New York State
Puppet Festival: June 18-28 2026
tickets are live!
Psst…want to see it all? Save $ with an all fest pass
NYSPF Presents - PUPPETS ON FILM at The Little
New York State Puppet Festival "Puppets on Film" Short Film Program, curated by Pilar McKay, adds to our live puppetry program by highlighting short films from puppeteers worldwide and in the United States.
Films chosen for the first short film program ever at the festival challenge the conventional wisdom of what puppeteering on film can be. Prepare to see emerging puppetry and traditional techniques used to tell immersive and engaging stories. Films have been featured in international film festivals, and NYSPF is pleased to be bringing them to WNY!
Arts Council for Wyoming County Gallery Show - MANUAL CINEMA
Manual Cinema is an Emmy Award winning performance collective, design studio, and film/video production company founded in 2010 by Drew Dir, Sarah Fornace, Ben Kauffman, Julia Miller, and Kyle Vegter. Manual Cinema combines handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to create immersive stories for stage and screen.
This exhibition explores the company’s history, techniques, and unique storytelling magic. Not to be missed!
Silver Lake Brewing Project - TAP TALK feat. Josh Rice
Sip some brews and talk some art with NYSPF founder and puppet artist Josh Rice!
NYSPF Presents - PUPPETS ON FILM in Wellsville, NY
New York State Puppet Festival "Puppets on Film" Short Film Program, curated by Pilar McKay, adds to our live puppetry program by highlighting short films from puppeteers worldwide and in the United States.
Films chosen for the first short film program ever at the festival challenge the conventional wisdom of what puppeteering on film can be. Prepare to see emerging puppetry and traditional techniques used to tell immersive and engaging stories. Films have been featured in international film festivals, and NYSPF is pleased to be bringing them to WNY!
Josh Rice Projects - KAYFABE
KAYFABE is a puppet wrestling entertainment spectacular written, directed, and designed by Josh Rice, presented by the New York State Puppet Festival.
Table-top puppetry meets pro wrestling meets a rock show! High art meets low art meets Samuel Beckett! This frenetic frenzy of puppet wrestling action is an absurdist meta-fictional love letter to professional wrestling and puppetry.
*This performance will take place at Theater at Innovation Square, Rochester, NY
NYSPF Presents - PUPPET SLAM!
An amuse bouche of puppetry! A variety of brand new, bite-sized works of puppet theatre!
The New York State Puppet Festival Puppet Slam is an evening of six, brand-new, short (10-minutes or less) works of puppet theatre! Come see a variety of styles of puppetry from local and national puppet artists!
Official Puppet Business - LATE NIGHT PUPPET TALK SHOW WITH SPECIAL GUEST
A 100% improvised 100% live puppet talk show. It's gonna get weird
They're baaaaaaaack! From deep in the armpit of the internet to a theater near you, the Late Night Puppet Talk Show With Special Guest is an hour-long, interactive puppet catastrophe for adults, created by Official Puppet Business.
Tom Lee - EDEN
Performed and designed by TOM LEE
Original character art by SOLVEJ LEE
Based on the novel by STANISLAW LEM
When a spaceship crash lands on an alien planet, they discover an impenetrable society with a terrifying secret. Based on the novel by Polish science fiction master Stanislaw Lem. A solo performance event using shadow screens, moving panoramas, stop motion animation and miniature worlds.
Pilar McKay and Sarah Keeler - EMPIRE IN REVIEW
Beautiful musings on the big apple, accompanied by puppetry!
Silver Lake Brewing Project - TAP TALK feat. Sachiyo Takahashi and Ash Winkfield
Sip some brews and talk some art with NYSPF artists Sachiyo Takahasi (Shinnai Meets Puppetry) and Ash Winkfield (Water Walker)!
NYSPF Presents - PUPPETS ON FILM at the Arts Council for Wyoming County
New York State Puppet Festival "Puppets on Film" Short Film Program, curated by Pilar McKay, adds to our live puppetry program by highlighting short films from puppeteers worldwide and in the United States.
Films chosen for the first short film program ever at the festival challenge the conventional wisdom of what puppeteering on film can be. Prepare to see emerging puppetry and traditional techniques used to tell immersive and engaging stories. Films have been featured in international film festivals, and NYSPF is pleased to be bringing them to WNY!
Ash Winkfield - WATER WALKER
WATER WALKER is inspired by the historical events of the Igbo Landing of 1803, following the journey of one man as he tries to make his way home after being stolen from the shores of Africa.
Water Walker is an exploration of agency utilizing object movement, table top, and shadow puppetry in collaboration with innovative set design and original music to transport the audience along the emotional journey of forced captivity. Created & directed by Ash Winkfield.
Nekaa Lab - SHINNAI MEETS PUPPETRY:
ONE NIGHT IN WINTER & THE PEONY LANTERN
Based on the original shinnai-bushi song-stories by Okamoto Bunya (1895 - 1996)
NYC-based artist Sachiyo Takahashi/Nekaa Lab fuses shinnai-bushi—a traditional form of Japanese sung storytelling—with contemporary puppetry in an intercultural collaboration. Performing under her authorized stage name Okamoto Miya, she brings this music to life, while her collaborators, NYC-based puppeteers Rowan Magee and Emma Wiseman, animate the stories with original puppets and innovative puppetry techniques.
NYSPF Presents - CLOSING NIGHT PARTY feat. The Whale
The closing celebration of the NYS Puppet Festival featuring The Whale, a 65-foot inflatable whale by Billie Grace Lynn & Esther Baker.
NYSPF teams up with SUNY Geneseo and artists Billie Grace Lynn and Esther Baker to present THE WHALE, a large-scale 65 feet long, 20 feet wide, 12 feet high, inflatable whale that is part puppet, part kinetic sculpture, part music installation.