The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present the grand opening of its new exhibition Hecho en Puerto Rico: Four Generations of Puerto Rican Puppetry, curated by Dr. Manuel Morán and Deborah Hunt, on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, with a virtual tour led by the curators on Ballard Institute Facebook Live that day at 5 p.m. ET. The exhibition will be on display through May 8, 2021 at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT 06268. This exhibition is co-sponsored by the UConn Puerto Rican and Latin American Cultural Center (PRLACC) and El Instituto: Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies.

Hecho en Puerto Rico invites the spectator to discover over fifty years of puppet productivity, by four distinct generations of builders and performers in and from Puerto Rico. Although puppetry first appeared on the island of Puerto Rico in the 19th century, this exhibit is divided into four periods of creation from the 1960s to current times, demonstrating a shift in focus from purely educational content, to culturally and politically relevant themes, to a focus on adult audiences, and now into the current generation of emerging puppeteers. A young but thriving puppet movement, despite economic and political turmoil as well as natural disasters, Puerto Rican puppetry continues to evolve and grow.  

The exhibition highlights the work of such puppeteers and companies as Agua, Sol y Sereno; Brenda Plumey; Daniel y sus Muñecos; Deborah Hunt; Edward Cardenales; El Mundo de los Muñecos; José López; Luis Villafañe; Mario Donate; Mary Anne Hopgood; Papel Machete; Poncili Creación; Pura Belpré; Santin y sus Muñecos; Teatro SEA and Manuel Morán; Tere Marichal; Vueltabajo Teatro; and Y No Había Luz.

Deborah Hunt has lived and worked as a mask maker, mask and object theatre performance artist since 1973, creating and presenting original theatre works, performances and festivals or encounters in the South Pacific, the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Born and raised in Aotearoa New Zealand, she has been based in Borikén/Puerto Rico since 1990, where she founded Maskhunt Motions, a nomadic laboratory for experimental object theatre work. Hunt teaches mask work and puppetry in communities worldwide, in a practice exploring puppetry in public and private spaces. Her work ranges in scale from the miniature to creating giant puppets that transform into peepshows. She has created encounters and festivals to promote puppetry for adult audiences and published mask and puppetry manuals in Spanish and English. She is interested in performing in unconventional places and to very intimate audiences. Hunt characterizes her work as “theatre of the useless.” 

Dr. Manuel Morán (www.manuelmoran.com) was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and studied at the University of Puerto Rico and New York University, where he earned a doctorate degree in Educational Theater. He is the Founder, CEO and Artistic Director of Society of the Educational Arts, Inc. (www.teatrosea.org). A writer, director, and producer for theater, television, and film, he is also an actor, singer and composer, and created the International Puppet Fringe Festival of NYC in 2018. He is a former Vice-President (2012-2021) of UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionnette). His three-part documentary film Títeres en el Caribe Hispano/Puppetry in the Caribbean premiered at the Havana Film Festival in Cuba in 2016 and has been screened in festivals around the world. Dr. Morán’s theater and literary work has been published in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States, including his books Migrant Theater for Children: A Caribbean in New York (2016), and Mantequilla/Butter; Adventures and Tribulations of a Puerto Rican Boy (2017). He is currently starring in the web series El Avión The Airplane (www.elaviontheairplane.com), and is the proud dad of Manuel Gabriel, with whom he lives in New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

In conjunction with the exhibition opening and as part of 2021 Fall Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute will present a virtual performance of The Pura Belpré Project by Teatro SEA via Zoom on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 11 a.m. ET. To learn more and make a reservation, visit bimp.ticketleap.com. The Ballard Institute will also host Dr. Manuel Morán, Deborah Hunt, Pedro Adorno, and Tere Marichal for a 2021 Online Fall Puppet Forum titled “Contemporary Puppetry in Puerto Rico” on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. ET to discuss the situation of Puerto Rican puppetry today and its possibilities for the future.

Due to restrictions and safety precautions related to COVID-19, the museum will reopen on Nov. 19 on Wednesday through Saturday only, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., by reservation. Only one group of up to six visitors from a family or quarantine unit will be allowed in the museum at a time during each time slot. Face masks are required at all times when visiting the museum for ages two and up. Hand sanitizer is available throughout the museum and staff clean high-touch surfaces once per hour. To learn more about the Ballard Institute’s COVID-19 protocols and to reserve a time slot, visit: bimp.uconn.edu/visit/reservations/. Visitors may also reserve a time slot by calling 860.486.8580.

