Activities for Kids

Give Them a Hand: NYC’s Best Puppet Shows

It's not your imagination: these things are everywhere lately. Here's where to catch the best ones in town!

By Rachel Sokol September 25, 2017

If you haven’t noticed, puppets are kind of a big deal right now. From a permanent exhibit celebrating one of the masters of the form, to tons of new productions, and perennial favorites, NYC is a real puppet town this season. No matter your child’s age or puppet preferences — colorful and fuzzy, classic marionettes, funky and fun — there’s a place to catch a high quality show. Click through to see some of NYC’s top spots for puppets!

For Puppets Both Shadow and 3D: The Shadow Box Theatre

The Shadow Box Theatre is an award-winning non-profit repertory company dedicated to providing relevant, top-quality children's entertainment, theatre arts workshops, children’s books and DVDs. Their specialty is shadow puppetry, but 3D puppets are also used in many productions. The actors and puppeteers perform for school groups and the public, primarily on weekday mornings. Performances are designed for kids as young as nursery/pre-K to those in 5th grade. The company performs at its resident theatre, which is located inside P.S. 3K/The Bedford Village School, in Brooklyn. Two large cast shows, The African Drum and The Earth & Me are also performed throughout Manhattan and the boroughs. Expect lots of singing, dancing, and happy kids at these shows. Although the performers are quite talented, the real star of the show is the company’s signature puppet See-More, who appears in every mainstage production.

The Shadow Box Theatre
The Bedford Village School (Theatre location)
50 Jefferson Ave.
Bedford Stuyvesant
212-724-0677
Online: shadowboxtheatre.org