Month: September 2022

Free Sendak-Inspired Toy Theater Spectacle and Exhibit Tours on 10/8

(Photo credit: Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)

In conjunction with its exhibition Swing into Action: Maurice Sendak and the World of Puppetry, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will offer an afternoon of free tours and performances. Join Ballard Institute Interim Co-Director Matt Sorensen for free exhibit tours at noon, 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. UConn Puppet Arts graduate students Abigail Baird and Jaron Hollander present a brief toy theater performance based on Maurice Sendak’s 1993 book, We Are All in the Dumps With Jack and Guy on Oct. 8 at 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. 

Abigail Baird is a tenacious and dedicated arts educator, director, choreographer, and acrobatic-actor. Her most notable and successful artistic creation is Aerial Animation, a modern adaptation of silent film storytelling which competed through the semifinals on America’s Got Talent and La France a un Incroyable Talent. For over a decade Abigail was the Creative Director of Educational Programming at Kinetic Arts Center in Oakland, California for ten years. She has a self-designed BFA in technical theatre, sculpture and puppetry from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico. She is returning to her roots to study puppetry at UConn as a graduate student.

Jaron Aviv Hollander is a circus and theater performer, director, teacher, and now a student at UConn to pursue an MFA in puppet arts. He is the founding Artistic Director (now emeritus) of Kinetic Arts Center, a circus center in Oakland where he has been teaching and directing circus for 12 years. He is also known as the co-creator and co-performer of “The Submarine Show” an internationally award-winning, critically acclaimed physical comedy. His 30-year career includes performing in Cirque Du Soleil, The Aurora Theatre, Make*A*Circus and Impact Theatre, to name a few. Jaron has a BA in theatre from the University of California Santa Cruz and studied at Dell’arte School of Physical Theatre, The San Francisco Circus Center (under master Lu Yi) and Circo Arts New Zealand.

Swing into Action, created in partnership with The Maurice Sendak Foundation, looks at the various ways Sendak designed, collected, and collaborated with puppets and puppet productions, from his childhood days making mechanical toys with his brother, to his collections of Mickey Mouse memorabilia, his inventive collaborations with puppeteer Amy Luckenbach, his puppet designs for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Mozart Opera Goose of Cairo, and the way Sendak’s book inspired Sonny Gerasimowicz’s creatures for Spike Jonze’s film Where the Wild Things Are. 

Reservations are not required. Masks are recommended but not required. For more information, or if you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

2022 Celebrate Mansfield Workshops on 9/17 and 9/18

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will once again offer fall community puppet-building workshops to design and build life-size and over-life-size puppets for a new Fancy Frog Festival Puppet Pond Pageant to be performed at the Celebrate Mansfield Festival in Downtown Storrs. These free workshops will take place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 17 and 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Ballard Institute, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. 

The Fancy Frog Festival Puppet Pond Pageant will explore the life, drama, and complicated relationships that occur in our local ponds. Working together, workshop participants will create over-life-sized masks and puppets representing species found in Connecticut ponds. Workshop participants will be invited to perform the masks and puppets in the community Fancy Frog Festival Puppet Pond Pageant at the 19th annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 24.

No experience is necessary to participate in these free community puppet-building workshops. Space is limited, so advance registration is strongly encouraged. Participants can come for one or both days, but should register for the 10 a.m. to 1p.m. or/and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. time slot(s). Minors must be accompanied by an adult. Masks are recommended but not required. To register for the workshop, visit bimp.ticketleap.com/2022-cmf/. If you require accommodation to participate, contact the Ballard Institute at bimp@uconn.edu or 860-486-8580. 

This community puppet project is sponsored by the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Inc. For more information about the 19th Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival, visit downtownstorrsfestival.org.

“Spike Jonze, Maurice Sendak, and the World of Puppetry”: A Pre-Recorded Online Puppet Forum, 9/22

As a special Fall Online Puppet Forum event, in conjunction with its current exhibition Swing Into Action: Maurice Sendak and the World of Puppetry, the Ballard Institute will present “Spike Jonze, Maurice Sendak, and the World of Puppetry,” a discussion with the famed director of Where the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich, and other acclaimed films, including Tell Them Anything You Want, a documentary portrait of Sendak. In conversation with Ballard Institute director John Bell, Jonze discusses his artistic relationship with Maurice Sendak, the making of his film Where the Wild Things Are, his other film work that incorporates puppets and objects, and the nature of objects in performance. This Puppet Forum will be available online on the Ballard Institute’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, beginning Sept. 22, at 7 p.m.

Spike Jonze’s arms, legs, head, shoes, teeth, and thoughts are copyrighted and controlled by Universal Comcast Disney Corporation trademark 2019. He’s a Fulbright scholar, an MIT Media Lab guest, and half a MacArthur genius. He’s made 84 movies and three birthday cakes and has cried at 32% of the movie trailers on YouTube. He’s not allowed in the city of Vancouver.

Swing Into Action, on display at the Ballard Institute Wednesday-Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Dec. 16, 2022, looks at the various ways Sendak designed, collected, and collaborated with puppets and puppet productions, from his childhood days making mechanical toys with his brother, to his collections of Mickey Mouse memorabilia, his inventive collaborations with puppeteer Amy Luckenbach, his puppet designs for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Mozart Opera Goose of Cairo, and the way Sendak’s book inspired Sonny Gerasimowicz’s creatures for Spike Jonze’s film Where the Wild Things Are.