OPEN EYE MAINSTAGE: Puppetry & Music
Open Eye Theatre presents
SWEET SONGS AND FLYING OBJECTS
An Outdoor Festival of Live Music & Puppetry
July 11 – 25, 2025
Featuring TriLingua Cinema, Happy Accident, Steve Ackerman, and The Puppet Union
A lively mix of puppetry and live music take center stage in this free outdoor festival, uniting beloved Twin Cities artists and regional talent for four unforgettable nights of creativity, connection, and summertime magic.
Celebrating summer with live music & eclectic puppetry!
Join us for puppetry and musical acts that will delight audiences of all ages. Gather your friends, bring a chair or blanket, and enjoy art in motion—all for free!
This Cultural Districts Arts Fund activation is funded, in part, by the City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department.
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TICKETS
FREE!
No reservation required.
Shows will be outside in the green space across the street from Open Eye Theatre.
Bring a blanket or folding chair.
Restrooms will be available in the theater.
In the event of rain, performances will move inside the theater.
AGE RECOMMENDATION: All ages with some PG13 content.
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PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Friday 7/11, 8:30 – 10:00pm
The Twilight Magic Lantern Hour: An evening of stop-motion animation and cinematic puppetry presented by TriLingua Cinema; music by Angela Maria Lara Cabrera
Friday 7/18, 7:30 – 9:00pm &
Saturday 7/19, 7:30 – 9:00pm
The Double-Whammy Weekend: a double-bill of visually spectacular puppet shows by Happy Accident & Steve Ackerman; music by Isabella Dawis (July 18) and TaikoArts Midwest (July 19)
Friday 7/25, 7:30 – 9:00pm
‘One Hot-summers Night Only’ Puppet Slam by The Puppet Union; music by Two Old CatRUN TIME: Roughly 90 min.
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ACCESSIBILITY
Contact us at 612-874-6338 or boxoffice@openeyetheatre.org for accessibility information and requests. Learn more.
COVID PRECAUTIONS: Mask wearing is optional for all performances.
Weekend 1: July 11, 8:30 – 10:00pm
Open Eye Theatre in partnership w/ TriLingua Cinema presents
The Twilight Magic Lantern Hour: An evening of stop-motion animation and cinematic puppetry
With films by:
Oanh Vu, Andrew Young, and Charlie McCarron (Chim Lac)
Olli Johnson (Clowns in the Theatre)
Heidi Arneson (Why Baby Why?, Under The Table, What Will Baby Be?)
Luca Trujillo (Beasts of Living Waters)
Erica Warren (The Depths)
Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché (TINY)
Linda Wingerter & Stringpullers Puppet Co (Words Are Birds and Dorothea Remembers)
With Musical Guest:
Angela Maria Lara Cabrera (vibraphone)
TriLingua Cinema is a non-profit traveling movie theater on a mission to bring communal multilingual and multicultural film experiences to the Twin Cities. Their ultimate goal is to open a permanent cinema space that reflects the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of our communities.
Please bring a blanket or chair. In the event of rain, performances will move inside the theater.
Weekend 2: July 18 & 19, 7:30 – 9:00pm
Open Eye Theatre presents:
The Double-Whammy Weekend: a double-bill of visually spectacular puppet shows by Happy Accident & Steve Ackerman
Performances each night include:
Absurd Psychedelic Long Form Noise Puppetry
by Happy Accident
Climb in and buckle up for a joy ride in this anti-clown car driven by master puppeteer Liz Howls and co-piloted by musician/unlicensed electrician Servant Baby. Happy Accident ecstatically careens down the wrong side of the lost highway leaving a trail of old copies of Weekly World News and Jack in the Box wrappers in its wake.
Happy Accident’s work explores the exponential pace of overwhelming absurdity in our world. Found objects, large scale puppets and sputtering lights bring you face to face with the cuddly nightmare that is everyday life.
Mutton: A Medieval Morality Cantastoria
by Steve Ackerman
Music by Joseph Evans
Starring: Maren Ward, Jon Mac Cole, Dominique Herskind, Lizz Windnagel, Maurice Fields III, Lux Mortenson, Sulia Altenburg, Jäc Pau, Angie Courchaine, Two Jousting Unicorns, Steve Ackerman, and more...
Sometimes a ritual is like a ceremony. And sometimes a festival seems like it's a pageant, but halfway through it turns into a rite. And sometimes you really think you're doing a liturgy, but when push comes to shove, it's actually more of a jubilee. And sometimes you think you're doing a tableau vivant, but it's actually just a bunch of random people hanging out in the park together. But in the distant Kingdom of Flushflarn, overlooking the great land of Miremeer, betwixt the seas of Schnornflorn, the kinsmen of Muttlock kinda just jam all of those words together in their yearly celebration of The Great Mutton's Mawl.
With Musical Guests:
Isabella Dawis (July 18th)
Isabella Dawis is a Filipina-American singer, keyboardist, and live looping musician from Minneapolis. She is currently a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, a Coalition of Asian American Leaders Ignite Grantee, and a member of the rock band Kiss the Tiger (keys/vocals). Learn more at isabelladawis.com.
TaikoArts Midwest (July 19th)
The mission of TaikoArts Midwest is to develop, produce, and promote artistic excellence in taiko performance, using taiko as a way to strengthen and build community in the Midwest. Learn more at taikoartsmidwest.org.
Please bring a blanket or chair. In the event of rain, performances will move inside the theater.
Weekend 3: July 25, 7:30 – 9:00pm
Open Eye Theatre hosts The Puppet Union presenting:
‘One Hot-summer’s Night Only’ (OH-NO!) Puppet Slam
Expect the unexpected in this free-wheeling puppet slam featuring rough-and-ready flights of imagination from the Twin Cities newest puppetry collaborative!
With performances by:
Ches Cipriano
Jake Quatt
Felicia Cooper
Fletcher Wolfe
Maggie Arbeiter
Jennings Mergenthal
Jack Sullivan
The Puppet Union is an informal, supportive network of puppetry artists and performers dedicated to sharing resources, advocating for fair working conditions, and fostering collaboration within the puppetry community.
With Musical Guest: Two Old Cat
Two Old Cat plays charming, original folk music that blends traditional and progressive elements. Their tunes for banjo, cello, accordion, and vocals explore themes of friendship, dreamspace, and how we move through and connect to the world.
Please bring a blanket or chair. In the event of rain, performances will move inside the theater.