Month: April 2014

Puppet Forum with Roman Paska on April 30, “The Quintessence of Puppetry”

We invite you to join us on Wednesday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the new Ballard Institute at Storrs Center for our next Spring Puppet Forum event with Roman Paska titled “The Quintessence of Puppetry.”

Internationally acclaimed puppeteer, director, and writer Roman Paska discusses his work for live performance and film, as well as his theoretical writings about the nature of puppet performance.

Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. Come early, and experience our three new puppet exhibitions in our new Storrs Center home, as well as the video resources inour library nook. This forum will also be live-streamed on our UStream page. Visit bimp.uconn.edu for more information.

Puppet Forum on April 16 with Richard Termine, “Puppets Through the Lens: Photography and the Performing Object”

We invite you to join us this Wednesday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the new Ballard Institute at Storrs Center for our next Spring Puppet Forum event with Richard Termine titled “Puppets Through the Lens: Photography and the Performing Object.”

Acclaimed photographer and UConn Puppet Arts graduate Richard Termine will discuss the dynamics of capturing puppet performance via the camera, and his photographs in the current Ballard Institute exhibition devoted to his work.

Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. Come early, and experience our three new puppet exhibitions in our new Storrs Center home, as well as the video resources in our library nook. This forum will also be live-streamed on our UStream page. Visit bimp.uconn.edu for more information.

Puppet Forum Wednesday, April 9: Radical Guiñol in Post-Revolutionary Mexico

We invite you to join us this Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the new Ballard Institute at Storrs Center for our next Spring Puppet Forum event with Dr. Robert S. Herr titled “Puppets at the Vanguard:  The Strident Voice and Radical Politics of Mexico’s Post-Revolutionary Teatro Guiñol.”  This forum is co-sponsored by El Instituto: UConn’s Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean and Latin American Studies.

Dr. Robert S. Herr, from Dartmouth College’s Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies Program, will discuss the nature of 1920s and 30s activist puppet theater in Mexico, when artists, teachers and state officials collaborated to stage educational plays in working class neighborhoods and rural communities in an effort to foster revolutionary citizens.

Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served.  Come early, and experience our three new puppet exhibitions in our new Storrs Center home, as well as the video resources in our library nook. This forum will also be live-streamed on our UStream page.  Visit bimp.uconn.edu for more information.

“Tito’s Dream” at the Ballard Institute Performance Space, April 4-5

We invite you to see Tito’s Dream, a work-in-progress production at the new Ballard Institute devised by UConn Guest Professor Carlos Garcia, Paulo Serantes, and several graduate and undergraduate students from the UConn School of Fine Arts, including Puppet Arts graduate student Anna Fitzgerald, who will be performing puppetry elements of the production.  Tito’s Dream will be performed this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in our new theater space.  For tickets:

FRI  4 APR at 7PM (reservations: (860)486-8580)
SAT 5 APR at 8PM (reservations: (860)486-2113)
SAT 5 APR at 10PM (reservations: (860)486-2113)

Carlos Garcia writes: “Tito’s Dream is a collection of short poems that describe the poetic journey of a boy (Tito) searching for his mother who left forever.  Tito, naively believing that his mother moved to the moon, confronts many elements as he tries to reach her.  He will also feel the pain of saying goodbye to his childhood friend, Paulina.  This journey is an allegory of the passage from childhood to adulthood.

Cast: Darek Burkowski, Posy Knight, James Jelkin and Sarah Jensen

Puppetry: Anna Fitgerald

Music: Nick Trautman, Michael Albaine

Drawings: Kayla Blanchard

Costumes: Pat Ubaldi

Production: UCONN, Scott Ripley and Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry

Directed by Carlos García Estévez

Assistant Director: Paulo Serantes

at Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppertry, Storrs (CT)

Punto en el cielo

Go beyond the space,
get here.
Go beyond the time,
get now.
The here and now
is a beautiful star,
punto en el cielo
con ojos azules como la vida!

Little point,
there is no time, no space
but only here and now…
-pure state of an emotion-
Then sleep! Beyond it…
in that point
where you dream!

Tito’s Dream, 2nd Poem

Carlos García Estévez