Join the Ballard Institute for our second Summer 2020 Online Puppet Forum Series event on Facebook Live! These forums, hosted by Ballard Institute director and puppet historian John Bell, will consist of discussions with notable scholars and practitioners around the world about the past, present, and future of puppetry and puppetry studies.

On June 11 at 4 p.m. ET, Theodora Skipitares will speak with John Bell about “Puppetry and Translation, from Autobiography to Benjamin Banneker.” Skipitares will discuss the development of her work from visual art to performance art and puppetry, and her ongoing focus on translating biography into puppet performance, most recently with The Transfiguration of Benjamin Banneker, which relates the surprisingly little-known story of an 18th-century free black man, independent farmer, self-taught astronomer, mathematician and civil rights advocate.

Theodora Skipitares is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist and theater director based in New York. Trained as a sculptor and designer, she is the author/director of 30 performance works, each featuring documentary texts, original music, video, and as many as 300 puppet figures. She is a resident artist at La MaMa Theater. Ms. Skipitares has worked and taught master classes in Brazil, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, and Iran. She is a Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Forums will be available afterwards on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will host Up the Winding Path: My Artistic Journey with Albrecht Roser, An Interview with Sarah Frechette, on Monday, May 11 at 8 p.m. EST. This conversation and video screening will take place on Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and will be available afterwards on the Ballard Institute Facebook page and YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). 

Alien slugs, dancing grandpas, and mystical beings populate ​UConn Puppet Arts alumna Sarah Frechette’s universe​, telling personal and multifarious stories through the art of string puppetry. Sarah developed her independent artistic language in numerous international summer academies, master classes, and invited studies with Master Puppeteer Albrecht Roser. As part of the interview Sarah will discuss her time in Roser’s studio in the village of Buoch, Germany; and share a section of her marionette vignettes filmed by cinematographer Oliver Lukacs. Joining the interview will be Professor Bart P. Roccoberton Jr., the Director of UConn’s Puppet Arts Program and the connective link that led Sarah to Albrecht Roser, changing her puppetry trajectory.

Sarah Frechette splits her time between Vermont, Europe, and Portland, Oregon as a touring puppeteer, arts educator, and stop-motion animation costumer. She is co-founder of the artist collective Night Shade Shadow Theater, producing the rod puppet film project The Spooky Girls, and has designed a new paper arts piece called Dirty Gerts for her family-focused company Puppetkabob. Sarah mentored with Master Puppeteer Albrecht Roser, absorbing his theories on zen and the art of puppetry from 2002-2009. Sarah has performed with her Roser-style marionettes as part of Meisterklasse; “Von damals bis heute” a shared presentation with artist Robin Walsh and Ingrid Höfer; and in 2017 was honored to perform with Roser’s “Bad Boy” Marionette in Die Kunst Albrecht Roser, a final celebration in his Buoch, Germany studio.

For more information, please contact Ballard Institute staff at bimp@uconn.edu. 

The UConn Puppet Arts Program and Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will host the end-of-semester presentation of UConn Puppet Arts undergraduate and graduate class finals on Thursday, May 7 and Friday, May 8 at 7 p.m. EST. These presentations will take place on Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/). Talkbacks led by famed puppeteer Blair Thomas will also take place each night. 

Blair Thomas, Founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago International Puppet Festival, will join us both evenings as a Responder to the students’ work.

Blair is an internationally recognized puppet artist who co-founded Red Moon Theater in Chicago in 1990. In 2002 he created his own solo company, Blair Thomas & Co., which has garnered outstanding critiques and responses from puppet festivals around the world. blairthomas.org

For more information, please contact Ballard Institute staff at bimp@uconn.edu. 

