Puppets-in-Progress + Chicago Black Puppeteer Symposium!
Saturday, February 28th, 2026: PiPs @ 2pm–4pm | Symposium @ 4pm–6pm Location: Elastic Arts Foundation, 3429 W Diversey Ave #208
A FREE puppet community meeting for you! Join us to see cool puppets-in-process of creation; all stages of development are invited to share a community space for experimentation. Everyone is welcome! Bring a project, prototype, sketch, or idea, no matter how rough, or just come for the conversation! Stick around for a brief introduction to Elastic Arts & our first Chicago Black Puppeteer Symposium! Both events are FREE and open to the public—no RSVP required!
What is PiPs? (2pm-4pm)
Puppets-in-Progress (PiPs) is an informal gathering for testing out new puppet and object-based performances. Bring whatever you’re working on and get encouragement and feedback from other disciplines & puppet-folks!
Special Presentation: Chicago Black Puppeteer Symposium! (4pm-6pm)
Join us for an informal discussion moderated by Sam Lewis with some of Chicago’s Black puppeteers to talk about what it means to be a puppeteer as a career in Chicago, the vast scope of experiences working in and leading up to this field, and to celebrate our triumphs as working artists year-round in this city. We welcome panelists Jacqueline Wade, Felix, Tia Pinson, and Sharaina L. Turnage.
Meet the Panelists:
Jacqueline Wade
Jacqueline Wade is a Philadelphia-born, Chicago- and New York–based activist artist, a playwright, director, performer, and puppet fabricator whose work addresses race, power, and the human condition. Her projects have been presented nationally and internationally at major theaters, festivals, museums, and universities. @womenofcolorproductions
Felix
Felix is a multidisciplinary storyteller and puppeteer. Their work balances innocence and horror to create characters and narratives that feel both human and otherworldly. Sharing their experiences with mental illness, trans queerness, and being brown in American gives keeps their work unique and relatable. @enero.gap
Tia Pinson
Tia Pinson is a teaching artist and performer who wishes to experience and spread light, love and compassion through art, storytelling and community. She continues to search for ways to encourage underserved youth to find their way creatively. @thisiswhatmybodydoes
Sharaina L. Turnage
Sharaina L. Turnage is an actor, puppeteer, clown and deviser who loves the experimental and the absurd. She strongly believes that theatre should belong to the people and not season ticket holders. @sharaina_latrice
Moderated by: Sam Lewis
Samuel J. Lewis, II is a puppeteer, teaching artist, and the Manager of Artist Advancement at Rough House Puppet Arts. His vision of puppetry is expansive: one that honors its deep history while pushing into new realms of artistic possibility. Through his performances, leadership, and advocacy, Sam continues to help shape puppetry as an evolving art form and a vital tool for connection. @sam_u_el_le_w_is
About our Hosts!
Elastic Arts Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports a community of musicians, artists, performers, and audiences in our Avondale/Logan Square neighborhood and throughout the city. Elastic is an organization that exists to create space for all artists to create, but especially ones who are not welcome elsewhere because the content of their work is experimental, unorthodox, non-traditional, out of bounds, or reflective of racial, ethnic, sexual or political identities that are unwelcome in (or threatening to) dominant cultural institutions.