The Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater is celebrating 79 years! It was established as a puppet theater in 1947. We are located in Balboa Park, San Diego, California.
The Puppet Theater, originally called the Hollywood Building, then the Palisades Building, was one of the buildings constructed for the California Pacific International Exposition of 1935-36. The Exposition was organized to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal. The theater still runs weekly live performances for thousands of guests each year with various forms of puppetry, and showcases performers from all over.
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The Freddy Show!
February 28 and March 1
Saturday and Sunday Only!
Get ready for Comedy, let’s go go go GO, it’s The Freddy Show!!
It’s Back! Better than Ever! (At least Freddy hopes,) in this show ANYTHING could happen Music, Lights, Hero’s, Eaten by a Lion! …wait wha!?
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Gee Golliest: It's The Very Dolliest!
March 6-8
Mother Sandwich is bedridden, and has invited her brother, Uncle Ham, to help look after the enormous Sandwich Family Mansion. Petrix wanted to look after the house herself, but she and her poppets keep getting lost in the walls, halls, basements, and attics. Uncle Ham shows them how the strange house is put together and they learn that cleaning and helping is much easier if you ask the right people for help. He knew her grandparents very well; they taught him everything he knows!
Join Petrix and her poppets as she and Dolly catch ghosts and set them free, find buried treasure, and learn more about their strange roots of their family tree!
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Dolly's Birthday Party!
March 13-15
Dolly Esper was born on Friday the 13th! Unlucky for some, but for her, it's when she gets to meet new people, see old friends, and grow up just a tiny bit!
Maulina the singing snake has promised to conduct the audience to sing the most amazing rendition of 'Happy Birthday' ever. Vicki and Jamie, the Dino Brothers, are coming to play games, and the host is her best friend, Petrix the Clown, who hopes her surprise gift this year will be a hit.
Come a little early so you can make Dolly a birthday card! She loves them more than anything!
And look out on the Calendar, as Dolly celebrates her birthday EVERY Friday the 13th!
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Steve Taylor Magical Ventriloquist
March 21 & 22
11am and 2pm ONLY!
Magic Castle Performer Steve Taylor Brings His Family Comedy Act To The Balboa Park Puppet Theater
Marie Hitchcock's apprentice and frequent Magic Castle performer Steve Taylor returns to The Marie Hitchcock Balboa Park Puppet Theater with his "Magical Ventriloquist Show" for a fourth straight year to celebrate family-friendly comedy! Tickets are now available for this special event being performed Saturday and Sunday March 21 and 22, 2026 at 11am and 2pm each day.
Perfect for the whole family, audiences will once again be enchanted by the antics of Steve and his puppets performing eye-popping magic, including ventriloquist dummies Rudy O'Riley, Pokey O'Possum and Alli the Crooning Crocodile. Additionally, Steve will invite several unsuspecting audience members to join him on stage and to their surprise, they will wow and amaze the attendees with funny feats of legerdermain. Plus, one of Steve's popular "Magical Marionettes" will make a guest appearance.
Milt Larsen, cofounder of The Magic Castle in Hollywood, comedically said, "Ventriloquism is an illusion to the ear, and magic is an illusion to eye, so when a performer like Steve does both, one's head could explode!" Although Steve is ensuring no "heads will
explode," he will be bringing a family-friendly comedy show that combines both magic and ventriloquism, where the ventriloquist dummies actually perform the magic themselves.
Magical Ventriloquist Steve Taylor has been delighting and enchanting audiences for over 55 years nationwide and has been a featured performer at Disneyland, on Comedy Central, on America's Got Talent, and at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. His
"Magical Ventriloquism" features the same clever and comical shenanigans that his San Diego audiences have come to love from his comedy "Magical Marionettes." Remember, you can trust a "Taylor" to keep you in "Stitches!"
Tickets for this captivating comedy cavalcade March 21 and 22 are $10/per person, ($7 for military and seniors, plus discounts for large groups) and are available at the door or in advance at the theater's website, BalboaParkPuppets.com.
Appropriate for ages 3 to 103. Each performance will last approximately 40 minutes. Box office and doors open 10 minutes prior to each performance.
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