The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present Wayang Thithi: A Performance and Discussion, a rare opportunity to see and learn about Chinese-influenced Indonesian shadow theater, organized by the Ullen Sentalu Museum of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This special event will feature a performance of Wayang Thithi shadow theater by Dalang (puppet master) Aneng Kiswantoro, and a discussion of Wayang Thithi and its representation in museums by Ullen Sentalu Museum Director Daniel Haryono, and puppeteer Dwi Woro Retno Mastuti, an expert on Chinese-Indonesia puppet forms. The performance and talk will take place on Friday, October 27 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. 

Indonesia is defined by a high level of ethnic diversity, including 1,340 ethnic groups scattered across its 17,024 inhabited islands. “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” (Diversity in Unity) is the Indonesian national slogan for managing cultural unity and equality so that no culture is considered superior or inferior. The assimilation of Chinese culture into Javanese culture can be seen in Wayang Thithi, a shadow puppetry, which emerged in Yogyakarta in the 1880s. Only two museums currently conserve Wayang Thithi (also known as Wayang Cina Jawa, or Wacinwa): the Sono Budoyo Museum in Yogyakarta, and the Yale University Art Gallery. Such precious collections of Wayang Thithi remain as cultural materials in gallery and museum showcases unless and until the collections come alive through programs performing their multicultural living heritage.

The entire evening will run 60 minutes, with a 15-minute performance, followed by presentations and discussion. 

Free admission (donations greatly appreciated). Limited seating availability, so reservations are required. 

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 the 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. For more information about these performances or if you require 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 2023 UConn Fall Puppet Slam on Friday, Oct. 13, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in UConn’s Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, on the lower level of the Jorgensen Performing Arts Center at 2132 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT 06269. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will feature new and experimental short works by professional puppeteers and performers from around the Northeast, including Christine Dempsey and New York City’s Emmanuel Elpenord, as well as new works by UConn Puppet Arts students, and music by UConn student punk-reggae band the Solgyres. 

New England-based fabricator and puppeteer Christine Dempsey will perform Hunger, a humorous tale of poor decisions made when drinking on an empty stomach; and What We Have Left, a solo performance exploring grief and loss through the objects loved ones have left behind. Coney Island-based puppeteer Emmanuel Elpenord will perform The Choose-Your-Own-Adventures of Turtle Boy, in which shy yet rowdy Turtle Boy leads the audience through an action movie of their own making–Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meets John Wick. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will also feature new works by graduate and undergraduate students from the UConn Puppet Arts Program, and, for the first time, a house band: the Solgyres. Funding for the UConn Fall Puppet Slam is made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network. These performances are recommended for mature audiences.

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 7:00 p.m. The event will take place in UConn’s Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, located at 2132 Hillside Road, Storrs, Conn. 06269, in the lower level. (use rear entrance). For directions to the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, visit crt.uconn.edu. For more information about these performances or if you require 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 once again offer fall community puppet-building workshops to design and build life-size and over-life-size puppets for a new Reading the Book of Mansfield pageant to be performed at the Celebrate Mansfield Festival in Downtown Storrs. These free workshops will be led by internationally acclaimed puppeteer and pageant director Sara Peattie of Boston’s Puppeteers Cooperative, and will take place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 23 and 24, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Ballard Institute, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. 

Reading the Book of Mansfield will explore places, people, and things that make Mansfield unique! Workshop participants will collaborate to create puppets and masks representing what they love most about Mansfield, and will be invited to perform their creations in the community pageant as part of the 20th-annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 30.

No experience is necessary to participate in these free community puppet-building workshops. Space is limited, so advance registration is strongly encouraged. Participants can come for one or both days but should register for the 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or/and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. time slot(s). Minors must be accompanied by an adult. To register for the workshop, visit bimp.ticketleap.com/2023-cmf. 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 and the Mansfield Downtown Partnership, Inc. For more information about the 20th-annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival, visit downtownstorrsfestival.org.

To kick off its 2023 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is pleased to host Shadow Puppetry and Digital Animation on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. The forum features Song of the North director Hamid Rahmanian and UConn alumni now performing as puppeteers in the production. It will also be broadcast via Ballard Institute Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute). 

In conjunction with the performance of his latest production, Song of the North, at UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, designer and director Hamid Rahmanian will join puppeteer cast members Esme Roszel, Ray Dondero, and Harrison Greene (all UConn alumni) and Ballard Institute director John Bell in a discussion about the innovative combinations of live and digital puppetry which Rahmanian and his colleagues have developed. Rahmanian’s initial interests in illustration and graphic arts shifted to theater, and his ground-breaking work with shadows and digital media to create numerous theater productions, including the UNIMA-USA award-winning Feathers of Fire (2016). Together with company members he will discuss how the design, construction, and performance of Song of the North came about. Song of the North will be performed on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are now on sale. This forum is co-sponsored by Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. To learn more about this forum, visit bimp.uconn.edu/2023/08/22/rahmanian-forum/.

Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. For more information or if you require accommodation to attend a forum, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu. 

Jeghetto’s Variety Show is an action-packed performance featuring Jeghetto’s unique style of finely crafted and ingeniously engineered cardboard puppets. This show is for all ages. The show runtime is approximately 30 minutes. Jeghetto is a self-taught master builder and puppeteer residing in North Carolina. His puppets are abstract moving sculptures made of mostly found and recycled materials. He has received two grants from the Jim Henson Foundation prior to becoming a Foundation board member himself. Jeghetto has worked with Missy Elliott, Pharrell Williams, Alec Baldwin and Terence Nance; was a guest on The Steve Harvey Show and performed puppetry on The Voice and HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness. Jeghetto performed and exhibited his work in the Ballard Institute’s landmark Living Objects: African American Puppetry exhibition and festival in 2018 and 2019. To learn more about Jeghetto, visit jeghetto.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. There will be open seating.