The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will participate in the 15^th Annual Connecticut Open House Day – a unified celebration of the state’s fascinating world of art, history, and tourism – on June 8, 2019. During this one-day event, the Ballard Institute will offer free tours at 1 and 3 p.m. of its current exhibitions: The World of Puppetry: From the Collections of the Ballard Institute and It’s Always Pandemonium: The Puppets of Bart Roccoberton, which features over 90 works by UConn Puppet Arts Program Director Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr.

On Connecticut Open House Day, more than 200 other organizations and attractions throughout the state will open their doors and offer special incentives to visitors. This exciting statewide event, sponsored by the Connecticut Office of Tourism (COT), is designed to broaden awareness among residents of Connecticut’s exceptional cultural and tourism assets and encourage them to become ambassadors who share their newfound discoveries with visiting family and friends.

The Ballard Institute’s free tours at 1 and 3 p.m. will feature these current exhibitions:

• The World of Puppetry: From the Collections of the Ballard Institute showcases an array of different puppets carefully selected from the Ballard Institute collections to reflect the amazing richness of global puppet traditions and contemporary innovations in puppetry. The exhibition includes a variety of hand puppets, marionettes, rod puppets, toy theaters, and shadow figures from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, with particular attention to twentieth-century United States puppetry.
• It’s Always Pandemonium celebrates the ongoing puppetry career of Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr., from his touring days performing with his troupe the Pandemonium Puppet Company; to his founding of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Institute of Professional Puppetry Arts; and now, to his work building puppets and puppeteers as Director of the UConn Puppet Arts Program. It’s Always Pandemonium, curated by UConn Puppet Arts MFA candidate Matt Sorensen, features over 60 puppets, masterfully designed and crafted by Bart Roccoberton, his Pandemonium collaborators, and countless UConn Puppet Arts students under his guidance.

To qualify for any Open House Day special, at least one person in each visiting group must show a valid Connecticut driver’s license. Connecticut Open House Day also includes opportunities to become a Connecticut Ambassador as part of COT’s Ambassador Program, an ongoing initiative designed to cultivate pride among residents in the state’s many diverse historic, arts, tourism and entertainment treasures. For more information about Connecticut Open House Day, visit www.CTvisit.com or call 1-888-CTvisit.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visitors can park in the Storrs Center Garage located at 33 Royce Circle. Parking in the Storrs Center Garage is free for the first two hours and $1 per hour thereafter, with a daily maximum charge of $8. For more information about museum exhibitions or programming, visit bimp.uconn.edu or call 860-486-8580. If you require an accommodation to participate in this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu by June 3.

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 Everybody Loves Pirates by Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers of Maine on May 11, 2019 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Eight-year-old Lucy and her goofy pal, Little Chucky, are searching for buried treasure, but a gang of bumbling pirates keeps getting in the way! The kids get some help from their new ocean-dwelling friends, including enthusiastic superhero Lobster Boy, his reluctant sidekick Crabby, and an overgrown sea monkey. This show by Maine’s popular Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers is 50 minutes and is recommended for ages 4+. 

Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers is a puppet troupe based in Bar Harbor, Maine, and comprised of three siblings – brothers Erik and Brian Torbeck and sister Robin (Torbeck) Erlandsen. Founded in 2000, Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers has performed at festivals, schools, libraries, and theatres in the United States and Canada. They write and create all the shows they perform and have received three Citations of Excellence from UNIMA-USA, the highest national award in American puppetry.

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 this performance or if you require an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

Today’s performances of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Stevens Puppets are sold out! Join us for the opening of “It’s Always Pandemonium: The Puppets of Bart Roccoberton” today at noon!

For its final installment of the 2019 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Wayang Puppet Theater of Indonesia: Collective Creativity and Individual Agency with Dr. Matthew Cohen on Wednesday May 1 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Traditions of puppet theater in western Indonesia–wayang kulit, wayang golek, and wayang klithik–were once inseparable from communal rites and spirit beliefs and flourished in situations of collective creativity. With modernization and globalization, wayang puppet theaters have become media for moral guidance, secular entertainments, and symbols of local identity, and named artists (puppeteers as well as puppet makers) have become more prominent and assertive of individual agency. 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.

Matthew Isaac Cohen, Ph.D. is Professor of International Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London and Institute of Sacred Music Fellow in Sacred Music, Worship, and the Arts at Yale University for the academic year 2018-2019. He is a leading expert on Indonesian performing arts and performs wayang on occasion under the company banner of Kanda Buwana.

