Due to the forecasted winter weather, the Ballard Institute will be closed on Tuesday, March 14. Stay warm!

Due to forecasts of winter weather, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will be closed on Friday, 3/10.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to host 100 Birds, a new production written, directed, and designed by UConn Puppet Arts Program undergraduate student John Cody ’17 from April 7 to April 9 in the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Theater located at 1 Royce Circle in Storrs Center.

A magical and whimsical, if not slightly chaotic, group of birds have flocked to the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry! 100 Birds follows Jada Jones, captain of her middle school’s basketball team, who finds out that her school doesn’t have the money to get the team to their playoff game. The 100 Birds, an intergalactic troupe of feathered friends, come from outer space to help Jada after she wishes upon a shooting star for help. Using their skills as birds and their love of math, the avian crew bands together with Jada to host the biggest fundraiser ever and create the world’s largest pizza! But the nefarious Dr. Allundrious Pepper, who hates birds, is dead set on foiling their plans. Will Jada and the birds make it out alive, giblets and all? Speaking to his creative process, Cody explains “this fantastical, silly dose of positive entertainment came about in the middle of the night, which sounds far more dramatic than it actually was. I came up with the title of 100 Birds, and the next day I came up with three sentence stories that could serve this title … I have found this brainstorming method particularly effective, and it was through these short stories I wrote that the seed of the show’s story was planted.”

John Cody, along with fellow UConn Puppet Arts Program undergraduate student Katayoun Amir-Aslani ’18 weave together rod puppets, hand puppets, string puppets, and more into an experience that both adults and children will love, with a focus on comedy and positivity. “I think children are far smarter than adults give them credit, and I have developed 100 Birds with that in mind. 100 Birds is not a show that I am making for children, but rather is something that I, as a young adult, would like to see, with audiences young and old taken into account when it comes to the exact vocabulary of the show,” states Cody. This show is made possible by UConn’s IDEA Grant, which provides funding for independent projects by undergraduate students.

John Cody is a New York-based puppeteer who will be graduating with a BFA in Puppet Arts this May. Deciding he wanted to be a puppeteer before the age of five, John has since worked on many projects of all different kinds, from marionettes to hand puppets to giant character costumes. He has had the tremendous opportunity to learn and work alongside some of the folks behind The Muppets, Sesame Street, and Bear in the Big Blue House.

Performances of 100 Birds will take place in the Ballard Institute Theater according to the following schedule:

April 7             7:30 p.m.

April 8             2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

April 9             2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

Admission is free. Due to limited seating, tickets must be reserved at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, by calling 860-486-8580, or online at http://bimp.ticketleap.com/. This show is recommended for ages 6 and up. For more information about this production, visit bimp.uconn.edu or call 860-486-8580.

As part of the 2017 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present a discussion with Michael Bannon, Director of Advertising Production for Bob’s Discount Furniture, entitled Puppetry and Animation on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Storrs Center. This event is co-sponsored by UConn’s Art and Art History Department.

Stop-motion animation artist Michael Bannon’s Wreckless Abandon Studios has produced and directed award-winning commercials for scores of companies across the United States, as well as the famous “Little Bob” spokespuppet for Connecticut-based Bob’s Discount Furniture. At the forum he will explain the dynamics and opportunities of contemporary visual storytelling with the arts of stop-motion puppet animation.

Michael Bannon is the Director of Advertising Production for Bob’s Discount Furniture, a successful furniture chain founded by UConn alumni Bob Kaufman and Eugene Rosenberg. Bannon earned his BA in sculpture, printmaking, and art history from Plymouth State University with the goal to make a career personifying brands through character animation. Bannon joined forces with documentary filmmaker Ron Wyman to form Atlantic Media Services. Their client list grew to include numerous furniture stores, along with notable news networks such as CNN. In 1991, Bannon added Bob’s Discount Furniture to the roster and helped propel the business into the fastest-growing furniture chain in the U.S. In 1997, Bannon founded Wreckless Abandon Studios, an award-winning stop-motion and digital animation studio located near Hartford, Connecticut. Over nine years, Wreckless Abandon grew to employ a staff of over 75 artists and production personnel, including many alumni from UConn’s Puppet Arts Program and Art and Art History Department. As Executive Vice President & Creative Director of Wreckless Abandon Studios, Bannon was responsible for creative direction of the studio, which has produced animated commercials for national clients including PepsiCo, Fisher-Price, Talbots, Dannon and Sony Music Entertainment, as well as the animated Fisher-Price Little People television series, an NBC prime-time Christmas special, and stop-motion productions for such clients as the Late Show with David Letterman, the Today Show, Lego and Nickelodeon. Today, Bannon continues to bring “Little Bob” to life for an audience of millions, while training a stable of talented young artists in the age-old visual storytelling technique of stop-motion animation.

Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. Come early, and experience our puppet exhibitions, as well as the video resources in our library nook. Forums will be broadcast via Facebook Live. Call 860-486-8580 for more information.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is looking for UConn students to form a Ballard Institute Student Outreach Committee to serve as advisors and creators of events, exhibits, and programming geared towards the UConn student population. No puppetry experience is required, and we welcome students from all departments! If you are interested in learning more, please email bimp@uconn.edu.