Africa & The Middle East
Patrice Alexandre Guèdègbé, a puppeteer in the Republic of Benin and the secretary of UNIMA Benin, has sadly passed away.
Puppeteers from Benin recently travelled to China to perform in Hunan.
Australia & New Zealand
The Moe Show is back for a second season on New Zealand television.
Asia
Annie Rollins writes about the challenges faced by traditional shadow puppeteers in China.
Chinese rod puppets invaded the Shanghai subway system last weekend.
Japan’s NHK will celebrate Godzilla’s 60th anniversary with two new documentaries in July.
The ASEAN Puppetry Association met in Hanoi recently and planned a world tour by South Asian puppetry companies.
Indonesian shadow puppetry took centre stage at the Wayang Indonesia Festival in Jakarta.
Europe
A list of every puppet performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.
The British puppetry community is disappointed that The Little Angel Theatre has been denied ongoing government support again.
News out of England isn’t entirely bad…Norwich Puppet Theatre did receive a £40,000 funding boost from Arts Council England.
Britain’s favourite yellow glove puppet bear Sooty is going to star in a new movie.
Puppet theatre director Mervyn Millar was recently interviewed by Animations Online.
Thirty four companies from eleven different countries participated in the Internationale Figurentheaterfestival in Magdeburg, Germany (link goes to a German language web site).
Companies from around the world also recently gathered in Austria for The 6th International Puppettheater Festival PannOpticum.
UNIMA Spain is organizing “Ruta Titiritera” (road of the puppet), a sort of mini travelling puppetry festival in Basque Country.
North America
All of the puppet shows at the Toronto Fringe Festival, which continues this week.
Jim Morrow talks about the process of making Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia’s new show, Stella, Queen of the Snow.
Have a look at Puppet Slams happening across the United States this month.
Candice Bergen is making a film about her father, the famous Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.
Yet another successful year at The O’Neil Puppetry Conference wrapped up last month.
New York City was treated to a rare American performance by the Moscow State Puppet Theatre recently.
Catch up with Gwen Dean, the puppeteer who quit her day job in a Superbowl ad.
The G-Fest Godzilla fan convention stomps in to Chicago next weekend.
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre’s Sandy Spieler has been awarded the McKnight Distinguished Artist Award.
Jeff Dunham talks about his new show in Las Vegas.
Ronnie Burkett’s The Daisy Theatre is headed to Los Angeles.
Calls for Entry
The International Alexandria Festival for Puppets has put out a call for international performers interested in performing in Egypt.
Applications performers are now being accepted for the Bornholm Puppet Festival in Denmark.
La MaMa is seeking short puppet acts for its 2014 Puppet Slam in New York City.
Nasty, Brutish and Short: A Puppet Cabaret has put out a call for short puppet acts in Chicago, Illinois.
Workshops and Training Opportunities
Mather Studios and figure builder Mike Palma have created a new ventriloquist figure-making video course.
