The Train Theater initiated the Festival in 1983. Since 2001 the Festival has become an annual event, taking place every August in Jerusalem.

This year the 20th edition of the festival took place during August 14-19, 2011.
Read what's written about the Festival in the media - here, and more: here.

The Festival selects performances based on variety, quality and relevance, and have hosted many artists known for their contribution to the field of puppetry and Visual Theater. During the years, the Festival has become the primal source of creation and inspiration in the field of Puppet Theater in Israel.

The Festival's program is designated mainly for audience of children and the whole family, but includes performances for adults as well. The program of the 2011 festival included 38 different productions with approximately 100 shows:

The best of Israeli creation:
Performances of the Train Theater's repertoire as well as other Israeli artists.
The program includes a panoramic window to the young original Israeli creation with "SABRA" - an evening of works of students from the School of Visual Theater in Jerusalem.

Foreign productions:
This year the Festival hosted 10 shows from different countries - Peru, France, USA, Bulgaria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic.

An International Exposure for Puppet Festival Directors from all around the world, took place as a part of the festival. Among the attending countries were The Netherlands, Germany, France, USA, Latvia, Slovenia, and more...

a project that deals with art and community, through the combination of theater performances and guided tours for children and for adults. The dialogue between artists from the field of puppetry and Visual Theater and the environment close to the festival location continued this year, with tour-shows in the alleys of Yemin Moshe neighborhood.

Table Tales:
A Tribute to the Train Theater on its 30th Birthday
The Train Theater leaves the hall to be mixed into the community with street-shows, thus keeps exposing the audience to a unique, fresh and surprising creation.
The project took place in Mahane Yehuda market and Nachlaot neighborhood.