Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater

Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater

Want to put some joy in your life? Take your youngsters to the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in the Palisades section of Balboa Park. It’s a place where children are engaged, where laughter and verbal interaction are spontaneous.

The building has its own story to tell. The Puppet Theatre was part of a larger structure erected for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. During WWII, it was converted to Navy barracks. Following the end of the war, the larger building was divided into three smaller ones, the Puppet Theater being one of them. The first marionette show was performed there in 1947 by Marie Hitchcock and her sister Genevieve Engman, and Hitchcock continued to perform until the time of her death in 1994. Her legacy was so firm, the theater was named for her in 1988. Because of Hitchcock and many other gifted puppeteers, thousands of children have seen puppet shows over the past decades.

Productions are performed under the auspices of the San Diego Guild of Puppetry, officially formed in 2001. This month, see Monsters Under the Bed November 4-8 and 11-5; Country Mouse/City Mouse and The Monkey and the Crocodile November 18-22; Santa & the Ho Ho Thief November 25, 27-30 and December 2-3. Several more holiday productions are scheduled for next month. (619.544.9203, www.balboaparkpuppets.com)   DARLENE G. DAVIES