For its second installment of the 2019 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Critical & Historical Investigations into Women and Puppetry with Claudia Orenstein, Alissa Mello, and Theodora Skipitares, moderated by UConn Puppet Arts student Felicia Cooper. Join us on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. 

This forum will present editors of and contributors to an important new work of puppetry studies: Women and Puppetry: Critical and Historical Investigations. The anthology, dedicated to the study of women in the field of puppetry arts, and representing female writers and practitioners from across the globe, includes critical articles and personal accounts that interrogate specific historical moments, cultural contexts, and notions of “woman” on and off stage. The Women and Puppetry forum will feature editors Claudia Orenstein and Alissa Mello, as well as famed New York puppeteer Theodora Skipitares. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and book signing, courtesy of Barnes and Noble at UConn. This event is co-sponsored by UConn’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and the UConn Women’s Center.

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. 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. 

Alissa Mello is the Managing Director at Sandglass Theater and an independent scholar. She has presented at numerous international conferences; and is a co-editor of Women and Puppetry: Critical and Historical Investigations (2019). Her writing includes book chapters in Undisciplining Dance in 9 Movements and 8 Stumbles (2018) and Playing with Theory in Theatre Practice (2011); articles in Performance Research, Puppetry International, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Animations Online, and Puppet Notebook and theater criticism for www.offoffonline. As a founding member of Inkfish (www.inkfishart.com), she has directed numerous experimental puppet productions. As a performer and choreographer, she has worked with Theodora Skipitares, Anna Kiraly, Jane Catherine Shaw, and Ishara Puppet Theater. 

Claudia Orenstein is Professor of Theatre at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. She has spent over a decade writing on contemporary and traditional puppetry in the US and Asia. Recent publications include the co-edited volumes Women and Puppetry (with Alissa Mello and Cariad Astles), and The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance (with John Bell and Dassia Posner). She served as dramaturg for Stephen Earnhart’s multimedia production Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, based on the novel by Haruki Murakami; and for Tom Lee and Nishikawa Koryu V’s Shank’s Mare, in which she also performed. She is a board member of the puppetry organization UNIMA-USA and Associate Editor of Asian Theatre Journal.

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. For more information or if you require an accommodation to attend a forum, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu. 

As part of its 2019 Fall Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to present Milo the Magnificent by the Maryland-based company Alex & Olmsted on Sept. 28, 2019 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Milo the Magnificent—the recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Grant—is a highly engaging puppet show about an aspiring magician. Using stunningly innovative puppetry, Milo presents a variety of magic tricks which don’t always go as planned. This show is 50 minutes long and recommended for all ages.

In a review for the New York Times, Laurel Graeber wrote, “Milo is a bit of a cardboard character, but you can’t blame him for that. He’s a puppet: specifically, a huge cutout fellow, whose arms, hands and feet belong to one of his creators, and whose changing facial expressions are recorded on flippable circular cards. The duo Alex & Olmsted—Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas—invented his world, which includes other puppets made of cleverly repurposed materials. Milo […] aspires to be an illusionist, and while his tricks and experiments rarely work out as planned, children will still find them magical.”

Alex & Olmsted (Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas) is an internationally-acclaimed puppet theater company. In recent years, they have performed at the Puppet Festival Chuncheon in South Korea, the Festival de Casteliers in Montréal, the Festival of Animated Objects in Calgary, and Symphony Space in New York City. In 2019, they will have their European premiere at the Festival of Wonder in Silkeborg, Denmark. Milo the Magnificent was awarded a 2017 Jim Henson Foundation Grant and a Greenbelt Community Foundation Grant. Alex & Olmsted are resident artists at the Baltimore Theatre Project. They are also proud company members of Happenstance Theater, with whom they have created 10 productions since 2012.

Alex & Olmsted will also perform their new show Homebodies on Friday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. at the Ballard Institute as the kickoff of a new series of puppet shows for adult and teen audiences. For more information or to buy tickets for this show, visit bimp.ticketleap.com.

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 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. Parking is free for the first two hours and $1 per hour thereafter, with a daily maximum charge of $8. For more information about these performances or if you require an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the UConn Puppet Arts Program will present the 2019 UConn Fall Puppet Slam on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019 at 8 p.m. in UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall located at 875 Coventry Rd, Storrs, Conn. 06269. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will feature short works by professional puppeteers and performers from around New England, including Lilypad Puppet Theatre, Austin Costello, Anatar Marmol-Gagné, and Katayoun Amir-Aslani, as well as new works by Puppet Arts students and puppet animation films by students from UConn’s School of Fine Arts. 

The 2019 UConn Fall Puppet Slam will showcase the work of Lily Gershon and Matt Ocone of Lilypad Puppet Theatre, a company from Ithaca, NY who will perform The Robot’s Ballet, in which a robot learns to dance when a room full of toys is left for the night; and Mr. Blue and his Radio, in which the title character finds out more than he ever wanted to know as he’s listening to his radio. The show will feature live music from classically trained Matthew Ocone. UConn Puppet Arts alumnus Austin Costello will present a new music video by Danny Weinkauf (longtime bassist for They Might Be Giants) featuring puppets for Weinkauf’s song The Moon is Made of Cheese. UConn Puppet Arts alumnae Anatar Marmol-Gagné and Katayoun Amir-Aslani will present Katatar’s Traveling Circus, which features a two-woman traveling circus who perform over-the-top, absurd, and ridiculous acts with humanettes. They will also perform an excerpt from their production about Frida Kahlo, Calle Allende. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will also feature new works by UConn graduate and undergraduate students studying puppetry and animation. Funding for the UConn Fall Puppet Slam is made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network.

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam is free and open to the public; donations are greatly appreciated. Seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. The event will take place in UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall located at 875 Coventry Rd, Storrs, Conn. For directions to the von der Mehden Recital Hall, visit vdm.uconn.edu. These performances are recommended for mature audiences. For more information about these performances or if you require an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

As part of its newly created Evening Puppet Show Series for adult and teen audiences, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to present Homebodies by the Maryland-based company Alex & Olmsted on Sept. 27, 2019 at 8 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Alex & Olmsted (creators of the Jim Henson Foundation Grant-awarded Milo the Magnificent) present Homebodies, a new show that explores the concepts of house and home. Centered on a 30-cubic-inch puzzle box that has trick doors and amenities, Alex & Olmsted combine physical comedy and puppetry to unlock the house of the imagination.​ This show is 70 minutes with no intermission. 

The Baltimore Independent Theater Review writes that “Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas are simply masters of their craft. Not only constructing this magical box (no small feat), but a night clerk hotel bellhop puppet that looks like he escaped from a Twilight Zone episode. Their attention to detail and improvisation is top-notch. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen two actors work with and off each other in such complete unison. It is as if they are one person divided into two.”

Alex & Olmsted (Alex Vernon and Sarah Olmsted Thomas) is an internationally-acclaimed puppet theater company. In recent years, they have performed at the Puppet Festival Chuncheon in South Korea, the Festival de Casteliers in Montréal, the Festival of Animated Objects in Calgary, and Symphony Space in New York City. In 2019, they will have their European premiere at the Festival of Wonder in Silkeborg, Denmark. Milo the Magnificent was awarded a 2017 Jim Henson Foundation Grant and a Greenbelt Community Foundation Grant. Alex & Olmsted are resident artists at the Baltimore Theatre Project. They are also proud company members of Happenstance Theater, with whom they have created 10 productions since 2012.

Ticket Prices: Adults: $12; Members/Seniors: $10; Students: $8.

Alex & Olmsted will also perform their show Milo the Magnificent on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Ballard Institute as part of our 2019 Fall Puppet Show Series. For more information or to buy tickets for this show, visit bimp.ticketleap.com. 

