A band of puppet ghouls rises from a graveyard set at the Center for Puppetry Arts this October, and this year the Midtown Atlanta venue is throwing them a party. The Ghastly Dreadfuls, the center's 18-and-older horror-puppet anthology, runs October 7 through Halloween night, marking 20 years since the show first premiered in 2006.
To mark the milestone, the Center for Puppetry Arts has scheduled A Ghastly and Ghoulish Affair for October 31, a Halloween night event featuring a costume contest, a retrospective puppet exhibit, and a party, according to the Center for Puppetry Arts. Every ticket to that closing-night event includes museum access and a drink ticket, the center notes. As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, the show is a horror-story anthology for adult puppetry fans built around gothic costumes, multiple puppetry styles, music, humor and scares, staged at the center's home at 1404 Spring St. NW with tickets priced at $29.
Two Decades of Dreadfuls Rising From the Graveyard
Jason Hines, who directs The Ghastly Dreadfuls and serves as the Center for Puppetry Arts' artistic director, said the production is bringing back veteran Dreadfuls this year specifically to mark the 20-year milestone, per the AJC's reporting. The show centers on a troupe of puppet Dreadfuls who rise from a graveyard each night, complete with a bar at the performance for the 18-and-up crowd. Jon Ludwig and Hines are associated with the production.
That literary deep dive paid off two decades later: in 2012, The Ghastly Dreadfuls was awarded the Citation of Excellence by UNIMA-USA, an honor given jointly to Ludwig and Hines that is widely considered the highest national honor in American puppetry, per the World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts. The show combines adult humor with marionettes, shadow, hand, rod and tabletop puppetry.
A Cast That Writes Its Own Ghost Stories
The current cast includes Kristin Storla, Jeremy Speed Schwartz, Ben Shirley, T.T. Mahony, Evan Hill Phillips, Reay Maxwell and Greg Hunter, per the AJC. Spencer Stephens previously played Darkly Dreadful, singing and playing music in earlier performances. Cast members play their own live instruments, including theremin, cello and violin.
Reay Maxwell, who joined the cast in 2008, told the AJC she has performed in nearly every production of the show during her career with the company. Kristin Haverty was an original cast member who left the performance cast in 2021. Evan Hill Phillips joined the cast in 2024.
From Phantom Trains to Sing-Alongs
One of the show's signature recurring vignettes, The 11:59, is based on Patricia C. McKissack's short story about a former Pullman porter who hears the ominous whistle of a phantom train, according to the Midtown Alliance. The show also includes songs, humor and a silly graveyard dance.
For its 2026 run, the center also introduced A Ghastly Ectoplasmic Encounter, a VIP experience offering behind-the-scenes access, a cast meet-and-greet, signed artwork and priority seating, according to a Center for Puppetry Arts Facebook post. That package requires a direct phone reservation due to limited availability.
A Stage With National Puppetry Pedigree
The backdrop for all this graveyard theater carries serious institutional weight. The Center for Puppetry Arts was founded in Atlanta in 1978 by Vincent Anthony. It has since grown into the largest non-profit organization in the United States dedicated solely to puppetry.
In November 2015, the center opened its Worlds of Puppetry Museum expansion, supported by a campaign that raised more than $14 million. The museum houses the world's most extensive collection of Jim Henson puppets and artifacts, as Rough Draft Atlanta reported at the time. The Henson family selected the Center to receive the bulk of its collection. The center is the headquarters of UNIMA-USA.
With tickets running through Halloween night and the anniversary party capping the run on October 31, The Ghastly Dreadfuls remains one of the more unusual ways Atlanta adults can spend a fright night this fall.
