CHICAGOLAND PUPPETRY GUILD
CPG Performers
Creventive Puppet Co.
Creventive Puppet Company is a Chicago based theatre company that creates and performs original, family friendly shows throughout the area. In addition to imaginative storytelling and top-notch entertainment, Creventive Puppet Company also specializes in puppet construction. Offering educational building, manipulation and performance workshops for children, novices and professional puppeteers alike.
Not the handiest puppeteer? Not a problem! Creventive Puppet Company also works with individual clients, providing one-of-a-kind creations. These custom designed and crafted puppets are carefully constructed with your needs and dreams in mind.
Want to learn more about our services, host a workshop or book a show? Head over to our frequently asked questions page or contact us to start your puppet adventure today!
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Creventive Puppet Company
312-600-3568
1650 Clay Court Melrose Park, IL 60160
email: connorasher@creventive.com
Damen Avenue Puppeteers
Chicago area puppeteers with over 20 years of experience. Offering live puppet shows and entertainment for children especially ages 3- 5 years old. We travel to your location and set up a portable stage for private parties, birthday parties, festivals, library programs or general audience shows.
Puppet shows are a fun and engaging event that becomes a lasting memory for a young child. It's a sharing experience for the whole family. We offer a wide ranges of shows including storybook and holiday programs for both indoor and outdoor live performances.
Three ten-minute fairytales of your choice! We bring small animal puppets in front of the stage between each act for a up close and personal audience experience.
Call 847-259-5167
Dave Herzog's Marionettes
Dave Herzog’s Marionettes is a full time professional puppet company specializing in the art of the marionette, and dedicated to preserving the uniquely American art form of the marionette variety show. Not only does Dave perform some 375 shows a year , he also creates all of the beautiful hand carved marionettes used in his dazzling performances. Chicago puppetry, and his work is scaled to cover everything from small home parties to major public spaces, such as his ongoing shows at Navy Pier.
Dave Herzog's Marionettes
920 W. Carmen #1
Chicago, Illinois 60640
Phone 773.878.7819
FAX: 773.878.7805
email DHpuppet@aol.com
http://www.herzogmarionettes.com/
DePriest Puppets
DePriest Puppets specializes in quality family and children’s theatre. Through the ancient art of puppetry, they take your audience on an unforgettable adventure of wonder and magic - a complete theatrical experience. Through excellent staging and presentation, any setting - formal or informal - can be complemented by this company. Ollie & Bridget DePriest, and their daughter Rose, are a high-energy puppet troupe that will touch your hearts and lift your spirits!
DePriest Puppets
2333 Lowell Avenue
Springfield, Illinois 62704
(217) 789-1219
http://DPPuppets@cs.com
Jean Kuecher, Marionette Playhouse
Jean Kuecher, master puppeteer and producer of the Marionette Playhouse, delights audiences with performances of fairy tales from the U.S.A., France, Germany and Arabia. Hand puppet and black light puppetry shows about friendship and science empower students with life skills. Puppetry workshops allow children to handcraft their puppets and bring them to life in their own original story. Jean worked with George and Lucille Cole of the Cole Marionettes from Indiana. While living in Indonesia, she studied Wayang Golek (wooden) puppetry with a master Javanese Dalang. She also presented science puppet shows during three tours to Saudi Arabia. With a Masters degree in Education: Counseling and Guidance from the University of Houston, Texas. As a school counselor, she wrote and directed weeky marionette shows on self-awareness themes performed for and about students. Jean holds a Bachelors’ degree in Elementary Education from Western Illinois University. As a teacher, she used puppetry to enrich her classroom curriculum. She is also the director of the annual Houston Puppet festival.
Invite Jean to your school, library, community event, church and birthday party
281-799-1398
Nitsana Lazerus - The Puppet Lady
Nitsana is a storyteller and puppeteer who has performed and given workshops throughout the United States and Israel. She and her puppets are fluent in English and Hebrew and also speak some Spanish. Most of Nitsana's shows and workshops are interactive and can be geared to children of all ages and to adults. She is an expert performer with toddlers and pre-schools children. Her creative improvisational skills create a unique experience for the audiences and myself alike. The skits, stories and song are mostly original.
