The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present the grand opening of Object, Image, Text: The Bread & Puppet Press and Frank Ballard’s Marionette Modernism: Peer Gynt and The Love for Three Oranges, on Saturday, October 22, 2016, with refreshments served at 4:00 p.m. and free tours of both exhibitions at 4:30 p.m. All events will take place at the Ballard Institute, located at 1 Royce Circle in Storrs, Connecticut.

Object, Image, Text: The Bread & Puppet Press will feature an integral element of Bread & Puppet Theater director Peter Schumann’s prodigious artistic output: the production of pamphlets, books, posters, and book-like constructions that have complemented his dynamic Bread & Puppet shows since the 1960s. The tour of this exhibition on October 22, 2016 will be led by Peter Schumann.

Frank Ballard’s Marionette Modernism: Peer Gynt and The Love for Three Oranges will be a striking exposition of Frank Ballard’s life-long passion for the artistic possibilities of string marionettes as it emerged in his spectacular versions of two modernist classics: Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, with music by Edvard Grieg; and Gozzi’s The Love for Three Oranges, set to music by Sergei Prokofiev. Dr. John Bell, Director of the Ballard Institute, will lead the tour of this exhibition at the grand opening.

As part of our Fall Puppet Forum Series, on Wednesday, November 16 at 7 p.m., Max Schumann (Executive Director, Printed Matter) and Clare Dolan (Chief Operating Philosopher, Museum of Everyday Life) in Vermont, will discuss the work of Bread & Puppet Press. On Wednesday, December 7 at 7 p.m., Steven Brezzo (President, Opar, Inc.), Fred Thompson (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center), and Steve Abrams (Editor, Puppetry Journal) will reflect on Frank Ballard’s work in marionette theater. These forums will be live streamed via Facebook Live.

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