***** THIS EXTRAORDINARY NEW HAMLET TURNS SHAKESPEARE INSIDE OUT WITH INFINITE JEST – AND CUDDLY TOYS · Nov 7th

(Lyndsey Winship’s article appeared in the Guardian, 11/6/2026; Photo: Gertrude is a goose, Claudius is a snake … Ben Duke in The Last Hamlet. Photograph: Jane Hobson.)

 

Sadler’s Wells East, London
Ben Duke’s clever, witty and wholly unpredictable new show, The Last Hamlet, takes big liberties with the story that pay off

Hamlet is trying to get a hire car. He has missed his dad’s funeral because he was at a silent retreat, dealing with his abandonment issues and the disturbing memory of a year 7 disco when his uncle and mum danced together to Yazoo’s Only You.

There have been many takes on the troubled Prince of Denmark, but performer/director Ben Duke, co-founder of Lost Dog, has a talent for fresh readings. If Duke has a shtick – which after similar reworkings of Paradise Lost, Romeo and Juliet and the Medea myth, you could argue he does – it is to turn old texts inside out and douse them in contemporary references, surreal swerves and witty one-liners. A formula of sorts, but one that’s wholly unpredictable.

Cuts deep … Ben Duke in The Last Hamlet. Photograph: Jane Hobson

Some people think there have already been too many Hamlets. This show starts with an interview director Katie Mitchell gave to Radio 4 earlier this year, appealing for a moratorium on Hamlet, saying she is “tired of plays about depressed, angry, misogynistic men”. Duke’s onstage alter ego, nevertheless, is going to give it one more shot, except due to budget constraints, he’s had to replace the other actors with cuddly toys. He pulls a giant fluffy goose out of a cardboard box to play his mother, Gertrude, and finds his uncle Claudius (a snake) in there, too.

There follows an examination of the eponymous hero (famed for his own self-examination), with procrastination, misogyny and masculinity, family dynamics, responsibility and grief all in the mix, taking big liberties with the story, never missing the opportunity for a joke but also cutting deep. The Last Hamlet hits some topical nails on the head. On action v inaction, for example – this Hamlet goes off volunteering for an aid organisation but is busy soliloquising rather than saving lives, talking while the world is on fire.

Burrowing further into emotional territory … from left: Duke and dancers Hannah Shepherd and Miguel Altunaga. Photograph: Jane Hobson

Duke is good at both embodying and critiquing his characters, diving in and standing back, and so successful at making his Hamlet sympathetic as well as pathetic, offering imagined backstory to fill in the blanks. Fittingly for a character whose most famous trait is uncertainty, Duke is not 100% sure what he thinks about it all either. There’s a tussle with the knottiness of knowing what’s “right”. But in an age of black and white ragebait, what’s wrong with a bit of grey area?

(Read more)

BREAD AND PUPPET: ‘NECESSARY ANGEL’ · Nov 5th

(via Jerome Lipani.)

October 25, 2026 performance of NECESSARY ANGEL, a work-in-progress, in the Ballroom at the B&P Farm: 9 Bedsheet Interpretations, with reports of current Nakba in Palestine/Israel, 4 Silences, and Epilogue by Peter Schumann Film/edit – JL 20261030

This film was produced in part by a grant from the Vermont Arts Council and video equipment provided by HCTV, Hardwick Community Television. The views expressed here are those of its source producers and documentarian, and not necessarily those of its grantor administrators.

A CULTURAL STROLL THROUGH PARIS WITH ACTORS FRANÇOIS-XAVIER DEMAISON AND FRANÇOIS MOREL · Nov 4th

(Valérie Fayolle’s, Stephanie Cheval’s, and Pauline Heilmann’s article appeared on France 24, 11/3; Photography from l to r: Francois-Kavier Demaison and Francois Morel)

This week, we bring you a special programme dedicated to theatre. Valérie Fayolle takes us to the Renaissance Theatre, where François-Xavier Demaison takes us behind the scenes of “Laponie”. The fiesty comedy shows how a family’s holiday gathering can quickly turn into a settling of scores. “Theatre is one of our last collective experiences. It’s magnificent, we’re in a bubble,” he tells us.

Next, we head to Versailles, where François Morel pays tribute to Molière in “The School for Wives”.

“That’s the beauty of great works like that and great classics. With every passing era they bring to light the concerns of the times,” he notes.

Finally, our coup de coeur of pick of the week is a best-selling novel that’s now on stage: Laetitia Colombani’s “The Braid”. The novelist reveals the secret to a successful adaptation.

Visit France 24

PATRICK STEWART, LEGENDARY ACTOR, DIES AT 86 · Oct 29th

(Mark Kennedy’s article appeared on the AP, 10/29; Photo: TrendyBlaze.)
Patrick Stewart, the classically
trained actor who added Shakespearean gravitas to the “Star Trek” and “X-Men” franchises, has died. He was 86.

 

Stewart died Wednesday in Los Angeles, following “a brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy Body Dementia, spokesperson Kelly Bush Novak said. Stewart’s diagnoses had not been previously disclosed.

While best known as Professor Charles Xavier and Captain Jean-Luc Picard from the “X-Men” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” series and films, respectively, Stewart spent more of his career onstage than in the X-Mansion or on the USS Enterprise.

Besides playing everyone from Claudius to Macbeth, he often performed a one-man rendition of “A Christmas Carol” and did West End and Broadway runs of Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land” and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in repertoire with buddy Ian McKellen.

