As part of its Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host four forum events on Wednesdays in September through December at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle in Storrs Center.
The Fall Puppet Forum schedule includes:
September 23: Margarita Blush: “Unfolding the Story”
Join Puppet Arts Program Assistant Professor Margarita Blush in a discussion about the creation of her new international production Unfolding, which is being presented at the Ballard Institute September 18-20 and 25-27. For this original puppet production a diverse group of artists have come together to create a work delving into the themes of women’s wisdom and empowerment. The show features hand-crafted puppets, live acting, unique design, and original music.
October 28: Professor Sumarsam: “Javanese Puppet Theater and the West”
Javanase musician and scholar Sumarsam of Wesleyan University talks about the hybrid nature of Javanese wayang kulit shadow theater in the context of his fascinating new book, Javanese Gamelan and the West. Professor Sumarsam’s work analyzes the adaptations in gamelan art as a result of Western colonialism in nineteenth-century Java, showing how Western musical and dramatic practices were domesticated by Javanese performers to create hybrid Javanese-Western art forms, such as with the introduction of brass bands in traditional court music and western theatrical idioms in contemporary wayang puppet plays.
November 18: Tim Hunter, Samantha Olschan, and Honey Goodenough: “Puppetry and Digital Performance in Boston Hospitals”
Join us in a discussion of the exciting contemporary intersections of puppetry, digital performance, and medicine as we focus on two projects currently underway at Boston Children’s Hospital: the Interactive Media Wall designed by Professors Tim Hunter, Samanthan Olschan, and others in UConn’s Digital Media & Design Department, and the work puppeteer Honey Goodenough has been doing with the hospital’s Simulator Program.
December 2: Ines Zeller Bass and Eric Bass: “Sandglass Theater, from Thought to Image”
In conjunction with their retrospective exhibition at the Ballard Institute, Eric and Ines Zeller Bass describe their creation process with multiple collaborators over the past thirty years of Sandglass Theater productions. Marking the trajectory of this famed Vermont puppet company, Eric and Ines will trace Sandglass’ development from more dreamlike pieces to characters and themes strongly rooted in a more recognizable Vermont world, even as the puppets themselves remain metaphorical.
Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. Come early, and experience our puppet exhibitions, as well as the video resources in our library nook. This forum will also be live-streamed on our UStream page: http://ustre.am/15REP.