Month: July 2016

“Luminary” by Ana Craciun-Lambru on 7/30 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

As part of its popular Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows for family audiences by UConn Puppet Arts students, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will present Luminary by UConn Puppet Arts MFA student Ana Crăciun-Lambru on Saturday, July 30 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., at the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT.

Luminary is the tale of a second chance! When humankind takes the world for granted, Raven, its supreme creator, hides the Sun. His daughter, Little Darkness, sets on a quest to bring back the light to the world. Join a rogue storyteller on a journey of light and shadow, found objects, and empowering adventures!

Ana Crăciun-Lambru is a Romanian puppeteer, actress, and director currently living in the United States. In Romania, she worked as a freelance puppeteer and actress since 2007. Her work included commedia dell’arte and puppet theatre performances, and she collaborated with dancers from the National Bucharest Opera in various contemporary dance productions. In 2013 Ana participated with her group, Uninvented Theatre, in Romania’s Got Talent and brought new ideas to the local puppetry scene. In the United States Ana performed in Goblin Market (Connecticut Repertory Theatre) and in The Puppetmaster of Lodz (UConn Dramatic Arts Department). Other credits include: shadow master for Band of the Black Hand (Connecticut Repertory Theatre), puppeteer for L’enfant et les sortilèges, Noah’s Ark, and Hansel and Gretel (UConn Opera), puppeteer for Puppets Take the Pops (Boston Pops Orchestra), dancer and puppeteer for Gladys-A life of Confinement (Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry), and creator and performer for her Master of Fine Arts project Dust(Connecticut Repertory Theatre).

Ana is a graduate of the I.L. Caragiale Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography in Bucharest, Romania and is currently a MFA degree candidate in the Puppet Arts Graduate Program at the University of Connecticut through a Fulbright Scholarship.

The final Summertime Saturday Puppet Show by UConn Puppet Arts students will be:

August 6 – Superheroes, Villains, and Spaceships, Oh My!–The Return by Anatar Marmol-Gagné and Zach Broome: Anatar Marmol-Gagné & Zach Broome bring you a fantastical tale of intergalactic battles between good and evil.

Admission is $6 for children (12 years and under), $8 for adults.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, by phone at 860.486.8580, or online at http://bimp.ticketleap.com/. A surcharge will be added to any purchases made online. Tickets may also be purchased at the Ballard Institute on the day of performance starting at 10 a.m. There will be a limited number of seats. For more information about these performances, call 860.486.8580.

Free Museum Tour and Talk at the Ballard Institute before Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the Town Square on 7/29

As part of its Moonlight Movies series, the Mansfield Downtown Partnership will offer a free screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Friday, July 29. Activities begin at 7 p.m. and the movie begins at dusk on the Mansfield Town Square.

The Ballard Institute will join in the fun with extended museum hours and a free guided tour at 7 p.m. of our current exhibits, The Bureau of Small Requests: Puppetry and Animation of Laura Heit and The World of Puppetry: From the Collections of the Ballard Institute. Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr., Director of UConn’s Puppet Arts Program, will talk about the use of puppets in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in a special pre-film presentation entitled “Return of the Puppets” at the Ballard Institute. The discussion is free, open to the public, and begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater.

For more information about this event, visit https://www.downtownstorrs.org/calendar/.

“Victoria’s Not So Bedtime Story” by Shane McNeal and Krista Weltner

As part of its popular Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows for family audiences by UConn Puppet Arts students, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present Victoria’s Not So Bedtime Story by UConn Puppet Arts MFA students Shane McNeal and Krista Weltner on Saturday, July 23 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., at the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT.

In Victoria’s Not So Bedtime Story, two sisters, Victoria and Margaret, don’t always get along, but when the goal is avoiding bedtime, there is no end to what this dynamic duo will do. Come watch several stories unfold, including The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, The Clockmaker and the Elves, and The House That Jack Built.

me on stairsShane McNeal, a third-year MFA candidate in the UConn Puppet Arts Program and native of Bristol, CT has been interested in the art of puppetry for well over a decade. Coming from a background in early childhood education, McNeal has always enjoyed entertaining children of all ages with puppets and storytelling. Over the last two years, McNeal has acted as a puppeteer in several projects, including the children’s television pilot of Treeples and in Hartford’s annual performances of Night Fall and Envision Fest. More recently, he performed in ECHO, the UConn Puppet Arts MFA puppet production by Christopher D. Mullens; and assisted with creating, designing, and performing a puppet production with the Boston Pops in this May. McNeal also performed Canteen Tales: Quest for the Golden Spork as part of the 2016 Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series.

KristaWeltnerHeadshotUConn Puppet Arts MFA candidate Krista Weltner was recently seen performing in a UConn Puppet Arts and Boston Pops collaboration called Puppets Take The Pops. She also completed a stop-motion animated short film entitled Partially Compensated, which she presented this past semester in partial completion of her MFA degree. Last summer she performed in Reverse Cascade at the Puppeteers of America National Puppetry Festival and the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Upcoming Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows by UConn Puppet Arts students include:

July 30 – Luminary by Ana Crăciun-Lambru: Luminary is the tale of a second chance! When humankind takes the world for granted, Raven, its supreme creator, hides the Sun. His daughter, Little Darkness, sets on a quest to bring back the light to the world. Join a rogue storyteller on a journey of light and shadow, found objects and empowering adventures!

August 6 – Superheroes, Villains, and Spaceships, Oh My!–The Return by Anatar Marmol-Gagné and Zach Broome: Anatar Marmol-Gagné & Zach Broome bring you a fantastical tale of intergalactic battles between good and evil.

Admission is $6 for children (12 years and under), $8 for adults.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, by phone at 860.486.8580, or online at http://bimp.ticketleap.com/. A surcharge will be added to any purchases made online. Tickets may also be purchased at the Ballard Institute on the day of performance starting at 10 a.m. There will be a limited number of seats. For more information about these performances, call 860.486.8580.

“The Wonderful World of Wonder” by Gavin Cummins and Gwendolyn Rooker on 7/16 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

As part of its popular Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows for family audiences by UConn Puppet Arts students, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present The Wonderful World of Wonder by UConn Puppet Arts MFA student Gavin Cummins and Philadelphia-based artist and musician Gwendolyn Rooker on Saturday, July 16 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., at the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT.

The Wonderful World of Wonder bridges the gap between the weird and wonderful. Join the water bear on its MacGuffin-fueled international game of hide and seek! Experience a crustacean’s unseeable art gallery by the lake on the bottom of the ocean! Discover how a corpse flower finds love! This show is guaranteed to be educational and entertaining!

GavinCumminsHeadshotSmallerDuring his three years of study at UConn’s Puppet Arts Program, Gavin Cummins has worked as a Graduate Assistant at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry. He is delighted to once again be part of the Summertime Saturday Puppet Show series, while also serving as technical assistant for the entire project. He has previously performed George and Martha and The Nature of Nature at the Ballard Institute. Gavin began puppeteering in Seattle, and has presented works as a puppet slam performer across the country, including at La Mama Theater, Puppet Showplace Theater, and the 2013 National Puppet Slam. He is the founder of the Salmagundi Puppet Cabaret at the Ballard Institute and the Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam in Seattle. In 2015 he was named an Emerging Artist at the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Gavin recently presented his MFA production Ok, Love You, Bye as part of the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s MFA Puppet Arts Festival.

