Embedded Files
Calendar
Calendar
HOBT Artists' Open House
HOBT Artists' Open House
Wednesday, February 4th, 2026, 7-9 pm
2411 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis
Current and future HOBT teaching artists are invited to come be social, share some snacks, drink and laughter.
PLEASE!
PLEASE!
by Felicia Cooper
at Bryant Lake Bowl
810 West Lake St, Minneapolis, MN
Fri., Feb. 6, 10 pm
PUPPETRY, PROJECTION, AND POP MUSIC COMBINE IN FELICIA COOPER’S NEW ADAPTATION OF BUCHNER’S WOYZECK
PLEASE! is a high intensity and humorous trip through expressionism and indie sleaze, exploring the depths of surveillance, desire, power and who holds it. PLEASE! was created in collaborations with Lizz Windnagel, Sam Weisberg, Alice Endo, Davey Steinman, and LIPING VONG, with original music by Lisa Frank.
Click here for tickets and more information
Artist Gathering Space (or Puppet Doodle Club)
** We are still working on the name and all input will be welcomed!
Gather with other artists and puppet enthusiasts
Come Join us!
Third Tuesday of each month, 6-9 pm
2411 Hennepin, Minneapolis, MN 55407
Lightly led/coordinated by Felicia Cooper and Steve Ackerman
* A space to connect in time and space * A space to share and witness
Are you looking for an accountability group?
Would you like a cohort to brainstorm with, to showcase your work and get feedback?
Are you interested in sharing resources?
OR are you just looking for a space to be in a community?
And share some food, ideas and art
*attend often or once in a while * no prerequisites and no restrictions on participation
* Free
* You are welcome to bring food to share but not a requirement
First Saturday Storytime With Chelly
First Saturday Storytime With Chelly
Saturday, February 7th, 2026
10:30 - 11:30 am
Heart of the Beast
2411 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis
Join Chelly and her sidekick Turnip the Dog for a fun-filled storytime, followed by open hours for the puppet library until 2 pm.
This event is free and open to the public.
Finger Puppet Follies
Finger Puppet Follies
Friday and Saturday, February 13 & 14, 2026
7:30 pm
Heart of the Beast
2411 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis
Come see the Finger Puppet Follies: A Valentine's Day Puppet Slam!
Local artists will perform an original, tiny 8-10 minute puppetry piece.
Come see the intricate, the minuscule, the teeny-tiny, itsy-bitsy fine art of finger puppets!
Partially funded by Puppet Slam Network.
Plus
Valentines Sip and Puppet
Valentines Sip and Puppet
Saturday, February 14, 2026
1:00 PM 4:00 PM
Looking for a fun activity for Valentine's Day? Join us for a puppet making workshop at HOBT on Feb. 14th for 3 hours of puppet making, connections and light snacks. We will be making Finger Puppets!
Come back for the Finger Follies in the evening - tickets included in the price of this activity.
TRICK LOCKET
TRICK LOCKET
by Bryn Battani
by Bryn Battani
Part of The Cedar Commissions Night One
Friday, February 20, 2026
7:30 PM 11:00 PM
The Cedar Cultural Center
416 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis
Bryn Battani is a Texas-bred writer/performer who loves to say the opposite of what she really means. She supports her “persona pop” songs with genre-bending arrangements colored by her folk-rock roots and theatrical background, heightening her shapeshifting stage presence with props and costume changes. Her work oscillates between tongue-in-cheek melodrama and raw vulnerability, examining social politics, thorny entanglements, and other modern absurdities.
This February, Bryn will deliver a rock operetta exploring themes of credibility and authority in an age of algorithms, educational censorship, and commodified desire. Morphing between unreliable narrators influenced by hidden agendas, blatant biases, and genuine intentions, she playfully questions where we get our information and who we trust. This new work punctuates character-driven songs with short scenes and musical interludes, utilizing pop idioms and misleading appearances to disguise deception and challenge the audience’s assumptions of the singer-songwriter as an “authentic” voice.