He achieved some of the best reviews of his career when he finally tackled Macbeth for the first time. The production, under the direction of Rupert Goold, debuted in May 2007 at England’s Chichester Festival Theatre, switched to London’s West End and then moved to the Brooklyn Academy of Music before transferring to Broadway in 2008.

Stewart’s performance earned him his sole Tony Award nomination. The Times of London said his Macbeth was “an enthralling creation of frailty, appetite, egotism and grim humor.” The Daily Telegraph said he had turned in “a truly great performance” and The New York Times said it was “a must-see.”

“Nearly 50 years I’ve waited,” Stewart told The Associated Press in 2008. “I learned it when I was 14. I memorized all the soliloquies just because I thought they were great. And they stuck, so I didn’t have to learn those bits of the play, which is a blessing, because learning lines has now become the one curse of this job.”

Starship commander grew up without a toilet
Raised in Mirfield in Yorkshire, a working class corner of northern England, the future 24th century commander of a starship grew up without a bathroom in his house.

Stewart joined an amateur drama group at 12 and memorized Shakespeare for fun as a teen. He won a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, launching a career as a character actor.

He had been bald since he was 19 — alopecia runs in his family.

His father, a former regimental sergeant major in the British Army, was prone to outbursts of “repeated violence against my mother,” as Stewart wrote in a newspaper piece. “Violence is always a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.”

In his memoir, “Making It So,” Stewart wrote about how he and his older brother Trevor braced for the nights when their dad came home drunk and angry, and attacked their mother. “Sometimes it was with an open hand, other times a closed fist. Always he aimed for her head.”

The son would later become a patron for Refuge, an organization that provides shelter for domestic abuse victims.

ART LILLARD’S HEAVENLY BIG BAND WILL BRING SWING TO TNC’S 50TH ANNUAL VILLAGE HALLOWEEN COSTUME BALL · Oct 28th

(via Jonathan Slaff)

Legendary Halloween tradition returns October 31 with performers including Austin Pendleton, aerial dance concert, live music, cabaret, $5 Witch’s Cauldron dinner (courtesy of  neighborhood restaurants) and a midnight costume contest.

WHERE AND WHEN

October 31, 2026

“Village Halloween Costume Ball”

Presented by Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E. 10th Street)

Outdoor attractions (free) 3:00 to 7:00 PM

Indoor attractions ($20) 7:00 PM to Midnight

Costumes or Formal Wear are required.

info/tix: (212) 254-1109, www.theaterforthenewcity.net

NEW YORK, October 26 — Art Lillard’s Heavenly Big Band will bring its unique, rich, bright signature sound to the Ballroom Dancing segment of this year’s Village Halloween Costume Ball at Theater for the New City. On October 31, from 8:30 to 10:00 PM, the 17 piece swing orchestra will perform an extensive repertoire of songs from swing to samba to jazz ballad to Bossa Nova with a swinging singing soloist for the dancing pleasure of scores of costume-clad revelers.

Art Lillard’s Heavenly Big Band (www.artlillard.com) has been entertaining local audiences with its uplifting and danceable sounds since 1987. Led by drummer-composer Art Lillard, the band performs an extensive repertoire of original songs varying in style from swing to samba to jazz ballad to bossa nova, as well as new arrangements of timeless jazz and swing standards and other surprises. 

Appearing on the bandstand with Lillard will be: Irina Zubareva & Tyler Bassett (vocals), Carol Sudhalter & Matt Maley (flutes), Elijah J. Thomas (soprano sax), Michael Hashim (alto sax), Kenny Pexton (tenor sax), Steve Gluzband & Fred Jacobs (trumpets), Carl Reinlib (trombone), Dale Turk (bass trombone), Mark McCarron (guitar), Ted Kooshian (piano), Ralph Hamperian (electric bass) and Jack Davis (percussion).

You can hear the band on Art’s website at https://artlillard.com/art-lillard-s-heavenly-big-band. Performance videos can be seen and heard at Heavenly Big Band videos.

Theater for the New City’s Village Halloween Costume Ball, now in its 50th year, will be an indoor and outdoor extravaganza of theater, music, dance, aerial performance, cabaret, food and flamboyant costumes with a Halloween theme. A large outdoor festivity will be held from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM outside the Theater on East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues (or if it rains, in a big tent), featuring performances and a costume competition for kids. The celebration moves inside into TNC’s four-theater complex from 7:00 PM to midnight . There will be nonstop performances (by Austin Pendleton and over 40 others), ballroom dancing (to Art Lillard’s Heavenly Swing Band and MisterPablo, a Latin Dance band), an aerial dance concert (by Caytha Jentin), and dining in a pop-up restaurant (The Witch’s Cauldron) where for $5, guests can savor a complete dinner donated by local restaurants.  The evening culminates in a costume judging with prizes at midnight.  Admission is free for the outdoor program and $20 for the indoor festivities. Costumes or formal wear are required. 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
(as of October 1)

PART 1 – OUTDOOR EVENTS

3:00 – 7:00 PM

ADMISSION FREE

Attractions will include:

  • Variety performances by Carol Tandava, Arley Trice, George Belleci, Joe Bendik, and musical group Star ’69. 
  • Child Costume and others. Emceed by Mary Tierney.
  • Children’s Costume Contest  judged by Crystal Field, T. Scott Lilly and Terry Lee King. Winners will receive prizes.
  • The Red and Black Masque: an annual Medieval ritual ensemble theater piece which is performed by torchlight with audience participation. (7:00)

At 7:00, the celebration goes inside the four-theater complex for food, fun, and exciting new theater works, culminating with a costume contest at midnightr whose winners will each receive a bottle of Moet & Chandon Champagne and a year’s free pass to TNC.

