Ramon Abad's Puppetry

Ramon Abad (he/his) is a Filipino American puppeteer, artist, and teacher based in San Francisco, CA - unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land.

Since the mid 90s to present day he has performed solo puppet shows at Bay Area Filipino American festivals and events. His current puppet booth project Tito Ramon’s Pop-Up Puppet Show was the first puppet show performed at Kapwa Gardens post Covid-19 lock-down. Since 2021, Ramon has been a resident artist of Balay Kreative Studio, a collective of Filipino American artists based in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco.

He was a shadow puppeteer and maker with Larry Reed’s ShadowLight Productions and was in Wayang Listrik that toured in the Jim Henson International Puppetry Festival. As a company member of the premier Filipino American sketch comedy troupe tongue in A mood, Ramon has made and performed with puppets on countless skits at Bindlestiff Studio.

Ramon’s first solo art installation show “Mabuhay, Friend!” ran from October to November 2023 at the gallery of the San Francisco Arts Education Project inside the Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco. A series of interactive sculptures or “puppets” were designed to encourage gallery visitors to touch, move and play with the artwork directly.

He has directed in-person stage plays and online shows using puppetry. Ramon has led puppetry residencies in the US and the UK. As a workshop leader, he seeks to engage all communities to explore modern puppetry regardless of age, background and skill set.