The Ballard Institute is closed for winter break from December 15 – January 31.
Join us on January 31 at 6pm for the opening of American Puppet Theater Today: The Photography of Richard Termine!
Author: Wicks, Emily
Grand Opening of “American Puppet Theater Today: The Photography of Richard Termine” on 1/31!
The Jim Henson Foundation and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present a new exhibition, American Puppet Theater Today: The Photography of Richard Termine as part of the 60th anniversary celebration of UConn’s Puppet Arts Program in 2025. The exhibition, including over 130 images and selected puppets featured in Termine’s photographs, including work by Torry Bend, Basil Twist, Dan Hurlin, Tarish Pipkins, Theodora Skipitares, Bread and Puppet Theater, Janie Geiser, Tom Lee, and Paul Zaloom. American Puppet Theater Today will be on display from Friday, Jan. 31 to Sunday, May 11 at the Ballard Institute.
Termine, an alumnus of the UConn Puppet Arts Program, has documented American puppet theater for over 30 years with a unique perspective that invites the viewer into the vivid world of puppetry. He is the lead performing arts photographer for The New York Times and has served as the in-house photographer for Sesame Street since 1988. His images have also appeared in the Washington Post, The Village Voice, Time, Newsweek, People, American Theatre, USA Today, Entertainment Design and Der Spiegel, and other publications.
Termine’s performing arts photography includes a wide range of images capturing notable artists globally (Lincoln Center, London’s Globe Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and Dublin Theatre Company, among others), in theater (The Phantom of the Opera, Little Shop of Horrors, Cirque du Soleil), dance (Alvin Ailey, Merce Cunningham, Moscow Festival Ballet), opera (Metropolitan Opera, Folkoperan of Stockholm), television (The Today Show, Blue’s Clues, Live at Lincoln Center, The CBS Evening News), classical music (Lincoln Center Festival, Salzburg Camerata, Mostly Mozart), and concerts and cabaret (Liza Minelli, Michael Feinstein, Ray Charles, Yo-Yo Ma, Tony Bennett, Yoko Ono, Kristin Chenoweth).
“Richard brilliantly captures the vibrancy of the performances he photographs; even in static images, the puppets come to life,” said John Bell, a puppeteer, puppet historian and the director of the Ballard Institute. “The photos and puppets in the exhibition illustrate the dynamic range of this expansive art form and honor the lively community of artists creating puppet theater, from established experts like Basil Twist and Julie Taymor to emerging artists.”
Termine completed his MFA in Puppet Arts at UConn in 1978. He began his association with The Jim Henson Company in 1980 as a puppet designer and builder for a variety of Muppet productions. While working on the set of Sesame Street, he began photographing behind the scenes, leading to a new career as a performing arts photographer. He has been the in-house photographer for Sesame Street since 1988 and has been on the board of The Jim Henson Foundation since 1987, currently serving as the Foundation’s vice president.
The grand opening of American Puppet Theater Today: The Photography of Richard Termine on Friday, Jan. 31 will begin with refreshments served at 6 p.m. and an in-person exhibition tour at 6:30 p.m. by Richard Termine, with Cheryl Henson, the President of The Jim Henson Foundation; this will also be streamed on Ballard Institute’s Facebook Live channel (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/). All events will take place at the Ballard Institute, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.
Ballard Institute Closed on 11/28
The Ballard Institute will be closed on Thursday, 11/28 for Thanksgiving. The museum is open for regular hours the rest of the week.
Monday, 11/25 + Tuesday, 11/26: CLOSED
Wednesday, 11/27: 11 am – 5 pm
Thursday, 11/28: (Thanksgiving) CLOSED
Friday, 11/29: 11 am – 5 pm
Saturday, 11/30: 11 am – 7 pm
Sunday, 12/1: 11 am – 5 pm
The Dragon’s Laugh & Other Tales by Charlotte Lily Gaspard on 12/7
To conclude its 2024 Fall Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to welcome shadow puppet artist and storyteller Charlotte Lily Gaspard of Midnight Radio Show to perform The Dragon’s Laugh & Other Tales on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.
