Month: October 2022

“The Making of Feel Your Best Self: Development and Scriptwriting” Online Forum on 11/10

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As part of the 2022 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute will host “The Making of Feel Your Best Self: Development and Scriptwriting” moderated by Sandy Chafouleas and Emily Wicks and featuring Sarah Nolen and Yanniv Frank on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Zoom (registration required) and Facebook Live and will be available afterwards on the Ballard Institute’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel. 

In this forum, Feel Your Best Self creators Sandy Chafouleas and Emily Wicks and script writers Sarah Nolen and Yanniv Frank talk about the development of this unique interdisciplinary collaboration between UConn’s Collaboratory on School and Child Health and Ballard Institute to use puppetry to promote emotional well-being in elementary-aged children. The team discusses the challenges and methods used to take wellness strategies, such as “belly breathing” and “shake out the yuck” and turn them into simple, yet engaging stories starring three puppet friends, Nico, Mena, and CJ.

Feel Your Best Self is designed for elementary-aged kids as an educational toolkit for learning strategies to calm yourself, catch your feelings, and connect with others. The FYBS strategies offer fun and easy ways to help kids (and grown-ups) experience lifts in emotions, feeling, or mood. The toolkit, which features short videos, facilitator steps, reflection journals, strategy cards, and tip sheets, is free and accessible on the website. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Sandra M. Chafouleas, Ph.D., is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and Neag Endowed Professor in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Chafouleas also is the founder and co-director of the UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health (CSCH). She is a licensed psychologist, and teaches primarily in the school psychology program. Dr. Chafouleas makes frequent media appearances, and authors a popular Psychology Today blog on promoting student well-being. Her work focuses on assisting schools in implementation of evidence-informed policies and practices that support the whole child, with specific expertise in strategies to support mental health and emotional well-being. 

For more information: education.uconn.edu/person/sandra-chafouleas

Yanniv Frank is a Sesame Workshop trained puppeteer and a current member of the cast of Sesame Street: The Musical, playing Off-Broadway. He is a current third year Puppet Arts MFA candidate at the University of Connecticut and a graduate of the CUNY Baccalaureate program for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies where he studied Performing and Visual Arts. As an actor, Yanniv has performed in various educational and professional theaters and received Hunter College’s Theatre Workshop Award for the most promising student actor. Yanniv holds a certificate in music and video production from Berklee College of Music and is releasing his first full length album As I Am in November 2022.

Sarah Nolen is a puppeteer and filmmaker known for her versatile and witty work across multiple puppetry styles. Originally from Texas, Sarah now resides in Massachusetts, where she works as a freelance puppeteer, director, and puppet builder for both stage and screen through her company Puppet Motion. She received her MFA in Puppet Arts at the University of Connecticut in 2016. Currently, she is the resident artist at Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline, MA, where she tours her own solo puppet shows around New England. As a builder, Sarah earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for “Outstanding Puppet Design” for her work with Sinking Ship Productions’ A Hunger Artist. She has interned with Puppet Heap in Hoboken, built with AchesonWalsh Studios, and most recently, built and performed puppets for Netflix’s DON’T LOOK UP (2021) and another upcoming release, MOTHERSHIP (2023).

You can learn more about her work at her website: puppetmotion.com

Emily Wicks is the Interim Co-Director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry (BIMP). She received her MA in History and MLIS degree, with a specialization in Museum Studies and Archival Management, from Kent State University in Ohio. She has experience in cultural resource management, historical research, and museums. Before joining the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, Emily worked for the Shaker Historical Society in Shaker Heights, Ohio and the ACLU of Ohio.

Maurice Sendak and the World of Puppetry Online Forum on 11/3

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As part of the 2022 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host “Maurice Sendak and the World of Puppetry” with panelists Jonathan Weinberg, Lynn Caponera, Tyler Fallas, and Nick Kraczyna on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Zoom (registration required) and Facebook Live and will be available afterwards on the Ballard Institute’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel. 

Although Maurice Sendak was not a puppeteer, he understood the nature of puppetry’s never-ending fascination with objects, images, movement, music, and text, and how the creation of those combinations with a collaborative team of artists can make puppets come alive. This forum, moderated by Ballard Institute Interim Co-Director Matt Sorensen, will feature Jonathan Weinberg, Lynn Caponera, and Tyler Fallas of The Maurice Sendak Foundation, as well as Nick Kraczyna, husband of the exhibition’s prominently featured artist, the late Amy Luckenbach, to look at the various ways Sendak designed, collected, and collaborated with puppets and puppet productions. This forum is co-sponsored by The Maurice Sendak Foundation.