Hecho en Puerto Rico Comunicado de Prensa

For its second installment of the 2021 Fall Puppet Forum Series, and in conjunction with its Puppetry’s Racial Reckoning exhibition, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host “The Doll Plays” Reunion with Alva Rogers, Heather Henson, and Holly Laws on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Zoom (registration required: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ewzeFqjpTDa0IcZCbOURSg) and Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and will be available afterwards on Facebook and the Ballard Institute YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). This forum is co-sponsored by the UConn Department of Art and Art History and Africana Studies Institute. 

Playwright Alva Rogers based The Doll Plays on the true story of African American doll collector Lenon Holder Hoyte (1905-1999) and her museum in Harlem. When she passes, the dolls in Ms. Hoyte’s collection seek to keep their beloved museum founder alive in their world by transforming her into a doll. The Doll Plays Reunion brings together the creative team of the original production: director Heather Henson, playwright Alva Rogers, and artist Holly Laws, to discuss The Doll Plays’ historical and cultural context, their experience of creating the play, and its relevance today. Shadow puppets made by artist Kara Walker which featured in the original production of 1998 are on display at the exhibition Puppetry’s Racial Reckoning at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry (closing October 30).

Alva Rogers is the descendant of James Rogers, one of the earliest black landowners in Cary, North Carolina, and Jordan Harrison McNair. Rogers, a descendant of George Rogers, slave, was the property of plantation owner Felix Rogers in Durham/Wake County. McNair, her maternal great, great, grandfather, was a Civil War soldier and then a landowner in Hoke/Robeson County, NC.

Her writing career began with Rodeo Caldonia, a performance/theater collective she co-founded in 1985 (their work was in the traveling exhibit We Wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-85, at the Brooklyn Museum). Following an influential early career as a performance artist and film actor (Spike Lee’s School Daze, Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust), Rogers concentrated more on writing, earning MFAs in Musical Theatre Writing (NYU/Tisch; 1995) and Playwriting (Brown University; 1998). Rogers lived in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, enjoying traditional Indonesian wayang kulit shadow puppet theater, and wayang golek rod puppetry. Her collaborations with Heather Henson and Holly Laws began in 1997 (@alvasworld/www.alvasworld.com).

Heather Henson is a contemporary puppet artist whose work promotes harmony and healing for the planet through artistic spectacle and discussion. Heather graduated with a degree from Rhode Island School of Design and studied at the California Institute of the Arts. Heather founded IBEX Puppetry (www.ibexpuppetry.com) in 2000, a multi-platform production company dedicated to promoting the fine art of puppetry in all of its mediums, honoring her work as well as that of other puppetry artists around the world.

Artist and designer Holly Laws’ professional experience is wide and varied. Her work runs the gamut from sculpture and multi-media installation, to puppetry and theater design. She is most interested in exploring work overlapping these disciplines. Laws received a BFA in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and an MFA in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia. She moved to Arkansas in 2008 for a faculty position at the University of Central Arkansas, where she teaches in the Department of Art and Design.

For more information and to learn about other Ballard Institute online programming, visit bimp.uconn.edu or email bimp@uconn.edu.

Due to inclement weather, the performance of “Bugsy and Friends” by Pumpernickel Puppets scheduled for this Saturday, along with the Sunday rain date, have been canceled.

We hope to bring Pumpernickel Puppets back to Storrs in the Spring!

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry and the UConn Puppet Arts Program will present an online version of its popular UConn Fall Puppet Slam on October 22, 2021 at 8 p.m. ET on the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/). The 2021 UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online!, hosted by UConn Puppet Arts student Stoph Scheer and Kunzika, will feature short works by professional puppeteers and performers from around the United States and across the world and new works by UConn Puppet Arts students.

The 2021 UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online! will showcase the work of Thai pantomime and artist TaLent Show; Puerto Rican puppeteer Brenda Plumey; Boston-based quintet Firepit Coven; Linda Wingerter of The Stringpullers Puppet Company; independent artist Sandi Green Baker of Missouri; Hawaii-based artist Bonnie Kim; Kenyan puppeteer Fedelis Kyalo; puppeteer team Norah Solorzano and Alex Young, and recent UConn Puppet Arts graduate Felicia Cooper. 

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will also feature fascinating new works by UConn graduate and undergraduate students from the UConn Puppet Arts Program. Funding for the UConn Fall Puppet Slam: Online! is made possible in part by the Puppet Slam Network.

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam is free, but donations are greatly appreciated. These performances are recommended for mature audiences. The UConn Fall Puppet Slam will be available through November 30, 2021 on the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Facebook page (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and the Ballard Institute YouTube channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). 

