{"id":219,"date":"2015-03-16T18:16:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T18:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/?page_id=219"},"modified":"2026-04-13T08:43:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:43:03","slug":"the-festival","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/?page_id=219","title":{"rendered":"The Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Festival<\/h1>\n

The 2026 edition of Puppets in the Green Mountains gathers artists who question what it means to be alive in a fractured world. Their works span continents and traditions: from Indian epics reimagined through contemporary media, to Scandinavian gnomes tending to human families through the winter; from tricksters rebelling against tyranny, to an octopus deciding whether humanity deserves a second chance. Handpuppets, Shadow Puppets, Rod Puppets, Direct Manipulation Puppets, VR Puppets, Larger than Life Puppets, even a special Traditional Japanese puppet blessing.<\/p>\n

Through myth, comedy, and innovation, these artists explore transformation, resilience, and the act of belief itself. The puppet\u2014an object that becomes human when we agree to believe\u2014embodies the festival\u2019s central paradox: how do we find life in what seems lifeless? How do we rediscover empathy, imagination, and connection in an age of extinction, distraction, and digital isolation? Puppets in the Green Mountains 2026 is a festival about connecting with our humanity\u2014through the hands of artists who remind us that empathy, imagination, and play are the most enduring forces of all.<\/p>\n

International artists include Anurupa Roy (India) with About Ram, a multimedia performance revisiting the Ramayana to explore moral courage, relational responsibility, and transformation; Sofie Kr\u00f8g (Denmark) with The House, a mechanically inventive and darkly comic thriller that reflects on inheritance, secrecy, and the social conditions shaping human behavior; and Fidena Festival (Germany) with Puppetry 4.0: Museum Without Walls, a VR exhibition of Fritz Wortelmann\u2019s historic puppet collection, in which visitors navigate five animated worlds guided by a digital Fritz Wortelmann, reflecting on human creativity, cultural memory, and the interplay between technology and presence.<\/p>\n

Domestic artists include <\/span>Nehprii Amenii (NY)<\/b> with <\/span>HUMAN<\/span><\/i>, a narrative in which an octopus considers whether humanity can be recreated after extinction, raising questions of empathy, care, and relational ethics; <\/span>Loco7 Dance Puppet Theater Company (NY)<\/b> bring <\/span>Lunch with Sonia<\/span><\/i>, a moving and joyful tribute to life and dying with dignity; <\/span>Jana Zeller (VT)<\/b> with <\/span>Puppet Crimes<\/span><\/i>, a humorous journey through 400 years of rebellion and survival; <\/span>Hobey Ford (NC)<\/b> with <\/span>Animalia<\/span><\/i>, a sculptural exploration of metamorphosis, ecology, and interdependence; and <\/span>Tom Lee (IL\/HI)<\/b> with <\/span>Tomte<\/span><\/i>, a luminous story of a Nordic gnome nurturing a family through the long winter, emphasizing care, patience, and continuity.<\/span><\/p>\n

A core component of the festival is a three-part public conversation series titled <\/span>Access Through the Arts<\/span><\/i>, in which artists, audiences, and community leaders engage in dialogue across literature, local traditions and histories, and social change to explore the animacy of more-than-human worlds and our relationships to environment and care; approaches to endings, grief, and transition in a time of ecological and cultural upheaval; and puppetry as a form of resistance, satire, and social reflection, illuminating how creative practice navigates the tension between endings and beginnings. Through these conversations, the festival highlights how puppetry fosters connection, reflection, and the imaginative re-envisioning of collective futures.<\/span><\/p>\n

The festival invites audiences to experience transformation, cultivating capacities that feel increasingly fragile in contemporary life: empathy, attention, relationality, and care. Puppetry\u2019s liminal qualities\u2014its oscillation between life and inanimacy\u2014allow viewers to encounter vulnerability, humor, and wonder in ways that other forms cannot.<\/p>\n

Puppets in the Green Mountains 2026 is a labor of love, combining artistic innovation, scholarly reflection, and community engagement. By the festival\u2019s conclusion, audiences will have journeyed through stories, landscapes, and imaginative worlds that encourage reflection on personal and collective human potential. In doing so, the festival fulfills its central mission: to reawaken what it means to be human in a complex, rapidly changing world, reminding us that art, care, and imagination remain essential pathways to our shared humanity.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s festival also offers an array of educational opportunities through a special day of artist workshops in partnership with the Northeast and Midatlantic Chapters of the Puppeteers of America. Participants will explore<\/p>\n

The Brattleboro area also offers unique shops of local crafts, thrift shops, bookstores (new and used), craft breweries, and every kind of outdoor gear! Southern Vermont is also home to many crafts people: potters, woodworkers, weavers, glassblowers, and more. If you come in September, it will be apple season, and local orchards offer exceptional pies and apple cider donuts.<\/p>\n

All venues<\/span> in the Puppets in the Green Mountains festival are wheelchair-accessible. Assistance can be provided for priority seating and parking. <\/span>Two of the performances<\/span> will be offered with ASL interpretation. <\/span>Sandglass welcomes people of all abilities, and strives to provide programming that is inclusive and accessible to all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival is made possible with the generous support of Sandglass Theater\u2019s funders, sponsors, board members, and volunteers. <\/p>\n