PART 2 – INDOOR EVENTS

7:00 – Midnight

ADMISSION $20

CABARET PERFORMANCES (7:00 PM to 11:00 PM)

  • A succession of live, 10-minute performances staged in the Community Theater. Performing artists will be, among others: Austin Pendleton, Richard West, Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe, Stephan Morrow, John Grimaldi, Carol Tandava (Belly Dance), Michael Christian, TNC Street Theater Enemble, Inma Heredia, Peter Dizzoza, Alessandra Belloni, Emilio Garcia, Asher Cohen (“Egg Eats Chicken”), JC Augustin, Fairy Tale Marionette and Wise Guise.
  • Scripted works by Toby Armor (directed by Joan Kane), Briana Bartenieff, New Yidddish Rep and Stefan Morrow, among many others. 
  • Scream contest hosted by Didi Champagne. (9:30 PM)
  • Emceed by Melanie Maria Goodreaux.

INDOOR BALLROOM PERFORMANCES & DANCING (8:30 to Midnight)

  • Art Lillard’s Heavenly Big Band, a 17 piece swing orchestra performing an extensive repertoire of songs from swing to samba to jazz ballad to Bossa Nova with a swinging singing soloist
  • Aerial Dance with Caytha Jentin, performing high over our heads in exciting new challenges to eye and ear.
  • Mr. Pablo’s Latin Dance Band, a five-piece fusion band with vocalist, mixing Salsa, Samba and Flamenco with Rock, Reggae and Funk.

DINING IN THE WITCHES’ CAULDRON

  • Downtown’s most sensational Halloween cafe, featuring a variety of American and international delicacies at peoples’ prices ($5 for a full dinner).  Holiday dishes are contributed by neighboring East Village restaurants, some with celebrity chefs. You can gobble couscous from a coffin lid beginning at 7:00 pm while enjoying spine-tingling performances by performance artists, songwriters, poets and variety artists including: Mimi Block and Rome Neal, Smokey Stevens, Lei Zhou, Pamela Enz,  Zero Boy, Sylvain Leroux, George Belleci, Marilyn Horan, Sarah Lilly, Ellen Steir, The Head Peddlers and Elliot Crown (7:00 – 11:00).

MONSTERS AND MIRACLES COSTUME PARADE

  • The annual costume contest hosted by Crystal Field.  All costumed attendees are invited to march past a panel of celebrity judges. Winners receive one-year passes to TNC and a bottle of Moet & Chandon Champagne. Attendees will be judged in such categories as “Most Politically Relevant,” “Most Gluten Free,” “Most Uncompromised,” Most Non-AI,” “Most Visionary,” “Most Presidentially Honest,” “Most Oxygenated” and “Most Likely to be Extinct.” Judged by Melanie Maria Goodreaux, John Gilman, Sabura Rashid, Terry Lee King, Joe Battista, Crystal Field, Phillip Hackett and others.

VAUDEVILLE PERFORMANCES

  • Vaudeville in The Womb Room (Basement Cabaret Theater).  Performers include Star ’69 (band), Larry Litt & Eleanor Heartley, WillieAnn Gissendanner, Sue Horowitz , New Yiddish Rep, Joe Bendik, Claude Solnik, Lei Zhou, Rocco Nicholas, Terry Lee King/ Billie Little and Danielle Aziza (8:00 – 10:00).

LOBBY EVENTS

  • Performances by Cobu (all-women Taiko drum group), Hellsouls, flute-playing goblin Kahley Mitchell, tap dance with Laraine Goodman and The Mad Tappers, Fish Pond (casting for giveaway gifts), Fortune Teller Penny Diora (free readings), Champagne Bar served over a coffin with a live vampire inside.

HALLOWEEN DECOR

  • Murals painted by Olga Castillo, Gilma Diaz, Sean Finnerty and many others.

This is the original Theater for the New City poster for its Village Halloween Parade in 1974. In its acknowledgements (small print at bottom), it thanks “Bob Read and the many block associations who contributed.” As sponsors, it lists the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Abraham Beame, Mayor, Edwin Weisl Jr., Adm. PRCA, Irving Goldman, Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Stephanie Sills, Director of Programs DCA. Thanks were dedicated to Harry Koutoukas, John Guare, Joel Oppenheimer and Barbara Garson. Featured billing went to: TNC Company, Active Trading Company, Open Eye Musicians, Margot Gilbert Dance Company and Renaissance Street Singers. Music by John Herbert McDowell, words by Nancy Fales, masks and monsters by Ralph Lee & YOU. Creatures appearing courtesy of Phoenix Theatre, American Place Theatre, Don Rodlick Dance Co.
The map under large pumpkin illustrates the route. Beneath the map is a banner saying, “Halloween children join us on this route.”

Theater for the New City (www.theaterforthenewcity.net) is located at 155 First Avenue, at the corner of East Tenth Street. Reservations are optional. The TNC box office number is (212) 254-1109.

LA MAMA ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR 2026 PUPPET FESTIVAL, RUNNING NOVEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 6 · Oct 23rd

(via David Gibbs, DARR.)

