Festive Features

Come See Your Favorite Holiday Puppets!

Get in the holiday spirit with a visit to this festive hall of puppets. This year’s new additions bring lesser-known stories and artists to the forefront and highlight traditions from both Jewish and Christian holidays. Festive Features showcases a curated collection of puppets from holiday productions on the stage and screen. The fan-favorite pieces include a pair of original Santa and Rudolph stop-motion puppets from the 1964 Rankin Bass television special of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, alongside new additions like the whimsical puppets from The Famous Chelm Players, which celebrate Jewish traditions like Hanukkah. New York-based puppeteer Robert Rogers created The Famous Chelm Players based on the famous Eastern European folk characters of the Wise Men of Chelm to animate the stories of Jewish holidays.

Festive Features will also include Jane Henson’s masterful Nativity Story, a large-scale Christmas crèche envisioned as a puppet show by Jane Henson, co-founder of The Jim Henson Company and wife of Jim Henson. Few of Jane Henson’s works are on display in museums or public collections, giving the Center’s exhibit a unique opportunity to share her love of puppetry.

Puppetry has been used for centuries in regions and cultures across the world, carrying religious stories, translating religion and lessons to the public, and passing folk traditions from generation to generation. There is no better setting to feel the unity, joy, and shared humanity of the holiday season than a trip to the Center for Puppetry Arts.