Great Arizona Puppet Theater

Arizona's award-winning puppet theater since 1983. Enriching puppet shows for children and adults across the Western United States and at our theater in central Phoenix, including presentation of top national and international puppeteers.

The mission of the Great Arizona Puppet Theater is: to advance and promote the art of puppetry, to celebrate the great state of Arizona - its culture, heritage and ecology - through the art of puppetry, to educate children and their families, and to make a positive impact on the cultural climate of Arizona.

We are so proud of the work we do with our small staff of professional puppeteers and theater artists. We are devastated to have had to close our doors and stop performances for the first time in 37 years due to the Coronavirus outbreak. We need our community support more than ever to keep going and help make up for the loss of income that we are facing.

GAPT is Arizona's only theater offering year-round puppet shows and has been operating since 1983. We provide entertaining and educational shows for students and have been named The New Times "Best Entertainment for Kids" and "Best Children's Theater." We have won The UNIMA-USA Citation for Excellence in Puppetry (the highest honor in the international puppetry community) for our original version of "Cinderella" We won the Mayor's Environmental Award for our show "Hotel Saguaro" which highlights the importance of the Saguaro Cactus in our desert environment and was created in collaboration with the Desert Botanical Garden.

We serve a total audience of nearly 85,000 people annually, mostly children. Our historic building is open to the public year-round and our puppeteers perform traveling shows at schools, libraries, child cares, and community centers all over Arizona and beyond! We have a repertoire of over 60 shows that range from original stories about the environment to fun versions of fairy tales, most of which have an accompanying study guide free to download for students and parents to enrich their experience.

The home of the Great Arizona Puppet Theater is an important Phoenix landmark. The theater purchased the former Phoenix LDS 2nd Ward Church in 1996 when it was in general disrepair and started the long process of renovation. After years of hard work, the building now has a our performance space, gift shop, and birthday party room for audience members. Additionally, it houses our office, workshop, storage space, and living space for traveling puppeteers from around the world. Last year, we won "The Governor's Heritage Honor Award for Historic Preservation" for our tireless restoration efforts.

Testimonials

"We are delighted with the caliber and quality of the Great Arizona Puppet Theater's programming. The care and artistry they infuse into each production results in the learning engagement and compassion for our desert that we wish could be experienced by all local youth." - Lisa Herrmann, Education Manager South Mountain Environmental Education Center

"I get so excited when I get to go to your puppet theater, I just can't wait to watch the shows, that I have to talk to my friends about how great the shows are going to be." - 2nd grade field trip attendee, 2018

To Great AZ Puppets Director/Puppeteer: "We love all of the shows we come to but I have to share how much we enjoyed the interaction between you and the puppets, the music, and the fun we experienced in participating with you as the narrator and with your daughter as the puppeteer. Consider doing more of these. It was wooooooonderful! Thanks again for a great field trip!" Mary Vallelonga, Owner / Director Little Friends Montessori School, Scottsdale