LINEUP FOR 2026 PUPPET FESTIVAL, RUNNING NOVEMBER 11 – DECEMBER 6

Endless Forms – Wed 11/11 at 8:30pm, Thu 11/12 at 7pm & 9:30pm, Fri 11/13 at 7pm, Sat 11/14 at 12pm

La MaMa Kids: The Dandelion’s Wish – Sat 11/14 at 11am, Sun 11/15 at 12pm

The Undercity – Sat 11/14 at 8pm, Sun 11/15 at 3pm & 6pm, Mon 11/16 at 7pm

Everything That Follows – Thu 11/19 at 7pm, Fri 11/20 at 7pm, Sat 11/21 at 2pm & 6pm, Sun 11/22 at 2pm & 6pm, Mon 11/13 at 7pm

Where Did You Go, Connie? – Thu 11/19 at 8:30pm, Fri 11/20 at 8:30pm, Sat 11/21 at 4pm, Sun 11/22 at 4pm

Mirrored Pool – Fri 11/27 at 7pm, Sat 11/28 at 2pm & 6pm, Sun 11/29 at 2pm

Husks from Iran – Thu 12/3 at 8pm, Fri 12/4 at 8pm, Sat 12/5 & Sun 12/6 at 3pm

En Mer Avec Louise Bourgeois – Thu 12/3 & Fri 12/4 at 7pm, Sat 12/5 & Sun 12/6 at 2pm

ADDITIONAL EVENTS (NOT OPEN FOR PRESS REVIEWS):

Jump Start 2026: Work-in-Progress Presentations – Fri 11/27 at 8pm, Sat 11/28 & Sun 11/29 at 4pm

Tiresias Presents New Weird Future – A Work In Process – Thu 11/12 & Fri 11/13 at 8:30pm, Sat 11/14 at 2pm & 6pm, Sun 11/15 at 2pm & 5pm

New York, NY – La MaMa announces the lineup for its 2026 La MaMa Puppet Festival (Denise Greber, Festival Director and Curator, Federico Restrepo, Festival Producing Director), running November 11 – December 6, 2026.

Puppetry has been an integral part of La MaMa’s programming since 1962. By setting objects in motion, puppet artists can penetrate linguistic and cultural barriers to tell stories that are accessible to audiences around the world. Bringing international puppet artists together leads to innovation, experimentation, and increased awareness of puppetry as a sophisticated art form. In 2004, La MaMa introduced its Puppet Series, a biannual festival showcasing new contemporary puppet theatre. Since then, La MaMa has produced twelve puppet festivals.

Denise Greber says, “Since its beginnings more than two decades ago, The La MaMa Puppet Series and Festival has provided a home for artists exploring the limitless possibilities of puppet theatre. Year after year, we’ve had the privilege to witness puppet artists bring bold ideas, unexpected perspectives, and inventive forms to our stages. As La MaMa enters its 65th season, we’re thinking deeply about the idea of oneness—about what connects us, even in our differences, and the ways theatre can bring us together. Puppet theatre – with its ability to transform objects, bodies and imagination – offers a particularly powerful space for that exploration. We’re grateful to the artists and audiences who continue to make this festival a place of experimentation, discovery, connection, and we look forward to seeing where this shared journey takes us next.”

Performances take place at La MaMa’s various spaces. Tickets to all shows are $30 (adults), $25 (students and seniors) and $10 (La MaMa members). First ten tickets to every performance are $10, limit 2 per person. Ticket Packages available: 2 shows ($50), 3 shows ($75) and 5 shows ($120). All ages welcome. Schedule varies – for exact days and times, to purchase tickets, and for more info go to https://lamama.org/la-mama-puppet-festival-2026.

2026 LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

Endless Forms world premiere runs November 11 – 14 at the Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th St.). Performances are Wednesday at 8:30pm, Thursday at 7pm & 9:30pm, Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 12pm.

Creative team includes Monica Lerch (Director, Lead Fabricator & Designer, Puppeteer), Jeshua Bratman (Writer, Producer & Digital Design), Sean Devare (Creative Co-Direction, Puppetry Designer & Puppeteer), Esme Roszel (Shadow Puppetry Designer & Puppeteer), Diane Boyle, Jim Freeman and Will Carter (Puppet Fabricators), Kyle Reid (Sound Design & Composer), MI Leggett (Costume Design), Daniel Montoro (Set Design), Federico Restrepo (Light Design), Kayta Thomas & SJ Munford (Puppeteers), and Aki Nikolaidis (Story Development).

Endless Forms is a science-fiction myth for a post-human future. What seeds of humanity survive each new form, and what will we ache to remember? For Syx, whose body is slowly withering, this ban is a death sentence. Refusing to disappear in the name of purity, she operates in secret: altering herself to survive, building robotic companions, and seeking a form that can hold her. Her journey leads beneath the ocean to a commune of transformed humans who have fled the surface. But the wholeness they offer asks Syx to surrender the self she has fought to preserve. Blending tabletop puppetry, shadow play, digital projection, and electronic music, Endless Forms follows Syx through a series of changes as she seeks a form always just beyond reach. https://endlessformspuppetry.com

Tiresias Presents New Weird Future – A Work In Process runs November 12 – 15 at The Club (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 8:30pm, Friday at 8:30pm, Saturday at 2pm and 6pm, and Sunday at 2pm and 5pm.

