Explore Puppetry Series

Center for Puppetry Arts

Center for Puppetry Arts
1404 Spring St NW
Atlanta, GA
puppet.org/programs/education/education-programming/
404-873-3391

The Explore Puppetry Series offers courses for adults ages 18+ who want to learn more about puppetry. Different classes are offered throughout the year.

Professional Puppetry Training Program

WonderSpark Puppets

Photo by: WonderSpark Puppets

The Jim Henson Carriage House, NYC
225 E 67th St
New York, NY
wondersparkpuppets.com/puppet-workshops-adults

Are you new to puppetry, looking for a first step or introductory intensive to begin your career? Our professional training program offers access to specialized puppetry skills to all new puppeteers. Our goal is to help foster a diverse new generation of puppet theater professionals through fun and engaging sessions where participants perform, build, and learn traditional techniques. By the end of the final session, students will be ready to move on to auditions, entry-level positions or further studies. This program runs at the Jim Henson Carriage House in partnership with the Green Feather Foundation.

The professional training program runs 2 months and classes meet once per week, with homework on the side. Participants engage through structured learning with performance and building. Puppeteers are provided with the support of a skilled mentor to assist and enhance critical hands-on learning. The program is pay-what-you-can, with a suggested cost of $80 (that's $10 per session).

Ongoing, seasonal

pay-what-you-can

Little Shadow's Puppetry Community

Little Shadow Productions

Online
Online
N/A
https://www.littleshadowproductions.com/community

Welcome to Little Shadow’s Puppetry Community—a vibrant space designed for professional puppeteers and dedicated enthusiasts who share a passion for creating extraordinary work. (Or at least are learning to. We love beginners too!)
Here, we focus on nurturing professional artistic voices and providing the tools, vocabulary, and support for our community members to develop their own projects or collaborate with others. Whether you're refining your skills, building new work, or looking to connect with like-minded creators & creatives, this community is your hub for inspiration, growth, and connection.
While we value and celebrate creativity in all its forms, this space is specifically tailored for those committed to advancing their craft in puppetry and storytelling. Together, let’s elevate the art form and build a dynamic, supportive community.

February 14 - December 31, 2025
All day long, every day.

$15

Puppet Painting: Explore Color, Shading, Materials & Painting Techniques

Full Moon Puppet Arts

Online
https://www.openeyetheatre.org/full-moon-workshop-painting

We will explore all aspects of puppet painting in this 4 part series/Virtual Workshop. Learn about material usage, Shading for faces, paint application & techniques, theatrical painting as well as color mixing & usage. Self guided projects with one on one instruction, all levels welcome!

June 8 - 29, 2025
4PM CT

$60

150 Hand Puppet Techniques (Level 1) with Chad Williams

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
https://chicagopuppetfest.org/summer-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1PSU5,8JADDE,6OVPW,1

150 Hand Puppet Techniques (Level 1) is great for beginners or puppetry pros! Participants will create their own hand puppets and learn the best techniques and secrets from a hand puppetry expert. Each week we will build, play, learn, and perform! Puppeteer Chad Williams incorporates moves from Chinese Bu Dai Xi, European glove puppetry, and other traditions into his modern style.

June 9 - July 14, 2025
6-8pm CDT

$300

Directing Puppetry for Film & TV

Raymond Carr

Online
https://tinyurl.com/59y4wck7

Raymond Carr is an award-winning filmmaker and a veteran puppeteer with 20 years in the industry, he has worked on iconic projects like LazyTown, Splash and Bubbles, Crank Yankers, and Yo Gabba Gabba and more with his company, Ninja Puppet Productions. In this workshop, Raymond will share his expert techniques to help you craft compelling puppet-driven stories for film, television, and web series.

