San Diego has many hidden attractions, and one of them is tucked away in the historic Balboa Park, the largest urban cultural park in the USA. It is home to 15 major museums and several performing arts venues, as well as beautiful gardens and the vast San Diego Zoo. Entrance to the park grounds is free, and you can buy a pass for 14 of the museums if you want to enjoy all of them.
But you do not have to go to museums to experience culture. The park is home to a huge number of performing arts activities, including the Sunday organ concerts which have been going since 1915, and the Tony-award winning Old Globe. Among the theaters are also the oldest youth theater in the US - the San Diego Junior Theatre, founded in 1948. And one of the few puppet theatres in America.
The Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater was founded in the late 1940's, and today features performances by different puppet theater groups who come here to perform. The resident puppeteers work with marionettes, hand, rod, and shadow puppets, performing a variety of stories.
At 234 seats, it is not a small venue, but the special characteristics of puppet acting make this an intimate experience nevertheless - and one which children love. Puppet theater has a way of stimulating the imagination of children that other performances never can match, especially since it is interactive. Classic tales like Rumpelstiltskin and Sleeping Beauty are mixed with guest performers from all over the world, and reinterpretations of classical children's tales, like Peter the Rabbit.
Sponsored by the city of San Diego, entrance at 3 dollars for children, 5 dollars for grownups, is also a really good deal.
Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater address and hours
Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park
2130 Pan American Place
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: +1 619 544 9203
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