Eulenspiegel Shows

Old and New, Big and Small: Eulenspiegel Has Them All

 Shows for Families, Schools, Festivals, and Adult Audiences!

The Eulenspiegel Puppets are known for their performances of international folktales and regional historical fiction, many with live music.  The company also provides community performances YOU can participate in as well as special shows for older audiences!  If you wish to bring the troupe into your community, the puppeteers will help you select the best performance for you!

The Eulenspiegel Puppets have toured in 31 states and four other countries, at festivals and in schools, libraries, colleges, theaters, and community centers.

In addition to live performances, Eulenspiegel offers a series of shows-no longer performed live-as virtual experiences. Ask how you can get a download link to show these classic performances to your group!

Currently, grant funding is available to cut the price of Shenanigans: Animals in Charge!, Kate Shelley's Train Rescue, and Appleseed! Check our residencies page as well. Several of the community show residencies have funding support, cutting the price in half.

Shenanigans: Animals in Charge!

Eulenspiegel Puppets performs a brand new show featuring the fun adventures animals had while humans limited their community contacts. Based on true stories of animal antics during the pandemic, with a lot of imagination thrown in.

More information & video →


Curriculum Connections:
  • Current Events
  • History
  • Folklore
  • Art 
  • Music
  • Drama

Shenanigans: Animals in Charge!

Bremen Town Musicians

Eulenspiegel Puppets presents a new adaptation of The Bremen Town Musicians, a beloved Grimm’s fairy tale! In this version, Till Eulenspiegel’s donkey retires and makes common cause with a bluesy hound, a rockin’ rooster, and a jazzy cat.

More information & video →


Age group: 3-93
Curriculum Connections:
  • Art
  • Music
  • Drama
  • Folk Literature
  • Aging
  • Teamwork
  • Danger from scammers

Bremen Town Musicians

The Big Election

Who will win the big election for Leader of the Beasts? Will it be Benny P. (for Progress) Beaver or Terry E.

More information & video →


Age group: 5-95
Curriculum Connections:
  • Civics
  • Folklore
  • Art
  • Music
  • Drama

 

The Big Election

Uncle Rabbit's Adventures

 

Bring our bilingual show, Uncle Rabbit's Adventures, to your community! 

Uncle Rabbit's Adventures uses large, beautifully crafted hand puppets and lots of fun props to tell the story of a wealthy land-owning goat who doesnʼt want to share with his neighbors.

More information & video →


Age group: 4-94
Curriculum Connections:
  • Art
  • Music
  • Drama
  • Nutrition
  • Plant science
  • Character Counts
  • Bilingual education
  • World Folklore

Uncle Rabbit's Adventures

Peter and the Wolf

Listen to Prokofief's beloved music as you watch Peter outsmart the wolf! Eulenspiegel Puppets use beautifully crafted large tabletop puppets and rod puppets to tell this classic tale of a young boy, his grandfather, his pets, and the creatures that live in the meadow and the forest.

More information →


Age group: 4-94
Curriculum Connections:
  • Music
  • Drama
  • Art
  • Social Studies
  • Folk Literature

Peter and the Wolf

Magical Fish and Mermaids

The Fisherman and his Wife is the ancient Grimm’s Fairy Tale of the magical fish who grants wishes until the beneficiaries become too greedy and too hungry for power.

More information & video →


Age group: 5-95
Curriculum Connections:
  • Folklore
  • Science
  • History
  • Art
  • Music
  • Drama

 

Magical Fish and Mermaids

Kate Shelley's Train Rescue

Kate Shelley’s Train Rescue tells the story of the Iowa teenager who, in 1881, saved the train from plunging to a watery death. Created and performed by puppeteer Stephanie Vallez, this exciting tale unfolds in the pages of two giant pop-up books peopled with paper puppets, masks, and rod marionettes and fun, low-tech special effects.

More information & video →


Age group: 5-95
Curriculum Connections:
  • History
  • Women's Studies
  • Art
  • Music
  • Drama

Kate Shelley's Train Rescue

The Musical Ant

Developed by Monica Leo and Eli Portugal, her late partner puppeteer from Mexico, The Musical Ant follows Hormiguita (liitle ant) as he learns to play the piano and brings peace to his ant colony through music. The production uses hand puppets, rod puppets, masked characters, and music and incorporates some Spanish along with the English text.