For more information about these performances, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

As part of its Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present Fox Fables by New York City-based WonderSpark Puppets on Aug. 7 at 11 a.m. ET in Betsy Paterson Square. This show will be socially distanced and follow Town of Mansfield and UConn safety guidelines. In the event of inclement weather for outdoor performances, the show will be rescheduled for Sunday, Aug. 8 at 11 a.m. ET. For this outdoor performance, seating is first come, first seated. Reservations are not required. Due to generous support during our 2021 UConn Gives campaign, admission is free, but donations are encouraged. This performance is co-sponsored by the Mansfield Downtown Partnership. 

What makes you–YOU? Fox Fables is a combination of several Aesop’s Fables, inspired by the works of the 12th century storyteller Rabbi Berechiah ha-Nakdan. The story is about a fox who loses his precious tail and with it his identity. He tries to be several other animals instead–with hilarious results–before realizing the moral lesson of this ancient fable. Themes in this tale include self-worth, anti-bullying, test taking, and the five senses. Theater Review NYC stated, “This sweet little adventure, a mix of ancient fables, is wonderfully performed … and is not without its lessons in self-worth and anti-bullying.”

Fox Fables was selected for the first International Puppet Fringe Festival NYC and the Siam Paragon World Fascinating Puppets Festival in Thailand. Since its world premiere, Fox Fables has become a staple of Jewish family programming throughout the NYC area in chabads, shuls, JCCs and theaters.

WonderSpark Puppets is a New York City-based puppet theater company led by Chad Williams and Z Briggs. The company’s mission is to spread joy, spark imagination and share laughter through high quality puppet performances. They have partnered with brands like Bed Bath & Beyond, CAMP, NYC Public Schools and the New York Public Library. They have toured internationally, bringing original productions and puppetry workshops to festivals in Thailand and Taiwan.

This outdoor performance will take place in Betsy Paterson Square, reservations will not be required. Chairs will not be provided, so groups are encouraged to bring their own blankets and chairs. Seating space will be first come, first served. To comply with UConn safety guidelines, masks are required for all attendees and staff ages two and up at all times. For safety, six feet of space will be required between seated family groups. Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance and exit of the seating area. Please note that public restrooms are not available.

For more information, 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 is proud to announce the return of its Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series with a mix of virtual and outdoor performances at 11 a.m. ET on five consecutive Saturdays from July 10 through Aug. 7, 2021. To encourage safety of and accessibility to our audiences, some shows will be performed onsite in Betsy Paterson Square, while others will be performed live virtually via Zoom. The outdoors shows will be socially distanced and follow Town of Mansfield and UConn safety guidelines. In the event of inclement weather for outdoor performances, the show will be rescheduled for the following Sunday. All performances this summer will be free admission, donations greatly appreciated. Reservations are required for the virtual performances, but not for the outdoor shows. Outdoor performances are co-sponsored by the Mansfield Downtown Partnership.

The schedule of Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows includes the following:

July 10: Judy Saves the Day by Sarah Nolen, Puppet Showplace Theater
Outdoor performance in Betsy Paterson Square
No reservation required (first come, first seated)
Rain date: July 11 at 11 a.m. ET
After being pushed around for over 400 years, the famous hand-puppet heroine Judy has had enough! Cheer her on as she goes on a quest for respect, justice, and a well-deserved nap. Puppeteer Sarah Nolen delivers an astonishing one-woman performance in this modern feminist interpretation of the traditional Punch and Judy puppet show. Audiences young and old will laugh, cry, yell, and gasp in response to this highly-interactive, hilarious, hand-crafted farce. 

July 17: Anansi: Story-teller by String Theory Theater
Virtually via Zoom
Reserve a free household ticket at bimp.ticketleap.com
String Theory Theater presents a fresh take on the famous trickster spider from West Africa folk tales. Anansi is charged with weaving together all of the stories of life on earth and relaying the stories to the sky gods. Daunted by what seems like a never-ending task, Anansi seeks to simplify his effort with an innovative solution, which leads to unexpected results.

July 24: Our Magnificent Monster Circus by CactusHead Puppets
Outdoor performance in Betsy Paterson Square
No reservation required (first come, first seated)
Rain date: July 25 at 11 a.m. ET
Come one, come all, to a circus like no other! Encounter magnificent creatures from the wilds of your imagination as their quirky human caretaker tries to teach them new tricks. Kids can lend a hand to Eustice the Unicycling Unimonster, make friends with a Fiery Fanged Worm, cheer for Agnes the many-legged Acropod, and more! This colorful, silly, interactive show full of friendly monsters is a perfect match for young audiences.

July 31: ScreenPLAY!: Journey into Space by The Gottabees
Virtually via Zoom
Reserve a free household ticket at bimp.ticketleap.com
Hang onto your astronaut helmet as you blast off into outer space with Bonnie as your captain. While our rocket ship may be cozy, it does tend to veer off course where meteors and aliens come smashing into view.   

