Found Object Puppetry

Anything can be a puppet! Learn the fundamentals of puppetry and create your very own short performance piece using found objects. This workshop will cover the basics of puppet manipulation, and give you the tools to bring to life the extraordinary stories hidden within common objects.

No prior performance or puppetry experience necessary! Suited for imaginers of all ages!

Enrollment for this class operates on a sliding scale!
In order to help us cover the costs, there are a set number of tickets available at each tier.

We also have Equity Scholarships for those who belong to marginalized communities.
If you'd like to apply for the Equity Scholarship, click here.

How much should I pay?
This class costs money to make happen! In materials, venue rental, and lots of human-hours. However, your life has costs too! We know you have mouths to feed, debt, bills, etc… so take the numbers below as loose guidance.

Suggested Ticket Prices by Income
< $30,000/year - Discount
$30-$60,000/year - Regular Enrollment
$60,000+ - Patron Level covers yourself and someone else, making the sliding-scale enrollment options possible! Thank you!

Claire Saxe is a puppeteer, performer, theater maker and arts educator, driven by work that stretches forms, genres and expectations. As an independent artist and Co-Artistic Director of Rough House Theater Company her practice interweaves elements of puppetry and physical theater. Most recently, Claire debuted the original solo work We Missed the Train and Had to Wait as part of Steppenwolf Theater’s LookOut series. Previous credits include the U.S. production of Théâtre de l’Entrouvert’s Anywhere (Director), Invitation to a Beheading (Co-Creator & Performer), Rough House’s 2021 & 2022 House of the Exquisite Corpse (Lead Artist & Performer), and others. As an actor Claire has performed on the Steppenwolf mainstage (Anne Frank, 2007 Jeff Nominee, Actress in a Principal Role), and in storefronts, on festival stages and in DIY spaces across the U.S. and U.K. In addition to arts-education with Rough House, Claire teaches puppetry at The Theater School at DePaul and theater at a K-8 Montessori school. Claire holds a BS in Theater and Classical Studies from Skidmore College and an MA in Physical Theater Directing & Actor Training from the University of Exeter, UK.

Rough House Theater Company is on a mission to connect individuals and communities through puppetry-art that celebrates the weird things that make us unique and the weirder things that bring us together. Born in 2009 in a storefront home-studio in Logan Square, Rough House’s work collides puppetry with physical theater, music, visual arts, with an appetite for experimentation. Through public workshops, artist incubation and performances, Rough House works towards a vision of an expansive contemporary puppet theater scene comprising an ever-growing and diverse community of artists.

@RoughPuppets
www.roughhousetheater.com