More information →


The Musical Ant

Appleseed!

Eulenspiegel Puppets performs an exciting story about Johnny Appleseed's true adventures and his relationships with the settlers, the Native Americans, and the animals and plants around him.

More information & video →


Age group: 5-95 (best for K-6)
Curriculum Connections:
  • History
  • Iowa History
  • Nature
  • Agriculture
  • Art
  • Music
  • Theater

Appleseed!

Little Red Riding Hood

Eulenspiegel's adaptation of this beloved Grimms fairy tale uses delightfully crafted miniature Bohemian marionettes created by puppeteer Monica Leo. The set is an extra-large pop-up storybook also designed and created by Leo. The script, laced with wit and whimsy, was written by puppeteer Teri Jean Breitbach. The production was directed by well-known director Michael Sokoloff.

More information & video →


Age group: 4-94
Curriculum Connections:
  • European folklore
  • Comparative literature
  • Art
  • Drama
  • STUDY GUIDE PROVIDED

Little Red Riding Hood

The Snow Queen

Eulenspiegel's adaptation of this beloved Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale uses delightfully crafted miniature Bohemian marionettes that interact on the pages of two extra-large pop-up storybooks. The story follows Gerda as she travels to the ends of the earth to save her best friend, Kai, from the Snow Queen.

More information & video →


Age group: 4-94
Curriculum Connections:
  • Character Counts (esp. Responsibility, Trustworthiness, and Caring)
  • Folk and Fairy Tales
  • Victorian Literature
  • Girl Power (Feminist Studies)
  • Art
  • Music
  • Drama

The Snow Queen

In the Mirror: Three Tales From Asia

A set of three tales from Korea, Japan and Turkey, these stories all feature atypical heroes. A favorite is the little old lady outsmarting two Onis (Japanese trolls) who imprison her in order to sample her delicious cooking. The show uses a clever stage that rises and folds out of a decorated box.

More information →


Age group: 4-94
Curriculum Connections:
  • European folklore
  • Comparative literature
  • Art
  • Drama
  • Character Counts
  • STUDY GUIDE PROVIDED

In the Mirror: Three Tales From Asia

A Magical Winter's Night

Cece is a little girl with a vivid imagination.   She loves to play in the woods with her pets, Pansy the cat and Lander the gander.   This is the story of Cece’s adventures, of
the creatures, real and imagined, that she confronts in the woods, of the changing
seasons, and of a very special Christmas Eve.

More information & video →


Age group: 3-93

A Magical Winter's Night

The Emperor's Nightingale

The Emperor’s Nightingale is a brand new show created and performed by Eulenspiegel’s Stephanie Vallez. Using delightful Bohemian-style rod marionettes on a tabletop stage, the show tells the story of an emperor who loves nature, especially birds and most especially the nightingale.

More information →


The Emperor's Nightingale

Girls On The Roof

 

Iowa Poet Laureate Mary Swander's new book of poetry is one long narrative poem about a mother and daughter stuck on top of the roof of a cafe on the banks of the Mississippi River for three days during the 1993 flood.

More information & video →


Age group: adult

Girls On The Roof

Finding Home

 

Finding Home is a trilogy of pieces, poignant, joyful, and humorous, about puppeteer Monica Leo’s parents and their immigration experiences. The first piece, My Father’s Imaginary Friend, uses candlelight and shadows to interpret the story of her father’s hope and survival during his incarceration in a concentration camp.

More information & video →


Age group: 12-adult

Finding Home

Play to Play (or Hold Your Puppet Up!)

 

Play to Play (or Hold your Puppet Up!) is a touching and humorous glimpse into the private lives of the puppets and puppeteers created and performed by Monica Leo.

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Age group: 12 through adult

Play to Play (or Hold Your Puppet Up!)

Driving the Body Back (Virtual)

 

“A marvelous collection of folk humor, wild ways, and down-home storytelling. . . . . sometimes harsh, but always deeply compassionate. . . . ”This is how Louise Erdrich (New York Times Book Review) describes the literary work which forms the basis for this production.

More information & video →


Age group: 12-adult

Driving the Body Back (Virtual)