The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present a free online Women’s Suffrage Puppet Pageant on Facebook Live as part of the reimagined 17th annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. ET on Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute). The pageant will feature toy theater works created by amateur and professional puppeteers from around the world. 

The theme for this year’s Ballard Institute community pageant for the Celebrate Mansfield Festival is a celebration of the women’s suffrage movement. The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment in the United States, which guarantees and protects women’s constitutional right to vote. The Ballard Institute will use this anniversary to acknowledge the complex history of the women’s suffrage movement, and the leadership of women of color, Native women, working-class women, and immigrant women in the struggle for suffrage; as well as the movement’s intersections with abolitionism and other movements. To honor this milestone we will celebrate women’s suffrage heroes from around the world, including Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Jovita Idár, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Mai Ziadeh, and Luisa Capetillo, among others, noting the successes of the movement, and also its challenges in the face of racism and forces opposed to suffrage.  

All workshop participants will perform their short works (three to five minutes long) as part of the pageant, which will be streamed live on the Ballard Institute’s Facebook page  (facebook.com/BallardInstitute) on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. ET and will be available afterwards on both the Ballard Institute’s Facebook page and YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). 

This community puppet project is sponsored by the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut and the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Inc. For more information about the 17th Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival, visit downtownstorrsfestival.org.

The Mansfield Downtown Partnership is an independent, non-profit organization comprised of the Town of Mansfield, the University of Connecticut, and individual business members and residents. The Partnership seeks to foster the continued development, management, and promotion of Downtown Storrs. For more information about the Partnership, visit mansfieldmdp.org.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the UConn Puppet Arts Program will present, for the very first time, an online version of its popular UConn Fall Puppet Slam on Friday, Sept. 25, 2020 at 8 p.m. ET on the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/). The 2020 UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online! will feature short works by professional puppeteers and performers from around the United States and across the world, including Linda Wingerter of the Stringpullers Puppet Company, Flock Theatre, Campfire Tales, House of Funny Noises, and new works by UConn Puppet Arts students and recent alumni.

The 2020 UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online! will showcase the work of Campfire Tales, a transcontinental company made up of Ali DeRegt, Emma Fisher, and Monica Ila; the UK-based company House of Funny Noises; Derron Wood and Flock Theatre of New London, Connecticut; Bonnie Kim of Keaau, Hawaii; Florida-based puppeteer Jack Fields; Linda Wingerter of the Stringpullers Puppet Company; and UConn Puppet Arts alumni Maggie Flanagan, Esme Roszel, and Austin Costello.

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will also feature new works by UConn graduate and undergraduate students from the UConn Puppet Arts Program. Funding for the UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online! is made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network.

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam is free, but donations are greatly appreciated. These performances are recommended for mature audiences. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will be available through Oct. 31, 2020 on the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Facebook page (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and the Ballard Institute YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). 

For more information about these performances, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

For its first online installment of the 2020 Fall Puppet Forum Series the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host “Out of the Shadows: the Henson International Puppet Festivals” with Leslee Asch on September 17 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and will be available afterwards on Facebook and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg).

Join famed puppeteer Leslee Asch and Ballard Institute Director John Bell for an in-depth discussion about her new book Out of the Shadows: The Henson Festivals And Their Impact on Contemporary Puppet Theater. Between 1992 and 2000, the Jim Henson Foundation hosted five International Festivals of Puppet Theater in New York City, and developed a national touring program. The Jim Henson Foundation’s International Puppet Festivals brought puppet theater into mainstream American theater. Leslee Asch served as Producing Director, working with Jim’s daughter Cheryl, who served as Executive Producer, to present five award-winning festivals that would equal European festivals and put U.S. puppet artists on the international stage. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the last Henson Festival and the 30th Anniversary of Jim Henson’s death. Taking this timely opportunity for reflection and drawing from a wealth of first-hand experience, in Out of the Shadows Asch presents a visually rich narrative of the festivals and their continued legacy, including a comprehensive look at the contemporary puppet theater landscape. This forum is co-sponsored by the UConn Arts Leadership and Cultural Management program (sfa.uconn.edu/arts-leadership-cultural-mgmt/).

Leslee Asch began her career as a puppet builder and went on to serve as the Director of Exhibitions for Jim Henson Productions, curating and managing exhibitions world-wide. Asch later worked as the Executive Director of the Jim Henson Foundation and Producing Director of the Henson International Festivals of Puppet Theater. Asch has been a long-time trustee of the Jim Henson Foundation. She is a recognized expert in the field and has published articles and catalogs on the subject, including The Art of Contemporary Puppet Theater, for the Katonah Museum of Art.

For more information and to learn about other online programming, email bimp@uconn.edu.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will offer free online toy theater workshops to design and build scenes for a new Women’s Suffrage Puppet Pageant to be performed Saturday, September 26 at 4 p.m. on the Ballard Institute’s Facebook Live as part of the reimagined 17th annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival.

These free theater workshops will take place Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20 via Zoom. Registrants will build puppets and theaters on Saturday, Sept. 19 from 10 a.m. to noon ET, and then learn to perform and share their work with other participants on Sunday, Sept. 20 from 2 to 4 p.m. ET. Workshop participants will be invited to perform their short toy theater shows (three to five minutes) in the community Women’s Suffrage Puppet Pageant on Saturday, September 26 at 4 p.m. on Facebook Live.

The theme for this year’s Ballard Institute community pageant for the Celebrate Mansfield Festival is a celebration of the women’s suffrage movement. The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment in the United States, which guarantees and protects women’s constitutional right to vote. The Ballard Institute would like to use this anniversary to acknowledge the complex history of the women’s suffrage movement, and leadership of women of color, Native women, working-class women, and immigrant women in the struggle for suffrage; as well as the movement’s intersections with abolitionism and other movements. To honor this milestone we propose to celebrate women’s suffrage heroes and achievements around the world, including Ida B. Wells, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Jovita Idar, Zitkala-Sa, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Susan B. Anthony and others, noting the successes of the movement, and also its challenges in the face of racism and the strong forces opposed to suffrage.

No experience is necessary to participate in this two-part toy theater workshop and all ages may participate (adult supervision and assistance is required for children). There is no fee to participate (although donations are greatly appreciated!). Registration will be required by Wednesday, September 16. To register for the workshop, please fill out the registration form found below or here: https://forms.gle/ZcfLxmx9dBc1AiSZ6. Workshop registration will be limited.

This community puppet project is sponsored by the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut and the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Inc. For more information about the 17th Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival, visit downtownstorrsfestival.org.