Written, directed and composed by Tiresias. Performers are Synead, Wes Garlington aka Klondyke, Ellen Zahniser, Mizuho Kappa, Nicki Kissil, Emily Batsford and Tiresias. Musicians are Darian Donovan Thomas, Angélica Negrón and Tristan Allen. Creative team includes Celia Krefter (Production/Stage Manager), Tom Lee (Lead Puppet Designer), Tristan Allen (Puppet Captain), Zachary Sun & Averly Sheltraw (Puppet Builders), Ezra Moth (Costume Design), Celia Krefter (Light Design), Theresa Buchheister (Fairy Godfather) and Nicolas Baird (Dramaturge).

A speculative eco-opera and puppet pageant-in-process that imagines futures of multispecies flourishing in the ruins of the Anthropocene. A collective act of radical queer defiance against apathetic submission to climate apocalypse, New Weird Future promises utopian visions of eclectic, non-innocent entanglements on Future Earth.

Tiresias is a hybrid writer, director, composer, performer, puppeteer, mythmaker, shapeshifter, drag-thing, songbird and ritualist whose work explores queer ecologies, weird mythologies, and speculative futures. They have presented dozens of original performance works around the world, and received fellowships, residencies, and awards from Ucross, MacDowell, Sitka, Millay Arts, Bogliasco, The Jim Henson Foundation, The Princess Grace Foundation, The Mercury Store, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Luce, Marshall, Fulbright, and elsewhere. https://evansilver.net

The Undercity runs November 14 – 16 at the Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th St.). Performances are Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm and 6pm, and Monday at 7pm.

Creative team includes Gaby FeBland (Playwright, Puppet Designer & Puppeteer) Sammy Zeisel (Director), Camille Cooper and Natthew Marvan (Puppeteers), Cat Raynor (Scenic Design), Kyle Stamm (Light Design), Liam Bellman-Sharpe (Composer), Veronica Johnson (Costume Design), KT Shivak (Rat King Puppet Designer), Tessa Ramírez-Keough (Stage Manager) and Ethan Eva Karas (Associate Director). Undercity Creative Producing Team includes Producer – Honigman & Sons, Line Producer – Penzi Hill-Vasserman, and Associate Producer – Keeley Dunn Heagerty.

A Spooky Action Theater production, The Undercity is a rat puppet pageant about overthrowing a crumbling empire on the verge of ecological collapse. Set in the great rat metropolis beneath our feet—a 1970s New York-inspired neon-lit underworld—the show follows Rat Girl, as she uncovers a vast conspiracy that threatens the fate of her world.

Gaby FeBland and Sammy Zeisel create multidisciplinary puppet plays that harness the power of communal ritual to cultivate the strange and wondrous. Previous collaborations include Cat (Rattlestick) and Gooey’s Toxic Aquatic Adventure (Bushwick Starr). The Undercity, developed during a 2024 residency at Culture Lab LIC, received a Production Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation. Gaby co-founded Foreshadow, a shadow puppetry company that has performed at Lincoln Center, the Carnegie Hall Weimar Festival, and Green-Wood Cemetery. Sammy completed his MFA in Directing at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, where he is currently a Lecturer. https://www.gabyfebland.art

Everything That Follows world premiere immersive event runs November 19 – 23 at the La MaMa Building (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 2pm and 6pm, Sunday at 2pm and Monday at 7pm. Runtime is 60 minutes.

Presented by Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre Company (USA/COLOMBIA), Created & Co-Directed by Federico Restrepo & Denise Greber, Choreography, Light, Set & Puppet Design by Federico Restrepo. Original Music by Juan Sebastian Monsalve. Musicians are Lina Silva and Juan Sebastian Monsalve. Costume Design by Becky Hubert. Sound Design by Sophie Yuqing Nie. Stage Manager is Amanda Reyes. Featuring Federico Restrepo with Manuela Agudelo, Braulio Basilio, Maria Camia, Katie Leffern, and Ursula Tinoco.

Everything That Follows is a visceral dance puppet theatre piece about what it means to be human. Through movement, puppetry, and visual art, the work dives into the messy, fragile, and often surreal experience of being alive—our need for connection, our instinct to survive, and our constant struggle to adapt and transform. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, the piece blurs the boundaries between human, animal, and environment. Bodies and puppets collide, evolve, and come to life in a dreamlike landscape where vulnerability becomes strength, connection becomes survival, and transformation is inevitable. A visually striking and emotionally charged exploration of who we are, how we relate to one another, and what it takes to remain human in a world that is constantly changing.

Celebrating its 40th Anniversary Season, Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre, founded by Federico Restrepo in 1986, develops and promotes creative productions of theatre, puppetry, dance, visual arts, and music. They aim to be a collective where artistic expression and community meet, providing an environment of creative freedom for artists to explore and develop their artistic practice, and hone their skills. The undertaking of the ensemble deals with themes such as North and South American Culture and History, the Immigrants’ experience, and New York City Urban Life. https://www.loco7.org/cause-and-effect

Since 1985, Federico Restrepo has developed a distinctive puppetry practice blending design, dance, and movement. Founder and Artistic Director of Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre, he creates sets and puppets as extensions of the dancer’s body, transforming performance spaces into dynamic, ever-changing environments. His work draws on Colombian culture, the history of the Americas, and his experiences in New York City. Restrepo has created, directed, designed, and performed over twenty original works at La MaMa, with productions touring internationally. He is a resident puppet designer, choreographer, performer, and director at La MaMa, and Producing Director of the biennial La MaMa Puppet Festival.

