Atlanta Ventriloquist Allison Wonders Bringing Puppet-Fueled Chaos To Fringe Festival

Atlanta performer Allison Wonders has built a comedy show where puppets spiral into existential crises, audience interactions can go completely off the rails and ventriloquism becomes part stand-up act, part theatrical experiment.

Now, she’s bringing that chaos to the 2026 Atlanta Fringe Festival.

“The Allison Wonders Show,” an adults-only solo production blending comedy, character work and ventriloquism, will appear during this year’s festival run across Atlanta. The show features Wonders performing alongside seven original puppet characters and more than 10 voices in a performance that leans heavily into improvisation and unpredictability.

“Imagine if Carol Burnett met Jeff Dunham on Avenue Q,” Wonders said. “That’s kind of the energy.”

The Atlanta-based performer said the production explores themes ranging from “the voices in our heads” to cosmic advice and puppet identity crises, while shifting between heartfelt storytelling and deliberately absurd comedy.

Wonders didn’t originally set out to become a ventriloquist. She said the idea for a one-woman comedy show first came after seeing Lily Tomlin’s “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.”

“I loved the idea that one person could command an entire stage and create their own opportunities,” she said.

Years later, during a stand-up set in 2019, she brought a puppet onstage almost as an experiment.

“I realized if I stopped moving my mouth, I could actually do this,” she said. “That moment changed everything.”

Since debuting the show in 2021, Wonders has toured nationally, performing in small venues, private homes and comedy spaces around the country. Later this year, she is also scheduled to perform in New York as part of the Solo United Festival.

Outside of performing, Wonders has spent decades working in arts education in Atlanta, including as assistant director of Circus Camp. She also previously created and starred in the North Georgia children’s television program “Ladida’s Room.”

Today, she works as a speaker coach, helping clients develop TEDx talks, keynote speeches and solo stage productions.

The 2026 Atlanta Fringe Festival runs May 27 through June 7 at venues across the city.