Aug. 7: Fox Fables by WonderSpark Puppets
Outdoor performance in Betsy Paterson Square
No reservation required (first come, first seated)
Rain date: Aug. 8 at 11 a.m. ET
What makes you – YOU? Fox Fables is a combination of several Aesop’s Fables, inspired by the works of the 12th century storyteller Rabbi Berechiah ha-Nakdan. The story is about a fox who loses his precious tail and with it his identity. He tries to be several other animals instead – with hilarious results – before realizing the moral lesson of this ancient fable. Themes in this tale include self-worth, anti-bullying, test taking, and the five senses.

Due to generous support during our 2021 UConn Gives campaign, admission is free to all shows, but donations are encouraged.

For virtual performances via Zoom, a household reservation must be made in advance due to limited availability. Reservations can be made by visiting bimp.ticketleap.com. A link to the Zoom event will be emailed to registrants an hour before the performance. 

For the outdoor performances taking place in Betsy Paterson Square, reservations will not be required. Chairs will not be provided, so groups are encouraged to bring their own blankets and chairs. Seating space will be first come, first served. To comply with Town of Mansfield and UConn safety guidelines, masks are required for all attendees and staff ages two and up at all times. For safety, six feet of space will be required between seated family groups. Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance and exit of the seating area. Please note that public restrooms are not available. 

For more information, 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 will host end-of-semester presentations of UConn Puppet Arts undergraduate and graduate work on Thursday, May 6 and Friday, May 7.  Presentations will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 6 and at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, May 7.  These presentations will take place on Ballard Institute Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and will be available afterwards on the Ballard Institute Facebook page and YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). The performances are recommended for mature audiences.

On Thursday, May 6, Mask Fabrication students instructed by Professor Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr. will present a portfolio exhibition of plaster face casts they made of themselves, papier måché portrait mask, worbla exaggerated portrait masks and leather Domino and Commedia masks. The Thursday performance will also feature work by Professor Nehprii Amenii’s Directing for the Puppet Theater class, which developed students’ imagination and instincts through experimentations with language and form, helping connect students to their authentic voice, generate work from their inner world, and expand their understanding of “the puppet” beyond conventional character. Professor Amenii’s students will be presenting original works reflecting some of their discoveries along the way. 

On Friday, May 7, final presentations and performances for History of World Puppetry, Toy Theatre, and Puppetry in Television will take place via Facebook Live. Presentations from the History of World Puppetry, taught by Professor John Bell, will examine puppetry in education and the influence of Japanese bunraku theater on U.S. puppetry. Students of Professor Matthew Cohen’s Toy Theatre class will present original performances using figures, sets, and staging constructed from paper and cardboard. Professor Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr.’s Puppetry in Television class will demonstrate camera techniques developed with guest artist Martin P. Robinson, and offer a lip-sync song (composed by Puppet Arts graduate student Yanniv Frank) performed by foam moving-mouth puppets.

For more information, please contact Ballard Institute staff at bimp@uconn.edu. 

For its final online installment of the 2021 Spring Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host “Access to Puppetry for Native, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color,” with Chamindika Wanduragala on Thursday, May 13 at 7 p.m. ET. This forum will take place on Facebook Live (facebook.com/BallardInstitute/) and will be available afterwards on Facebook and the Ballard Institute YouTube Channel (youtube.com/channel/UC3VSthEDnYS6ZjOwzT1DnTg). 

Puppetry in the United States has often not been able to reach out to wider communities of performers and audiences, especially in terms of training new puppeteers. But Chamindika Wanduragala, a Sri Lankan American puppeteer, filmmaker, and DJ, has created and directs Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to support Native, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color puppeteers to develop the creative and technical means to tell new stories through puppetry. Join us for this fascinating discussion with Wanduragala about Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop, how it creates access to puppetry, and its processes for doing so. This forum is co-sponsored by the UConn Asian American Cultural Center.

Chamindika Wanduragala is a Sri Lankan American puppet artist/stop motion filmmaker with a visual arts background, and a DJ (DJ Chamun). She loves transporting people to another world through puppetry and music. Chamindika is the founder and Executive/Artistic Director of Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop, which supports Native, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in developing creative and technical skills in contemporary puppetry.  Chamindika’s work has been supported by the Henson Foundation, Jerome Foundation, the Twin Cities Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, and Minnesota State Arts Board; and her last puppet theater production was presented by Pillsbury House Theatre. You can see her work (and hear some playlists!) at chamindika.com.

For more information and to learn about other online programming, visit bimp.uconn.edu or email bimp@uconn.edu.