In response to an outpouring of interest in the work of puppeteer Ralph Lee, following his death on May 12, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut has decided to extend its current exhibition Myths, Legends, and Spectacle: Masks and Puppets of Ralph Lee through July 9, 2023, so more people can see the work of this acknowledged puppet master.

For over 60 years, Ralph Lee created masks and puppets for wide-ranging theater and dance projects and public celebrations celebrating vital elements of the creatures, characters, demons or deities performed. Myths, Legends, and Spectacle features masks, puppets, and giant figures from Ralph Lee’s robust career as Artistic Director of the Mettawee River Theatre Company, as well as his collaborations with dance and theater companies including Erick Hawkins Dance Company, the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center, and Jean Erdman’s Theater of the Open Eye. The exhibition includes masks and giant figures that appeared in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, co-founded and directed by Ralph Lee for its first 12 years. Lee’s work is marked by deep connections to global myths and legends, and expressions of our essential connection to the natural world.

Learn more about Ralph Lee’s life and career in this New York Times obituary.

This exhibition will now close on Sunday, July 9. The Ballard Institute will be closed through Aug. 4 for the installation of our new exhibit, Tradition and Revolution in Indian Shadow Puppetry, curated by Rahul Koonathara, which will open on Aug. 4 at 4:30 p.m. 

The Ballard Institute is excited to present its 2023 Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series with free, family-friendly puppet shows on four consecutive Saturdays in July at 11 a.m. on Betsy Paterson Square in downtown Storrs. These performances are co-sponsored by the Mansfield Downtown Partnership. 

July 8: Marvelous Metamorphoses by Sova Dance & Puppet Theater (rain plan: July 9 in Betsy Paterson Square)

Bring the family to an engaging Sova Dance & Puppet Theater performance that brings nature’s cycles to life through song, dance and the art of puppetry. Performers dance and sing their way through these cycles and celebrate ecological health on our planet.

July 15: Oma by Sandglass Theater (rain plan: July 16 in Betsy Paterson Square)

This new family show is an intergenerational tale revolving around Grandma or “Oma.” It is her birthday, and the family all gather around for one of Oma’s stories, told with yarn. One character emerges from the tangle of wool and nearly ruins the party. But not to worry, all ends well at Oma’s house.

July 22: Cardboard Explosion! by Paper Heart Puppets (rain plan: July 23 in Betsy Paterson Square)

Cardboard Explosion! brings four original stories to life using nothing but cardboard and the power of your imagination. With help from the audience, puppeteer Brad Shur transforms simple cardboard shapes into elaborate puppet characters, then brings them to life right before your eyes.

July 29: Bugaboo Revue by Talking Hands Theatre (rain plan: July 29 in Ballard Institute Theater)

Learn more about insects and why it’s important to keep them alive. This show is crafted with multiple learning styles in mind to keep children engaged as they learn, with opportunities for the audience to sing, dance, and act out the life cycle of a butterfly! 

Due to generous support during our 2023 UConn Gives campaign, admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Reservations are not required. Chairs will not be provided, and audience members are encouraged to bring their own blankets and seating. Seating space will be first come, first served. 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 2023 Spring Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to present New York City puppeteer Marta Mozelle performing Please Ship This Wet Gift by Brave Bucket Co., on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 11 a.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. 

Please Ship This Wet Gift is one clown’s presentation about terrible feelings and provides an opportunity for family audiences to laugh together about feeling bad. The original work uses drawing-without-looking, audience suggestion, audience participation, made-up songs, puppetry, and cardboard sharks to explore dealing with the things in life that are unfair, scary, sad, and just really annoying. The show melds clown theater with puppetry expertise to bring compassion and lightness to the heavy stuff. Recommended for ages 4+.

To learn more about the performance and Brave Bucket Co., visit bimp.ticketleap.com/wet-gift 

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 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. Masks recommended but not required.

