About Us
Blair Thomas & Company is a national and international touring puppet theater company that was founded in 2002 by puppeteer and director/designer Blair Thomas. Currently the Company is working on an adaptation of Moby-Dick and Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince. They have made over a dozen original puppet theater pieces including: Cabaret of Desire, a staging of short works by Federico Garcia Lorca; The Ox-herder’s Tale, an interpretive staging of the Buddhist parable of 10 painting of enlightenment; A Kite’s Tale, an original story staged to a live performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition which has also toured with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They have made collaboration productions with other companies such as Pierrot Lunaire, a staging of Arnold Schoenberg’s song cycle with the chamber music ensemble eighth blackbird; an original adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant and an adaptation of Brian Selznick’s The Houdini Box both with the Chicago Children’s Theatre. Twice Blair Thomas & Company has received the international UNIMA awards for excellence in the art of puppetry.
Supporting Foundations
The Alphawood Foundation
The Arts Work Fund
The Boeing Company
The Chicago Community Trust
The Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
The Frankel Family Foundation
The Irving Harris Foundation
The Jim Henson Foundation
The Illinois Arts Council, a state agency
The Jentes Family Foundation
The MacArthur Foundation
The National Endowment for the Arts
The Pritzker-Pucker Family Foundation