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 at the University of Connecticut will host a screening of the new puppet horror film Something by UConn Puppet Arts Program undergraduate student Kat Folker ’19 on Friday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Something is a short horror film with live actors and puppets inspired by the 1980s written and directed by UConn senior Kat Folker. It follows the story of a teenage girl trying to protect a monster from discovery when heightened suspicions threaten to expose it. 

Kat Folker is a senior BFA student in the UConn Puppets Arts Program from Ashford, Conn., and has been a Waring Award recipient at the Ballard Institute for three years. Something is her University Scholar thesis project and sponsored by the IDEA Grant program. She is interested in pursuing a career in special effects upon graduation. You can also see her work in Let’s Be Friends, a short horror film by UConn Digital Media and Design alumnus Ryan Glista.

Something is recommended for ages 13+ (for violence) and is 15 minutes long.

Admission is free. Due to limited seating, tickets must be reserved by visiting the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, calling 860-486-8580, or online at bimp.ticketleap.com. For more information, 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 on Sunday, 4/21 for Easter.

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 Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Stevens Puppets of Indiana on April 27, 2019 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

In an enchanted Alaskan forest, join a family of bears as they encounter different perspectives and values, ultimately sharing a common purpose with a salmon, and resolving their conflict with a golden-haired trespasser, who learns precious lessons from them as well as from her bald eagle companion about respect, kindness, apologizing, and forgiveness. This show is 45 minutes long and recommended for ages 3+.

Stevens Puppets was founded in 1933 by the Peabody-Award-winning Martin Stevens, a pre-eminent American puppeteer and a founder of the Puppeteers of America. With his wife, Margi, Stevens created groundbreaking touring marionette shows in the 1960s and 70s. Dan and Zan Raynor have been with Stevens Puppets for over 20 years, each coming from live-theater backgrounds of acting and directing. Dan holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater and Zan holds a Master of Theology with a doctorate in Canon Law. Dan has taught theater at the Northwest Arkansas Academy of Fine Arts and directed professionally for theaters in several states. He has performed with and directed many professional musicians like Neil Young and Huey Lewis, and acted professionally with many theater companies in California. In addition to performing on stage as an actor and dancer, Zan has directed high school and college theater programs, and designed lights, costumes, and choreography for numerous theater companies in the Midwest and Northeast. Zan has taught every level of school, from Montessori preschool through university classes. The Raynors divide their time between studio artwork, both original and restoration, training other performing artists, managing complex tours, and performing all around the country at schools, libraries, festivals, and fairs.

Our last Spring Saturday Puppet Show will be:

May 11: Everybody Loves Pirates by Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers

Eight-year-old Lucy and her goofy pal, Little Chucky, are searching for buried treasure, but a gang of bumbling pirates keeps getting in the way! The kids get some help from their new ocean-dwelling friends, including enthusiastic superhero Lobster Boy, his reluctant sidekick Crabby, and an overgrown sea monkey. This show by Maine’s popular Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers is 50 minutes and is recommended for ages 4+. 

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.

From April 9 through April 26, Ballard Institute staff will be installing our new exhibitions It’s Always Pandemonium: The Puppets of Bart Roccoberton.  While the main galleries at the Ballard Institute will be closed during this process, the museum will remain open during normal business hours, and The World of Puppetry: From the Collections of the Ballard Institute will be on display in the lobby.

We  invite you to join us for the grand opening of It’s Always Pandemonium: The Puppets of Bart Roccoberton on April 27 at the Ballard Institute. The opening events will include refreshments at noon and a free tour at 12:30 p.m. There will also be performances of Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Stevens Puppets at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tickets for the shows are available at bimp.ticketleap.com.

For its third installment of the 2019 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Holy Puppets: Performing Objects in the Middle Ages on Wednesday, April 10 at 7 p.m.at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

From puppets of Christ to fire-breathing dragons, the medieval world was full of performing objects. In this talk, Yale University art historian Michelle Oing explores the way in which puppets were used in late medieval European culture to understand humanity’s place in the cosmos.

Michelle Oing is a Ph.D. candidate in the History of Art at Yale University, specializing in medieval art and architecture. Her dissertation on performing objects in late-medieval Germany combines her personal interest in puppetry, as a former member of the Brooklyn-based collective Piehole, with her academic explorations of figural medieval sculpture.

The final Spring Puppet Forum will be:

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.