A Russian Puppet Theater in Detroit
In 1998, Russian puppeteers Irina Baranovskaya, Igor Gozman, and Lyudmila Mikheyenko founded this puppet theater at 25 East Grand River. In addition to puppet shows, they also have a museum with collections of their diverse puppets, and a studio where the puppeteers teach puppet-making and performing with puppets.
Before the puppet theater building was built, this site was home to the Detroit Business University. The six-story building was built specifically for DBU, which was more than just a business school. They also offered courses in basic writing, math, and grammar; shorthand; penmanship; architectural drawing; and language and elocution. By the time the school moved to this location in 1889, enrollment was over 1,000 men and women per year. The Free Press followed the school’s football and baseball teams and even reported on school picnics where the women of the school would form baseball teams and play against each other.
The university moved west down Grand River in the early 1920s, but businesses on the first floor of the building stayed open for a few years. The university building was replaced with a new two-story office and commercial building in 1948.
The Puppet Theater picked up the tradition of learning and play at this site fifty years later, in 1998. PuppetArt was founded by artists from Russia who are well-versed in Russian folklore. They also perform timeless stories from a variety of cultural traditions. Their 2014 to 2015 season included stories well known to Americans, but also a show inspired by North American indigenous mythology, and folktales from Russia, West Africa, Japan, and Latin America.
