For its first installment of the 2019 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Choose the Path of Creation: Art and Life of the Independent Theater Maker on Wednesday Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Drawing from her own exceptional career and artistic path, puppeteer and singer Yael Rasooly will look with a candid eye at the liberation of the imagination, and at the practical and mundane aspects of a challenging and rewarding profession and life style. The focus of the talk will tune into the intricate and rich medium of visual theater and puppetry, as a source of self-expression and inner development of an artist.

Yael Rasooly is one of Israel’s prominent independent theater makers. She specializes in contemporary visual and object theater and has directed several Internationally acclaimed performances, both in Israel and Europe, which have been performed in over 30 countries worldwide. Yael was the international guest artist at the 2018 National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. Yael Rasooly is also a singer of international reputation and her cabaret performance, Glamour in the Dark, is currently touring around the world. Yael Rasooly’s work in the United States is supported by the Israel Institute’s Visiting Israeli Artists Program.

Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. Come early, and experience our puppet exhibitions, as well as the video resources in our library nook. Forums will be broadcast via Facebook Live. For more information, or if you require an accommodation to attend a forum, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

---