Our artists taught mask and puppet making workshops, participated in Literacy and STEM events and engaged students in the art of Puppetry in the Twin Cities area. Saint Paul Academy, Harambe Elementary, Jeremiah Program, HedFex Home School, Cosmos Montessori, St. Anthony Park Library, Children Lutheran Service Society, Sheridan Elementary, FAIR School at Pilgrim Lane, Our Village School, Edina Library, Families Together Preschool, Arcadia Charter School, Ella Baker Elementary, St. Joan of Arc and St. David’s Center hosted our artists this year.

We continued partnering with Midtown Global Market to offer free puppet making workshops to the wider community. Artists Ifrah Mansour, Lys Akerman-Frank, Gustavo Boada, Chelly Beaver, Spencer Arevalo, Jake Quatt, Stayci Bell, Lena Manefee-Cook, Kate Foley, Orren Fen and Maggie Chestovich engaged our participants in workshops on such topics as making marionettes out of kitchen recyclables, making crankies, creating alebrijes and birds of Hope. We also made cup puppets, created masks, and will finish out the year with dancing fish puppets!

HOBT co-produced a world premiere of Phantom Loss with a local puppeteer Oanh Vu, which performed to full houses in March and April. Phantom Loss is a tragicomedy puppet show that weaves Vietnamese mythology and American pop culture to explore the impact of criminalized immigration & intergenerational trauma. Thuy's life is upended when her mother, Hai, moves them to a small town to run a nail salon. Thuy feels out of place and alone in her new home and even worse it's haunted! Luckily, she discovers that the lingering spirit is a playful ghost named Chicken. Thuy and Chicken become fast friends, but their time is cut short when Chicken reveals a dark secret, which leads them to becoming contestants on a wacky game show in the underworld. The game show quickly devolves and the fun stops when Chicken's mysterious past comes to light.

Company Info:

Written & Created by Oanh Vu, Director: Kurt Hunter, Puppeteers: Sofia Padilla, Tri Vo, Oanh Vu, & Andrew Young, Tabletop Puppet Fabricators: Oanh Vu, & Andrew Young. Shadow Puppet Fabricators: Leyen Trang & Andrew Young. Set Designers Steve Ackerman & Orren Fen. Costume Designer Karly Gesine Bergmann. Stage Manager & Lighting Designer: Heidi Eckwall. Music Composer Charlie McCarron. Sound Designer Mike Hallenbeck. Translation & Cultural Consultant Denise Hanh Huynh. This show was originally produced by In the Heart of the Beast Theatre and generously supported with funding from patron Chris Hoppe.

HOBT artists also engaged with audiences at several community events hosted by Franconia Sculpture Garden, MIA, Luminary Loppet, the Walker Art Center, and once again, partnered with MN Orchestra!

Winter 2024 Puppet Building Workshops at the Global Market were a great success! Thank you to all who joined us for the BEAST puppet building workshops at the Global Market! More than 150 participants ages 2-80+ engaged in creating a BEAST puppet and then participating in a parade at the AVALON. Artists Felicia Cooper, Stayci Bell, Jake Quatt, Fletcher Wolfe, Lu Calvo-Searle and Ifra Mansour taught the participants how to create a large puppet during five public workshops.

Mask Making workshops: artists Lys Akerman-Frank, Chelly Beave and Orren Fen led a 3-session mask sculpting and Paper Mache workshops in November, 2024.

In December, we gathered for five lantern making workshops, which neighbors later used for our Winter Solstice lantern procession. Artists Tara Fahey, Angie Courchaine, Chelly Beaver, Orren Fen and Lys Akerman-Frank taught these workshops and led the lantern parade.

Many of our workshops were made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Our lantern making workshops were funded by the Arts & Cultural Affairs Department in the City of Minneapolis.