American acts.
Among those is Basil Twist, a New York-based artist whose many accolades include receiving a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2015. Twist’s “Book of Mountains and Seas,” which adapts ancient Chinese myths for 12 singers, two percussionists and six puppeteers, runs Jan. 26-28 at the Studebaker Theater Downtown in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Plenty of homegrown talent will also appear, including Hyde Park-based Manual Cinema, an Emmy-winning performance collective that uses live music, innovative sound design and vintage overhead projectors to create its unique shows. Their “Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster,” based on two books by bestselling kids’ author Mo Willems, runs Jan. 26-28 at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Washington Park, 740 E. 56th Place.
“The music is such a jam in this show! That’s a priority for us,” said Sarah Fornace, who co-founded Manual Cinema in 2010. “As a parent, I’ve been exposed to some really mind-numbing pieces, so we were determined to make songs you want to get stuck in your head.”
Having performed everywhere from Scotland to France to Iran (with a stint in Singapore coming up this spring), Manual Cinema has participated in more than a few puppetpaloozas.
“We’ve been to festivals all over the world. This one is really special because Blair brings in so many national and international acts,” Fornace said. “Having them all come here is a very big deal.”
Although a number of the shows are rated G, like “Leonardo,” a significant segment of puppet theater is designed for more mature audiences.
“Most people still think it’s all oriented toward kids,” Thomas said. “They just haven’t seen what’s out there. We have work that addresses very serious issues.”
That includes another Chicago-born piece, “Little Carl” from Theatre Y’s Youth Ensemble in North Lawndale, appearing Jan. 26-28 at The Biograph in Lincoln Park, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. Recommended for people 12 and older, it grapples with the complicated issue of gun violence from a youth perspective.
“With great gravity, ‘Little Carl’ does something no other theater can do,” Thomas said.
A key goal of the Puppet Festival is to deliver theater to the people, so every year, Thomas programs a free show that travels into many neighborhoods. This year’s itinerant program is Krystal Puppeteers’ “Tears by the River,” with 11 performances at nine venues, running Thursday through Jan. 28. The Kenyan company retells an old folktale about a brave monkey forced by famine to seek a better life.
Another free show is Saturday at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, 1852 W. 19th St., when La Liga Teatro Elástico releases “The Beast Dance,” a show about a wolf pack. Meanwhile, people can examine some of the large “Beast Dance” puppets at a free exhibit at The Puppet Hub, which runs for the duration of the festival on the fourth floor of the Fine Arts Building.
Thomas said that, while the five previous festivals were embraced by Chicagoans, he looks forward every year to new attendees discovering what modern puppetry can do.
“In terms of who our audience is, really, it’s people who are open to the unexpected, people who are culturally curious,” he said. “And for people who haven’t seen a puppet show in the past 20 years, they’ll be surprised and startled by anything they see.”
The sixth Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival runs Thursday to Jan. 28 at venues throughout the city. Tickets to performances range from free to $45. For more information, including details on puppet fest workshops, visit the festival website.
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