As part of its 2025 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is pleased to host Funny Boy: The Life of Richard Hunt, a Puppet Forum with Jessica Max Stein, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. This forum will also be broadcast via Ballard Institute Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute). 

Join us on Wednesday, March 5 with author Jessica Max Stein to look at the life of Richard Hunt, the dynamic, irreverent, and spirited puppeteer who played an essential role in the success of the Muppets. Hunt joined the Muppets in 1970 at the age of 18, and developed such essential puppet characters as Scooter, Janice, Beaker, and Sweetums, appearing on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and in multiple Muppet movies. Equally important, Stein’s book explains in a fascinating manner how this gay American artist thrived as a performer and human being in the late-twentieth-century age of AIDS. 

Jessica Max Stein writes vivid, novelistic history that brings the past to life. Most recently, she is the author of Funny Boy: The Richard Hunt Biography (Rutgers University Press, 2024). She writes frequently for New York newspaper The Indypendent, and her writing has received awards from Poets and Writers Magazine, the Independent Press Association, and the Biographers International Organization, as well as being published widely. She teaches writing and literature at Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). 

 Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. For more information or if you require accommodation to attend a forum, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.  

Join us on 3/1 at 11am and 2pm as we bring back the popular Boston-based company The Gottabees to perform their new production Don’t Make Me Get Dressed!

For every child who has struggled to get into their clothes first thing in the morning (and for every parent who has fought valiantly in the battleground of the morning routine), comes Don’t Make Me Get Dressed – a gloriously silly and inventive ode to the feelings we have when we choose our clothes… and to what happens when our clothes come to life and choose us. Don’t Make Me Get Dressed features The Gottabees’ trademark mix of puppetry, joyously absurd silliness, physical theater, live music, and surprising poignancy. Recommended for ages 3+. Runtime is approximately 35 minutes plus a question-and-answer session.

The Gottabees are passionate about community, family joy, and empowerment, and have been guiding families through stage performances, interactive experiences, and audio adventures since 2013. The Gottabees have performed in 19 states, and five countries for over 45,000 people, and were awarded a UNIMA-USA Citation of Excellence. Their projects have been funded by the Jim Henson Foundation, Puppeteers of America, US Artists International, and the Boston Foundation.

Ticket Prices: Adults: $12; Members/Seniors: $10; Students: $8; Kids: $6 (12 years and under).

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, by calling 860-486-8580, or online at https://shorturl.at/cyG2r. Tickets may also be purchased at the Ballard Institute on the day of the performance starting at 10 a.m. There will be open seating and no reservations. Visitors can park in the Downtown Storrs Garage located at 33 Royce Circle. 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.