Puppets are having a moment. Or rather, the moment has never quite stopped—puppets have been here all along, quietly helping us process the unprocessable, absurdify the solemn, and give voice to what lives just under the skin of polite conversation. Puppets do what actors often can’t: they speak plainly, act wildly, and transform reality without apology.
This makes it entirely fitting that the first-ever New Paltz Pop-Up Puppet Fest arrives at this particular juncture in the American experiment, when our relationship to reality could use a little soft-sculpted re-enchantment.
On Saturday, June 14 from 12 to 4pm, the backyard compound of 122 Main Street (home to Roost Arts and Creative Perch) will come alive with an all-ages puppet extravaganza curated by Plutarch for Refugees, Roost Arts Hudson Valley, and the Chrysalis Puppet Theater Workshop. Suggested donation is $20 (kids free), and all proceeds go toward resettlement support for newly arrived Afghan refugee families.
Headlining the day’s roster are three very different but equally captivating puppetry acts. Paper Heart Puppets, helmed by Poughkeepsie’s Brad Shur, specializes in lush, narrative-rich table-top shows—think fairy tales lovingly handcrafted out of cardboard, cloth, and charisma. Up In Arms, based in Newburgh, leans toward the Muppet-adjacent style: colorful, goofy, and precisely performed puppets that feel like they’ve wandered out of a children’s TV dreamscape. Then there’s Andy Gaukel, a Tillson-based master of European-style shadow puppetry, whose emotionally driven work uses silhouette and light to tell poignant, sometimes wordless stories that resonate on an archetypal level.
The fest also features a puppet-making workshop for kids, a collaborative puppet pageant with the Vanaver Caravan, and performances from the Chrysalis Puppet Theater Workshop’s student troupe (ages 5–16), who’ve been studying world puppetry traditions all semester. In the gallery: “Metamorphosis: Art and Advocacy Re-Vision the World,” a silent auction of handmade puppets; and in the Roost gallery proper: paintings and photos by John Diamond, MD. Traditional Afghan food will be available, and in case you were worried, yes—it’s a Zero Waste event, courtesy of Greenway Recycling Services.
In other words: a festival that moves the body, nourishes the belly, and gives the soul something to chew on.
The event is open to all with a suggested donation of $20. Children can attend for free. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, email Rebecca Burdett: rburdett13@gmail.com.
This article appears in June 2025.
