This dynamic pop-up puppet show brings to life a true story of art and social protest, based on the children’s book by bestselling author Innosanto Nagara. The show transports audiences to Jakarta, Indonesia in the 1970s, where 7-year-old Inno learns firsthand how a play has the power to spark a resistance movement.

Featuring designs by Puppet Showplace Theater’s Resident Artist Sarah Nolen, the story is brought to life with a rich soundscape, visual transformations, and kid-centered lessons about social justice.

Length: 35 minutes

Showtimes

Feb 3 (Sat): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm
Feb 4 (Sun): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm
Feb 10 (Sat): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm
Feb 11 (Sun): 10:30 am | 1:00 pm

About the Artist

Tanya Nixon-Silberg (creator / puppeteer) is a Black mother, puppeteer, educator, facilitator and founder of Little Uprisings, an organization focused on centering racial justice and liberation with kids and their caregiving allies. The My Night in the Planetarium puppet show was co-created while Tanya was an artist in Puppet Showplace Theater’s Incubator program. She also participated in the first cohort of the Creative Residency for Black Puppeteers, and served as the Community Curator for the program in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Little Uprisings’ mission — be it in schools with teachers developing culturally relevant curricula, in a community center with children talking about gentrification, or helping parents develop their own values about racial justice — is actively anti-racist, joyful, and Black-affirming; steadfastly focused on our collective liberation. You will mostly find Tanya playing with and learning from her 11 year old kid, dreaming up fun ways to engage children in racial justice through puppetry, and radically imaging how we all get free together.

Tanya was featured in the Boston Globe in 2023!

Contact the Box Office:

617-731-6400
boxoffice@puppetshowplace.org