About the Company and Collaborators:

Marta Mozelle MacRostie (Performer/Designer) is a puppeteer, clown, designer, builder, teacher and vocalist. Performance highlights include: Baby Universe (Wakka Wakka Productions, Studio Theater), Better Out Than In (Banksy’s NYC Residency), La Divina Caricatura (Mabou Mines, PS 122 and La MaMa), Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead (Phantom Limb Company, Berkeley Rep), and Puss in Boots (Moises Kaufman, Gotham Chamber Opera & Blind Summit, New Victory Theater). She was a participant in Sesame Street‘s 2016 & 2014 Training Workshops, and her onscreen credits include: Sesame Street (season 45 assist), Time Machine Guitar, The Warby Trace Show, and commercials for H&M, LG, and the Coca-Cola Company.

Marta’s show for family audiences Help Save the Monkey! (with collaborator Liz Hara) premiered in the 2014 New York Children’s Theater Festival, and was awarded a 2014 Jim Henson Foundation Family Grant. Her work for adults, Close to Decline, was workshopped in Labapalooza! at St. Ann’s Warehouse, received support through a Jim Henson Foundation Presenter’s Grant at the Tank Theater, and was a finalist for the Creative Capital Award.

Marta holds a degree in Puppetry & Music from UMass Amherst, studied clown at Movement Theater Studio and with John Leo, is a many-time alum of the O’Neill National Puppetry Conference, and served on the Artistic Direction Committee for the 2013 National Puppet Festival.

Hannah Simms (Director) is a director and teacher based in Hartford, CT. She is a graduate of the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre, the NTI Advanced Directing Semester at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Ada Comstock Program at Smith College. Directing credits include: Pegao and Frog Hollow State of Mind (HartBeat Ensemble), To Kill a Mockingbird (Central Connecticut State University), Guenevere (Ivoryton Playhouse), Eurydice (PVPA Charter High School), Julius Cesar and Romeo & Juliet (Hampshire Shakespeare). She has also directed in thedirected in the Write On! festival at Hartford Stage. Assistant Directing credits include The City That Cried Wolf off-Broadway at 59E59, and FlipSide at HartBeat Ensemble. She has taught clown for Art Farm, the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, and the Children’s Circus of Middletown. Hannah is an ensemble member at HartBeat Ensemble.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to cancel both performances of Oma by Sandglass Theater on 4/22. We greatly apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and hope to reschedule soon.

Tickets are now on sale for Please Ship This Wet Gift by Brave Bucket Co. on May 13 at 11AM: bimp.ticketleap.com/wet-gift

Thank you for your continued support!

As part of its 2023 Spring Performance Series, the Ballard Institute is pleased to present My Night in the Planetarium by the Massachusetts-based educational organization Little Uprisings on March 25, 2023 at 11 a.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. 

Best-selling children’s book author Innosanto Nagara’s true story of art and social protest comes to life as a dynamic pop-up puppet show. Created and performed by Boston artist/activist Tanya Nixon-Silberg, the show transports audiences to Jakarta in the 1970s, where 7-year-old Inno learns firsthand how a play has the power to spark a resistance movement. Featuring designs and puppets by UConn Puppet Arts alumna Sarah Nolen, the story is brought to life with a rich soundscape, visual transformations, and kid-centered lessons about social justice. Recommended for ages 5+.

To purchase tickets, visit: bimp.ticketleap.com/planetarium/ 

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 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. Masks are recommended but not required. 

About the Company and Collaborators 

Through a multi-faceted, creative approach that centers the beauty and power of Blackness, Little Uprisings endeavors to build long lasting, deep and sustainable relationships in order for change to take root, growing a practice that allows justice to take hold daily. How can Black and Brown children thrive in a system that was not set up for them to thrive? And see the richness and beauty in themselves that is so rarely affirmed within larger institutions? How can white children unlearn deeply rooted bias in order to adopt a lens of racial justice, challenge existing systems, and stand with individuals in fighting oppression? 

Tanya Nixon-Silberg (Creator and Puppeteer) is a Black mother, puppeteer, educator, facilitator and founder of Little Uprisings—an organization focused on centering racial justice and liberation with kids and their caregiving allies. Little Uprisings’ mission—be it in schools with teachers developing culturally relevant curricula, in a community center with children talking about gentrification, or helping parents develop their own values about racial justice—is actively anti-racist, joyful, and Black affirming; steadfastly focused on our collective liberation. You will mostly find Tanya playing with and learning from her 10 year old kid, dreaming up fun ways to engage children in racial justice through puppetry, and radically imaging how we all get free together.