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281-451-8645 - cell
Ellen Lustig, Caricature Puppets
Hire Ellen Lustig, Chicago, Illinois to create a Custom Puppet. These Custom Puppets are Look Alike Caricature Hand Puppets. Puppets can be custom made from a photo of you, your favorite person, or a celebrity.
You can Order Puppets for the most unique, humorous, and personalized gift. The ultimate gift for the person who has everything. Go to the Puppet Store to buy a Puppeture puppet today!
Caricature Puppets for Children brings out their imagination. Caricature Puppets for Adults are a fanciful form of fun and flattery, a unique three dimensional sculptural caricature that will be treasured for years.
Great for Weddings, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Sweet 16's and maybe a dozen other things we haven't thought of yet?
Ellen Lustig Art Studios
817 W. Washington #404
Chicago, IL 60607
312-491-1494
The Melikin Puppets
Mel, LaVerne and sons Neal and Jeff Biske, known as the Melikins, live just outside Chicago in Bolingbrook, Illinois. They have toured the country from coast to coast and border to border. Mel has been "puppeting" since his Cub Scout days. The interest grew into a profession when in 1967, Mel and LaVerne formed the Melikin Puppet Theatre.
Since then they have been presenting educational and entertaining programs for schools, children's theatres, and libraries. In addition, they provide a wide variety of programs for local groups, organizations and Cub Scout Blue and Gold dinners and Girl Scout dinners.
The Melikin Puppets
LaVerne Biske - Company Manager
169 Woodlet Lane
Bolingbrook, IL 60490-4545
630-378-9303
Jeannie McQueenie
Jeannie McQueenie Productions presents educational outreach programs geared toward heightening the enjoyment of reading for children ages 2 to 11. We take familiar stories and adapt them to the stage with our original music and puppets. We also present a series of original educational shows.
For children’s parties, our casts of puppet characters come to your event and lead your guests in a theme party.
773-220-6693
http://www.jeanniemcqueenie.com/jeannie-mcqueenie-productions/
Some fun YouTube videos of our shows:
Roberts Marionettes
The literature-based, multicultural productions of Roberts Marionettes feature a unique art form that encourages self-expression, captures the imagination, and teaches timeless lessons. Linda also directs and consults on local productions in both theater and puppetry.
38 Godair Circle
Burr Ridge, IL 60527-8102
630-323-7493
Sea Beast Puppetry
The mission of Sea Beast Puppetry is to promote the art of puppetry to audiences of all ages. We create productions that are written for a family audience, which to us means appropriate for children but also clever and entertaining to adults.
We also build our shows to tour, which means they are great for school assemblies, library performances or community events.
Principals Kat Pleviak, Mary Kate Rix and Tom Pleviak work with a roster of talented puppeteers to create often zany and unstoppable shows, which delight adults and kids alike.
Shadow puppetry, rod puppets, and combinations of materials never yet see on Planet Earth continue to surprise, and themes from traditional tales "Hans My Hedgehog (Brothers Grimm) to the utterly original "Surf and Turf" keep us all guessing.!
Sea Beast is active in the nationwide puppetry community, often participating in workshops and performances for professional puppeteers.
Kat Pleviak, Artistic Director
308 Greenfield Ave.,
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
(630) 790-1337
seabeastpuppetry@gmail.com
www.seabeastpuppetry.com
and on Facebook
Von Orthal Puppets
Our stories integrate original music and varied puppetry techniques to bring this ancient and magical art form to life. Von Orthal Puppets have been captivating audiences here and abroad for over 15 years, combing traditional Japanese, European, and American puppetry techniques in a unique style that blends imagination, music, and expressively alive characters in work as varied as Aesop to Creation Myths.
Cynthia Von Orthal is one of Chicago's principal teachers of puppetry arts for both adults and children, beginners and experienced performers alike.
600 Hartrey
Evanston, IL 60201
773-814-8181
For more, visit her blog and gallery of shows at