Does A Dog Have Buddha Nature? a new show by Blair Thomas with shadow puppets by The Stringpullers will be part of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival in January 2026. It runs at the Chopin Theater in Chicago from January 25 - 26. For tickets and times see the Festival listing page.

A two day development workshop for a new show called Three Brothers will take place in Ithaca, New York and culminate in a short performance for a small feedback audience on Sunday, August 17 at the Gallery at South Hill. The project is a collaboration between puppet artist Tom Lee, bandura player Julian Kytasty, The Stringpullers, and Virlana Tkacz of Yara Arts.

We’re performing our short sock puppet romantic comedy Galaxy Laundromat in Ithaca, NY again, this time for the Puppeteers of America Northeast Regional Puppet Homecoming puppet festival. It’s part of the slam on Friday, November, 1 at 9:30pm at the Community School of Music and Arts. We’ll be attending all three days of the Festival to see performances, take part in workshops, and enjoy the always fun camaraderie of puppeteers.

We’re performing our short sock puppet romantic comedy Galaxy Laundromat at the UCONN Spring Puppet Slam on Friday, March 22, 2024 at 7:30pm. Presented by the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, other performers will include Uconn Puppet Arts students, Stoph Scheer, and music by Waldron’s Studio 88. The show is at UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall, 875 Coventry Road, Storrs, Connecticut.

The short film version of our Steel Wool suitcase slam piece will be part of the virtual Wham Bam Puppet Slam on Thanksgiving evening, Thursday November 23, 2023 8pm EST. Hosted by Toybox, it will stream live on Toybox Theatre’s Facebook page. The link is here.

The Stringpullers contributed filmed shadow puppet sequences to this short documentary about early 19th century sheriff and humane society officer Jennie B. Powers, produced by SALT Project. It premieres virtually and in person at the Colonial Theatre in Keene, New Hampshire on March 13th, with a talk by the director and historian afterwards. $5 tickets can be purchased here and go towards funding the project which was initiated by the Historical Society of Cheshire County. The film will be available to view online after the premiere.

Handmade Puppet Dreams has selected myself and 7 other puppetry artists to develop short puppet films with a special micro-commission deployed during the pandemic. In addition to financial support from the Green Feather Foundation, HPD producers Alex Griffin, Jessica Simon and executive producer Heather Henson offer us film workshops and critique sessions on our works in progress.

My film, Misophonia, will premier online with the other 7 films on December 18, 2021 at 1pm eastern US time. It won’t be available for streaming so watch while you can!

The 3 minute filmed version of Steel Wool, a suitcase piece for marionette and paper puppet, is part of the line up for this puppet slam hosted by the University of Connecticut’s Ballard Institute of Puppetry.

Sheep Dip, a very short marionette and paper puppet film, will be presented in the Saturday morning line up of puppet shows for families at the 2nd Virtual National Capital Puppetry Festival.

A short film version of the suitcase marionette piece Steel Wool will be presented as part of the National Capital Puppet Slam during their 2nd Virtual Puppetry Festival on Friday night. I’ll be attending the Festival workshops and social events for the full 4 days.

Our 12 minute shadow film, Quilt of Stars, will be presented as part of the online Shadows Across the Globe Festival of shadow puppetry. Quilt will be shown in the second set of family performances starting at 12 noon Eastern US time on Sunday, July 11.

Organized by TwistedHeart Puppetworks, this inaugural Festival runs from July 9-11, with three free shadow puppet performance programs by artists all over the world, classes, and 5 artists talks, including myself, Richard Bradshaw, Claudia Six, Geoffrey Cormier, and Larry Reed. Registration for the ticketed talks and classes are at the Eventbrite event page.

Sheep Dip, a one minute short with marionette and paper puppets, and music by Steve Asetta, will premier in the Water themed edition of the online Puppets Come Home Coney Island puppet slam on Thursday, July 8th at 9pm Eastern US time. Tickets are $5, all proceeds go to the performing artists. Get tickets at www.coneyisland.com/puppets

I’ll perform Steel Wool live online in the Puppets in the Pub puppet slam during the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Puppetry Conference. This Wednesday night the show is free and open to the general public.

Steel Wool is a short marionette and paper puppet piece I created in a Chicago International Puppetry Festival workshop this year, inspired by my love of (and struggle with) the at-home fitness program P90X with Tony Horton. This version will be edited to a 3 minute slam-sized piece.

This multimedia stage show about the life and stories of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa is a cross-Pacific collaboration between Tom Lee and Koryū Nishikawa V of Hachiōji Kuruma Ningyō, and a big team of theater makers in Japan and the US. The Stringpullers created some of the filmed shadow puppet sequences projected behind the traditional Japanese “cart” puppetry performed by Koryū Nishikawa and his company. Opening to a limited audience (quarantine restrictions) in Hatchioji in June 2021, with plans to travel to the Chicago International Puppetry Festival in early 2022.

The Stringpuller’s latest shadow film, Quilt of Stars, will premier on Valentine’s Day at 12:30PT / 3:30ET as part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Andell Family Sunday series. Find viewing information on their calendar listing.

Catch a Story of Sewing, Remembering, and Love with The Stringpullers Puppet Company

Join virtual Andell Family Sundays Anytime! Be creative, discover new art, and have fun—all from the comfort of your home!

We are dedicating the month of February to LACMA's permanent collection of quilts. Cozy handmade quilts will inspire you to play a game, watch a shadow puppet performance, make your own quilt, and more.

On February 14 (and anytime after!), visit LACMA's YouTube channel to watch a heartwarming story about the power of quilting told through shadow puppet by Linda Wingerter from the Stringpullers Puppet company.