June 10, 2025
7PM

$20

Hand Puppetry 2 with Chad Williams

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
https://chicagopuppetfest.org/summer-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1PSU5,8JADDE,6OVPW,1

Hand Puppetry 2 (Level 2) will offer students who have already taken “150 Hand Puppet Techniques with Chad Williams” and opportunity to do deep dives on all hand puppet movement, collaboratively create the ultimate gags and action scenes, further develop and polish your own puppetry piece every week, and get feedback on your work from Chad and your classmates.

June 10 - July 15, 2025
6-8pm CDT on Tuesdays

$300

MASS MoCA Wood Carving & Puppet Design Residency Workshop

David Lane / New England Puppet Arts

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
1320 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA
https://www.assetsforartists.org/workshops-in-residence

The wooden puppet lab returns for another edition in residence at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art where we’ll dig deep into traditional European style carving techniques and create beautiful, inspired wooden puppets together. Topics include: character design, carving technique, controls, joints, painting, and simple costume patterning.
Space is limited so sign up early to ensure a spot!

June 12 - 16, 2025
Formal instruction and demonstrations begin each day at 9 am and run until dinner. The evenings will include open studio and specialized programming such as a show-and-tell and puppet-film night. Field trips to the Clark Art Museum, forest hikes, and impromptu picnics can be organized as the spirit moves.

Tuition: $950 (includes materials & accomodations)

Designing Puppets for Cutting Machines with Myra Su

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
https://chicagopuppetfest.org/summer-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1PSU5,8JADDE,6OVPW,1

To help you save time and your wrists, Designing Puppets for Cutting Machines (Level 1) aims to share digital tools that can help elevate your next puppet project! We will learn how to digitize puppet designs so that physical parts can be made using a craft cutting machine or laser cutter. Most importantly, we will learn ways to retain the human touch in our designs when digitizing them. These techniques are useful in creating shadow puppets and also limbs that can be assembled into a 3D puppet. Prior experience with drawing software is helpful but not necessary.

June 14 - 15, 2025
10am - 12pm CDT

$100

Beginning Professional Puppet Building Workshop

Puppetry Plus - Los Angeles

Photo by: Roberto Ferreira

Puppetry Plus West Hollywood Campus
8581 Santa Monica Blvd., #476
West Hollywood, CA
https://www.puppetryplus.com/product-page/la-beginning-professional-puppet-building-weho

Join us for a hands-on, 3-day workshop where you'll learn multiple techniques for building professional-quality foam rubber puppets.
This comprehensive introduction to "Muppet-style" puppet construction will guide you through a variety of materials and methods, including both rod-arm and live-hand designs. You'll follow each step of the process—tracing, cutting, gluing, and sewing (by hand and with a machine)—and by the end of the final day, you’ll leave with a unique, handmade puppet to call your own.
Open to ages 16 and up. No prior sewing experience required—help with sewing machines is available—but a crafty spirit is definitely a plus!
All materials are included with tuition.

June 20 - 22, 2025
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (includes a 1-hour lunch break)

450

Intermediate Professional Puppet Building Workshop

Puppetry Plus - Los Angeles

Photo by: Roberto Ferreira

Puppetry Plus West Hollywood Campus
8581 Santa Monica Blvd., # 476
West Hollywood, CA
https://www.puppetryplus.com/product-page/la-intermediate-professional-puppet-building-weho

If you can imagine it, you can build it—into a puppet!

In this hands-on course, you'll learn how to turn the characters in your head into fully realized puppets, starting with original pattern design. You'll explore techniques for dyeing and working with Antron fleece (also known as "Muppet fleece") and bring your vision to life, step by step. By the end of three sessions, you'll walk away with a finished puppet straight from your imagination.
Students must be at least 16 years old to enroll.
Sewing machine assistance is available, but a crafty mindset will go a long way.
All materials are included in the tuition.

June 27 - 29, 2025
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (includes a 1 hour lunch break)

525

Shadow Puppetry II: Developing Your Show with Chinese Theatre Works

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
https://chicagopuppetfest.org/summer-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1PSU5,8JADDE,6OVPW,1

Shadow Puppetry 2 (Level 2) is an advanced course of the exploration of light, object, sound and moving image. Participants will conceive, craft and perform their own shadow work, using both traditional techniques, contemporary digital projection and lighting technology.

July 21 - 27, 2025
7-9pm

$250

Film & TV Puppetry for Beginners - Los Angeles

Puppetry Plus - Los Angeles

Photo by: Roberto Ferreira

Puppetry Plus West Hollywood Campus
8581 Santa Monica Blvd #476
West Hollywood, CA
https://www.puppetryplus.com/product-page/la-film-tv-puppetry-for-beginners-july-26-and-27

Bring Your Puppet to Life on Screen!
Join us for a dynamic, full-weekend course where you’ll master the fundamentals of on-camera puppetry. Learn essential techniques like lip-sync, eye focus, and character breathing to create performances that feel alive and authentic.
Through music, simple choreography, and improvisation, you'll gain hands-on experience performing expressively and convincingly for the camera. Whether you're brand new to puppetry or eager to sharpen your skills, this class offers a supportive environment to grow your confidence and creativity.

You’ll also get comfortable operating a classic rod-arm puppet while developing strong, camera-ready acting instincts.

Need a Puppet? Want to Bundle Courses?
Explore our discounted add-on options to include a puppet with your registration, or bundle this course with others and save!

July 26 - 27, 2025
10 Am to 5 PM (with one hour lunch break)

350

2025 New England Puppet Intensive

New England Puppet Arts / Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry

The Old Trout Puppet Workshop
3640 15a St SE
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
https://newenglandpuppet.org

NEPI is on the road this year in Calgary, Alberta — taking up residence at the Old Trout Puppet Workshop for eleven days of performance training, design, ensemble devising, community building and exchange. ?The program culminates in a public performance at the C.A.M.P. Cabaret. Space is limited — sign up early to ensure your spot!

August 4 - 16, 2025
Program hours are 9am to 9pm, ?most ?days.

Tuition: $1550 ?CND (Includes ?instruction, ?materials, ?family ?style ?lunch ?& ?dinner.)

Toy Theater I with Roberto Rossi

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
https://chicagopuppetfest.org/summer-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1PSU5,8JADDE,6OVPW,1

Toy Theater 1 (Level 1) is an introduction to the form and the basic skills concluding with a showing. Make your first toy theater stage using recyclable materials. Learn conceptual and design approaches in building an original work. Build basic jointed 2D puppets and moveable set pieces and discover the unique theatrical language of the Toy Theater.

August 18 - 24, 2025
7-9pm CDT

$250

Toy Theater II with Roberto Rossi

2025 Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival

Online
https://chicagopuppetfest.org/summer-2025-workshops/?dm_i=42VT,1PSU5,8JADDE,6OVPW,1

Toy Theater 2 (Level 2) will be an opportunity for participants to further develop their shows. We will be exploring different ways of articulating and mounting puppets and of enhancing the illusion of depth through stage design and lighting. We will also look at the dramaturgy of the miniature spectacle and isolate the compositional elements of this highly visual theater form as participants prepare for an informal—yet always exciting—showing on the last day.

August 25 - 31, 2025
7-9pm CDT

$250

Advanced Automata

Puppets in Prague

Online
https://tinyurl.com/5n84z7b5

A course for students who have completed our one-year online Automata fundamentals online course. It will meet once a month and focus on projects that combine different mechanisms. All classes will meet at 7 - 9 pm Central European Time on Zoom and will be recorded

September 13, 2025 - April 26, 2026
See website for details

€500

Automata Fundamentals

Puppets in Prague

Online
https://tinyurl.com/ynnauszs

Get the skills, knowledge and confidence to build your own unique automata. You can sign up for the FULL COURSE or individual modules separately (see listings for individual modules on workshop page).

