Puppet Masters: Hollywood’s Beloved Marionette Theater Pulls Strings Back Into Zeitgeist

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater performs at Coachella in 2026.

Bob Baker Marionette Theater

"The mere fact that Bob Baker exists brings our community together," Brie Larson says of the historic Bob Baker troupe.

June 16, 2026

Not long ago, Hollywood’s beloved Bob Baker Marionette Theater was hanging on by a thread. In the final decades of its eponymous founder’s life — he died in 2014, at the age of 90 — the puppetry organization was in perpetual dire financial straits, its longtime downtown L.A. playhouse in decay, particularly as the rise of CGI sapped its workshop’s film and TV gigs.