The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the UConn Puppet Arts Program will present the 2026 UConn Winter Puppet Slam on Friday, March 6, 2026 at 8 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 Winter Puppet Slam will feature new and experimental short works by professional puppeteers and performers, including Puppet Arts alumni Joe Therrien and Mackenzie Doss, as well as new works by UConn Puppet Arts students. Mansfield’s Waldron’s Studios 88 will return once more as the Puppet Slam house band. 

The 2026 UConn Winter Puppet Slam welcomes back UConn Puppet Arts alumni Joe Therrien and Mackenzie Doss. Brooklyn-based Joseph Therrien, from Boxcutter Collective, will perform Inside the Palace of Your Mind, which will transport the audience from the Here-And-Now to the upper reaches of the human mind, using hand puppetry, music, and whatever the audience has in their pocket. Vermont-based puppeteer Mackenzie Doss will perform Transcendence, which explores transformation as a universal process governed by chance and the things we are willing to let go, and how entering a state of transformation includes finding that anything is possible. The UConn Winter Puppet Slam also features new works by graduate and undergraduate students from the UConn Puppet Arts Program, and music by Mansfield’s Waldron’s Studio 88 band, led by Derek Waldron. Funding for the Slam is made possible, in part, by the Puppet Slam Network. These performances are recommended for mature audiences. 

The UConn Winter Puppet Slam is free and open to the public; donations are greatly appreciated. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. The event will take place in UConn’s Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, located at 2132 Hillside Road, Storrs, Conn. 06269, on 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. 

As part of its 2026 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to host “Sidney Chrysler’s Miniature Puppet Operas,” moderated by John Bell on Wednesday, March 4 at 7.pm. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT. This forum will also be broadcast via Ballard Institute Facebook Live. 

This event focuses on the work of Chaplin, Connecticut artist and puppeteer Sidney Chrysler (1915-1999), building on current research at the Ballard Institute. The forum will include Puppet Arts alumnus Stefano Brancato, director Michael Goldfried, Victoria Northrup (who performed with Chrysler as a child), and Puppet Arts student and researcher Alfi Free.

Frank Ballard considered Sidney Chrysler to be the best Connecticut puppeteer of his time, but his work remains relatively unknown. Chrysler’s extravagant miniature puppet operas were performed infrequently, and only for the few people who could fit into his shed theater. Those who were able to see Chrysler’s work were thrilled as they watched operas like Aida and Tosca through Chrysler’s miniature opera glasses. A rare news article noted that Chrysler “turned paper doilies, netting from a produce bag and spray paint into Gothic cathedral windows; tiny hand-stitches are used to gather strips of draped crepe paper into full skirts and ruffles.” Frank Ballard noted that “once the house lights die and the curtain goes up, it seems like you’re in the second balcony at the Met.”

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.

As part of its 2026 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to host a “Mexican Puppetry:  Lormiga Títeres” with Ailin Ruiz and Sarina Pedroza of the celebrated puppet company Lormiga Títeres on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT. This forum will also be broadcast via Ballard Institute Facebook Live.

This event, moderated by Ballard Institute director John Bell, will take place in conjunction with the Ballard Institute’s current exhibition Somos Uno: Mexican and Mexican American Puppetry, and is co-sponsored by UConn’s Puerto Rican and Latin American Cultural Center (PRLACC) and El Instituto, the Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies.

Lormiga Títeres is a non-profit puppet company headed by directors and dramaturgs Ailin Ruiz and Sarina Pedroza. The organization’s objective is to support “full and happy childhoods,” and their work incorporates the production and performance of puppet shows and puppet films as well as publishing materials through their press Editorial L. Their community programming includes Theater at School, Theater Saturdays, research into Sonora’s puppet history, and online programs such as Cuentos para Contar Estrellas (Stories for Counting Stars). Lormiga Títeres curates the Puppet Slam México, sponsored by Green Feather Foundation, Arroyo Arts Collective, and the Puppet Slam Network. The company has performed in festivals across Mexico and represented Mexico internationally. Their work is represented in Somos Uno: Mexican and Mexican American Puppetry by image frames from their stop-motion animation films, La Casa de mi Abuela (My Grandmother’s House), Como una Niña (Like a Child), and Olivia y el Don Extraordinario (Olivia and the Extraordinary Gift).

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.

Due to inclement weather, the Ballard Institute will be closed on Sunday, 1/25. Stay warm! ❄️☃️

Due to inclement weather, the Ballard Institute will be closed on Sunday, 1/18. Stay warm!

Due to staffing issues, the Ballard Institute will be closed on Saturday, 1/3. We apologize for the inconvenience.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will be closed December 22-January 1. The museum will reopen for regular business hours on January 2.

 

 

As part of its 2025 Fall Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to welcome back UConn Puppet Arts alumna Sarah Nolen to perform Party Animals on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Party Animals follows five furry friends as they navigate the biggest social hurdle of their young lives — throwing their first party! Meet a bunny with boundless energy, a sloth with social anxiety, a hedgehog wrestling with wrapping, and a skunk who’s trying to keep everything cool and under control. Through song, dance, and original rock ‘n’ roll music by Boston local Phil Berman (of Puppet Playtime and The Holiday Sing-Along), these little stars discover that music can be an exuberant and healthy way to express their inner selves. Learn more and purchase tickets: https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/bimp-0/party-animals.

Sarah Nolen is a puppeteer and filmmaker originally from Austin, Texas. As Puppet Showplace Theater’s Resident Artist, she performs regularly for youth and family audiences and teaches puppetry in camps, workshops, residencies, and evening adult classes. Sarah earned her BFA in film from Southern Methodist University, and an MFA from the UConn Puppet Arts Program.

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 the performance starting at 10 a.m. There will be open seating and no reservations. Visitors can park in the Downtown Storrs Garage located at 33 Royce Circle. 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 will be closed for Thanksgiving Break from November 24-27, 2025. The museum will reopen for regular business hours on Friday, November 28.

 

As part of its 2025 Fall Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to welcome Tanglewood Marionettes to perform The Fairy Circus on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Featuring over twenty beautifully hand-crafted marionettes, The Fairy Circus is a showcase for turn-of-the-century-style trick puppetry. The puppets will dance, play instruments, juggle, contort, transform, and fly, all to the best-loved music of favorite composers! The Fairy Circus is geared primarily toward children from pre-kindergarten through Grade 2. The production is approximately 40 minutes in length and includes a puppetry demonstration prior to the show as well as a question-and-answer session following the performance. Learn more and purchase tickets: https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/bimp-0/a-fairy-circus.

­­­Founded in 1993, Tanglewood Marionettes is a nationally touring marionette theater based in New England. Large, beautifully handcrafted marionettes, colorful sets, and integrated lighting and sound create a fully immersive theatrical experience. They are the recipients of two UNIMA awards, puppetry’s highest honor, for their productions An Arabian Adventure and The Dragon King.

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 the performance starting at 10 a.m. There will be open seating and no reservations. Visitors can park in the Downtown Storrs 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.