Denise Greber is a theatre artist, producer, and educator who has served as Co-Director of Loco7 Dance Puppet Theatre since 2001, contributing as a writer, director, costume designer, and performer. Her recent Loco7 credits include Everything That Follows, Lunch with Sonia, and Don Quixote Takes NY. Since 1999, Denise has been part of La MaMa, where she currently serves as Director of Artistic Operations, overseeing programming, touring, international collaborations, marketing, and special projects including the La MaMa Puppet Series/Festival and La MaMa Kids.

Where Did You Go, Connie? world premiere runs November 19 – 22 at the Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 8:30pm, Friday at 8:30pm, Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 4pm.

Creative team includes Amanda Card (lead artist), Matthew Keim (sound design), Rowan Magee (director), Jeremy Kadetsky (video design), Marie Yokoyama (light design), Vinny Mraz (set design), Aya Ogawa (dramaturg), and Sarah Lillian (Stage Manager).

An interdisciplinary puppetry performance about the life and disappearance of cult musician Connie Converse, whose introspective songs were recorded in 1950s New York, and who vanished without a trace in 1974. Through a layered integration of shadow puppetry, toy theater, and live-feed video, the piece seeks to conjure Connie’s presence, reckon with her disappearance, and examine the meaning of artistic legacy, especially for those whose work was unseen in their lifetime.

Amanda Card (she/they) is a Bushwick-based interdisciplinary artist and puppeteer whose work blends memory, disappearance, and handmade visual storytelling. Select performance credits include Boy Crazy (Ars Nova), Our Bodies Like Dams (Mabou Mines), 9000 Paper Balloons (Japan Society), Daydream Tutorial (La MaMa), Small Acts of Daring Invention (Drama Desk Nominee – HERE), The Greedy Peasant’s All Saints’ Day Celebration, and Yuliya Tsukerman’s The Luminous Crow. She received the 2021 Lipkin Prize for Playwriting and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. https://www.amandacard.com

Mirrored Pool New York premiere runs November 27 – 29 at the Downstairs Theatre (66 East 4th St.). Performances are Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 2pm and 6pm, and Sunday at 2pm.

An Eighth Blackbird Production in association with Yara Arts Group with support from the MAP fund. Created and performed by Tom Lee, Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall. Puppets and masks by Jaerin Son. Additional puppet design by Averly Sheltraw. Lighting by Seojung Jang. Puppetry direction by Justin Perkins. Photos by Stacey Bode Photography.

A puppetry/music collaboration between artist Tom Lee and musicians Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall. The piece explores humanity’s place in our vast universe, showcasing the virtuosity of Eighth Blackbird’s music against the vital, human power of puppetry. Mirrored Pool takes special inspiration from astronomer Carl Sagan, whose work on the Voyager spacecrafts and the Golden Record are now the most distant human-made objects and sounds from our planet — currently 15.7 billion miles away from Earth.

Born in Korea and raised in Hawai’i, Tom Lee is a director, designer and puppet artist. Mr. Lee began his career at La MaMa in New York with the encouragement of Ellen Stewart and later, the St. Ann’s Warehouse Puppet Lab. His work often explores the synthesis of manipulated figures and objects using film techniques and animation. Tom Lee creates original puppet theater pieces, performs as a professional puppeteer, designs and fabricates puppets through Chicago Puppet Studio. https://tomleeprojects.com/puppetry

Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall met and began making music together in curriculum ensembles at Oberlin College in 1992, driven by a compatible fascination with rigorous challenges and unexpected outcomes. Together with their ensemble mates, they created Eighth Blackbird, a four-time Grammy Award-winning sextet that commissions and champions the creation of new works, mentoring emerging artists through the Blackbird. https://www.eighthblackbird.org

Jump Start 2026: Work-in-progress presentations run November 27 – 29 at The Club (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 4pm, and Sunday at 4pm.

La MaMa’s annual Jump Start series gives puppet artists the opportunity to workshop and showcase current work-in-progress. Five artists will be presented in this year’s Jump Start; they include Justin Perkins (Swan Lake Variation), William Carter (Not Yet Buried), Marcella Murray (Other Atlantas: Something Out The Mud), Torry Bend (Coat and Coyote) and Andrew Murdock (Beacon). Learn more about the series at https://lamama.org/jump-start-2026.

Husks from Iran world premiere runs December 3 – 6 at The Club (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 8pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3pm and Sunday at 3pm.

Creative team includes Deniz Khateri (Playwright, Director & Puppet designer), Siobhan Carroll (Co-director) and Bahar Royaee (Composer & sound designer). Performers are Hayley Spivey, Siobhan Carroll and Megan Paldino. Music performers are Bahar Royaee and Pouya Shabanpour.

Husks from Iran follows the story of an immigrant artist from Iran who struggles with language; words don’t come to her, and they begin to bend and distort. Feeling incomplete in her second language, she starts looking for ways through art to bridge the gap between Farsi and English. Her search for answers leads her to explore the lives of a couple of exiled Iranian poets, each navigating similar struggles. The English translations of their poems come to life in a shadow world inhabited by shadow puppets inspired by Persian calligraphy, where language is transformed into image, movement, and memory.

