Due to inclement weather, the performance of “Bugsy and Friends” by Pumpernickel Puppets scheduled for this Saturday, along with the Sunday rain date, have been canceled.
We hope to bring Pumpernickel Puppets back to Storrs in the Spring!
We hope to bring Pumpernickel Puppets back to Storrs in the Spring!
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the UConn Puppet Arts Program will present an online version of its popular UConn Fall Puppet Slam on October 22, 2021 at 8 p.m. ET on the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/). The 2021 UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online!, hosted by UConn Puppet Arts student Stoph Scheer and Kunzika, will feature short works by professional puppeteers and performers from around the United States and across the world and new works by UConn Puppet Arts students.
The 2021 UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online! will showcase the work of Thai pantomime and artist TaLent Show; Puerto Rican puppeteer Brenda Plumey; Boston-based quintet Firepit Coven; Linda Wingerter of The Stringpullers Puppet Company; independent artist Sandi Green Baker of Missouri; Hawaii-based artist Bonnie Kim; Kenyan puppeteer Fedelis Kyalo; puppeteer team Norah Solorzano and Alex Young, and recent UConn Puppet Arts graduate Felicia Cooper.
The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will also feature fascinating new works by UConn graduate and undergraduate students from the UConn Puppet Arts Program. Funding for the UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online! is made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network.
The UConn Fall Puppet Slam is free, but donations are greatly appreciated. These performances are recommended for mature audiences. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will be available through November 30, 2021 on the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Facebook page (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and the Ballard Institute YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg).
For more information about these performances, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.
For its second installment of the 2021 Fall Puppet Forum Series, and in conjunction with the Puppetry’s Racial Reckoning exhibition, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will host “Exhibiting Racism in Museums” with professor William F. Condee and puppeteer and museum educator Schroeder Cherry on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Zoom (registration required: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MY1VOc-gQoOzaXYOTgGWvw) and Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and will be available afterwards on Facebook and the Ballard Institute YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg).
The exhibition Puppetry’s Racial Reckoning at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry (closing October 30) raises important questions about displaying objects that are explicitly or implicitly racist. Is it right to give such objects a place in a museum? How to contextualize and introduce the objects and generate productive and meaningful conversations based on the exhibition? Addressing these questions are Dr. William F. Condee, who is writing about puppets representing minorities and foreigners at five major collections in Germany, and Dr. Schroeder Cherry, a puppeteer and a curator at James E. Lewis Museum of Arts who has extensive experience discussing racism in museum contexts with exhibition visitors. This forum will be an opportunity to think through ethics and methods of curating racist objects and how to broaden perspectives on the roles of museums in relation to anti-racism. This forum is co-sponsored by the UConn Human Rights Institute.
Originally from Washington, D.C., Schroeder Cherry, Ed.D. is now a Maryland-based artist and 2019 Sondheim competition finalist who captures everyday scenes of African diaspora life. He earned a bachelor’s degree in painting and puppetry from The University of Michigan; a master’s degree in museum education from George Washington University; and a doctorate in museum education from Columbia University. His works are found in private and public collections across the US. In 2020 He was awarded the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City Artist Travel Prize for research in Bahia, Brazil. In 2021 he received an Individual Artist Award from Maryland State Arts Council. Cherry’s museum career spans more than thirty years, with positions held at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum in Washington, D.C.; Studio Museum in Harlem; J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu; The Baltimore Museum of Art; and Maryland Historical Society. He served eight years at The Institute of Museum and Library Services, first as Deputy Director for Museums, and later as Counselor to the Director. He was recently appointed Curator at James E. Lewis Museum, Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. William Condee (J. Richard Hamilton Professor Emeritus of Humanities, Ohio University) is the author of Coal and Culture: The Opera House in Appalachia (Ohio, 2005) and Theatrical Space: A Guide for Directors and Designers (Scarecrow, 1995). His articles on Southeast Asian puppetry have been published in Puppetry International, Studies in Theatre and Performance and Asian Journal of University Education. Articles on other subjects have appeared in Theatre Survey, Theatre Topics, and Theatre Annual. He has co-authored work (with Thomas Irmer) on German theater in A History of German Theatre (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and Theatre Journal. His most recent work on Nonmaterial Performance has appeared in Imagined Theatres andTDR: The Drama Review, co-authored with Barry Rountree. Condee was the Kohei Miura Visiting Professor at Chubu, Japan; a Fulbright Senior Specialist at University of Leipzig and University of Malaya; and has lectured at universities including East China Normal, Tsinghua, Nanjing, Dankook, and Hindu Dharma Institute (Bali).