Forum Speakers

Jonathan Weinberg, Ph.D. is a painter, art historian and curator. He is Curator of the Maurice Sendak Foundation. He is the author of several books including Pier Groups: Art and Sex Along the New York Waterfront and Ambition and Love in American Art. He is the recipient of numerous grants, residencies and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.  He was the lead curator for the touring exhibition Art After Stonewall, 1969-89 organized by the Columbus Museum of Art to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in 2019. He is the curator of Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak, which opens at The Columbus Museum of Art that runs from October 21, 2022-March 12, 2023. An exhibition of his GENESIS window paintings and prints is on view at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven until January.

Lynn Caponera President of the Board and Executive Director of The Maurice Sendak Foundation. Lynn met Maurice when he and Dr. Eugene Glynn moved to Ridgefield Ct in 1971.  Lynn spent her childhood at the Sendak / Glynn household helping in the garden playing with the dogs and modeling for Maurice for numerous books.  At 19 she moved in as caretaker and companion. Over the years she took on a more rigorous role in Maurice’s professional and personal life till his death in 2012.

Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna is a painter/printmaker of Russian origin, raised in Poland and Germany, educated in the United States, and resident of Florence, Italy, since 1964. Best known for his multi-plate color etchings, his artwork can be found in private collections and galleries around the world, as well as in the Uffizi Gallery’s Permanent Collection of Prints and Drawings in Florence.Since graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1962, Kraczyna has held over 158 solo exhibitions across five continents. In 1963 he met and married Amy Luckenbach while studying for his Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Southern Illinois. He has been Artist in Residence at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH (1988); Palacky University in Olomouc, CZ (1992); and Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY (2007-2008).

Online Puppet Forum: How Media Figures in “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” on 10/27

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As part of the 2022 Online Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Guess Why I Smile a Lot?  How Media Figures in “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”  with moderator Dr. Paulette Richards and panelists María Andreotti, and Becky van Cleve on Thursday, October 20 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Zoom (registration required) and Facebook Live and will be available afterwards on the Ballard Institute’s Facebook page and YouTube Channel. 

More than two decades have passed since puppet theorist Steve Tillis observed that “media figures share with puppetry the crucial trait of presenting characters through a site of signification other than actual living beings” in his 1988 article “Toward an Aesthetics of the Puppet”. In that time, YouTube has nurtured a cohort of puppeteers whose formative experiences as performers have been on screen rather than on stage. While artists active in puppetry and animation often have an affinity for both media, puppetry and animation are usually treated as separate disciplines. Yet, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which began as a viral video phenomenon, blurs the boundaries between puppetry, stop motion, and 2D animation. This conversation, moderated by Atlanta-based teaching artist and independent researcher, Dr. Paulette Richards, with Becky van Cleve, Head of Puppet Fabrication, and María Andreotti, Puppet Coordinator/ Fabricator for the 2022 feature-length iteration of the beloved shell’s adventures, will therefore outline the intricacy of the film’s production process; review the different types of puppets involved in the production; comment on how targeting an adult audience influenced the design of the puppets and sets; and reflect on how the nature of material performance highlights humans’ relationship to “vibrant matter.” 

 About the Speakers

Atlanta-based teaching artist and independent researcher, Paulette Richards survived a ten-month stint in Senegal as a 2013/2014 Fulbright Scholar without contracting any tropical diseases, but sometime during her service as an artist-in-residence at the Institut Français de Saint Louis, the puppet bug bit her hard. Co-curator of the Living Objects: African American Puppetry exhibit at the University of Connecticut’s Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry with Dr. John Bell, she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Her book Object Performance in the Black Atlantic is forthcoming from Routledge in 2023.

Becky van Cleve is an artist & leader in the film/tv industry in Los Angeles, CA. The majority of her work has been as Head of Fabrication for puppet and costume departments in the stop motion animation industry. Currently she’s working in the script department on a CG feature at Netflix animation with the goal of eventually creating, writing, and directing her own content (there will be puppets).

María Andreotti is a puppet fabricator, production manager and stop motion instructor based in Los Angeles. For the last decade she has worked primarily at stop motion and 2D animation studios while creating dolls and puppets for freelance clients. Previous projects include The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, Bob’s Burgers, Alien Xmas, Marcel the Shell, and she’s currently managing the art & puppet departments on an unannounced stop motion series. Her life goals are directing her own puppet show and playing Mayor HR Pufnstuf someday.

