The Eleventh Annual New Orleans
Giant Puppet Festival
Artist & Venue Lineup
String and Shadow. Midnight Radio Show. The Mudlark Puppeteers. Toybox Theatre. Nate Puppets.
Muddy Roots Theatre Collective. liz HOWLS. Shadow Girls Cult. Innerworkings Theater. Tyler Nacho. Emily Schubert. Rabbit Foot Puppets. Honey Goodenough. Fernfrond Puppet Ensemble. BreakFAST Puppets. Mr. Bonetangles.
Miss Pussycat and Quintron. Velvet Effigy. Puppet Pants. Poose the Puppet. Shadow Wagon.
Night at the Grand Opera
Set in an old European opera house during the golden age of Grand Opera, Night at the Grand Opera is a frenzied romp through a candlelit night at the Opera. Rococo extravagance is fashioned with elaborate cardboard sets that collapse and unfold to reveal the many great dramas of the opera house (not all of which happen on stage.) Love triangles, converging revolutionary plots, metamorphosing flies and disaffected vermin are brought to life with cardboard and paper-mache.
Made possible through support from
The New Orleans Theatre Association
‘Naughty Fairy’
A Musical Shadow Puppet Cabaret. "Naughty Fairy" follows the adventures of a lonely showgirl recruited by Freedom Fighters to spy for their movement. She is plunged into a world of intrigue, seduction, and corruption, on a quest for liberation. A playful erotic romp through a fantastical galaxy of shadows, silhouettes and magic.
Made possible through support from
The New Orleans Theatre Association
‘The Cabinet Key of Cassius Kabrit, Citizen Entomologist’
Cassius Kabrit hails from the long line of Creole Kabrits. ‘Kabrit’ is the Creole word for ‘goat’ and this much is fitting, because Cassius is a faun. Half-goat, half- human, fauns delight in running naked through the wilderness. Rather than galavanting with his cousins, Cassius prefers to study his collection of exotic insects in the comfort and security of his private room. Little does Cassius suspect, but his shy life has led him to this very moment; the precipice of a grand adventure. Through a chance event, somewhere between science and fate, Cassius will embark on a journey of transformation and transcendence. This is a tale of a door left ajar, life underground, and sonorous hearts on the wing. Told through rod and shadow puppetry, toy theater, marionette and music. Presented for the stage by New Orleans own Mudlark Puppeteers.
Made possible through support from
The New Orleans Theatre Association
‘Shoptopolis’
THIS IS IT! Sal-E the Salesman WINNER of "Funniest of The Fringe 2024" is back by popular demand! With a brand new hilarious puppet play of absurdity and....commerce!!! Told thru a variety of puppetry techniques
Do not miss this new TOYBOX THEATRE puppet play as part of the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival!
NATE PUPPETS
The Vernon Watercress Show
A campy, gay hand puppet comedy, in a parody style of Tennessee Williams, starring the fabulous, Mr Vernon Watercress.
Mr Vernon is a fabulously successful antiques dealer, and he is quite proud of his store Antiques and Leaks on 5th and Madison. However, Mr Vernon once had his eye on another, more exclusive establishment (on 6th and Madison) Will he get the store? Tune in and find out, we certainly hope you don't miss this camped out, puppet romp starring Mr Vernon Watercress!
MUDDY ROOTS THEATRE COLLECTIVE
Three Impossible Tasks
Original founding members of The Mudlark Puppeteers are back after ten plus years off stage, returning as Muddy Roots Theatre Collective and telling a tale of a princess who sets out to save her sister and kill the king.
Will she complete the three impossible tasks? Who will she meet along the way?
Peer in on the mystery and magic in this debut performance told through shadow puppets, live acting, and marionettes.
(Dark fairy tale: some discussion of abuse, starvation, and violence. Children welcome, but parental discretion advised.)
Running Time: 30 min
‘Happy Accident’
BIO: Happy Accident explores the exponential pace of overwhelming absurdity in our world. Found objects, large scale puppets and sputtering lights bring you face to face with the cuddly nightmare that is everyday life. An anti-clown car driven by master puppeteer liz HOWLS and co-piloted by musician/unlicensed electrician Servant Baby, Happy Accident ecstatically careens down the wrong side of the lost highway leaving a trail of old copies of Weekly World News and Jack in the Box wrappers in its wake. Colorfully reimagining Saturday mornings spent drooling over piles of synthetic material in front of the TV, Happy Accident revels in naked, antipathetic americana. You will probably laugh, you might cry, and like other designer drugs, you will want more within minutes. Ultimately you will ask yourself, “What kind of culture would produce something like this?”
"Unraveling"
Shadow Girls Cult presents: “UNRAVELING,” a series of cinematic shadow vignettes, each featuring a distinct character, story, genre and visual style. Seamlessly blending sci-fi, film noir, classic film and surrealism, this multi-genre production weaves together compelling tales that encompass longing, loneliness and fractured identity through a surreal, dream-like lens.
The show weaves together a delicate tapestry of conflicting, overlapping tragedies; and as the tapestry is woven, so too do we witness it unravel thread by thread. Each story is an echo of the question: “is the world (and by extension, are we) destined to always, always come apart at the seams?” SGC's work incorporates overhead projectors, live animation techniques, human silhouettes and liquid light techniques to create haunting, cinematic dreamscapes for audiences across the U.S. This production was proudly created with support from The Henson Foundation 2025 Workshop Grant.
CAT RAVE
Break into the demented world of CAT RAVE, an immersive hand puppet experience that follows a recent graduate navigating the chaotic transition into adulthood. Ingredients include: a Clown, an Email Demon, The Rave Wizard, and YOU.
LIVE MUSIC, DANCING,CLOWNING, PUPPETRY, AUDIENCE INTERACTION
‘PARTY PLANNING FOR ANIMALS!’
