Handmade, locally-sourced Mask & Puppet Theater rooted in NY’s Hudson River Valley

Arm-of-the-Sea fuses visual storytelling with live music in original works of mask and puppet theater. Founded in 1982 by Marlena Marallo and Patrick Wadden, the company channels the evocative power of the arts as a force for insight & community uplift. Much of their work explores relations between humans and the life-support networks of this blue-ocean planet.

The 2024 Esopus Creek Puppet Suite

Our Annual Mask & Puppet Theater Extravaganza

Arm-of-the-Sea offers programs, workshops, and performances at their new cultural space in Saugerties NY, The Tidewater Center.

Want to book a show for your event?

Arm-of-the-Sea Theater tours to cultural centers, festivals, parks, and schools throughout the Northeast USA.

Check out the upcoming tour schedule:

Scenes from our 2022 show ONE BLUE SKY.

RIPARIAN RHAPSODY, one of our current touring shows about how the Forest Sings to the Stream and the importance of streamside buffer zones.

Check out our promo for Estuary Tales, one of our touring show for 2024

See our accomplishments from 2023 at the Tidewater Center

OUR 2024 SEASON SPONSORS:

Government Support:

~The State of New York – including NYS DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program, the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, and NYS Council on the Arts, with support of the Governor and the NYS Legislature; ~ The Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area; ~ The County of Ulster’s Ulster County Cultural Services and Promotion Fund, administered by Arts Mid-Hudson;

Business & Civic Sponsors include: 

Naccarato Insurance, Woodstock Chimes Fund, Stewart's Shops, Price Chopper's Golub Foundation, Town & Country Liquors, Steve Hubbard Real Estate Services,  Kiwanis Club of Saugerties , and Ulster Savings Bank. 

Private Foundations:

Laura Jane Musser Fund ~ NoVo Foundation ~ Upstate Coalition for a Fair Game ~ Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley ~ Malcolm Gordon Charitable Trust ~ Klock Kingston Foundation ~ Villchur Foundation

We thank our generous and numerous Individual Donors.

Arm-of-the-Sea Theater is committed to making artistic productions accessible to all residents of New York State and to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice through its programming and practices.

We believe Live Theater contributes to community well-being. And that such Theater must be accessible for many ages and walks of life. To make that possible, we partner with funders and arts presenters so that most performances are offered FREE TO THE PUBLIC.