The Ballard Institute is pleased to present a four-day Youth Puppetry Program from June 23–26, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. for participants ages 9–15.

Over four mornings, participants will work together to create original puppet characters, build a variety of puppets, and develop and perform a short puppet play. Through hands-on activities and creative collaboration, participants will explore the many aspects of bringing puppet theater to life—from storytelling and design to performance and sound.

Skills and techniques explored include:

-Collaborative storytelling and script development

-Design and construction of glove, hand, and rod puppets

-Puppet manipulation and performance techniques

-Creating character voices, sound effects, and foley for puppet theater

-Working as an ensemble to develop and perform an original production

-Whether participants are new to puppetry or already have experience, this program offers a fun and supportive environment to explore creativity, build confidence, and learn from professional puppeteers.

Space is limited, and pre-registration is required: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/bimp-0/youth-puppetry-program 

As part of its 2026 Spring Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is thrilled to welcome Massachusetts-based Margaret Moody Puppets to perform Badger Meets the Fairies on Saturday, April 18, 2026 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Join Margaret Moody for an exciting puppet show based on European fairy lore and Margaret Moody’s expertise in Chinese hand-puppet techniques. In Badger Meets the Fairies, Mr. Badger is thrilled to meet Blossom, a flower fairy, in his garden. He flies away with her to help the fairies build a playground. And then it gets complicated: the fairies won’t use cement, and Mr. Badger himself wants to learn to fly. Badger Meets the Fairies is best for ages 4 to 10 and lasts 35-40 minutes. Fairy puppets and sets for their garden were built by visual artist Sandra Pastrana and Margaret Moody. Alison Plante of Berklee School of Music composed original music for the piece, based on Celtic melodies.  

Arlington, MA-based puppeteer Margaret Moody works with Bu Dai Xi-style Chinese hand puppets and techniques based on her studies with the I Wan Jan Traditional Hand Puppet Troupe in Taiwan. Margaret performs in libraries, schools, theaters and at private events throughout New England. She also enjoys collaborating with Dream Tale Puppets, led by Jacek Zuzanski and Galapagos Puppets, a New Jersey troupe led by Madeleine Beresford. Margaret lives in Arlington, MA and is a studio artist at Arlington Center for the Arts.

­­­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 ticketleap.events/tickets/bimp-0/badger-fairies. 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.

The UConn Puppet Arts Program and Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry present B*tch Eat Dog, a puppet-y sketch show exploring girl bosses, tradwives, and the existential abyss, by UConn Puppet Arts MFA candidate Mel Carter on April 3, 4, 10, and 11 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Through grotesque fantasy, irreverent satire, and adaptations of classical texts, B*tch Eat Dog offers a frenetic and pungent interrogation of the gendered ethics of pursuit. B*tch Eat Dog is a puppet-filled sketch show that marries classical texts, feminist theory, and singing dicks. Punch and Judy puppets perform a gender-swapped adaptation of Moby Dick that explores the fallacies of girlboss feminism. A tradwife named Felicity Groundwater hawks her questionable raw milk wares and ultimately breastfeeds a member of the audience with one of her nine pendulous burlap boobs. A new kind of IUD insertion escalates until rats are being shoved down a woman’s cervix.  The evening is hosted by a hapless, well-intentioned white man who flails wildly as his misguided attempts at allyship lead to a painful realization. The show runs for 90 minutes, with a question-and-answer session to follow. Content warning: violence, sexual content, sexual assault, puppet nudity. Recommended for ages 17+.

Tickets are free but seating is limited, so reservations are required: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/bimp-0/b-tch-eat-dog. 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.

About Mel Carter

Mel Carter began her professional career in Washington, D.C., where she was a resident artist with the 4615 Theatre Company. While there, she performed with Imagination Stage, Spooky Action Theatre, and Pointless Theatre Co, among others. while simultaneously creating visual art. Her work has been featured in multiple publications, including the Washington Post. Mel has been awarded an Arts and Humanities Fellowship and a Color the Curb grant by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Since discovering puppetry, she has built and/or performed puppets with Pilobolus Dance Theater, Bread and Puppet Theater, Mosaic Theatre, Paloma Puppet Theatre, and the OddFellows Playhouse, among others. Mel is currently a graduate student at the University of Connecticut where she is on track to receive her MFA in Puppet Arts.

The Ballard Institute will be closed March 9 through March 26 as we install our new exhibition. Join us on March 26 at 5p.m. for the grand opening of Becoming Modern: U.S. Puppetry in the Twentieth Century.

Tonight’s performance of Calle Allende by Pinned & Sewtured is SOLD OUT!

Due to the impending weather for Friday, 2/20, we are rescheduling Calle Allende by Pinned & Sewtured for Saturday, 3/7 at 7 p.m. If you already purchased a ticket, it has automatically been transferred to that date, but if you prefer a refund, please email emily.wicks@uconn.edu. Tickets are still available for 3/7 here: https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/bimp-0/calle-allende

Thank you for your understanding and stay safe!

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.