Please join us for a table top puppet show about animals planning a party and what can go wrong.
Featuring a cast of talented creatures, some of which might be able to control their hair with their mind.
Each show will begin with a short organ concert by Quintron, and a raffle.
RABBIT FOOT PUPPETS
Labyrinth
Labyrinth is a spectacle tabletop puppet show that happens in a 6ft by 6ft box. In this box, a puppet navigates through a breathing labyrinthian house, filled with various rooms of intricate styles, populated by characters who are trapped within. The puppet tries to escape, shedding layers of itself in the walls as it descends into the belly of the beast. The only way out is through, even when the way through is obscured. In this show, Alice and Wonderland meets Pan's Labyrinth set to a French Rococo background
‘Born Insane’
A child loses himself in the static of the screen god, chasing monsters, magic, and the impossible—until the fantasy consumes him. Through puppetry and film, Tyler Nacho unravels a life suspended between reality and the reel, where cinema becomes both sanctuary and curse. But what happens when reality is no longer enough? There is only one way to dismantle the labyrinth of your own making— venturing into the true unknown, where the final illusion waits to be shattered.
WE WIGGLE DOLLS x BOYSCOUTMARIE
SOLAR-POWERED GENERATOR is an audio-visual spectacle, joining the livewire musicianship of power trio BOYSCOUTMARIE with the experimental light, shadow and projections of puppetry collective We Wiggle Dolls. Originally intended as a one-off performance, this collaborative show exhilarated the performers and garnered such a positive response that a decision was quickly reached to further develop the project and share it beyond our Brooklyn-based audience.
Lighting the band from behind, our light puppeteers cast the otherwise obscured band’s silhouettes against a gigantic screen. Over the show, their shapes are warped; cast in psychedelic colors and textures; placed among representative scenery alongside a narrative shadow puppet presentation. SOLAR-POWERED GENERATOR is a synesthetic rarity: a transportive realization of a songbook’s full potential.
CANOA
4210 St. Claude Avenue
Rose, Bud, Thorn explores a fragile and absurd world where humans overfeed wolves spaghetti and airlift blueberries to bears in a misguided attempt to control fear and disruption. Through live performance, video projection, and body puppetry, the piece creates a surreal and visually striking landscape where tension between survival and surrender unfolds. Guided somatic meditations invite you to reconnect with your body and the natural world, asking what might happen if we release control and allow new rhythms to emerge
‘Rose, Bud, Thorn’
MR. BONETANGLES
Bat Boy’s Dream
Will Schutze aka Mr. Bonetangles is a puppeteer in Austin, TX. He entered the puppet world working for his mentor, John Hardman, at the State Fair of Texas. His work was featured in Jon Favreau's movie, Chef. He's performed in puppet slams and festivals across the country including the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and the PofA National Conference in 2019. Will writes and records music for his puppet band.
Bat Boy has been living in a cave and home-recording an album. Two of his heroes, Willy James and Mr. Bonetangles have invited him to join them on tour.
VELVET EFFIGY
The Story of Sedna: Mother of the Deep
A retelling of the Inuit creation myth, where a young girl becomes the goddess of the sea & ruler of the underworld. A hauntingly beautiful parable expressed through the interplay of shadow puppetry, marionettes, and video art. Brought to you by New Orleans based creatives, Velvet Effigy.
ADAM CLARKE
Puppet Pants Marionette Show
Adam Clarke is a "new-generation puppeteer" and the founder of Puppet Pants Productions in Atlanta, GA. Adam has performed at Dragon*Con, The Atlanta Fringe Festival, and the 2024 Puppeteers of America South East Regional Festival.
Mirthful marionettes will perform tricks, transfix, and give out gifts to an all-original soundtrack in this ethereal, slightly creepy, and delightfully charming variety show. Sit up close for a chance to win a prize from a puppet and even have an opportunity to be in the show! This show is appropriate for all ages.
Stewie’s Magic Hat
The time has come for Stewie to follow his family’s tradition and find a job with a very important hat! His Grandmother announces that he will become an apprentice to the Great Garbanzo, a highly accomplished wizard! Will he master these magical tasks to earn his magic hat? Will he make his family proud? The story unfolds with magical messes, musical dragons, and many more amusements to help Stewie find the hat that fits him best!
Recommended for ages 4 and up.
Length: 45 minutes.
FERNFROND PUPPET ENSEMBLE
Fernfrond Puppet Ensemble, a newly germinated New Orleans based troupe, will bring an extended and enlivened story of "The Owl and the Pussycat" with handmade papier maché puppets and live music to sweep you away on a pea green boat. The show is for children of all ages and lasts for a year and a day .... or just for 10 minutes, or so.
Poose and Emi present: Opal the Orchid Mantis
Opal the Orchid Mantis is a hopeless romantic. She can't seem to keep a good Man-tis...alive. Will she find true love or does Mamma Nature know best?
SHADOW WAGON
The Line
Since 2020, a local team of puppeteers, makers, and musicians has been creating narrative shows and performing them out of a 4 x 8-foot mobile “wagon.” In addition to ad-hoc pop up shows, we have performed in the New Orleans Giant Puppet Festival and Bonnaroo Music Festival, and were honored to create an original show for a wedding commission.
“The Line” is a shadow puppet show about an endless line of people waiting to pass through a door. No one knows what lies beyond it. We see the world through Lisa, a little girl who encounters the line by accident while out looking for a chocolate bar. A clever and mischievous bird acts as her guide, while Gary, a sly opportunist, manipulates the crowd's curiosity for his own gain… What really lies beyond the door?
Artist/marionettist Harry Mayronne
& his High-strung Friends
(a meet and greet event with live performance)
2240 St. Claude