Born and raised in Tehran, Deniz Khateri is a New York–based multidisciplinary artist working in theater, experimental music-theater, contemporary opera, and animation. Her work explores memory, grief, immigration, and home. She is a PEN America Dream Out Loud selected playwright with additional residencies at the Orchard project, Theaterlab, University Settlement, New Perspectives Theatre, and the Center at West Park. Her writing has been published in American Theatre magazine, Puppetry International, and by Brill. She received the Al-Bustan Award for her solo show A Bach’eh who wanted to become Bach, the UNIMA-USA Nancy Staub Award for excellence in writing for puppetry, and grants supporting her projects from NYFA, NYSCA, and the Jim Henson Foundation. https://www.denizkhateri.com

En Mer Avec Louise Bourgeois world premiere runs December 3 – 6 at the Community Arts Space (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Thursday at 7pm, Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 2pm.

Creative team includes Michelle Beshaw (Creator/Performer/Designer) and Deborah Beshaw-Farrell (Performer).

A haunting found-object puppet piece inspired by the memories, fears, and obsessions that animated Louise Bourgeois’s work well into her 90s. Discarded domestic objects are transformed into bodies, ghosts, and fragments of memory, creating a surreal landscape where childhood, family, desire, rage, and repair collide. Through playful and uncanny transformations, the objects reveal a world in which the past is never quite gone—and everything can be broken, stitched back together, and made new.

Michelle Beshaw is a Brooklyn-based theatre artist and performer whose work has appeared at La MaMa, PS 122, city parks, community centers, stairwells, and even a broom closet. Her original works include The Napier Project, developed as a resident artist in the Mabou Mines Suite; Sheep Musing, presented in St. Ann’s Warehouse’s Labapalooza; and Wave: An Incantation, featured in La MaMa’s 2019 Puppet Slam. Michelle is a company member of the Czech-American Marionette Theatre and a longtime collaborator with the Puppeteers Cooperative. She is delighted to be working once again with one of her favorite performers, Debbie Beshaw-Farrell, with whom she has shared a lifelong creative partnership. https://www.instagram.com/beshawmichelle

La MaMa Kids: The Dandelion’s Wish runs November 14 – 15 at the Community Arts Space (74A East 4th St.). Performances are Saturday at 11am and Sunday at 12pm.

Written and designed by Fatima Sambo Schoenfelder (USA/GHANA). Creative team includes Kervin Peralta (Director/Puppeteer), Shabbi Sharifi (Shadow Puppet designer/puppeteer), Alyssa Parkhurst (puppeteer) and Elise Gomez (Lights & Sound).

First performed at La MaMa in 2023, The Dandelion’s Wish is a charming children’s show about a lonely little dandelion who dreams of exploring the world but is stuck in the same place, rooted to the ground. The Dandelion’s Wish teaches young viewers the importance of perseverance, kindness, and believing that even the biggest dreams can come true. The show won a 2024 Henson Grant Award.

Fatima Sambo Schoenfelder is a first-generation Ghanaian-American multi-disciplinary artist. She is the author and illustrator of The Dandelion’s Wish, her first children’s picture book and creator of the companion tabletop puppet show. https://www.instagram.com/skylarkartsstudio

2026 LA MAMA PUPPET FESTIVAL SPECIAL EVENTS

Assortment from November 12 – December 6 projected in the lobby of building 74a.

Created by Avery Vang and Paige Vang, Assortment is a collection of stop-motion and digitally animated films that explores the diverse possibilities of animation as an art form. Bringing together a range of techniques, styles, and visual approaches, the collection highlights the creativity, experimentation, and storytelling that animation makes possible. From tactile, frame-by-frame movement to digitally crafted worlds, these films offer a glimpse into the many ways images can be brought to life, inviting viewers to experience animation through a variety of perspectives and imaginative expressions.

From Concept to Ask – A workshop on Saturday, November 21 from 10:30am to 5:30pm at Great Jones Studio (35 Great Jones St.).

Led by Jean Marie Keevins. $100 per person, includes workshop, performance and talkback. Learn more at https://lamama.org/from-concept-to-ask.

Turning a puppet show from an idea into a real production means facing a budget and a pitch, two things most puppet artists were never trained to build. A strong show can stall for the simple reason that the numbers were never worked out or the ask was never made clearly. From Concept to Ask is a one-day intensive with producer and puppet artist Jean Marie Keevins, built for artists who already have a project, or a dream project, in mind. Over the course of the day, participants build a working budget and a working pitch for that project, grounded in real numbers rather than guesswork.

Intuitive Hand Puppets on Saturday, November 28 from 12pm to 3pm at the Community Arts Space (74A East 4th St.).

Tickets are $25 per person. Ages 10+. Learn more at https://lamama.org/intuitive-hand-puppets.

Join Puppeteer and Fiber Artist, J Hann, in this hands-on puppet making workshop. Participants will let the materials guide them as they learn techniques on fabric manipulation, layering, and creating texture to make unique hand puppets. Everyone will leave with knowledge on how to manipulate their new fantastical puppet creation.

Performance lineup subject to change.

The 12th La MaMa Puppet Festival Fall 2026 is made possible by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Jim Henson Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation. Additional support from Cheryl Henson is gratefully acknowledged.

ABOUT LA MAMA

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. La MaMa’s 65th Season, ONENESS, focuses on creating solidarity and community, exploring ways to build connections for cross-sector coalition and inviting artists, activists, organizers and community members into the creative process. We build audiences that are integral to the creative process. Our local and global community members who gather in our physical, digital, and hybrid spaces to see new work are often the first audience for that work. La MaMa believes art is a force for change.

La MaMa has been honored with 30+ Obie Awards, dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie Awards, Villager Awards, the 2018 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and most recently a 2023 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Special Citation. We are a creative home to artists and resident companies from around the world, many of whom have made lasting contributions to the arts, including Blue Man Group, Bette Midler, Ping Chong, Jackie Curtis, Robert De Niro, André De Shields, Adrienne Kennedy, Cole Escola, Bridget Everett, Harvey Fierstein, Diane Lane, Charlotte Brathwaite, Charles Ludlam, Haruna Lee, Tom Eyen, Spiderwoman Theater, Tadeusz Kantor, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Meredith Monk, David and Amy Sedaris, Stephanie Hsu, Julie Taymor, Kazuo Ohno, Tom O’Horgan, Heather Christian, Andrei Serban, Liz Swados, and Andy Warhol. La MaMa’s vision of nurturing new artists and new work from all nations, cultures, races and identities remains as strong today as it was when Ellen Stewart first opened the doors in 1961.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (ONE NIGHT ONLY–10/31/26–TOWN HALL, N.Y.) · Oct 19th

The Rocky Horror Picture Show 

Original Cast Spooktacular Tour with Original Stars

Barry Bostwick, Nell Campbell, and Patricia Quinn

 

Friday, October 30, 2026 at 8:00PM

Mischief Night!

 Town Hall

New York, NY

New York, NY — The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running theatrical release in film history, is coming back to New York with original cast members Barry Bostwick (the iconic Brad Majors), Nell Campbell (the effervescent Columbia) and Patricia Quinn (the incomparable Magenta) for a Spooktacular at Town Hall on Mischief Night, Friday, October 30 at 8:00PM.   Audiences at this Mischief Night performance will have an opportunity to meet stars from the movie; participate in a costume contest; and interact with a live performance.   Tickets are $59, $79, and $99 (plus applicable fees).  There will also be a limited number of VIP tickets available that include a meet and greet and photo op with the cast members. Tickets will be available at www.ticketmaster.com . 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the iconic little movie that conquered Hollywood. The hit movie stars Tim Curry as the devious and fabulous Frank-N-Furter; Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon as everybody’s favorite nerdy couple, Brad and Janet; Meatloaf as ex-delivery boy Eddie who dates a groupie, Columbia played by Nell Campbell; and Patricia Quinn as Magenta, servant to Riff Raff, played by the film’s creator Richard O’Brien. The film has become the longest-running theatrical release in the world.

Says Barry Bostwick: “Rocky has changed lives, not just ours, and had a profound effect on how we accept our differences in this world. We were fitted for our corsets and high heels and enthusiastically started singing songs that have endured for all these years. And “dammit Janet”! I have made nerds cool.”

Says Patricia Quinn: “50 years ago I auditioned for the Rocky Horror show at the 60 seat Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London. I asked my agent, “what’s it about?” He replied “something to do with a circus.” He wasn’t wrong. I’ve been in this circus ever since! ‘Cirque Du Rocky Horror’ I’m lucky! We’re all lucky!! Don’t dream it be it.”

Says Nell Campbell: “I never would have thought all these years later we’d be touring our little ole film. I’m so thrilled to get back on the road and to meet several generations of fans. Looking forward to a lot of fun just like it always was!”

About Metropolitan Entertainment

Metropolitan Entertainment is a preeminent producer of world class live entertainment. One of the most respected independent concert promoters in the U.S., Metropolitan Entertainment has been presenting a wide range of concerts and events across New York, New Jersey and beyond since 1971.  For more information, please visit metropolitanpresents.com or follow Metropolitan Entertainment on Instagram @metropolitanentertainment.

About The Stander Group

The Stander Group is a global boutique production and talent agency headed by siblings Scott and Jackie Stander. Together, they have over 30 years of experience producing celebrity events, concerts, plays, dance & variety shows, as well as a talent development and representation division with clients worldwide.

About Steve Litman Presents 

Since 1998, Steve Litman Presents has presented and promoted a wide array of concert and special events at venues across North America featuring major musicians, comedians, theatricals and non-traditional entertainment.  Over a career spanning over 45 years, company President Steve Litman has booked and promoted many major attractions in venues ranging from 500 seat clubs to 60,000 seat stadiums and since 1985 has served as Executive Producer for all concert events at the historic Fox Theatre in St. Louis, one the nation’s largest, most spectacular and successful theatres.

Produced by The Stander Group

Presented by Metropolitan Entertainment and Steve Litman Presents

(via Eva Dilmanian)

 

EXCLUSIVE: WHITE HOUSE PROBES CLAIMS OF MISSING KENNEDY CENTER MONEY IN “MAGA BLOOD FEUD” · Oct 15th

Photo illustration of Alina Habba and Richard Grenell with a deconstructed Kennedy center in the background
Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: Charly Triballeau and Odd Andersen/AFP, and Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

 

WHAT IF ART COULD HELP YOU LIVE LONGER? · Oct 12th

(from France24, 9/30/26.)

In this episode of Entre Nous, Delano D’Souza speaks to Daisy Fancourt, professor at University College London and a leading researcher on how the arts affects our brains and bodies. In her book “Art Cure” she draws on scientific evidence to show how the arts can transform our health and what her research suggests we should be doing to optimise the benefits.