Puppetopia 2025: The Harlem Doll Palace
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. We’re kicking off Puppetopia 2025 with THE HARLEM DOLL PALACE, with more exciting shows to be announced soon—stay tuned!
THE HARLEM DOLL PALACE
May 21-June 1, 2025
Created by Alva Rogers
Directed by Ashley Winkfield
Welcome to Aunt Len’s Doll and Toy Museum! Behind the pink door of a three story Harlem brownstone lies a world created by Lennon Holder Hoyte – affectionately known as Aunt Len. The dolls from her “dollection” seek to keep Aunt Len, their beloved museum founder, alive before the outside world can invoke its realities of life, ashes and dust. As Harlem deteriorates around her beloved doll museum, the dolls recreate their journeys to the museum in an effort to keep Aunt Len’s memory alive. Enter the world of The Harlem Doll Palace. Remember, an appointment is necessary for admission.
Puppetopia: 2025 The Harlem Doll Palace
Dates & Times:
- Wednesday, May 21st: 7 pm
- Thursday, May 22nd: 7 pm
- Friday, May 23rd: 7 pm
- Saturday, May 24th: 2 pm and 7 pm
- Sunday, May 25th: 2 pm
- Tuesday, May 27th: 7 pm
- Wednesday, May 28th: 7 pm
- Thursday, May 29th: 7 pm
- Friday, May 30th: 7 pm
- Saturday, May 31st: 2 pm and 7 pm
- Sunday, June 1st: 2 pm
Location: HERE Mainstage, 145 6th Avenue, New York, NY
Tickets starting at $37
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.
About the Artists:
Alva Rogers, the Artistic Director of ALVA PUPPET THEATER, is a dramatist, puppeteer, and multidisciplinary artist. The company’s most recent work, Topsy-Turvy, was presented at The 2024 Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Gala at the request of Creative Trailblazer honoree, Solange Knowles and The Museum of Modern Art in 2023. Her work with Rodeo Caledonia High Fidelity Performance Theater ignited an early career as a performance artist and film actor (School Daze, Daughters of the Dust). Later, she concentrated more on writing, earning MFAs in Musical Theatre Writing (NYU/Tisch) and Playwriting (Brown); she also holds an MAT in History (Bard).
Ash Winkfield (xe/xem/xyr) is a multi-disciplinary artist working primarily in theater and the puppetry arts. Winkfield specializes in new and devised work presented in New York City, and has toured domestically and internationally with Basil Twist (Rite of Spring, Sister’s Follies, Book of Mountains and Seas), The Walk with Little Amal (NYC, Toronto, US Tour), and most recently Yaa Samar Dance Theater’s world premiere of “Gathering”. Winkfield is passionate about creating work that speaks to the emotional experience of humanity in the face of injustice.