The UConn Puppet Arts Program and Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry present an online live presentation titled The Making of Puppets Helping Pets: Abby Bosley’s MFA Project, with UConn Puppet Arts graduate student Abby Bosley on Wednesday, May 6 at 7 p.m. EST via Facebook Live on the Ballard Institute page (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/). A recording of the event will be available afterwards on Facebook and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). Viewers are encouraged to watch the first episode of Puppets Helping Pets before the live behind-the-scenes discussion. The first episode is available on YouTube at: youtu.be/7-U_EOMIfMg. 

Join UConn Puppet Arts Program third-year graduate student Abby Bosley as she explains the process of bringing her MFA project, Puppets Helping Pets, to life. Puppets Helping Pets is a social media service project that includes two “pup-pet” characters, Cleo and Wendy, who want to share ways to help shelter animals, and other pet-related information with humans. Abby will answer questions and share how the idea evolved, how the puppets were fabricated, and how she created a video with them. For more information on Puppets Helping Pets, visit puppetshelpingpets.carrd.co and watch the first episode before the live discussion on Youtube at youtu.be/7-U_EOMIfMg.

See even more behind-the-scenes content by following Puppets Helping Pets on Facebook (@PuppetsHelpingPets), Twitter (@PuppetsHelpPets), and Instagram (@PuppetsHelpingPets). 

Abby Bosley is a student in the UConn Puppet Arts Program graduating with her MFA in spring 2020. She received her BA in Integrative Arts at Penn State University. There she completed her solo honors thesis show, Abby Bosley’s All Day Happy Hour. During her time at Penn State she combined her love of art and sculpture with her love of theatrical makeup. At UConn Abby dove into bringing her style to the world of puppetry, eventually creating Puppets Helping Pets as her MFA final project. She designed this puppet service project to help shelter pets by raising awareness through informational and entertaining social media videos. In addition, while at UConn, Abby has helped out with many projects, including fabricating and performing in Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s She Kills Monsters, and fabricating for Matthew Sorensen’s The Legend of the Snow Queen. While at UConn, she also worked at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry as a tour guide, workshop leader, and museum assistant. Abby loves her pets and is passionate about helping rescue pets in any way possible. More of her work can be seen on AbbyBosley.com.

For more information, please contact Ballard Institute staff at bimp@uconn.edu.

For its first online installment of the 2020 Spring Puppet Forum Series the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host “Puppets and Little Shop of Horrors” with Martin P. Robinson and UConn Puppet Arts graduate students Robert Ian Cutler and K. William Smith on April 23 at 7 p.m. EST. This forum will take place on Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and will be available afterwards on Facebook and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg).

Join famed Sesame Street puppeteer Martin P. Robinson and UConn Puppet Arts graduate students Robert Ian Cutler and K. William Smith in a discussion of puppetry and Little Shop of Horrors. Robinson, who designed, built, and performed all of the Audrey II puppets for the original Off-Broadway production of Little Shop, as well as for its Broadway incarnation, will talk with Cutler and Smith about the design and performance of puppets for the professional stage, in the context of Smith and Cutler’s work on the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s production of Little Shop, which was cancelled due to COVID-19. 

Martin P. Robinson has written, designed, directed, and performed for Broadway, film, and television for many years, including such productions as Little Shop of Horrors, Muppets Take Manhattan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sesame Street, Allegra’s Window, and more. He has performed on Sesame Street as Mr. Snuffleupagus, Telly Monster, Slimey, and other characters since 1981. He acts as a Sesame Street International Senior Muppet Coordinator/Teacher in numerous countries worldwide. He recently wrote, designed, and directed the musical All Hallows Eve in New York City, and is currently performing as Mr. Primm in the Apple+ production Helpsters.

William Smith is a second-year UConn Puppet Arts MFA candidate. He received his BFA in puppetry at West Virginia University. Will designed and fabricated puppets for Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, whose performances were cancelled due to COVID-19. Will has worked as a staff member at the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, as a resident artist at WVU, and has been featured as puppeteer for various productions over his career. Favorites include Dr. Stein: A Puppet Prometheus (WVU), Spacebus 9 (UConn MFA Project),  and CALLE ALLENDE (Anatar Marmol-Gagné).

