Who we are

Talking Hands Theatre is a Massachusetts-based company committed to entertaining children with puppets by engaging their minds and their imaginations as well as their senses of humor. We perform in schools, libraries, day care centers, parks, theatres, hospitals, and homes throughout the tri-state area. Our 5' wide black curtain stage fits easily in any space. We bring all our own sound equipment.

Our puppets are primarily rod and hand puppets. Past venues include The Brooklyn Children's Museum, The Brooklyn Lyceum, The Peter Jay Sharp Children's Glade in Central Park, The Museum of Jewish Heritage, The Marymount School, United Nations School, Nightingale Bamford School, The Brooklyn Lyceum, Kane Street Synagogue, over forty branches of the New York Public Library, and homes throughout the NY area.

Director Anna Sobel has been a professional puppeteer since 1998. She was employed as a puppeteer for Kids on the Block for three years and Blue Sky Puppet Theatre for two years. In 2003 she was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study puppetry in India as a tool for social change and education. She spent nine months in India and founded Talking Hands Theatre on her return to New York in 2004.

In addition to performing, Sobel worked as a teaching artist in public schools all over New York through Shadowbox Theatre and Brooklyn Arts Council. In 2008 she was honored as the Laura Adasko Lenzner artist in residence at the Bank Street School for Children. After completing her BA at Wesleyan University, she went on to study literacy and early childhood education at Bank Street College and now also holds a master's degree in educational theatre from N.Y.U.