Puppet Showplace Theater is 50 years old! To celebrate, the theater is launching its 50th Anniversary Season this September, bringing new and
beloved, accessible, culturally inclusive shows to its Station Street stage. Highlights include Opening Week September 24-29, the launch of monthly Pay-What-You-Can shows, and shows celebrating the traditions of Rosh Hashanah and Diwali.
The 50th anniversary season kicks off September 24 – 29, 2024, with shows for adults of all ages, as well as family audiences.
Saturday, September 28, and Sunday, September 29: For all-ages audiences, Opening Week features the return of Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers, a New England favorite coming to us from Maine with their show The Legend of the Banana Kid. On Opening Day, Saturday September 28, all tickets will be Pay-What-You-Can, starting at $6. Between the two shows (11:30 am – 1:00 pm), Puppet Showplace invites you to join us for popcorn, lemonade, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and the opportunity to try a puppet to celebrate the new season. Shows at 10:30 am and 1:00 pm.
[Sold out] Tuesday, September 24 and Wednesday, September 25: For adults, Opening Week features a unique performance that sold out in the first minute of being on sale — Xavier Bobés, a visiting artist from Barcelona, presents Things Easily Forgotten, an object puppetry performance for just 5 people at a time, inspired by his personal family history and the history of fascism in Spain. Bobés will also present a master class. Shows at 4:30 pm, 7:30 pm, and 11:00 am. Sold out; waitlist available on the website.
“In our 50th anniversary season, we want to roll out a red carpet of welcome, ensuring that individuals and families have a barrier-free way to experience puppetry,” said Veronica Barron, Executive Artistic Director.
Puppet Showplace has long offered $3 “Card to Culture” tickets to anyone who carries a WIC, EBT, MassHealth, or ConnectorCare card, a discount program organized by the Mass Cultural Council and other state agencies to support health and well-being through cultural participation. Puppet Showplace saw 81% growth in the Card to Culture
program last year.
In honor of the 50th anniversary year, Puppet Showplace is also starting a year-round Pay-What-You-Can program, which offers reduced price
tickets for as little as $6 per person, while some audience members choose to pay more to offset the cost for others.
“In our 50th anniversary season, we’ll be offering at least one Pay-What-You-Can performance each month, and audiences can self-select
the price that feels within reach for them,” says Barron. “Families are facing many challenges right now — the cost of food, housing, childcare, and everything else is very high, and yet live theater offers important opportunities for fun, connection, and social-emotional learning that many young children have missed out on in recent years, so all families must have access.”
Dr. Susan Linn, a child psychologist and ventriloquist with a long artistic relationship with Puppet Showplace, adds, “There are increasingly fewer opportunities for children to be able to use their imagination, and what I think is so important about the Puppet Showplace
is that it’s affordable, that it’s intimate, and that it’s live theater. This is just so unusual and so essential for children.” Dr. Linn was the founding director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a research associate at Boston Children’s Hospital, and a lecturer on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
The inaugural performance for this program will be The Legend of the Banana Kid by Frogtown Puppeteers on September 28. The full list of Pay-What-You-Can performances is available. Puppet Showplace’s Affordable Access programs, which also include free and reduced-price field trips for schools, are supported by the Brookline Community Foundation, the Hamilton Foundation, the Town of Brookline Small Business Resilience Grant program, Virginia And Harvey Kimmel Family Foundation, and donations from audience members.
