Philadelphia's Puppet Uprising presents performances by puppeteers from all over the world. Some are full-length theatrical works that utilize puppets, other events are cabarets of several short puppet shows. Most Puppet Uprising shows are sliding-scale admission and are accompanied by a Cheap Art Bazaar where puppeteers and local artists sell works of art for under $10.

Below is a year-by-year history of how Puppet Uprising came to be and what we've done. We are currently cataloguing synopses of our past shows with poster images, photos, reviews and links. So far we've catalogued all the shows for three years of our archive: 2000, 2007, and 2008. Click on one of the year buttons at the top of this page or scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on a link for a run-down on one of our recent events, or click here to see our most recent event.

2000: Puppet Uprising began when several puppeteers living in West Philadelphia started up a bi-monthly cabaret at the Community Education Center (CEC) Meetinghouse Theater. The first cabarets ran for either one or two nights and were made up of 5 to 7 short puppet shows by local and touring puppeteers including Dramaton Theater, Vermont's Insurrection Landscapers, and North Carolina's Paperhand Puppet Intervention. Our first Cheap Art Bazaar unfurled its clotheslines at the December show.
• Puppet Uprising #1 - June 2000, CEC
• Puppet Uprising #2 - August 2000, CEC
• Puppet Uprising #3 - October 2000, CEC
• Puppet Uprising #4 - December 2000, CEC

2001: Puppet Uprising hosted events at spaces around Philadelphia, with some full-length shows by touring companies from Vermont and Chicago. The September Cabaret was part of the Philly Fringe Festival. Xander Marro, Ben Matchstick and the Bikes Across Borders Cycle Circus made their debut appearances at our events.
• Trash Dragons and the System - February 2001, Space 1026
• Puppet Uprising #5 - March 2001, Killtime
• Puppet Uprising #6 - June 2001, CEC
• Faustina, Little Angel of the Sea - August 2001, Clark Park
• Puppet Uprising #7 - September 2001, Mum Puppettheatre
• Puppet Uprising #8 - November 2001, CEC

2002: Puppet Uprising moved its cabarets from a bimonthly to a quarterly schedule supplemented by other special events. We erected our own venue on the fringes the Fringe Festival with puppets splitting stage time with dancers, musicians and films. Roby Newton, Erin Rosenthal and Black Cherry Puppet Theater came to visit us for the first time.
• Degenerate Cardboard Cabaret - February 2002, Killtime
• Puppet Uprising #9 - March 2002, CEC
• Puppet Uprising #10 - June 2002, CEC
• $5 or Less - August 2002, Space 1026
• Puppet Uprising #11 - September 2002, Bumpin' Big Top
• Puppet Uprising #12 - December 2002, Calvary Church

2003: Puppet Uprising's most ambitious year to date with 10 months of events including 10 different hour-long programs of puppetry at the Fringe Festival. We brought Le Petit Théâtre de L'Absolu, Liberty Cabbage Theater, Clare Dolan, Erik Ruin, Great Small Works and The Bread & Puppet Theater to Philadelphia, and began to produce free shows at The Rotunda.
• Demolition Polka & La Commune - January 2003, The Rotunda
• Cookin' With Gas - March 2003, Calvary Church
• Puppet Uprising #13 - April 2003, The Rotunda
• Puppet Uprising #14 - June 2003, The Rotunda
• Flying Rutabaga Cycle Circus - July 2003, Clark Park
• Birdsongs of the Bauharoque - August 2003, Space 1026
• Puppet Uprising #15: full-length programs by Black Cherry Puppet Theater, Clare Dolan, Drama of Works, Great Small Works, Le Petit Théâtre de L'Absolu, Liberty Cabbage Theater, Our Poor Neighbors, Puppets Revenge, Up To No Good and a cabaret of local talent - September 2003, Bumpin' Big Top
• Bread & Puppet - October 2003, The Rotunda
• Bumpin' Benefit Bash - November 2003, The Rotunda
• Puppet Uprising #16 - December 2003, The Rotunda

2004: Puppet Uprising hosted its first open-call Puppet Slam and we began to make room for more live music, DJs and dance numbers between cabaret acts. Kelly Nesbitt, Yours Truly and Puppets Revenge were among some of the participants before we shut the doors on the quarterly cabarets with Puppet Uprising #20.
• Puppet Uprising #17 - March 2004, the Rotunda
• An Olive on the Seder Plate - April 2004, Painted Bride/Mishkan Shalom
• Puppet Uprising #18 - June 2004, The Rotunda
• Puppet Uprising #19 - August 2004, The Rotunda
• Puppet Uprising # 20 - December 2004, The Rotunda
• Kafka @ Kaffa - December 2004, Kaffa Crossing

2005: After a few months off, Puppet Uprising reopened shop with a semiannual cabaret schedule and continued to provide venues for full-length shows that packed The Rotunda to its peak for groups like the Urgent Insurgents, Stranger Theatre and the Stick & Rag Village Orchestra
• May Cabaret - May 2005, The Rotunda
• The Counterfeit Marquise - August 2005, The Rotunda
• Where Do Things Belong? - October 2005, The Rotunda
• 6th Annual Year-End Cabaret - December 2005, The Rotunda

2006: Puppet Uprising was among the few groups to hold events at the West Philadelphia Magic Cinema before its demolition, featuring the work of Tom Sarver, Eric Cupo and the Indicator Species.
• The Hardest Question Ever - July 2006, The Magic Cinema
• The Cooler Cabaret - August 2006, The Magic Cinema
• Alice & Frank - October 2006, The Rotunda
• 7th Annual Year-End Cabaret - December 2006, The Rotunda

2007: Last year Puppet Uprising presented puppeteers from Italy and Japan, two full-length plays by The Misooula Oblongata, a shadow theater rock opera by Erik Ruin and Reid Books, plus the five-company production of William Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST! Click on the event titles to delve deeper into our archive of past events:
• Going Nowhere and The Wonders of the World: Recite - January 2007, The Rotunda
• The Spring Thing Cabaret - March 2007, The Rotunda
• The Tempest - May 2007, (secret location!)
• The Most Myterious Day of the Year - June 2007, The Rotunda
• Our Eyes Need Art - July 2007, The A-Space
• Puppets, Films & Puppet-Films - September 2007, Vox Populi
• The Nothing Factory - September 2007, The Rotunda
• The Barnstormers - November 2007, Bartram's Garden
• 8th Annual Year-End Cabaret - December 2007, The Rotunda

2008: This year Puppet Uprising has thus far featured the Obie Award-winning theater collective Great Small Works and a new big show by Ramshackle Enterprises, plus our first forays into performances in Kensington/Fishtown and the ICA. Stay tuned for an upcoming performances by Erik Ruin, the Missoula Oblongata and more Shakespeare with dessert!
• Great Small Works Toy Theater Spaghetti Dinner - January 2008, The Rotunda
• The Most Mysterious Day of the Year - January 2008, Circle of Hope
• Mite We? - February 2008, The Rotunda
• The Boxcutter Cabaret - March 2008, Walking Fish Theatre
• Cardboard, Shadows, Sheets & Suitcases - March 2008, The ICA
• Handmade Puppet Dreams - April 2008, International House
• The May-Day Cabaret - April 2008, The Rotunda