 Robert Ian Cutler is a second-year UConn Puppet Arts MFA candidate. Rob came to UConn following a career in Philadelphia as an actor, carpenter, improvisor, and puppeteer. Rob worked as dramaturg and puppetry coach for CRT’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, and would have puppeteered in the show. Favorite credits include Spacebus 9 (UConn MFA project), Puppets: Here and There (ComedySportz Philly), Welcome to Ahnedonia (Monkey Boys Productions) and Waterbears in Space (Transmissions Theatre).  

For more information, please contact Ballard Institute staff at bimp@uconn.edu.

The UConn Asian and Asian American Studies Institute, UConn Puppet Arts Program, and Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry present a talkback about Nicotiana: A Shadow Puppet Play with Crankies by Rumput, featuring Balinese puppeteer I Gusti Putu Sudarta. The talkback will take place on Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) on April 29 at 8 p.m. EST. The talkback will also take place in Indonesian on April 29 at 9 a.m. EST (9 p.m. Central Indonesia Time, 8 p.m. Western Indonesia Time) on Facebook Live. Both versions of the talkback will be available afterwards on Facebook and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). Viewers are invited to watch in advance the recording of Nicotiana (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZLU7D-8cPA&fbclid=IwAR0OPS_MyMMWAfcrQ7uNf3nc9C227MsghUIwzzMQhWih22Aohdrpe8MJBk4).

This talkback, moderated by Professor Matthew Isaac Cohen (University of Connecticut), is a discussion of the creative process of the co-creators of the music-theater production Nicotiana: Dr. Andy McGraw (University of Richmond) and Dr. I Gusti Putu Sudarta (Indonesian Institute for the Arts in Denpasar). This intercultural collaboration between shadow master Gusti Sudarta from Bali, Indonesia and the string-band group Rumput from Richmond, Virginia involves traditional arts from Indonesia—specifically wayang kulit (shadow puppet theater) and keroncong music—mixed with crankies, or moving panoramas, and old-time string band music. This production focuses on the history of the global tobacco industry, with an emphasis on Virginia and western Indonesia. While the east coast U.S. tour of Nicotiana was cancelled due to Covid-19, the ensemble recorded the work before it disbanded and self-quarantined. The talkback will address the collaborative process, the work’s main messages regarding tobacco, and future bi-national collaborative projects. Viewers are invited to watch in advance the recording of Nicotiana (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZLU7D-8cPA&fbclid=IwAR0OPS_MyMMWAfcrQ7uNf3nc9C227MsghUIwzzMQhWih22Aohdrpe8MJBk4). The music ensemble Rumput plays keroncong (a string-band tradition from Indonesia) and explores parallel threads with other traditions, especially old-time string-band music of the United States and British Isles, and Indonesian gamelan. The company produces multimedia performances involving traditional and original music paired with shadow theater comprising elements of American and Indonesian traditions: crankies (scrolling panoramas) and wayang (shadow puppets). Rumput has performed internationally, including tours and residencies in Java in 2017 and 2018, performing with local artists at each stop, and collaborating with Indonesian master artists including Danis Sugiyanto, Peni Candrarini, Endah Laras, Ubiet Raseuki, and Gusti Sudarta.

Dalang (shadow master) I Gusti Putu Sudarta Ph.D., was born into a family of artists in Bedulu (Bali, Indonesia), and has been performing music, dance, and shadow theater since he was six years old. He is a permanent faculty member in the puppetry department at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Denpasar (Bali) and holds a master’s and Ph.D. in theater from the National Institute of Arts in Solo, Java. He regularly performs various forms of traditional Balinese music, mask dance, and wayang kulit (shadow puppet theater) in ceremonial contexts and has taken part in several international tours and inter-cultural experimental music and theater productions.

This talkback is sponsored by the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut, in collaboration with the UConn Puppet Arts Program and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry.