Puppet Blok 2026

About This Show

This Popular annual Dixon Place program features new and developing works in myriad forms of puppet theater including Marionettes, Shadow Puppetry, Object Theater, Bunraku, Hand and Rod, Toy Theater, Kurama Ningyo, Pageantry, Stop Motion Animation, and puppets ranging in size from fingers to full body puppets.

Emily Batsford (they/them) is a theater maker and educator living in Brooklyn, NY. Their artistry prioritizes inclusion and accessibility, and includes immersive and physical theater practices, puppetry, & experimental forms. Their original puppet production CUMULO received a 2025 Culture Lab LIC Emergence Artist Residency, a 2026 NYSCA Support for Artists Grant, a 2026 Jim Henson Foundation Production Grant, and a 2026 Brooklyn Arts Fund Grant. Emily has an extensive performance history, traveling internationally and across the United States. True to their passion for devising new work, Emily has also participated in countless work-in-progress showings at theatrical incubators across the five boroughs. When not performing, Emily is a Teaching Artist for Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Child’s Play NY, CO_LAB Theater Group, and New York City Children’s Theater.

CONCRETE TEMPLE THEATRE is an internationally acclaimed devised visual-theatre company. Known for defying conventional boundaries between design and text, CTT creates visually striking works that bring myth and ritual back to the center of dialogue in order to confront the prevailing social issues of our times. Since 2004, Concrete Temple Theatre has presented their work for NYC audiences at such venerable Off-Broadway and Avant Garde venues as SoHo Playhouse, Barrow Street Theatre, HERE, Dixon Place, and La MaMa. They have been artists-in-residence in NYC at The Flea Theater, Dixon Place, Mabou Mines, St. Ann’s Warehouse and chashama. CTT’s national tours include The Yard, Bard Summerscape, Detroit Institute of Arts, PS21-Chatham, Amphibian Stage Productions, and Taos Center for the Arts. The company has toured internationally to London, Sri Lanka, India, Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy, Scotland, South Korea, Mexico, Poland, Costa Rica and France.

Joshua Holden Broadway: Water for Elephants (currently on Nat’l tour). TV: Sesame Street (Emmy Nomination). National Tours: Avenue Q, Peter Pan 360, Avett Brother Band (2024 Tour), The Joshua Show. Off Broadway: Avenue Q. Upcoming: Lincoln at the Bardo (Metropolitan Opera- Associate to James Ortiz), The Joyfully Jolly Jamboree (World Premier). Alumnus of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. WowJoshuaHolden.com @OhMyGoshuaJoshua

Matt Sorensen is a puppeteer, theater artist, educator, filmmaker, and museum exhibition curator and designer based in Connecticut and New York. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Dramatic Arts with UConn’s Puppet Arts Program, where he also earned an MFA. His company, Puppet Bucket Productions has designed and fabricated puppets for theater and film around the world. www.matthewbsorensen.com

June 3, 4, 5 & 9 at 7:30 PM

Tickets:

$27 in advance
$30 at the door

Tickets

Credits

Curators:

June 3: Matthew Sorensen
June 4: Emily Batsford
June 5: Joshua Holden
June 9: Concrete Temple Theatre

Performances by:

June 3

Amy Liou
Tom Tuke
Anna Wang
Anatar M. Gagne

June 4

Emily Batsford & Will PK Carter
Imani Campbell
Alex Church-Gonzales & Chance Kester
Justin Perkins

June 5

Victor Ayala
Emmanuel Elpenord
Joshua Holden
Vape Kid Jr.

June 9

Concrete Temple Theatre and The Visual Theatre Artists of Sirovich
Marina DeYoe-Pedraza
Drama of Works
Vinh G. Nguyen