Join “bonafide fairy princess” Charlotte Lily Gaspard for enchanting original fairytales and songs by her company Midnight Radio Show! Shadow puppetry breathes life into these delightful short stories of adventure and friendship. In one story, a dragon and a fairy become friends, although their families disapprove. Complications ensue, and the new-found companions must go on a quest together as they prove that friendship can be found anywhere and with anyone. Recommended for ages 5+.
Charlotte Lily Gaspard has been described as “part celestial creature, part sophisticated human,” by Enchanted Living Magazine. A shadow puppet artist and creator of the Brooklyn collective Midnight Radio Show, her mission is to activate imaginations and celebrate playfulness wherever she goes. Midnight Radio Show broadcasts magic to children of all ages, using handmade shadow puppets, live performances, video content, and an actual radio show. Charlotte also creates costumes for theater and film and leads puppetry and theater workshops all over New York City and beyond. Learn more and purchase tickets: http://bimp.ticketleap.com/dragons-laugh.
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 bimp.ticketleap.com. A surcharge will be added to any purchases made online. 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 Storrs Center 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.
“Exploring Puppetry in The Old Man and the Old Moon” Puppet Forum on 11/20
As part of its 2024 Fall Puppet Forum Series and in conjunction with the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s fall season, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is pleased to host “Exploring Puppetry in The Old Man and the Old Moon” on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. at the Jorgensen Gallery, located at 2132 Hillside Rd, Storrs, Conn. 06268. This forum is co-sponsored by the UConn Connecticut Repertory Theatre and will be streamed via Ballard Institute Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute).
“Exploring Puppetry in The Old Man and the Old Moon” will offer a special behind-the-scenes glimpse of this new Connecticut Repertory Theatre production before that evening’s 7:30 p.m. performance at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre. The forum will discuss the design, construction, and performance of shadow figures and three-dimensional puppets in of a PigPen Theater Company play with music, directed by Matt Sorensen, a Visiting Professor of Dramatic Arts in UConn’s Puppet Arts Program. In conversation with Ballard Institute Director John Bell, Sorensen and Puppet Arts MFA student designers Harley Walker and Mel Carter will discuss the process of conceiving and creating puppetry elements for this acclaimed Off-Broadway production about the aging caretaker of the moon, and the conflicts of duty and love he faces.
Admission to the forum 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.
To purchase tickets for The Old Man and the Old Moon, visit crt.uconn.edu.
CANCELED: A Cornucopia Cabaret! by Emily Schubert on 11/2
Due to unforeseen circumstances, we’ve had to cancel this Saturday’s performances of A Cornucopia Cabaret. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium, 10/25-10/26
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is excited to host a “Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium” on Friday and Saturday, October 25-26, in conjunction with our Wonderland Puppet Theater: Visions of the Beloved Community exhibition curated by Dr. Paulette Richards.
The “Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium” is inspired by and explores in more details the work of Alice Swann and Nancy Schmale, housewives from the interracial Concord Park subdivision near Philadelphia, who, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision of a more equitable “beloved community,” worked together to create a popular hand-puppet theater. Founded in 1961, their company, reflecting contemporary developments in the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement, and innovations in children’s media, created entertaining and educational puppet productions performed throughout the Northeast. The symposium will bring together University of Connecticut faculty from the departments of Economics, History, English, American Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, with scholars, puppeteers, and activists from the U.S. and abroad.
The symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required. To register to attend in person, visit: bimp.ticketleap.com.
The symposium will be live streamed via Zoom. To register to attend virtually, please visit: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rQdSZJe8TOmmETxtwng3Xw.
The “Wonderland Puppet Theater Symposium” is supported by a UConn School of Fine Arts Anti-Racism Grant and University of Connecticut Humanities Institute Speaker, Conference, and Workshop funding; and is co-sponsored by UConn’s African American Cultural Center, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, and the Robert T. Leo, Jr. Fund for Excellence in the Dramatic Arts.