For more information and to learn about other Ballard Institute online programming, visit bimp.uconn.edu or email bimp@uconn.edu.
We have a slight change in our virtual show for Saturday, July 17!
Our performer this week, Dirk Joseph of String Theory Theater, was in a bicycle accident. He is recovering but will be unable to perform live on Saturday. Instead, we are happy to present a recording of Kitty’s Corner by String Theory Theater from Spring 2020, and two other short pieces titled Inflorescence and Material Witness on Saturday, July 17 at 11 a.m. ET. This will still take place via Zoom, and we will send out a link to registrants the morning of the show.
The Ballard Institute is happy to once again share a recording of Kitty’s Corner, a hilarious interview-style talk show put on by a cat and a dog. Lively characters with humor to crack up both children and adults. After the show enjoy a peek behind the scenes with a tour of the String Theory Theater studio as puppeteers Dirk Joseph and his daughter Azaria Jean-Gilles Joseph share how their puppets work and how they create their shows. We are also excited to present to other short pieces by String Theory Theater titled Inflorescence and Material Witness.
String Theory Theater (STT) is a family puppet troupe based in Baltimore MD, consisting of artist Dirk Joseph and his daughters Koi and Azaria. They create and perform shows for families to enjoy together, as well as adult-themed productions. STT is also involved in community arts, using puppetry as a healing and connective cultural technology in some of Baltimore’s underserved communities.
Due to generous support during our 2021 UConn Gives campaign, admission is free, but donations are encouraged.
For this virtual performance via Zoom, a household reservation must be made in advance due to limited availability. Reservations can be made by visiting bimp.ticketleap.com/anansi. A link to the Zoom event will be emailed to registrants an hour before the performance.
For more information, or if you require an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.
After being pushed around for over 400 years, the famous hand-puppet heroine Judy has had enough! Cheer her on as she goes on a quest for respect, justice, and a well-deserved nap. Puppeteer Sarah Nolen delivers an astonishing one-woman performance in this modern feminist interpretation of the traditional Punch and Judy puppet show. Audiences young and old will laugh, cry, yell, and gasp in response to this highly-interactive, hilarious, hand-crafted farce.
Admission is free, but donations are encouraged.
Per UConn health and safety policies, masks are required at all times for all attendees and staff ages two and up. For safety, six feet of space will be required between seated family groups. Please note that public restrooms are not available.
Chairs will not be provided, so groups are encouraged to bring waterproof seating (just in case the grass is still wet!). Seating space will be first come, first served. This show will not be streamed virtually.
This performance is co-sponsored by the Mansfield Downtown Partnership.
As part of its Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will present Anansi: Story-teller by Baltimore’s String Theory Theater on July 17 at 11 a.m. ET via Zoom. Due to generous support during our 2021 UConn Gives campaign, admission is free, but donations are encouraged. A household reservation is required for this performance.
String Theory Theater presents a fresh take on the famous trickster spider from West Africa folk tales. Anansi is charged with weaving together all of the stories of life on earth and relaying the stories to the sky gods. Daunted by what seems like a never-ending task, Anansi seeks to simplify his effort with an innovative solution, which leads to unexpected results.
String Theory Theater (STT) is a family puppet troupe based in Baltimore MD, consisting of artist Dirk Joseph and his daughters Koi and Azaria. They create and perform shows for families to enjoy together, as well as adult-themed productions. STT is also involved in community arts, using puppetry as a healing and connective cultural technology in some of Baltimore’s underserved communities.
For this virtual performance via Zoom, a household reservation must be made in advance due to limited availability. Reservations can be made by visiting bimp.ticketleap.com. A link to the Zoom event will be emailed to registrants an hour before the performance.
For more information, or if you require an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.