GwendolynRookerGwendolyn Rooker is an actor, clown, writer, and musician who holds a Certificate of Training from the Dell‘Arte International School of Physical Theatre. As a volunteer for Clowns Without Borders, Gwen shares laughter with children whose communities are in crisis in Egypt, Sudan, Colombia, Kenya, Haiti, and the U.S. She has worked for Brat Productions as a puppeteer in Haunted Poe, as a sassy singer in Three Chord Fiction, and as Dagoo in Moby Dick Rehearsed. She is one of the Six Lady Dancers for singer Johnny Showcase, has appeared in Shakespeare in Clarke Park’s productions of Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Upcoming Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows by UConn Puppet Arts students include:

July 23 – Victoria’s Not So Bedtime Story by Krista Weltner and Shane McNeal: Two sisters, Victoria and Margaret, don’t always get along, but when the goal is avoiding bedtime, there is no end to what this dynamic duo will do. Come watch several stories unfold, including The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, The Clockmaker and the Elves, and The House That Jack Built.

July 30 – Luminary by Ana Crăciun-Lambru: Luminary is the tale of a second chance! When humankind takes the world for granted, Raven, its supreme creator, hides the Sun. His daughter, Little Darkness, sets on a quest to bring back the light to the world. Join a rogue storyteller on a journey of light and shadow, found objects and empowering adventures!

August 6 – Superheroes, Villains, and Spaceships, Oh My!–The Return by Anatar Marmol-Gagné and Zach Broome: Anatar Marmol-Gagné & Zach Broome bring you a fantastical tale of intergalactic battles between good and evil.

Admission is $6 for children (12 years and under), $8 for adults.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, by phone at 860.486.8580, or online at http://bimp.ticketleap.com/. A surcharge will be added to any purchases made online. Tickets may also be purchased at the Ballard Institute on the day of performance starting at 10 a.m. There will be a limited number of seats. For more information about these performances, visit bimp.uconn.edu or call 860.486.8580.

“Jacks in the Box” by Mark Blashford on 7/9 at 11 a.m. and 2p.m.

BlashfordImageSmallerAs part of its popular Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows for family audiences by UConn Puppet Arts students, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present Jacks in the Box by UConn Puppet Arts MFA student Mark Blashford on Saturday, July 9 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT.

Jacks in the Box is a one-man puppet show starring the Appalachian folk hero Jack. Two suitcases and an old steamer trunk provide the backdrop for three distinct Jack tales featuring different styles of puppetry. This show for all ages offers a unique opportunity for an audience to be a part of the development process of Blashford’s Master of Fine Arts’ project in puppetry, Jack and Jill, which will use elements of this show and premiere in April 2017.

Upcoming Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows by UConn Puppet Arts students include:

July 16 – The Wonderful World of Wonder by Gavin Cummins: Discover the world of creatures impossible to see, yet who live in this blue marble we call earth. Sea crabs, corpse flowers, and water bears, oh my!

July 23 – Victoria’s Not So Bedtime Story by Krista Weltner and Shane McNeal: Two sisters, Victoria and Margaret, don’t always get along, but when the goal is avoiding bedtime, there is no end to what this dynamic duo will do. Come watch several stories unfold, including The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, The Clockmaker and the Elves, and The House That Jack Built.

July 30 – Luminary by Ana Crăciun-Lambru: Luminary is the tale of a second chance! When humankind takes the world for granted, Raven, its supreme creator, hides the Sun. His daughter, Little Darkness, sets on a quest to bring back the light to the world. Join a rogue storyteller on a journey of light and shadow, found objects and empowering adventures!

August 6 – Superheroes, Villains, and Spaceships, Oh My!–The Return by Anatar Marmol-Gagné and Zach Broome: Anatar Marmol-Gagné & Zach Broome bring you a fantastical tale of intergalactic battles between good and evil.

Admission is $6 for children (12 years and under), $8 for adults.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, by phone at 860.486.8580, or online at http://bimp.ticketleap.com/. A surcharge will be added to any purchases made online. Tickets may also be purchased at the Ballard Institute on the day of performance starting at 10 a.m. There will be a limited number of seats. For more information about these performances, call 860.486.8580.