The schedule will include:
Friday, October 25
4-5 p.m.: Wonderland Puppet Theater exhibition tour with curator Dr. Paulette Richards
5-6:30 p.m.: Dinner break (not provided)
6:30-7 p.m.: Keynote Address: Dr. Paulette Richards
7-8 p.m.: Film Screening: In Black, a documentary on African American puppeteers directed by Jacqueline Wade, with post-screening discussion with the director.
Saturday, October 26
9:30-11 a.m.: “’The Marriage Agreement’: Women Artists Navigate Gendered Divisions of Labor” with Dr. Nancy Naples (UConn Departments of Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies), Dr. Alissa Mello (University of Exeter), and Jacqueline Wade (filmmaker and puppeteer).
Early press for Wonderland Puppet Theater identified the artists as Mrs. James Swann and Mrs. Raymond Schmale. Yet 1963, the year they attended the Puppeteers of America national festival was also the year that Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique. Wonderland Puppet Theater addressed the discontent around the “traditional” role of women, especially in their portrayals of traditional puppets Punch and Judy. How much progress have women made in re-negotiating “the marriage agreement” and extricating themselves from “the second shift” of housework and childcare that women carried as they moved into occupations, including artistic careers, that took them out of the home?
11:15 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.: “Children’s Media: Literature, Television, Theater” with Dr. Vibiana Bowman (Rutgers University emerita), Dr. Katharine Capshaw (UConn Department of English), and Khalilah Brooks (Puppeteer, Aunty B’s House).
In 1966 Alice Swann and Nancy Schmale began to perform their puppetry on live television. Each week alternated between the two women puppeteering on a show hosted by Willadine Bain, a former high school English teacher. Swann, a certified kindergarten teacher, collaborated with Bain on scripts that presented age-appropriate literacy lessons and information about African American history. How much power do women and people of color have in creating children’s media today? Is children’s media bringing us closer to or taking is further from embracing the vision of “Beloved Community” as a core value?
12:45-2 p.m.: Lunch break (not provided)
2-3:30 p.m.: “Residential Segregation” with Dr. Stephen L. Ross (UConn Department of Economics), and Dr. Jeffrey Ogbar (UConn Departments of History and American Studies).
Morris Milgram was the son of impoverished immigrants in New York City. Expelled from college for leading an anti-fascist protest, he joined the real estate development industry and was a pioneer in desegregated living communities. In 1954 he established Concord Park, an interracial subdivision of single-family homes for middle-class buyers just outside of Philadelphia. This symposium aims to answer the following questions: What is the status of residential desegregation today vs. 1956 when Milgram broke ground on Concord Park? What do developers, lenders, elected officials, and community organizers need to do to make further progress towards realizing Milgram’s dream?
3:30-4: Final Thoughts, moderated by Dr. Paulette Richards, with all symposium participants.
The Baffo Box Show by Modern Times Theater on 10/19
As part of its 2024 Fall Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to welcome back Modern Times Theater to perform The Baffo Box Show, on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.
Audiences are captivated throughout this one-of-a-kind show performed by Justin Lander and directed by Rose Friedman. Find out what happens when the Baffos, two slapstick chaps who keep the sun, moon, and everything else running, juggle their changing world. With classic hand puppetry, Dadaist ventriloquism, and stand-up comedy, all from a cardboard box, this show will have audiences of all ages laughing out loud.
Modern Times Theater has been making and touring puppet shows and acts and creating community events since 2007. They seek to reinvent classic American entertainment, by pursuing out-of-the box models of art making, often creating venues out of historic or run-down locations. Co-founders Rose Friedman and Justin Lander are a husband-and-wife duo, and producers for Vermont Vaudeville and alumni of the Bread and Puppet Theater. Learn more and purchase tickets: bimp.ticketleap.com/baffo
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 bimp.ticketleap.com. A surcharge will be added to any purchases made online. 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 Storrs Center 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.
Puppets and the Immaterial World with Tim Cusack and Claudia Orenstein on 10/10
As part of its 2024 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is pleased to host Puppets and the Immaterial World, a discussion with Tim Cusack and Claudia Orenstein, moderated by Ballard Institute director John Bell on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024 at 7 p.m. in 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).
