Handmade, locally-sourced Mask & Puppet Theater rooted in NY’s Hudson River Valley
Arm-of-the-Sea fuses visual storytelling with live music in original works of mask and puppet theater. Founded in 1982 by Marlena Marallo and Patrick Wadden, the company channels the evocative power of the arts as a force for insight & community uplift. Much of their work explores relations between humans and the life-support networks of this blue-ocean planet.
Arm-of-the-Sea offers programs, workshops, and performances to schools, festivals and cultural centers in the Tri-State region.
Arm-of-the-Sea Theater tours to cultural centers, festivals, parks, and schools throughout the Northeast USA.
Check out the show schedule:
The Tidewater Center is Arm-of-the-Sea’s home base and an incubator for new theater work. From May-September, the Tidewater Center offers performances, workshops and activities.
Summer Programs at the Tidewater Center
Our creative arts & science camp available for ages 8-13 in June and August 2025. Creek activities, arts, music and theater!
Learn Arm-of-the-Sea’s signature theater style in this puppet arts intensive with live performances at the Tidewater Center. Ages 16+, August 11-17
Scenes from our 2022 show ONE BLUE SKY.
RIPARIAN RHAPSODY, one of our current touring shows about how the Forest Sings to the Stream and the importance of streamside buffer zones.
OUR 2025 SEASON SPONSORS:
Government Support:
~The State of New York – including NYS DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program, the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, and NYS Council on the Arts, with support of the Governor and the NYS Legislature; ~ The Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area; ~ The County of Ulster’s Ulster County Cultural Services and Promotion Fund, administered by Arts Mid-Hudson;
Business & Civic Sponsors include:
Naccarato Insurance, Woodstock Chimes Fund, Stewart's Shops, Price Chopper's Golub Foundation, Town & Country Liquors, Steve Hubbard Real Estate Services, Kiwanis Club of Saugerties , and Ulster Savings Bank.
Private Foundations:
Laura Jane Musser Fund ~ NoVo Foundation ~ Upstate Coalition for a Fair Game ~ Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley ~ Malcolm Gordon Charitable Trust ~ Klock Kingston Foundation ~ Villchur Foundation
We thank our generous and numerous Individual Donors.
Arm-of-the-Sea Theater is committed to making artistic productions accessible to all residents of New York State and to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice through its programming and practices.
We believe Live Theater contributes to community well-being. And that such Theater must be accessible for many ages and walks of life. To make that possible, we partner with funders and arts presenters so that most performances are offered FREE TO THE PUBLIC.