Innosanto Nagara (Author and Illustrator ) was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, and moved to the U.S. in 1988 to study zoology at UC Davis. Now an activist and a graphic designer based in California, he writes and illustrates social justice-themed children’s books for all ages, including the best-selling board book A is for Activist and its companion Counting on Community. Those publications were followed by picture books My Night in the Planetarium, and The Wedding Portrait. M is for Movement aka Humans Can’t Eat Golf Balls is his newest work for middle grade readers.

Roxanna Myhrum (Stage Director and Dramaturg) is an award-winning producer, stage director, and puppetry coach with credits at almost all of Boston’s regional theaters. As the Artistic Director of Puppet Showplace Theater (2010-2021), she launched the Incubator New Works Development program to support new shows by Massachusetts-based artists. During her tenure she shepherded 15 world premieres to stage, many of which went on to tour nationally and internationally. She has taught puppetry and show-creation to all ages, pre-K to adult, and has served on the boards of Puppeteers of America and the Jim Henson Foundation.

Sarah Nolen (Co-Writer, Puppet Design, Production) is a puppeteer and filmmaker originally from Austin, Texas. As Puppet Showplace Theater’s resident artist, she performs regularly for youth and family audiences around New England and teaches puppetry classes to all ages. Her three original productions, Lisa the Wise, Judy Saves the Day, and The Fairy Tailor have all toured extensively in the Northeast and beyond. In addition to her own shows, Sarah has done puppet builds for Netflix, Suffolk University, Boston College, and more. Sarah earned her BFA in film from Southern Methodist University, and an MFA in Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut.

As part of the 2023 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is pleased to host author and Jim Henson Society President Craig Shemin in a discussion of his new book, Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show, on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at 7 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. This forum will also be broadcast via Ballard Institute Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute). 

Years before Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, Jim Henson began his television career while a student in the Washington, D.C. area. Alongside performing partner Jane Nebel (who would become his wife), Jim introduced Kermit and the Muppets to local viewers in a daily five-minute show which became a sensation and also led to a series of popular commercials — all before Jim graduated from college. Former Henson staff writer and current President of The Jim Henson Legacy Craig Shemin explores this early Henson history in his book Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show. In this forum, Craig will discuss Jim and Jane Henson’s early television work as well as his research and writing process in bringing the story to life in print. Rare surviving Sam and Friends footage and new high-definition scans of early Henson commercials will be shown, as well as recently uncovered photos from the Jim Henson Company Archives and a re-creation of the show’s final episode made from its surviving audio track. Craig’s presentation will be followed by a book signing (books will be available for sale from the Barnes & Noble at UConn store).

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. 

The Ballard Institute will be closed on Sunday, 3/12 and 3/19.

The museum will be open for regular hours otherwise during spring break.

Join Ballard Institute Director John Bell in a discussion of his puppet performance, workshop, and exhibition projects at last fall’s Istanbul Biennial, in the first Ballard Institute 2023 Spring Puppet Forum: “Puppetry, Ritual, and Performance in Turkey: The Istanbul Biennial and Beyond” on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. 

In a conversation with Puppet Arts Interim Technical Supervisor Matthew Sorensen, Dr. Bell will discuss his work on Demons of Society, an outdoor Bread and Puppet Theater pageant production, as well as his two Biennial exhibitions—Annals of Object Performance: Puppetry, Street Performance, and Activism, and Peter Schumann’s Bedsheet Paintings; and his work with theater and arts organizations in Diyarbakir, Kurdistan. Dr. Bell’s talk will touch on the history of Turkey as a center of puppet and object performance from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires to the present, and the ongoing challenges Turkish artists and performers face living and working within an authoritarian society.

Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. Forums will be broadcast via Ballard Institute Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute). 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. 

About the Speaker

Puppeteer and historian John Bell is Director of the Ballard Institute and Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut. A member of the Bread and Puppet Theater company from 1976 to 1986, he received his Ph.D. in theater history from Columbia University in 1993. 1993. He is the author of American Puppet Modernism: Essays on the Material World in Performance and co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance. John is a member of the Brooklyn-based theater collective Great Small Works, and one of the creators of the Honk! Festival of Activist Street Bands.