Click here for tickets and more information
HOBT Summer Puppet Camps
HOBT Summer Puppet Camps
June Session: Monday, June 22 - Friday, June 26, 2026
August Session: Monday, August 31 - Friday, September 4, 2026
9 am -12 pm and/or 1 pm - 4 pm
Your child will be able to explore the materials and create with others. Each session will have a slightly different focus: creating a puppet show, engaging in improv with newly made puppets, working on individual puppets or masks or a large collaborative project. ALL are welcome. Prior experience is not required. Suggested ages: 7-12.
Above: "Ruth Cole Builds Puppet Collection, 1941"
Courtesy Hennepin County Libraries
History of Puppetry in the Twin Cities
History of Puppetry in the Twin Cities
Monday, March 9, 7:00pm
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Linden Hills 4201 Sheridan Ave. S, Minneapolis
Jennings Mergenthal (that's me!) will present on their ongoing research project exploring the history of puppetry in the Twin Cities, where puppetry came from and why it has been so enduring.
The Twin Cities Puppeteers, will display historically significant puppets as well as photos and ephemera.
Sponsored by the Linden Hills Historical Study Group.
Razia's Shadow: A Puppet Rock Opera
Razia's Shadow: A Puppet Rock Opera
The Hive Collaborative, 677 Hamline Ave N, St. Paul
Razia’s Shadow: A Puppet Rock Opera is a fantastical tale told through puppetry & song, full of wild characters and eye-popping spectacle. The show features the talents of 10 amazing puppeteers/vocalists, and over a dozen unique puppet characters – including a vengeful Satyr, a gigantic technicolor Spider, a pair of reptilian Witch Sisters, a mechanical Mad Doctor, and more! Performing April 10 - 25 2026 at the Hive Collaborative in Saint Paul.
Past Events
Past Events
Penguin in my Pocket
Penguin in my Pocket
by Kurt Hunter
The Conn Theater
at Plymouth Congregational Church
1919 La Salle Ave, Minneapolis
Sat., Jan. 10, 2 pm
PENGUIN IN MY POCKET tells the fun-filled and quirky tale of a penguin scientist who crash lands in the jungle when her experimental jetpack fails, and how she works with an artistic monkey to find her way home — encountering a sea monster along the way. It’s a solo show featuring marionettes, rod puppets, audience member puppeteers, and a concertina.
Are You Thirsty?
Are You Thirsty?
Heart of the Beast
2411 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis
January 17, 1pm
Free and Open to the Public
“Thirsty” just wants a drink of Water! But first they must explore a myriad of questions contained in that one precious sip.
Please join us for Are You Thirsty?, a revival of the dynamic 2008 performance by In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre*. This family-friendly performance ignites us to see ourselves as relatives of Water, bringing many current Water issues vibrantly to life, and encouraging our important and joyful participation in taking care of Water.
Performed by Lora Pedersen and Spencer Polk, directed by Sandy Spieler, and music by Greg Herriges.
Illuminating Sound: a shadow puppet and music show
Illuminating Sound: a shadow puppet and music show
January 10 at 4pm (3pm doors, 3:30pm house)
January 11 at 4pm (3pm doors, 3:30pm house)
At the Southern Theater.
Illuminating Sound is an innovative shadow puppet and music performance that blends live music and visual storytelling to explore the cyclical nature of time, the creation and destruction of the world, and humanity's impact on the environment.
10th Wave musicians are at the heart of the show and their musical performance creates the visual imagery. The musicians wear large masks to cast silhouettes of deities and the puppeteers around them use focused lights to isolate and magnify the instruments in action, producing sparks of light and texture as they create the universe. Among the creatures born from the darkness is a small bird whose life we follow across the ages. When climate catastrophe strikes, the bird is separated from its flock and befriends a mythical fox-deer. Together they travel the world in search of a new home, only to encounter repeated devastation caused by human exploitation. Can they survive -- and will they ever find a place to belong?
Get tickets here
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse