Puppet Theatre Košice

Established in 1959, Puppet Theatre Košice was the fourth professional puppet company in Slovakia. Originally accommodated on Roosevelt street, it was relocated in 2000 to its own building on Alžbetina street.

Since its inception the company has produced more than 170 stage plays and today it is still the only professional puppet theatre in eastern Slovakia. Over the decades its audience has grown to more than one and half million, some of whom are now grandparents who attend with their grandchildren.

In the past Puppet Theatre Košice was often referred to as a 'children´s musical and entertaining theatre'. At present, the company engages a fourth generation of actors. In its repertoire it use all the special instruments and techniques peculiar to puppet theatre, reviving various puppets and objects. Its productions include both illusionary and non-illusionary theatre, and feature music, singing, dancing and juggling as well as dramatic performance.

In March 2008 the company opened a permanent exhibition of puppets and scenic properties from its stage plays over the past decades. This is situated in the Jorik Hall on Tajovského street (close to Alzbetina street).

In 2009 the company celebrates its 50th year of professional puppet theatre in Košice with a puppet festival featuring acclaimed performances by various puppet theatres of central Europe and Ukraine, plus workshops for children, the launch of a book on the history of puppet theatre and a reunion of senior actors, directors and musicians, who worked for Puppet Theatre Košice in the past.