UNIMA-USA is proud to launch the Winter 2026 issue of Puppetry International Research!

Photo: Iniskim – Return of the Buffalo. Working with the puppets on the land in southern Alberta – Majorville Medicine Wheel, sacred to the Blood tribe – prayers are offered to ensure a safe and successful project. (Peter Balkwill)

Free, available to all, full of new thoughts and insights, Puppetry International Research, an open access scholarly journal, is another step in UNIMA-USA's goal to promote, educate, and support growth in the art of puppetry as well as to provide resources to people who find puppetry important to their lives. PIR is a space for in-depth, critical discussion about the art.

Volume 3, No. 1 includes a robust focus section on PUPPET DRAMATURGY, As Seen in the Chicago International Puppet Theatre Festival, guest edited by Ana Diaz Barriga and Paulette Richards. The articles include Jesse Njus on Frank Maugueri’s The Cabinet; Skye Strauss on Théâtre de l’Entrouvert’s  Anywhere; Katherine McNamara on Plexus Polaire’s Dracula: Lucy’s Dream; Oplanietet on Ty Defoe’s Skeleton Canoe; and an interview from JEM with Amethyst First Rider and Peter Balkwill on the film Iniskim – Return of the Buffalo, and the performance project it documents. You’ll also find Bradford Clark’s report on the Chuncheon Puppet Festival in South Korea, David Grant’s review of Matt Smith’s new book, Applied Puppetry: The Theory and Practice of Object Ecologies; Tim Cusack’s review of Sachiyo Takahashi’s show Ghostly Tales Sung and Materialized: Shinnai Meets Puppetry; and Mari Boyd’s review of Tritagoj, co-created by Kurotani Miyako and Matsuzawa Kayo. Enjoy!!!

Puppetry International Research (PIR) is a global, interdisciplinary, academic journal dedicated to puppetry and the allied areas of masks, performing objects, and material performance. Its mission is to foster scholarship on puppet theatre and related arts as practiced in the past and present around the world and deepen historical and theoretical understanding of the field. Its empirical, analytical, and theoretical peer-reviewed articles, as well as critical book, performance, and exhibition reviews, and field reports aim to strengthen puppetry studies as an academic discipline. The journal welcomes article, report, and review submissions as well as proposals for guest edited focus sections on an ongoing basis from scholars and reflective practitioners from all related disciplines. A project of UNIMA-USA, growing out of the peer-review section of its acclaimed magazine, Puppetry International, PIR publishes twice a year on the CUNY Academic Commons.