OUR MISSION is to spark wonder, engender joy, offer insight, and foster community dialogue. We carry out this mission primarily through large-scale works of mask and puppet theater that illuminate relations between humans and the life-support networks of this blue-ocean planet. We believe in handmade, placed-based theater as an antidote to digital dystopia. Through collaborations with funders and community partners, most of our performances are offered free to the public.

Download the 2025 Annual Report Here

2025 Touring Program

Our 43rd performance season featured 5 original productions in 36 performances reaching an estimated 8,500 people at venues and events throughout eastern New York and adjacent states. A vibrant company of eight performers and three musicians brought these productions to life. In December, we collaborated with the Vanaver Caravan in performances of our annual holiday extravaganza — INTO THE LIGHT.

Venues Include:

Ashokan Center, Summer Hoot • Olivebridge, NY

Berkshire Botanical Garden • Stockbridge, MA

Catskill Visitor Center • Mt. Tremper, NY

Farmington River Fest • New Hartford, CT

Harriet Tubman Square • Newark, NJ

Hudson Valley Garlic Festival • Saugerties, NY

Kingston Earth Fair • Kingston, NY

Martha P. Johnson State Park • Brooklyn, NY

Mid-Hudson Discovery Museum • Poughkeepsie, NY

Pocantico Center • Tarrytown, NY

Randall’s Island Park • New York, NY

Rosendale Theater • Rosendale, NY

Storm King Arts Center • Cornwall on Hudson, NY

Thomas Cole National Historic Site • Catskill, NY

Toshi & Pete Seeger Riverfront Park • Beacon, NY

Tribeca Performing Arts Center • New York, NY

Vassar College • Poughkeepsie, NY

Village Hall • Millbrook, NY

Tidewater Center

At our waterfront cultural park and home-stage incubator in Saugerties, NY we created and premiered two new theater productions, presented nine public performances, and hosted four weeks of hands-on community programming.

Environmental Educator Adam Pumilio with summer campers

• Tidewater Arts & Ecology Summer Camp – Three sessions of our immersive site-specific discovery camp for ages 8-13. Fishing was voted the favorite activity!

• Waterfront Wednesdays – A weekly event series featuring aquariums, Stream Table demonstrations, guest artists and community choirs. Each evening culminated with an Arm-of-the-Sea performance of FROM RAGS TO RICHES: STORIES FROM A SAUGERTIES PAPER MILL.

The 2025 Esopus Creek Puppet Suite. Photo by Justine Smythe

The cohort from the 2025 Theater Arts Intensive

• Theater Arts Intensive — A seven-day workshop for adults in which participants helped create characters and then performed alongside company puppeteers in our 23rd annual ESOPUS CREEK PUPPET SUITE. The production drew from evolutionary history and Greek mythology to offer a meditation on empirical knowledge and imperial overreach.

Riparian Rhapsody at the Pocantico Center. Photos by Margaret Fox

• Day in the Life of the Hudson River — In October we collaborated with the Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy to host two local school groups as part of this annual river-wide event. Sponsored by the NYS DEC’s Hudson Estuary Program and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Day In The Life brings school groups to the Hudson where they can learn directly from the river. Using seine nets, minnow pots, water-testing gear and simple tools students catch and release fish species, track the river’s tides and currents, check the salinity, and examine water chemistry.

Hand-stencilled banners by Marlena Marallo

2025 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AT TIDEWATER CENTER INCLUDED:

• Installation of grid electrical service — After four seasons operating Tidewater from a small solar trailer, contractors ran 550’ of underground conduit and overhead lines connected to the new Program Support Center & the Performance Tent. Next step: a permanent onsite solar array.

• Planted Waterfront Buffer — Designed to absorb and filter rain runoff from the parking area, this planted buffer strip of perennials was orchestrated by master gardener Ann Krupp.

• Hand-stenciled banners created by Artistic Director Marlena Marallo. Over 150’ of images evoking cellular biology, hydrological cycles and geologic processes wrap around the interior of the Performance Tent.