Leah Lara

Puppeteer | World Builder | 3D Illustrator

Engagements / Workshops


Intro to Puppetry for BIPOC artists and Puppet Lovers Workshop– Shadow Puppet ‘Mask’ Workshop

– Shadow Puppet ‘Mask’ Workshop

Chicago Cultural Center Learning Lab Teaching Artist- April 2025

WORKSHOP: Storyboarding: Translating Imagination onto Paper

-storytelling, sketch set, blocking

Rough House, Elastic Arts – February 2026

PuppetQueers Puppet Slam

-co-organizer

2024-Present


Mad Liberation:Episode 10: What If We Pulled the Strings?

Guest Artist +Shadow Puppet Workshop Lead

Nobody’s Darling, 2025 August

Book a Workshop

1

Creative Storytelling

Navigating life’s intricate fabric, choices unfold paths to the extraordinary, demanding creativity.

2

Puppetry

Navigating life’s intricate fabric, choices unfold paths to the extraordinary, demanding creativity.

3

Experimental Mix Media Performances

Navigating life’s intricate fabric, choices unfold paths to the extraordinary, demanding creativity.

4

Costume / Puppet Design

Navigating life’s intricate fabric, choices unfold paths to the extraordinary, demanding creativity.

Puppetry is experiencing a renaissance. Across Chicago and nationally, a new wave of artists are pushing the boundaries of the form: merging it with ballet, textile art, Afrofuturism, musical theater, and community storytelling. These artists are bringing puppetry out of its traditional contexts and into spaces where it confronts identity, history, and transformation with urgency and originality.

Let’s Work Together →