The Ballard Institute’s new exhibition Red Gate: Pauline Benton and Chinese Shadow Theater in the United States, an exhibition of rare Chinese shadow figures from the collection of Pauline Benton, curated by Stephen Kaplin and Kuang-Yu Fong of New York’s Chinese Theatre Works is now open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12 to 5 p.m.

Pauline Benton was one of the revolutionary innovators of American puppetry in the early 20th century; but rather than creating her own western-style puppets, Benton brought the performance of Chinese shadow theater to the United States in the 1920s and 30s–one of the earliest cross-cultural presentations of Chinese performing arts for American audiences.  Benton’s Red Gate Shadow Players performed across the country for popular as well as exclusive audiences, bringing Benton’s own particular hybrid version of Chinese shadows to audiences unfamiliar with Chinese culture.

 

The Red Gate exhibition features classical Chinese shadow figures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as figures Benton commissioned from Beijing shadow puppet craftsmen in the 1930s, depicting not only traditional characters and scenes, but also contemporary Chinese life and images from popular American children’s books.  The many photographs of Benton and her work document how this unusually gifted woman created modern links to Chinese shadow theater culture, influencing the course of puppetry in the United States to this day.  The exhibition also features video recordings of Benton’s version of the classic White Snake, and hands-on areas where museum visitors can try out traditional and contemporary shadow theater techniques.

Pauline Benton was a noteworthy pioneer in the transmission of global culture in the U.S., and Red Gate: Pauline Benton and Chinese Shadow Theater in the United States marks the first extensive exhibition and overview of her work.  The exhibition will be open until December 16, 2012.

King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, from the UConn production of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”

An exhibition featuring puppets from the University of Connecticut’s 1996 production of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is now on view at The Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, and will be on display until March 5, 2012 . The exhibition, presented by the Ballard Institute, UConn’s Puppet Arts Program and the Mark Twain House, also features original illustrations for Twain’s novel by Dan Beard, rare editions of the book, an international collection of posters for the various films based on the 1889 novel, and design sketches for the 1996 puppet production, which was directed by Jerry Krasser and Bart Roccoberton

The Connecticut Yankee exhibition is part of the year-long “World of Puppetry in Hartford” project the Ballard Institute and the Puppet Arts Program have undertaken with the generous assistance of the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation and Ballard Institute Advisory Board member Judith Zachs.

Click here to see See Susan Dunne’s review of the exhibition in the Hartford Courant.

 Puppets from the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry are currently on display at the lobby of the Nathan Hale Inn & Conference Center on the UConn Campus in Storrs.  The puppets include a handpuppet Devil used by the Ridiculous Theater’s Charles Ludlam in his Punch and Judy shows, a Czech Kasparek marionette used in family household theaters, a German handpuppet from a 19th-century Kasperl set, and San Francisco puppeteer Lewis Mahlmann’s rod puppet Judith from his 1960s production of Bluebird.

A compelling exhibition of over 70 Ballard Institute puppets from around the world at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut (just north of Hartford) has been extended through January, 2012.  Originally scheduled to close in November, this popular display of world puppetry traditions will now be on display for holiday travelers.

The exhibition, titled The World of Puppetry, was curated by Nicole Hartigan, a graduate student in UConn’s famed Puppet Arts Program, and the graduate assistant to the Ballard Institute.  The exhibition fills four cases adjacent to Bradley Airport’s departure gates, and includes rod puppets, hand puppets, shadow puppets, oversized masks, and marionettes.

Click here to read more about the exhibition.

An exciting exhibition of over 70 Ballard Institute puppets from around the world is currently on display at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut (just north of Hartford) and will be on view for airport travelers from now until November.

The exhibition, titled The World of Puppetry, was curated by Nicole Hartigan, a graduate student in UConn’s famed Puppet Arts Program, and the graduate assistant to the Ballard Institute.  The exhibition fills four cases adjacent to Bradley Airport’s departure gates, and includes rod puppets, hand puppets, shadow puppets, oversized masks, and marionettes.

The first case features shadow puppets, and includes dramatic figures from the Tolu Bommalata tradition of Andhra Pradesh, as well as Javanese and Balinese wayang kulit figures, and puppets from similar traditions in Thailand and Malaysia.  This section also features colorful marionettes from Burma and China, and a four-armed, elephant-headed Ganesha marionette from Nepal, as well as masks from Bali, Java, and Mexico.

Handpuppets are featured in the exhibition’s second case, including Connecticut puppeteer Ray Mount’s colorful figures from Old Wive’s Tale, three vivid handpuppets from Haiti, a rare handpuppet from Poland’s Arlekin Theater of Lodz, a Chinese handpuppet, and one-of-a-kind figures by Cincinnati puppeteer Larry Smith for The Uncle Al Show, the longest-running American television series of the last century.

A case devoted to the Punch and Judy traditions of European and American puppetry includes rare 19th-century Punch puppets, an extensive array of puppets built and used by the Ridiculous Theater’s Charles Ludlam, a set of early 20th-century Guignol puppets, and a set of political caricature handpuppets of 1960s Connecticut politicians used by puppeteer Rufus Rose in the Connecticut Statehouse when he was a state legislator from Waterford.

Rod puppets are featured in the last case of the exhibition, including three striking figures from Frank Ballard’s 1980 production of The Ring of the Nibelungen, a Samurai puppet from the Japanese inland island of Awaji, a clown and nobleman from Java’s wayang golek traditions, two modernist rod puppets by famed puppeteer George Latshaw, an African puppet from Mali, a Russian rod puppet, and three over-life-sized masks by Frank Ballard.

 

The University of Connecticut Health Center is hosting a selection of shadow figures from the Ballard Institute’s Epic Shadows: Tolu Bommalata Puppets from Andhra Pradesh exhibition, from now until July 27 at the Health Center Hospital Lobby in Farmington.

Examples of the rich traditions of South Indian shadow puppetry are on display in exhibition cases in the hospital’s lobby and mezzanine.  The exhibition is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

The UConn Health Center is located at 263 Farmington Avenue in Farmington, Connecticut  06030.  For directions to the Health Center call 860 679 2000.

This exhibition is part of the World of Puppetry in Hartford series of exhibitions, workshops, and performances sponsored by the Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation.