For its second installment of the 2019 Spring Puppet Forum Series,and as a part of 2019 UConn Gives activities, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host The Royal de Luxe Giants in Montreal: Poetics and Logistics in the Animation of Urban Space with Dr. Mark Sussmanon Wednesday March 27 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. This event also takes place as part of the 2019 UConn Gives, a 36-hour giving initiative on March 27 and 28, where you can celebrate your favorite aspects of the University through giving. At this forum, attendees will have the opportunity to donate to the Ballard Institute, receive UConn giveaways, and make a puppet.
This presentation will discuss a rare 2017 appearance of the world-famous Royal de Luxe company in North America. Based in Nantes, France and led by director Jean-Luc Courcoult, the company comprises a large number of designers, mechanics, builders, and engineers who are also, by necessity, storytellers, performers, and community artists. Commissioned by various cities, the company tours the globe with a collection of giants: marionette-like figures operated by expertly trained teams of Lilliputian performers in a series of monumental and architectural interventions in the fabric of daily life.
Mark Sussman is a theatre artist, performance scholar, and a founding member of the Brooklyn-based collective Great Small Works. Dr. Sussman currently lives in Montreal, Quebec, where he is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at Concordia University, teaching courses in puppetry and performance studies. He is the founder of Café Concret, Montreal’s experimental puppetry cabaret series now in its 13th year, and is a member of the Canadian Consortium for Performance and Politics in the Americas. In 2019, he will be working again with Great Small Works on a new episode of the surreal news serial, The Toy Theater of Terror As Usual.
Upcoming 2019 Spring Puppet Forums include:
April 10: Holy Puppets: Performing Objects in the Middle Ages with Michelle Oing
From puppets of Christ to fire-breathing dragons, the medieval world was full of performing objects. In this talk, art historian Michelle Oing explores the ways in which puppets were used in late-medieval European culture to understand humanity’s place in the cosmos.
May 1: Wayang Puppet Theatre of Indonesia: Collective Creativity and Individual Agency with Matthew Cohen
This talk, illustrated by puppets from the unmatched Dr. Walter Angst and Sir Henry Angest Collection of Indonesian Puppets at Yale University Art Gallery, explores the dynamics of collective and individual agency in wayang during the colonial and postcolonial periods as a reflex of the changing world.
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. For more information about UConn Gives, visit givingday.uconn.edu.
Tickets for “The Three Little Pigs” by Liz Joyce & A Couple of Puppets are now SOLD OUT! Get your tickets to our other upcoming Spring Series performances at bimp.ticketleap.com.
For its first installment of the 2019 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Choose the Path of Creation:Art and Life of the Independent Theater Maker on Wednesday Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.
Drawing from her own exceptional career and artistic path, puppeteer and singer Yael Rasooly will look with a candid eye at the liberation of the imagination, and at the practical and mundane aspects of a challenging and rewarding profession and life style. The focus of the talk will tune into the intricate and rich medium of visual theater and puppetry, as a source of self-expression and inner development of an artist.
Yael Rasooly is one of Israel’s prominent independent theater makers. She specializes in contemporary visual and object theater and has directed several Internationally acclaimed performances, both in Israel and Europe, which have been performed in over 30 countries worldwide. Yael was the international guest artist at the 2018 National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. Yael Rasooly is also a singer of international reputation and her cabaret performance, Glamour in the Dark, is currently touring around the world. Yael Rasooly’s work in the United States is supported by the Israel Institute’s Visiting Israeli Artists Program.
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.
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the UConn Puppet Arts Program will present the 2019 UConn Winter Puppet Slam on Friday, Feb. 22, 2019 at 8 p.m. in UConn’s Doris & Simon Konover Auditorium in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center located at 405 Babbidge Road, Storrs, CT 06269. The UConn Winter Puppet Slam will feature short works by professional puppeteers and performers from around New England, including New York City’s Kate Brehm and Boston’s Harry LaCoste, as well as new works by students and faculty from UConn’s School of Fine Arts.
The 2019 UConn Winter Puppet Slam will feature work by New York-based movement director Kate Brehm, who devises visual theater with puppets and physical acting. She will perform To Be Continued Indefinitely, a toy theater puppet show that presents a minute and finite representation of the infinite cycle of creation and destruction in the universe. Boston puppeteer Harry La Coste will perform Uke Can Do It!, which features a ukelele-playing puppet named Big Red Bernie and audience participation. UConn Puppet Arts Technical Supervisor Paul Spirito will present a live video projection of a toy theater show performed from his seat in the front row. The UConn Winter Puppet Slam will also feature new works by UConn graduate and undergraduate Puppet Arts students, and digital animations by students of Digital Media and Design Professor Anna Lindemann. Funding for the UConn Winter Puppet Slam is made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network. The UConn Winter 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 Doris & Simon Konover Auditorium in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center located at 405 Babbidge Road, Storrs, CT 06269. Attendees can park in the South Garage. To locate the South Garage by GPS, use the UConn Bookstore address: 2075 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT 06269. For directions to Konover Auditorium, visit thedoddcenter.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 2019 Spring Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to present The Three Little Pigs by Liz Joyce & A Couple of Puppets of Long Island, New York on Feb. 16, 2019 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.
In this version of The Three Little Pigs, BB (a reformed wolf with allergies) sells real estate to the new pigs in town. This puppet show by acclaimed Long Island puppeteer Liz Joyce features hand-carved marionettes, musical numbers, and lots of laughs. This show is 35 minutes and is recommended for ages 3+.
A Couple of Puppets is actually a lot of puppets and a bunch of wonderful puppet shows. The company was created in 1990 by Liz Joyce. Since then, over 25 shows for children and their families have been brought to life. Themes such as growing things and saving the environment, along with classic fairy tales with a twist, have been added to the company’s long list of puppet shows. Shows are performed live with music and hand-crafted puppets. In the early stages of her career, Liz worked with and apprenticed with Terry Snyder, a master puppeteer from Richmond, Va. Her artistic approach to puppetry has also been influenced by European puppetry traditions and the eccentric energy of New York’s downtown performance artists. She honed her carving skills working with traditional puppet carvers in Prague, Czech Republic, and often collaborates with other puppeteers in the international puppet community.
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 at the University of Connecticut will celebrate the rich world of African American puppetry in the United States with a four-day series of performances, presentations, discussions, film screenings, and workshops on Feb. 7 to 10, 2019 in Hartford and Storrs.
Activities for the Living Objects: African American Puppetry Festival and Symposium will take place in various venues on UConn’s Storrs campus Feb. 8 to 10, with related festival events with UConn Hartford at the Hartford Public Library on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, and at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019.
Attendees have two options to participate in Living Objects Festival and Symposium events:
Living Objects performances in Storrs and Hartford are open to the public. Individual tickets can be purchased at bimp.ticketleap.com.
To attend all Living Objects Festival and Symposium events, including performances, panel discussions, film screenings, and more, registration is required. Registration can be completed at www.cvent.com/d/bbqbh7.
These events are part of the current Ballard Institute exhibition Living Objects: African American Puppetry, on display through April 7, 2019, which for the first time brings together historical and contemporary puppets, masks, and performing objects by African American artists and puppeteers. Many of the exhibition’s contributors, as well as scholars from around the United States, will come together at the festival and symposium to celebrate the past, present, and future of African American puppetry.
Exhibition co-curator Paulette Richards, a teaching artist and Fulbright Scholar, writes that “since their arrival in the Americas, African people have animated objects in a rich variety of forms and contexts, animating objects to represent their experiences and identity.” The Living Objects: African American Puppetry Festival and Symposium will highlight such work by contemporary African American artists, while also contextualizing the evolution of African American object performance.
Artists and puppeteers performing in the festival and symposium include Tarish “Jeghetto” Pipkins, Megan Piphus, Nehprii Amenii, Schroeder Cherry, David Liebe Hart, Dirk Joseph, Pandora Gastelum, Brad Brewer, Gabrielle Civil, Bruce Cannon, Nate Puppets, Yolanda Sampson, Edna Bland, and Paulette Richards.
PERFORMANCES
Public performances at UConn, to which individual tickets can be purchased, include:
Friday, Feb. 8
Throwing Voice: African American Ventriloquism 8-9:30 p.m. at UConn’s Doris & Simon Konover Auditorium Performances byventriloquists Megan Piphus, David Liebe Hart, and Nate Puppets. Recommended for ages 13 and above. Ticket Prices: Adults: $12; Members/Seniors: $10; Students: $8.
Saturday, Feb. 9
Harlem River Drive by Bruce Cannon 4-5 p.m. at UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall Marionette performance for family audiences celebrating the history and diversity of the world’s most famous black community. Ticket Prices: Adults: $12; Members/Seniors: $10; Students: $8; Kids: $6 (12 years and under).
Double Selves: African American Puppets and Puppeteers 8:30-10 p.m. at UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall Featuring A Conversation with Frederick Douglass by Tarish “Jeghetto” Pipkins, The City that Care Forgot by Pandora Gastelum of The Mudlark Puppeteers, Curled by Isaac Bloodworth, Lovely Day by Brad Brewer, and For the Love of Cats and Dogs by Dirk Joseph and String Theory Theater. Ticket Prices: Adults: $12; Members/Seniors: $10; Students: $8.
Sunday, Feb. 10
Gospel Puppetry 9:30-10:30 a.m. at UConn’s von der Mehden Recital Hall Featuring The Greatest Love Story Ever Told by Edna Bland, and TheAgape Love Train by Rev. Yolanda Sampson. Ticket Prices: Adults: $12; Members/Seniors: $10; Students: $8; Kids: $6 (12 years and under).
The following Living Objects events in Hartford are free and open to the public. These events are not included in festival registration and transportation is not provided.
Thursday, Feb. 7
Puppetry and African American History: Tarish Pipkins and Pandora Gastelum 4-5:30 p.m. at the Center for Contemporary Culture, Hartford Public Library Featuring A Conversation with Frederick Douglass by Tarish “Jeghetto” Pipkins and The City that Care Forgot by Pandora Gastelum of The Mudlark Puppeteers. This free event is sponsored by UConn Hartford, Hartford Public Library, and Judith M. Zachs and the Zachs Family Foundation.
Saturday, Feb. 9
Wadsworth Atheneum Second Saturdays for Families 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Amistad Center for Art and Culture at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Performances of How the Sun Came to the Sky by Schroeder Cherry; and Paulette Richards’ “STEAM through Puppetry” workshop, led by UConn Puppet Arts students. This event is sponsored by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and Amistad Center for Art and Culture.
Tickets for individual performances 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 on the day of performance at the venues listed starting an hour before showtime. There will be open seating and no reservations. For address and parking information for von der Mehden Recital Hall, visitvdm.uconn.edu/plan-your-visit/directions-parking/. For address and parking information for the Doris & Simon Konover Auditorium, visitthedoddcenter.uconn.edu/contact/.
SYMPOSIUM REGISTRATION
Living Objects Festival and Symposium registrants may purchase one-day, three-day, or student passes to attend all festival and symposium events. Registration will include breakfast and lunch. Symposium events open to registrants only include the following sessions, which will be held at UConn’s Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs:
Friday, Feb. 8
1:30-2 p.m.Keynote Address with Living Objects co-curator Paulette Richards, introduced by John Bell (Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry)
2:15-3:45 p.m.Minstrel Performance and the History of the African American Puppet Moderator: Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr. (UConn Puppet Arts Program) Amber West (UCLA): “Blackface Minstrelsy in American Puppetry” Benjamin Fisler (Harford College): “Black and Blackface in the Performing Puppet: The Jubilee Singers, Ralph Chessé, and the Burdens of… Everything” Paulette Richards: “It’s Not Easy Being Green”
3:45-4:15 p.m.Miss Lily’s Living Objects Tour, with Schroeder Cherry
4:15-5:45 p.m.Puppetry and Community Moderator: Michael Bradford (UConn Department of Dramatic Arts) Yolanda Sampson (GO Y.O. Worldwide): “Power Puppets in Portable Pulpits: A Personal Account of Puppet Ministry in the African American Community” Schroeder Cherry (Schroeder Cherry and His Puppets): “Playing with Puppets from Childhood to Adulthood” Jonathan Walz (Columbus Museum): “The Marionette Show as a Correlating Activity in the Public Schools” Lisa Sánchez González (UConn Department of English): “Pura Belpré’s Puppetry at the NYPL Children’s Rooms: 1921-1944”
Saturday, Feb. 9
9-10:30 a.m.Afro-Diasporic Storytelling and Culture Moderator: Katherine Capshaw (UConn Department of English) Izabela Brochado (Universidade de Brasília): “African Puppetry and Brazilian Mamulengo: Possible Links between Symbolic and Material Representations” Nehprii Amenii (Khunum Productions): “African Spirituality, Puppetry, and Cultural Erasure” Susan Fulcher (Matteson Area Public Library District): “Storytelling and Puppetry”
10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.The Means of Production (film screening and discussion) Featuring films by Tau Bennett, Pierre Bennu, Raymond Carr, Jayden Libran, Paulette Richards, and more
2-3:30 p.m.Representations and Appropriations of Blackness Moderator: Michael Bradford (UConn Department of Drama) Brad Brewer (The Brewery Troupe): “Creating a Puppet Production for the Smithsonian Institution” Tarish Pipkins (Jeghetto’s Entertainment) Valeska Populoh (Maryland Institute College of Art) Nehprii Amenii (Khunum Productions)
5:30-6:30 p.m.Black::Body::Gesture: From Puppetry to Performance & Design Dialogue with Gabrielle Civil (CalArts) and Kelly Walters (Parsons School of Design)
Sunday, Feb. 10
11-12:30 p.m.Closing Session: Next Steps Moderator: Paulette Richards (Living Objects co-curator) Panelist: Ra Malika Imhotep (UCLA): “Tar Baby: The Performance of Object” Discussant: Valeska Populoh (MICA)
Living Objects: African American Puppetry Festival and Symposium sponsors include: Judith M. Zachs and the Zachs Family Foundation, UConn School of Fine Arts, University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, UConn Africana Studies Institute, the H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center of the University of Connecticut, UConn Hartford, Hartford Public Library, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the Amistad Center for Art and Culture, and Maryland Institute College of Art.
For more information or if you require an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.