2022 UConn Fall Puppet Slam on 10/21 at 7:30PM

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The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the UConn Puppet Arts Program will present the 2022 UConn Fall Puppet Slam in person on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall, located at 875 Coventry Rd, Storrs, Conn. 06269. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will feature short works by professional puppeteers and performers from around New England, including Cabot Parsons and Anatar Marmol-Gagne, as well as new works by UConn Puppet Arts students.

The 2022 UConn Fall Puppet Slam will showcase the work of Cabot Parsons, a New York-based visual theater artist and puppeteer who will perform Gemma’s Share, which tells the story of a sheltered suburban housewife who emotionally unravels in a twelve-step meeting at the state of the world. Anatar Marmol-Gagne, a puppeteer and UConn Puppet Arts alumna from New Haven, Conn. will present Sueños, an autobiographical story about a little girl arriving in a foreign land and her struggle to find her place in this world. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will also feature new works by UConn graduate and undergraduate students from the university’s Puppet Arts Program. Funding for the UConn Fall Puppet Slam is made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network.

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam is free and open to the public; donations are greatly appreciated. Seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. The event will take place in UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall located at 875 Coventry Rd, Storrs, Conn. For directions to the von der Mehden Recital Hall, visit vdm.uconn.edu. These performances are recommended for mature audiences. For more information about these performances or if you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

“Sock Monkey Circus” by Good Hearted Entertainment on 10/15 at 11AM

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As part of its 2022 Fall Puppet Shows, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will present Sock Monkey Circus by Massachusetts-based Good Hearted Entertainment on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 11 a.m. ET in Betsy Paterson Square. In the event of inclement weather, the show will be rescheduled for Sunday, Oct. 16 at 11 a.m. ET. This performance is co-sponsored by the Mansfield Downtown Partnership. 

Sock Monkey Circus is a full circus performed in miniature! This performance features the magical talents of the host “Funny Honey” and her clever monkeys, who are trained to juggle, dance, and swing on a flying trapeze! All this while traveling in their very own circus train car that converts into a miniature stage. This circus can be featured outside to interact with spectators, or also featured on a stage for a more formal presentation. These silly monkeys continually outsmart our host, all while performing a variety of circus routines. Everyone is welcome to monkey around with the Sock Monkey Circus! Recommended for ages 3 and up. The runtime of the show is approximately 40 minutes. 

Due to generous support during our 2022 UConn Gives campaign, admission is free to this show, but donations are encouraged. Reservations are not required. Chairs will not be provided, so groups are encouraged to bring their own blankets and seating. Seating space will be first come, first served. 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.

Honey Goodenough is a puppeteer, educator, children’s party entertainer and creator of Good Heartedd Entertainment. She holds an MA in Educational Theater from New York University, and a BA in Theater Crafts and Technology from the University of Texas, Austin. Her solo show, Sock Monkey Circus toured China in Fall 2017 with the International Clown Comedy Festival, and was also part of the National Puppet Slam at the Center for Puppetry Arts.  Honey is a trained marionette performer and has performed with Paper Moon Marionette Theater, PuppetWorks, and toured with the National Marionette Theatre and Frisch Marionettes. She has produced and performed in Puppet Slams across the country with generous support from Heather Henson’s Puppet Slam Network. After years of experience working with diverse student populations in greater Boston, New York City, Vermont, and Texas, in 2017 she became Puppet Showplace Theater’s first resident teaching artist. She taught a wide variety of professional development courses for educators and aspiring puppeteers at Montserrat College of Art, Brooklyn College, the University of Utah, and City College CUNY. To learn more visit  goodheartedentertainment.com

Free Sendak-Inspired Toy Theater Spectacle and Exhibit Tours on 10/22 and 10/23

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As part of UConn Family Weekend, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will offer free tours and performances.

Saturday, October 22:

  • Join Ballard Institute staff for free exhibit tours at noon, 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.

Sunday, October 23:

  • Join Ballard Institute staff 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 will present a brief toy theater performance based on Maurice Sendak’s 1993 book, We Are All in the Dumps With Jack and Guy at 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. 

Swing into Action: Maurice Sendak and the World of Puppetry, 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.

As part of Family Weekend, the Ballard Institute will also present its 2022 UConn Fall Puppet Slam at von der Mehden Recital Hall on Friday, 10/21 at 7:30 p.m.