The Puppets and the Immaterial World Forum will focus on Orenstein and Cusack’s explorations of contemporary puppetry and spirituality in the recently published second volume of Puppet and Spirit: Ritual, Religion, and Performing Objects. Volume Two is subtitled “Contemporary Branchings: Secular Benedictions, Activated Energies, Uncanny Faiths,” and the essays in it continue the series’ consideration of a difficult, perhaps uncomfortable, and certainly overlooked aspect of modern puppetry: its spiritual functions.
Dr. Claudia Orenstein is a Professor of Theater and Performance at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and has spent almost two decades writing on contemporary and traditional puppetry in the US and Asia. One of her recent books is Reading the Puppet Stage: Reflections on Dramaturgy and Performing Objects, and she co-edited, with Tim Cusack, the two volumes of Puppet and Spirit: Ritual Religion and Performing Objects. She is also the editor of the online peer review journal Puppetry International Research, and is the recipient of a 2021-22 Fulbright Research Fellowship.
Tim Cusack was the assistant editor for both the Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance and Women and Puppetry, and with Claudia Orenstein, has co-edited both volumes of Puppet and Spirit. He is particularly interested in the intersections of queer culture, theatre, and spiritual beliefs. He is an adjunct lecturer in the Theatre Department at Hunter College where he teaches acting.
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.
Puppet Slams: Short-Form Puppetry for the 21st Century on 9/18
[Caption: Heather Henson, Brenna Ross, and Anatar Marmol-Gagné will discuss Puppet Slams: Short-Form Puppetry for the 21st Century in a UConn Puppet Forum Wednesday, September 18 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry.]
As part of its 2024 Fall Puppet Forum Series and in conjunction with the 2024 UConn Fall Puppet Slam on Sept. 20, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is pleased to host Puppet Slams: Short-Form Puppetry for the 21st Century, a discussion with Puppet Slam Network (PSN) founder Heather Henson; Brenna Ross, the Producer & General Manager for Green Feather Foundation, which oversees the PSN; and Anatar Marmol-Gagné, director of the Pinned and Sewtered Puppet Slam in New Haven, Connecticut; on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. This forum, moderated by Ballard Institute director (and puppet slam performer) John Bell, will also be broadcast via Ballard Institute Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute).
This forum will explore puppet slams, which are live performances of curated, short-form puppetry acts for adult audiences that emerged from avant-garde puppet performance practices in the 1980s, with older roots in vaudeville and other popular practices. The Puppet Slam Network, founded by Heather Henson and IBEX Puppetry in 2005, encourages the growth and diversity of the puppet slam scene, and currently supports over 50 slams in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Heather Henson is a producer, puppet artist, and founder of the Green Feather Foundation (formerly IBEX Puppetry), an organization that promotes healing for the planet through immersive experiences. In 2005 Henson began the Puppet Slam Network to support the burgeoning underground community of adult short-form puppetry presenters, and through the Network has continued to fund and support Puppet Slams across North America. Henson also produces her own theatrical works, including Ajijaak on Turtle Island and Panther and Crane, and supports the work of other independent artists through the Handmade Puppet Dreams film series.
Brooklyn-based Brenna Ross is the Producer and General Manager of Green Feather Foundation and has overseen the Puppet Slam Network since 2017. She recently represented PSN in the Czech Republic as part of the International Puppet Slam partnership; produced the online National Puppetry Slamdemic in 2020; and is producing the upcoming International Puppet Slam in NYC in October 2023. A Midwestern ex-pat, Brenna holds degrees in physics and theater from Grinnell College and a certificate in Arts & Culture Strategy from University of Pennsylvania.
Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Anatar Marmol-Gagné earned an MFA degree from the University of Connecticut’s renowned Puppet Arts Program, and a BA in English/Creative Writing from Hunter College. Anatar trained at the National Puppetry Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center, has taught children’s puppet workshops and performed in puppet slams and festivals at venues such as Dixon Place in NYC; and founded and curates the Pinned & Sewtured Puppet Slam in New Haven.
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.