Funding for the upcoming festival<\/b> is provided in part by Oak Meadow, Landmark College, M&T Bank, C & S Wholesale Grocers, Jim Henson Foundation, Goethe Institute, Danish Art Foundation, Mascoma Bank, Sages Pub, 118 Elliot, Latchis Theater, and Hilltop Montessori School.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Festival The 2026 edition of Puppets in the Green Mountains gathers artists who question what it means to be alive in a fractured world. Their works span continents and traditions: from Indian epics reimagined through contemporary media, to Scandinavian gnomes tending to human families through the winter; from tricksters rebelling against tyranny, to an octopus deciding whether humanity deserves a second chance. Handpuppets, Shadow Puppets, Rod Puppets, Direct Manipulation Puppets, VR Puppets, Larger than Life Puppets, even a special Traditional Japanese puppet blessing. Through myth, comedy, and innovation, these artists explore transformation, resilience, and the act of belief itself. The puppet\u2014an object that becomes human when we agree to believe\u2014embodies the festival\u2019s central paradox: how do we find life in what seems lifeless? How do we rediscover empathy, imagination, and connection in an age of extinction, distraction, and digital isolation? Puppets in the Green Mountains 2026 is a festival about connecting with our humanity\u2014through the hands of artists who remind us that empathy, imagination, and play are the most enduring forces of all. International artists include Anurupa Roy (India) with About Ram, a multimedia performance revisiting the Ramayana to explore moral courage, relational responsibility, and transformation; Sofie Kr\u00f8g (Denmark) with The House, a mechanically inventive and darkly comic thriller that reflects on inheritance, secrecy, and the social conditions shaping human behavior; and Fidena Festival (Germany) with Puppetry 4.0: Museum Without Walls, a VR exhibition of Fritz Wortelmann\u2019s historic puppet collection, in which visitors navigate five animated worlds guided by a digital Fritz Wortelmann, reflecting on human creativity, cultural memory, and the interplay between technology and presence. Domestic artists include Nehprii Amenii (NY) with HUMAN, a narrative in which an octopus considers whether humanity can be recreated after extinction, raising questions of empathy, care, and relational ethics; Loco7 Dance Puppet Theater Company (NY) bring Lunch with Sonia, a moving and joyful tribute to life and dying with dignity; Jana Zeller (VT) with Puppet Crimes, a humorous journey through 400 years of rebellion and survival; Hobey Ford (NC) with Animalia, a sculptural exploration of metamorphosis, ecology, and interdependence; and Tom Lee (IL\/HI) with Tomte, a luminous story of a Nordic gnome nurturing a family through the long winter, emphasizing care, patience, and continuity. A core component of the festival is a three-part public conversation series titled Access Through the Arts, in which artists, audiences, and community leaders engage in dialogue across literature, local traditions and histories, and social change to explore the animacy of more-than-human worlds and our relationships to environment and care; approaches to endings, grief, and transition in a time of ecological and cultural upheaval; and puppetry as a form of resistance, satire, and social reflection, illuminating how creative practice navigates the tension between endings and beginnings. Through these conversations, the festival highlights how puppetry fosters connection, reflection, and the imaginative re-envisioning of collective futures. The festival invites audiences to experience transformation, cultivating capacities that feel increasingly fragile in contemporary life: empathy, attention, relationality, and care. Puppetry\u2019s liminal qualities\u2014its oscillation between life and inanimacy\u2014allow viewers to encounter vulnerability, humor, and wonder in ways that other forms cannot. Puppets in the Green Mountains 2026 is a labor of love, combining artistic innovation, scholarly reflection, and community engagement. By the festival\u2019s conclusion, audiences will have journeyed through stories, landscapes, and imaginative worlds that encourage reflection on personal and collective human potential. In doing so, the festival fulfills its central mission: to reawaken what it means to be human in a complex, rapidly changing world, reminding us that art, care, and imagination remain essential pathways to our shared humanity. This year\u2019s festival also offers an array of educational opportunities through a special day of artist workshops in partnership with the Northeast and Midatlantic Chapters of the Puppeteers of America. Participants will explore The Brattleboro area also offers unique shops of local crafts, thrift shops, bookstores (new and used), craft breweries, and every kind of outdoor gear! Southern Vermont is also home to many crafts people: potters, woodworkers, weavers, glassblowers, and more. If you come in September, it will be apple season, and local orchards offer exceptional pies and apple cider donuts. All venues in the Puppets in the Green Mountains festival are wheelchair-accessible. Assistance can be provided for priority seating and parking. Two of the performances will be offered with ASL interpretation. Sandglass welcomes people of all abilities, and strives to provide programming that is inclusive and accessible to all. Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival is made possible with the generous support of Sandglass Theater\u2019s funders, sponsors, board members, and volunteers. Funding for the upcoming festival is provided in part by Oak Meadow, Landmark College, M&T Bank, C & S Wholesale Grocers, Jim Henson Foundation, Goethe Institute, Danish Art Foundation, Mascoma Bank, Sages Pub, 118 Elliot, Latchis Theater, and Hilltop Montessori School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-219","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6024,"href":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219\/revisions\/6024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/puppetsinthegreenmountains.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}