Puppetry Arts to celebrate
the weird things that make us unique, and the weirder things that bring us together.

Announcing this year’s Expansion Residency Showcase: JUNE 18th – JUNE 21st, 2026!

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It’s coming…
House of the Exquisite Corpse VI:
October 8 - November 1, 2026

Stay tuned...

Rough House Puppet Arts

Upcoming Events!
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  • “Exquisite storytelling.”

    Chicago Sun-Times

  • “The artistry on display is staggering, extending far beyond set design.”

    Buzz Center Stage

  • “The design is rich and intricate.”

    Chicago On Stage

  • “Jaw-droppingly stunning works of art and ambition.”

    Stage and Cinema

  • “The performers are fluid and graceful, imbuing the puppets with their own distinct personalities.”

    Third Coast Review

Featured
Designing Scares: A Chicago Halloween
Designing Scares: A Chicago Halloween

American Theater

October 27, 2025

By Jerald Raymond Pierce

Hello, and welcome to spooky season. I’ll be your guide around a few Chicago-area stops. Now, before we get started, I should warn you, the following contains eerie puppets, ghost stories, and the paranormal.

For our first stop, we stroll past Steppenwolf, bypassing their cozy Front Bar on a drizzly Saturday afternoon, skipping their front doors and the people heading in to see Rajiv Joseph’s Mr. Wolf, and instead head to a sneaky door settled between the entrance and exit to the Steppenwolf-adjacent parking garage. Inside the Merle Reskin Space at Steppenwolf, Rough House Puppet Arts has set up camp for House of the Exquisite Corpse V: Blood & Puppets, a multi-room, immersive puppet haunted house (through Nov. 1).

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