The Ballard Institute will be closed on Tuesday, July 4. The museum will reopen for regular business hours on Wednesday, July 5. Happy 4th of July!
Month: June 2017
“Punch & Jilly” by Mark Blashford on 7/8 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
As part of its popular Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series of new works by UConn Puppet Arts students and alumni for family audiences, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will present Punch & Jilly by Puppet Arts MFA student Mark Blashford on Saturday, July 8 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs Center.
Punch & Jilly is a rollicking hand-puppet spectacle performed in the British Punch & Judy show tradition with a Connecticut Yankee twist. Mr. Punch the trickster is back again, and this time he is joined by a stubborn dairy cow named Jilly. Watch Punch and Jilly look after a baby, escape a crocodile, outsmart the Devil, and cause all sorts of mischief. Judy will be there too! How will she deal with all of the tomfoolery this time? This show is for ages 5+.
Mark Blashford is an actor, puppeteer, and musician from Pennsylvania. His recent stage credits include: Band of the Black Hand, Twelfth Night, and Peter and the Starcatcher at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre; and Jack & Jill, the culminating project for his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Puppet Arts Program, which he performed at the Ballard Institute Theater and on the Betsy Paterson Town Square in Storrs earlier this spring. Blashford has worked on several UConn Puppet Arts productions including Ancestral, Treeples, El Beto, and Puppets Take the Pops! with the Boston Pops. Mark has also performed at Hartford’s March of Dimes, Envision Fest, and in Anne Cubberly’s Night Fall.
You can learn more about other upcoming Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series here.
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 calling 860.486.8580, or online at 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 open seating, and no reservations. Visitors can park in the Storrs Center Garage located at 33 Royce Circle. Parking in the Storrs Center Garage is free for the first two hours and $1 per hour thereafter, with a daily maximum charge of $8. For more information about these performances, visit bimp.uconn.edu or call 860.486.8580.
“Canteen Tales: The Curse of Bread Beard” by Shane McNeal on 7/1 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
As part of its popular Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series of new works by UConn Puppet Arts students and alumni for family audiences, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present Canteen Tales: The Curse of Bread Beard by UConn Puppet Arts MFA student and Connecticut native Shane McNeal on Saturday, July 1 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs Center.
In Canteen Tales, McNeal’s Chef Bernard serves up a second helping of fun as he tells the story of wannabe pirate Sidney Salts, who hunts for the legendary treasure of Bread Beard the Pirate, the most feared privateer to sail the Peppercorn Sea! But Sidney’s journey won’t be all cinnamon and sugar. He’ll have to deal with beguiling buccaneers, salty sea monsters, and ghastly ghosts in order to dig up fame, fortune and glory! Making clever use of object theater, improvisation and audience interaction, The Curse of Bread Beard is a seaworthy second chapter in McNeal’s Canteen Tales series. This show is recommended for all ages.
Shane McNeal, MFA candidate in the UConn Puppet Arts Program, has been creating, designing, and performing for puppet theater and film since 2008. He has worked as a puppeteer with a wide range of artists and organizations including the Silk City Chorus, Hartford-based artist Anne Cubberly, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, and the Boston Pops. He returns to the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry after his family-friendly performances of Canteen Tales: Quest for the Golden Spork and Victoria’s Not So Bedtime Stories, which debuted in last year’s Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series.
Upcoming Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows include:
July 8 – Punch & Jilly by Mark Blashford
A rollicking hand-puppet spectacle performed in the British Punch & Judy show tradition, with a Connecticut Yankee twist. Mr. Punch the trickster is back again, and this time he is joined by a stubborn dairy cow named Jilly. Watch Punch and Jilly look after a baby, escape a crocodile, outsmart the Devil, and cause all sorts of mischief. Recommended for ages 5+.
July 15 – Sweven by Anatar Marmol-Gagné
Dotty sees monsters, under the bed. But are they real, or just in her head? Recommended for ages 5+.
July 22 – Uncle Vlad’s Summer Spook-tacular by Shane McNeal
Join us for an afternoon of merry monsters, whimsical werewolves, and groovy ghouls, as our batty host, Uncle Vlad, uses hand and shadow puppetry to regale audiences with not-so-spooky stories he’s discovered while on his annual summer road trip! Audiences will laugh along as they witness the softer side of the creatures of the night. Bring a touch of the witching hour to your summer season with this terror-ific puppet show! This show is recommended for all ages.
July 29 – 100 Birds by John Cody
The 100 Birds, an intergalactic troupe of feathered friends, come to help Jada Jones, captain of her middle school’s basketball team, after she wishes upon a shooting star for help in getting her team to their playoff game. Using their love of math, the avian crew bands together with Jada to host the biggest fundraiser ever and create the world’s largest pizza! Recommended for ages 5+.
August 5 – Sheldon Explains It All by Zach Broome
Sheldon is a turtle, and he is scared of everything: absolutely everything. What scares him the most are the things he doesn’t yet know. Join Sheldon as he learns about everything under the sun and shares all of his new knowledge with you. Recommended for ages 5+.
August 12 – The Superhero Within: Episode 2! by Anatar Marmol Gagné
It’s summer break from Superhero Academy and Alex and Sage can’t wait for their summer adventures. They quickly learn that even though they are superhero cadets, villains will try everything to ruin their holiday. With the help of the Vigilantes, Alex and Sage will stop at nothing to get their summer back! Recommended for all ages.
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 calling 860.486.8580, or online at 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 open seating, and no reservations. Visitors can park in the Storrs Center Garage located at 33 Royce Circle. Parking in the Storrs Center Garage is free for the first two hours and $1 per hour thereafter, with a daily maximum charge of $8. For more information about these performances, visit bimp.uconn.edu or call 860.486.8580.
Main Galleries Closed 6/13-6/21 (Museum Still Open!)
From June 13 through June 21, 2017, Ballard Institute staff will be deinstalling our current exhibition Banners and Cranks: Paintings and Scrolls in Performance and installing our new exhibition Obstreperous Puppets: The Puppeteers Cooperative. While the main galleries at the Ballard Institute will be closed during this process, the museum will remain open during normal business hours, and our exhibit titled The World of Puppetry: From the Collections of the Ballard Institute will be on display in the lobby.
We invite you to join us for the grand opening of Obstreperous Puppets: The Puppeteers Cooperative on June 22 at 5:00 p.m. at the Ballard Institute. The opening events will include refreshments and a free tour by exhibit curator Sara Peattie.