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Puppetry NOW featuring Tom Lee

World Premiere

By Tom Lee of Chicago, IL & New York City, NY
with

Mirrored Pool is a visionary collaboration between acclaimed puppeteer Tom Lee and celebrated musicians Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall, co-founders of the Grammy Award–winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird. This immersive performance invites audiences to reflect on humanity’s place in the cosmos, blending Eighth Blackbird’s renowned musical virtuosity with the evocative storytelling power of puppetry. Inspired by the legacy of astronomer Carl Sagan and the Voyager spacecraft carrying the Golden Record, now traveling more than 15.7 billion miles from Earth.

Mirrored Pool offers a breathtaking journey through wonder, curiosity, and our enduring connection to the universe.

As part of the Puppetry NOW program, Tom Lee has curated “Child of Wood” on view in the Dean DuBose Smith Special Exhibition Gallery from February 12-May 17, 2026.

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Performance, Worlds of Puppetry Museum, and free onsite parking.

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About the Performers

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Director | Designer | Puppet Artist
Tom Lee
Tom Lee is a director, designer, and puppet artist, born in Korea and raised in Hawai’i. He began his career at La MaMa in New York and later worked with St. Ann’s Warehouse Puppet Lab. His work blends figures, film, and animation, creating original puppet theater while also performing and designing through Chicago Puppet Studio. Notable credits include Sounding the Resonant Path, Shank’s Mare, Akutagawa, and The Great Zodiac Animal Race, as well as performances in War Horse (Tony Award), Madama Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera, and Petrushka with the New York Philharmonic. His design work spans theater, opera, dance, and film. He has taught at Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Chicago, and Lincoln Center Theater and co-founded the Chicago Puppet Lab in 2021.
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Musicians | Performers
Eighth Blackbird
Lisa Kaplan and Matthew Duvall began making music together in 1992, driven by a compatible fascination with rigorous challenges and unexpected outcomes. Together with their ensemble mates, they created Eighth Blackbird, a four-time Grammy Award-winning chamber music sextet. Eighth Blackbird has since expanded to encompass other mission-driven initiatives: The Blackbird Creative Lab, The Chicago Artists Workshop, Blackbird Productions, and Artists-in-Residence with the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture. Additional accolades include: The MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, The Concert Artists Guild Competition Grand Prize, The Musical America Ensemble of the Year, and The APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards Performance of the Year. In addition to being the pianist and percussionist of Eighth Blackbird, Lisa and Matthew operate as Artistic co-Directors. Eighth Blackbird moves music forward through innovative performance, advocacy for music by living composers, and creating a legacy of guiding an emerging generation of musicians. Eighth Blackbird organizational initiatives have expanded. For more, please visit eighthblackbird.org.

Tom Lee Performances & Workshops

Events and Workshops:

Intro to Traditional Japanese Puppetry Techniques

February 10
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Events and Workshops:

Intro to Traditional Japanese Puppetry Techniques

Puppetry NOW Artist Tom Lee introduces the Japanese sanninzukkai (three-person puppetry) style, most widely known as B… Includes: Workshop

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Events and Workshops:

Puppetry NOW featuring Tom Lee Exhibition Opening

February 12, 2026
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Puppetry NOW featuring Tom Lee Exhibition Opening

Join us for the opening of the 5th installment of Puppetry NOW, featuring an exhibition opening and an artist talk wi… Includes: Tickets include access to all exhibitions and free on-site parking.

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Special Exhibitions:

Puppetry Now Featuring Tom Lee Special Exhibition

February 12-May 17, 2026
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Special Exhibitions:

Puppetry Now Featuring Tom Lee Special Exhibition

By Tom Lee Discover “Child of Wood”, a special exhibition celebrating two decades of puppeteer Tom Lee’s… Includes: Worlds of Puppetry Museum, Special Exhibition, and Free Onsite Parking

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Events and Workshops:

Devising Puppetry: Strategies and Process in Making Puppet Shows

March 17
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Devising Puppetry: Strategies and Process in Making Puppet Shows

Tom Lee offers an inside look at his creative process through images, sketches, and video, exploring how he develops o…

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Puppetry NOW turns the Center for Puppetry Arts’ focus to the art of our time and artists with limited representation in our historical collections.

Through an annual solo exhibition, performance, and collecting efforts, the initiative provides space and support to puppeteers and artists of color, while increasing the organization’s connection to the current state of puppetry.

Past Puppetry NOW artists include: Tarish “Jeghetto” Pipkins (2022), Poncili Creación (2023), Nehprii Amenii (2024), Raymond Carr (2025).