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 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. Parking is free for the first two hours and $1 per hour thereafter, with a daily maximum charge of $8. For more information about these performances or if you require an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut, in conjunction with UConn’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, will offer a free two-day community puppet workshop on Oct. 5 and 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to design and build short toy theater shows about army ants and their associated species (their “guests”). The toy theaters created will be included in the new exhibition Army Ants and their Guests: Works Inspired by the Carl and Marian Rettenmeyer Collection, opening at the Ballard Institute on Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m. Participants will be invited to perform their toy theaters at the exhibition opening.

This workshop and the Army Ants and their Guests exhibit are part of AntU, a UConn endeavor designed to involve a variety of academic disciplines to engage a broad audience in the wonders of the complex biological systems of army ants and their hundreds of associated “guests”. The idea was borne out of an award from the National Science Foundation to UConn’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, in partnership with the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History to preserve and curate the Carl W. and Marian E. Rettenmeyer Army Ant Guest Collection. This world-class collection of over two million army ants and their guests is the result of 50 years of careful, detailed fieldwork in Central and South America by the Rettenmeyers. To learn more about AntU, visit web.uconn.edu/mnh/antu.

No experience is necessary to participate in this free community workshop, and all ages are invited. Participants must attend both days of the workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A lunch break will be included; participants should provide their own lunch.

Participants will build toy theaters with students and faculty from UConn’s Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology in groups of three to four people. The toy theaters will be exhibited in the Army Ants and their Guests exhibition opening at the Ballard Institute on Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m. Some toy theater productions may be performed as part of the opening events.

Registration is required and is limited to 30 people. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. To register for the workshop, or if you require accommodation to participate, contact the Ballard Institute at bimp@uconn.edu or 860-486-8580.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host its 2019 Fall Puppet Performance Series on four Saturdays from September to December 2019, featuring outstanding works of puppet theater by professional puppeteers from across New England and beyond. Each show will be performed twice, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. All performances will take place at the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. 

The schedule of the Fall Puppet Performance Series includes the following:

Sept. 28: Milo the Magnificent by Alex & Olmsted

Milo the Magnificent–the recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Grant–is a highly engaging puppet show about an aspiring magician. Using stunningly innovative puppetry, Milo presents a variety of magic tricks which don’t always go as planned. This show is 50 minutes long and is recommended for all ages. 

Oct. 26: The Three Little Pigs by Crabgrass Puppet Theatre

In this new version of an old tale, the three little pigs have a problem: they’ve outgrown their home and need three new houses. That’s where their architect, B.B. Wolfe, comes in. But can Mr. Wolfe be trusted? The award-winning Crabgrass Puppet Theatre delivers a delightful and hilarious new take on an old tale, featuring beautiful puppetry, lively music, and three adorable pigs. This show is 45 minutes long and is recommended for ages 4+. Celebrate Trick-or-Treat in Downtown Storrs by wearing your Halloween costume to the show!

Nov. 16: Holiday Punch! by Modern Times Theater

Punch and Judy are almost ready to celebrate Thanksgiving. They’ve got the stuffing, the sweet potatoes, and the cranberry sauce. The only thing missing is the turkey. Audiences will split their sides laughing as Mr. Punch tries to catch the main dish, while avoiding crocodiles, his badly-behaved baby, and his dog Toby (who looks suspiciously like a skunk). The skillfully-operated hand puppets are chock-full of surprises and tricks, as is the elaborate stage. Holiday Punch! includes live music played on a variety of instruments, from the ukulele to the bicycle pump. This show is 45 minutes long and is recommended for all ages.

Dec. 7: Peter and the Wolf by National Marionette Theatre

Based on the original Russian folktale, National Marionette Theatre’s version of Prokofiev’s story features the beautiful music from his orchestral score combined with stunning scenery and hand-crafted marionettes. Set in turn-of-the-century Russia, the production tells the story of how Peter–along with his animal friends–captures the wolf. This show is 50 minutes long and is recommended for all ages.

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 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. Parking is free for the first two hours and $1 per hour thereafter, with a daily maximum charge of $8. For more information about these performances or if you require an accommodation to attend an event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

For its 2019 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host four free scintillating discussions with puppeteers, scholars, and artists on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. in September through December in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. These forums will illuminate new perspectives on the creation, history, aesthetics, and performance of puppetry today. The Fall Puppet Forum schedule will include the following talks: 

September 19: “Building Puppeteers: How We Got Here and Where are We Going” with Bart Roccoberton
In conjunction with the Ballard Institute’s exhibit It’s Always Pandemonium: The Puppets of Bart Roccoberton, on display through Sept. 29, join Professor Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr. in a discussion about the past, present, and future of UConn’s unique international resource: the UConn Puppet Arts Program. This event is co-sponsored by the UConn Puppet Arts Program.

October 24: “Critical and Historical Investigations into Women and Puppetry” with Claudia Orenstein, Alissa Mello, and Theodora Skipitares, moderated by UConn Puppet Arts graduate student Felicia Cooper
This forum will present editors of and contributors to an important new work of puppetry studies: Women and Puppetry: Critical and Historical Investigations. The anthology, dedicated to the study of women in the field of puppetry arts, and representing female writers and practitioners from across the globe, includes critical articles and personal accounts that interrogate specific historical moments, cultural contexts, and notions of “woman” on and off stage. This event is co-sponsored by UConn’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and the UConn Women’s Center.

November 21: “Macy’s, Tony Sarg, and the Invention of Inflatable Puppets” with Robert Grippo, Christopher Hoskins, and John Bell, moderated by UConn School of Engineering Professor Mehdi Anwar
Robert Grippo and Christopher Hoskins, authors of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will join UConn School of Engineering Professor Mehdi Anwar and Ballard Institute Director John Bell in a discussion of the ground-breaking invention of inflatable puppets for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades by puppeteer Tony Sarg and engineers from the Goodyear Rubber Company. This event is co-sponsored by the UConn School of Engineering.

December 5: “Chasing Ghosts: Ten Years with the Shadow Puppeteers of China” with Annie Rollins
Annie Katsura Rollins—curator of the Ballard Institute exhibition Immaterial Remains: Can You Preserve a Shadow?—reflects on over a decade of apprenticeship and research with the traditional shadow puppeteers of China and the importance and (im)possibilities of chasing our own ghosts. This event is co-sponsored by UConn’s Asian and Asian American Studies Institute and the Asian-American Cultural Center.

Admission to these events 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. For more information or if you require an accommodation to attend a forum, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will once again offer fall community puppet-building workshops to design and build life-size and over-life-size puppets for a new Connecticut Pollinator Pageant to be performed at the Celebrate Mansfield Festival in Downtown Storrs. These free workshops will take place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 14 and 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Ballard Institute, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. Workshop participants will be invited to perform in the community Connecticut Pollinator Pageant at the 16^th annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 3 p.m.

The theme for this year’s Ballard Institute community pageant for the Celebrate Mansfield Festival is—Pollinators! Connecticut pollinators are not simply honeybees and bumblebees. In addition, there are scores of native flies, bees, butterflies, bats, and beetles that make important contributions to our lives by pollinating crops. Working together, workshop participants will create over-life-sized masks and puppets representing their favorite pollinators. These puppets and masks will then be part of The Connecticut Pollinator Pageant, to be performed in Betsy Paterson Square at the Celebrate Mansfield Festival on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 3 p.m.

No experience is necessary to participate in these free community puppet-building workshops, but registration is requested. Participants can come for one or both days and are not required to stay for the entire time. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. To register for the workshop, or if you require accommodation to participate, contact the Ballard Institute at bimp@uconn.edu or 860-486-8580.

This community puppet project is sponsored by the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut and the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Inc. For more information about the 16^th Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival, visit downtownstorrsfestival.org.

The Mansfield Downtown Partnership is an independent, non-profit organization comprised of the Town of Mansfield, the University of Connecticut, and individual business members and residents. The Partnership seeks to foster the continued development, management, and promotion of Downtown Storrs. For more information about the Partnership, visit mansfieldmdp.org.