September 14, 2025 - April 28, 2026
See website for details

€600

Giant Lantern Puppet Building Workshop

Andrew Kim

Sandglass Theater
17 Kimball Hill
Putney, VT
sandglasstheater.org/workshops/giant-lantern-workshop

Get ready to build big, bold, and glowing puppets! Under the expert guidance of master puppet builder Andrew Kim of Thingumajig Theatre (@ThingumaTheatre), workshop participants will spend two weeks bringing two Giant Lantern Puppets to life—each in a different style. These stunning creations will remain with Sandglass Theater and be ready to light up future community events. Participants dive hands-on into every part of the puppet-making process—design, sculpture, mechanisms, LED lighting, tissue paper, Worbla (a moldable thermoplastic), foam, painting, costuming, and performance. One of the puppets will be The Ghost Moose—a powerful image that celebrates Vermont’s traditions while reflecting on how climate change is reshaping our local environment and species.

September 30 - October 10, 2025
The workshop will take place September 30th to October 10th, 9:30am to 5:30pm Daily (October 5th Day Off), with a procession of the Ghost Moose on October 10th at Sunset. This workshop leads right into the Puppets in Paradise weekend. On Friday night, both giant puppets will make their grand debut in a glowing lantern parade, followed by a mesmerizing outdoor shadow puppetry performance by Rahul Koonathara, a 12th-generation artist from Kerala, India for a celebration of shadow and light to launch us into a whole weekend of short form puppetry on the farm.

Applications close June 15

$600

Mastering the Marionette

Puppets in Prague

Online
https://tinyurl.com/45d8tmdm

Join Mirek Trejtnar, author of Puppet Technology, in this course that draws from the centuries-old tradition of Czech marionettes. You will learn to design and carve marionettes with exceptional craftsmanship and gain an understanding of essential storytelling considerations. On the journey, you will get inspired by the rich heritage of Czech puppetry and access to a supportive community of passionate puppeteers. And at the end, you will understand how to make a marionette for the theatre, not just to decorate a wall.

October 1, 2025 - June 1, 2026
See website for details

€650.00

National Puppetry Conference

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

Photo by: Richard Termine / Eugene O'Neill Theater Center

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
305 Great Neck Road
Waterford, CT
www.theoneill.org/pup
860-443-5378

The National Puppetry Conference provides a meeting and creating ground for master artisans to pass their craft and ingenuity to new artists in the field of puppetry. Participants gather from across the globe to create works that defy the bounds of contemporary theater and the imagination. Applications for the 2025 National Puppetry Conference are open now through February 6th.

Puppets in Prague - Online & In-Person Courses

New Workshops!

Puppets in Prague
puppetsinprague.eu

Choose from our wide range of top-quality long-term classes. With us you can turn your dreams into a reality, plus become a part of the flourishing Puppets in Prague community.
Marionette Carving In-Person - June 2024
Marionette Carving & Performance In-Person - August 2024
Automata: Online Course in 7 Modules - September 15, 2024 - April 28, 2025
Puppet Technology: Wooden Marionettes - September 2024 - March 2025

Distance Learning, The Center for Puppetry Arts - ONLINE

Center for Puppetry Arts

Center for Puppetry Arts, ONLINE
puppet.org/programs/?type=digital-learning-workshop

The Center for Puppetry Arts uses the latest technology to offer nationwide Distance Learning programs for PreK-adult through videoconferencing, webinars, and streamed content. Arts-infused workshops are conducted via videoconferencing and are tailored to specific classroom topics and curriculum for K-12 groups. For K-5, hands-on puppet building integrates with science, social studies, language arts and other disciplines to create a dynamic, interactive virtual classroom for a virtual field trip experience. Middle School/High School programs are discussion based. Programs complement national curriculum standards in language arts, social studies, science, math and other areas. The Center provides a comprehensive study guide and materials list for most programs. Webinars (both live and streamed) and streamed workshops and lectures are available for teachers seeking demos and professional development (also available via videoconferencing). Streamed workshops are also ideal for anyone interested in learning about puppetry.