“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.