On Saturday, March 1st the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will inaugurate its brand-new black-box theater in its Storrs Center home with Reverse Cascade, a new Puppet Arts Production by MFA candidate Anna Fitzgerald.  The premiere performances of the production at 1:00 and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 1 will coincide with the grand opening of the Storrs Center complex that day at 2 p.m.

In Fitzgerald’s new found-object puppet production juggling clubs, rings, scarves and clown noses transform before the audience to tell a story based on the life of Judy Finelli, the renowned San Francisco-based “new circus” performer and juggler whose body began to betray her. Eventually diagnosed with rapidly progressing Multiple Sclerosis, Finelli confronts the fact that she will lose the use of her body, and, it seems, her life’s work.

Reverse Cascade highlights the humanity of an artist and performer. At times both funny and tragic, the show the reveals the ups and downs of a life that seems to follow the bell curve of a “reverse cascade”  juggling pattern. In addition to careful puppetry manipulation, the production also features Michael Albaine and Nicholas Trauttman of UConn’s Music Department, who  accompany the performers with live original music.

There are nine chances to see this unique puppet performance, but seating is limited so reserve your tickets now at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s website. Tickets are $10 if purchased ahead online, $12 at the door, and $8 for students.

Performances:

Opening – Saturday March 1st – 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (Ribbon Cutting  for the new Ballard Institute at 2 p.m.)
Sunday March 2 – 8 p.m.
Tuesday March 4 – 8 p.m.
Friday March 7 – 8 p.m.
Saturday March 8 – 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday March 9 – 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The first performance event of the Ballard Institute’s 2014 season will be the UConn Spring Puppet Slam, on Saturday, February 1 at 8 p.m. at UConn’s Studio Theater.  Admission is free, and donations are greatly appreciated.  This event is produced with generous support from the Puppet Slam Network.

The 2013 UConn Fall Puppet Slam, on Saturday evening, September 21 in the Dramatic Arts Department’s Studio Theatre will feature short works by acclaimed alumni of the Puppet Arts Program as well as new works by current students in the program.  For the first time, the UConn Puppet Slam will offer two performances of the same program: at 8 p.m. and at 10 p.m.  Guests at a Ballard Institute fund-raising event will attend the 8 p.m. showing, so the general public is urged to attend to 10 p.m. showing.

The Fall Puppet Slam will feature works by Puppet Arts alumni Zachery Dorn, Carole D’Agostino, Dave Regan, and Joseph Therrien.

Pittsburgh-based Zachery Dorn has recently focused on live-streamed internet performances of toy theater productions using hand-held cameras, some of which he will perform at UConn: What Time is it in Berlin? and A Story About the Saddest Story.

Carole D’Agostino has been performing in New England-area Puppet Slams since 1997.  She will present scenes from The Hoarding Show, a miniature spectacle combining tabletop puppetry, shadow theater, and object theater “about the clutter we keep, mentally and physically in our lives,” including the story of the famous Collyer brothers of New York City.

Joseph Therrien, working with puppeteer Jason Hicks, will present scenes from their handpuppet spectacle Weasel, Citizen Hero, an irreverent series of shows featuring found-object puppets and political satire, which the duo have created at Bread & Puppet Theater, where Therrien is now a company member.

And Dave Regan of Fluke Theater will perform a handpuppet piece entitled Fight or Flyght.

The Puppet Slam movement is a nation-wide flowering of short puppet productions for adult audiences, encouraged by the Puppet Slam Network created by Heather Henson and Marsian De Lellis.  UConn Puppet Slams have been taking place since 2008, thanks to the generous support of the Slam Network.

The UConn Fall Puppet Slam is free and open to the public–donations are greatly appreciated.  Both the 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. showings are open to the general public, but more than half of the seats for the 8 p.m. showing will be reserved for fund-raiser attendees.   For directions to the Studio Theater see this site.   For more information call the Ballard Institute at 860 486 0339.

A Ballard Institute project to support new works for puppetry will culminate in a production of Erik Ehn’s The Architecture of Great Cathedrals on Friday, September 20 at 6:30 at the University of Connecticut Human Rights Institute‘s international “Contexts of Human Rights” conference.  The performance will take place at the Wilber Cross Reading Room at UConn.

Puppet Arts Program graduate students Anna Fitzgerald, Sarah Nolen, and Dana Samborski, working with Puppet Arts Director Bart Roccoberton and BIMP Director John Bell, conceived, designed, built, and will perform Ehn’s play–part of the playwright’s celebrated Soulographie cycle of dramas about genocide–as a tabletop puppet production which they began to work on last spring.

“I’m extremely excited to see this work,” Dr. Bell said; “the combination of these talented Puppet Arts students and Erik Ehn’s stunning text is going to make for a compelling puppet production.  I’m glad the Human Rights conference participants can see it.”

The first performance of the show will be exclusively for Human Rights conference participants (see their website for registration information); however the Ballard Institute hopes to produce public performances of the production in the future.

UConn Alumni Weekend Special!

Puppetry Arts grad student (class of 2013) and Ballard Institute digital archivist Seth Shaffer will present a workshop/performance at the William Benton Museum of Art on UConn’s Main Campus on Saturday, June 2, from 1:45 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.!

Seth writes: “I am very excited to be a part of the Alumni Weekend!  My plan is to do both an interactive demonstration on basic puppet manipulation and a series of short vinettes.  I am planning on building some student puppets in the next two weeks that members of the audience can use to explore manipulation techniques with me.  Then with these simple “student” puppets, I will perform a short story to demonstrate how to practically use a puppet.”

Check it out, and then come visit our museum!Puppet Show with Seth Shaffer, Saturday June 2, 1:45 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. at William Benton Museum of Art.

Join us on Saturday, September 17 on UConn’s Main Campus in Storrs for the Fall 2011 UConn Puppet Slam–an exciting array of bold new works for puppet theater by vibrant puppet artists from New York City, Boston, and the University of Connecticut!

The Ballard Institute and UConn’s Puppet Arts Program will host the Fall 2011 UConn Puppet Slam on Saturday, September 17 at 8 p.m. in the Studio Theater of UConn’s School of Dramatic Arts, on 820 Bolton Road in Storrs, Connecticut.

This UConn Puppet Slam will feature the following artists:

–Jenny Romaine of Great Small Works: “La Ciudad: Magic Box of New York City”

—Alissa Hunnicutt: “The Red Dress”

–Sara Peattie and Theresa Linnihan of the Puppeteers Cooperative

… and a sparkling spectrum of new works by students from UConn’s famed Puppet Arts Program!

The performance is free and open to the public!

For more information, contact bimp@uconn.edu, or 860 486 0806.