La MaMa Puppet Festival

Puppetry has been an integral part of La MaMa’s programming since 1962 when our founder Ellen Stewart invited puppet artists from Korea to perform their production of Head Hunting by Pagoon Kang Wouk. Ellen recognized puppetry as an art form that exists across world cultures in its many different forms. Despite the cultural specificity and variety of these forms, she saw a universal magic in bringing inanimate objects to life. 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.