HERE’s Puppetopia, a two-week puppetry state of mind, returns for its fourth annual edition. Curated by HERE Co-Founder Barbara Busackino and Dream Music Artistic Director and star Alum Basil Twist, the festival presents original work.

DREAM Music Puppetry Program presents

Puppetopia: Rhynoceron

Directed and designed by KT Shivak

May 21-25, 2025

The world premiere of a puppetry show that traces the true events surrounding the arrival of a one-horned rhinoceros to Renaissance Europe, sparking an obsession that continued for hundreds of years. Through acts of hunting and collecting, Shivak’s life size rhino puppet transforms in front of our eyes from a natural inspiring wonder to an object of human greed.  Shivak and company hail from Chicago where this show was created with support from The Chicago International Puppetry Festival and this mark’s their New York Debut.

Puppeteers: Chih-Jou Cheng, Jacky Kelsey, KT Shivak

Music and Composition: Ben Zucker

Puppets/Stage designed and built by KT Shivak

Location: Here’s DOT Theater, 145 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY

Runtime: Approx. 55 minutes with no intermission

For Ages 8 and up

Performances:

Wednesday, May 21st: 8:30 pm

Thursday, May 22nd:  8:30 pm

Friday, May 23rd: 8:30 pm

Saturday, May 24th:  4 pm and 8:30 pm

Sunday, May 25th: 4 pm

See all three Puppetopia 2025 productions—The Harlem Doll Palace, Variations of Water, and Rhynoceron—with our special $90 Festival Package!

Click Here to Purchase Puppetopia 2025 Package

We understand the extreme challenges that our current financial climate presents. No matter your socioeconomic status, we want everyone to have access to groundbreaking art. There are ten tickets priced at $10 available for each performance on a first-come, first-served basis, for those in need of financial assistance. These tickets are available with the code ACCESS. Limit two tickets per patron. Subject to availability.