Ruby & Charlie - Puppetopia 2026 - February 20th 2026

To love and be loved, to be in a couple or to have a partner?

The exhausting search for the other half, and am I the complete package?

It is widely believed that being in a couple or getting married is synonymous with success or with progress. We do everything to achieve it and the most complex things to sustain it, even at the expense of our well being. This may be a consequence of an education based on parameters of religion, that overlooks or ignores self love as the axis of our upbringing and our performance in adult life. If we were mentally healthier individuals, perhaps we would have more solid relationships or perhaps not.

Experiencing Ruby & Charlie, delighting in the piece and writing this review is a great privilege. It is attending a master class in history and learning from the best. It is sighing with tears and feeling elated with the firm hope that theater, this magical living art and in this case puppetry, not only represents life itself but also documents it while transforming it.We will begin to describe our great night of Puppetopia at Here Arts Center, which must be mentioned that with this being our third night in the space, we will dare to say that it has exquisite curation. Here is magic, Here is fine living art chosen and made by true professionals for and within reach of everyone. Without a doubt, one of our great discoveries of this year when speaking of cultural spaces.

A full house with a measured festive atmosphere, like attending a celebration. And why not? Attending the theater is a celebration of life.

The downstairs space or The Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, is a cozy black box with a capacity of 63. Once seated we observe in front of us a table with a vintage valve radio and on the left side of the audience, the instruments that will make that radio sound. The lights go out. The performers appear giving life to Charlie and performing live the music of the great Ray Charles, which will be the soundtrack of our story. A story without words that says everything.

45 minutes to the rhythm of soul, blues, jazz and swing. Of course, if we are going to dance we need a partner and what a partner. Ruby makes her entrance on stage, the missing piece for this story of two. A danced story, a love story, a coexistence that breaks due to routine and gender patterns, a humanity that reconciles and reinvents itself in love.

We lived this banquet of emotions led by two small wooden pieces, articulated on a table, using the tabletop puppetry technique. Six great artists, totally synchronized, impeccable and passionate puppeteers have given them life. They are Victor Ayala, Tau Bennett, Maria Camia, Monica Lerch, Kayta Thomas and Ash Winkfield, under the direction of Jessica Simon and the wonderful live music of Jordyn Davis, Jeremiah Flack and Milton Suggs. They made us travel, dream, cook, fight, cry, miss, love, forgive and above all, dance to the rhythm of Soul.

Although the story takes place in the 50s in what could be Georgia or Harlem or anywhere in the US, Ruby & Charlie is a universal and contemporary piece that will continue conquering hearts and teaching us that love is what moves us. Love is the greatest and most transformative force of our humanity.

Thank you, Jessica Simon & Co. Here you can see the work, the rehearsal hours and the mileage. Ruby & Charlie is a piece of the living art of puppetry, it is a danced reverie that educates and transforms.

By the way, the piece does not end with the characters. It culminates with the “One Song Dance Party” inviting the audience on stage to celebrate with the performers, giving us that bit of joyful congregation that we all need.