HERE’s festival of new puppetry returns for its fourth annual edition. Curated by HERE co-founder Barbara Busackino and Dream Music Artistic Director and star Alum Basil Twist, the festival presents original work. Puppetopia Festival 2025 features Alva Rogers's The Harlem Doll Palace, KT Shivak’s Rhynoceron and Lake Simons’ Variations On (the) Water.
The Harlem Doll Palace
May 21-June 1, 2025
Welcome to Aunt Len’s Doll and Toy Museum! Behind the pink door of a three story Harlem brownstone lies a world created by Lennon Holder Hoyte—affectionately known as Aunt Len. The dolls from her “dollection” seek to keep Aunt Len, their beloved museum founder, alive before the outside world can invoke its realities of life, ashes and dust. As Harlem deteriorates around her beloved doll museum, the dolls recreate their journeys to the museum in an effort to keep Aunt Len’s memory alive. Enter the world of The Harlem Doll Palace. Remember, an appointment is necessary for admission.
Rhynoceron
May 21-25, 2025
The world premiere of a puppetry show that traces the true events surrounding the arrival of a one-horned rhinoceros to Renaissance Europe, sparking an obsession that continued for hundreds of years. Through acts of hunting and collecting, KJ Shivak’s life-size rhino puppet transforms in front of our eyes from a natural inspiring wonder to an object of human greed. Shivak and company hail from Chicago where this show was created with support from The Chicago International Puppetry Festival and High Concept Labs, this show mark’s their New York debut.
Variations On (the) Water
May 29-June 1, 2025
Join Lake Simons in a poetic solo puppet performance that invites the audience to imagine and co-create a story. Variations On (the) Water, a solo rendering of the larger work, Raft Project (My Shapes Are In Turmoil). A lyrical embodiment of the sea exploring its movement, vastness, poetry and ability to saturate, flow, carry, drown and nourish. Weaving puppetry, objects, dance, clown and music, a full length wordless puppet theatre work by Lake Simons and John Dyer.
