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Free Tour of the Ballard Institute and Screening of “Muppet Treasure Island” on the Town Square on 6/24!

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On Friday, June 24, the Ballard Institute will offer a free tour of current exhibitions and have extended hours for the Mansfield Downtown Partnership’s free screening of Muppet Treasure Island on the Mansfield Town Square at dusk.

Before the movie starts, come to Storrs Center for family-friendly activities starting at 7 p.m., including a themed dinner at Dog Lane Cafe, the UConn Dairy Bar Ice Cream Truck, and hands-on fun for kids in the Town Square.

At 7:30 p.m., the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will offer a free guided tour of the current exhibitions, The World of Puppetry: From the Collections of the Ballard Institute and The Bureau of Small Requests: Puppetry and Animation of Laura Heit. The museum will remain open until the movie starts at dusk.

Muppet Treasure Island

Music, fun, and swashbuckling hilarity abound as the Muppets take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story of pirate adventure on the high seas. Kermit stars as the good Captain Smollett, who helps guide young Jim Hawkins toward buried pirate treasure. But danger is on the horizon when they learn that the ship’s cook, Long John Silver (Tim Curry), may not be just an ordinary galley hand. As the adventure continues, Jim and Captain Smollett encounter Miss Piggy as Benjamina Gunn, Treasure Island’s worshipped (but dangerous) love goddess. Directed by Brian Henson, the film features a musical score by Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer with songs by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

Rated G
Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes

For more information about the Mansfield Downtown Partnership’s Moonlight Movies, visit: mansfieldct.gov/movies

“Canteen Tales: Quest for the Golden Spork” by Shane McNeal on 7/2 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

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me on stairsAs part of its popular Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows for family audiences by UConn Puppet Arts students, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry will present Canteen Tales: Quest for the Golden Spork by UConn Puppet Arts MFA student and Connecticut native Shane McNeal on Saturday, July 2 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater located at 1 Royce Circle, Storrs, CT.

Shane McNeal, a third-year MFA candidate in the UConn Puppet Arts Program and native of Bristol, Connecticut, has been interested in the art of puppetry for well over a decade. Coming from an early childhood education background, McNeal has always enjoyed entertaining children of all ages with puppets and storytelling. Over the last two years, McNeal acted as a puppeteer in several projects, including the children’s television pilot of Treeples and in Hartford’s annual performances of Night Fall and Envision Fest. More recently, he performed in ECHO, the UConn Puppet Arts MFA puppet production by Christopher D. Mullens, and assisted with creating, designing, and performing a puppet production with the Boston Pops in May 2016.

In his brand-new show Canteen Tales: Quest for the Golden Spork, join McNeal in the kitchen as everyday objects tell the story of Sir Toby, a valiant knight from the Kingdom of Spün. Watch as he battles ogres, outwits wizards, and saves the day from a terrible dragon!

Upcoming Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows by UConn Puppet Arts students include:

 July 9 – Jacks in the Box by Mark Blashford: Mark Blashford, a third-year Puppet Arts graduate student, performs classic Appalachian Jack Tales and lyric vignettes with suitcases, shadows, rod puppets, and marionettes.

July 16 – The Wonderful World of Wonder by Gavin Cummins: Discover the world of creatures impossible to see, yet who live in this blue marble we call earth. Sea crabs, corpse flowers, and water bears, oh my!

July 23 – Victoria’s Not So Bedtime Story by Krista Weltner and Shane McNeal: Two sisters, Victoria and Margaret, don’t always get along, but when the goal is avoiding bedtime, there is no end to what this dynamic duo will do. Come watch several stories unfold, including The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, The Clockmaker and the Elves, and The House That Jack Built.

July 30 – Luminary by Ana Crăciun-Lambru: Luminary is the tale of a second chance! When humankind takes the world for granted, Raven, its supreme creator, hides the Sun. His daughter, Little Darkness, sets on a quest to bring back the light to the world. Join a rogue storyteller on a journey of light and shadow, found objects and empowering adventures!

August 6 – Superheroes, Villains, and Spaceships, Oh My!–The Return by Anatar Marmol-Gagné and Zach Broome: Anatar Marmol-Gagné & Zach Broome bring you a fantastical tale of intergalactic battles between good and evil.

Admission is $6 for children (12 years and under), $8 for adults.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, by phone at 860.486.8580, or online at http://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 a limited number of seats. For more information about these performances, call 860.486.8580.

“ECHO” by Christopher D. Mullens, 3/24-4/3

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The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is pleased to host the world première of ECHO, a multi-media immersive spectacle combining puppets, digital projection, and original music in a re-invention of the classic Greek tale of a mountain nymph who finds the true meaning of voice. Puppet Arts MFA candidate Christopher D. Mullens has teamed up with composer Colby Joseph Herchel and a team of students from UConn’s Puppet Arts Program and Digital Media and Design Department to create a dynamic world of myth and music in which the story of Echo, the nymph who could only repeat what is spoken to her, will unfold in front of and around the audience.

Performances will take place in the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Theater located at 1 Royce Circle in Storrs Center according to the following schedule:

March 24         7:30pm March 31         7:30pm
March 25         8:00pm April 1             8:00pm
March 26         2:00pm April 2              2:00pm & 8:00pm
March 30         7:30pm April 3              2:00pm

 

Tickets will be $10 for adults and $7 for students/Connecticut Repertory Theatre subscribers. Tickets will be sold in advance through the Connecticut Repertory Theatre Box Office located in the lobby of the Nafe Katter Theatre at 820 Bolton Rd, Storrs CT 06269. Tickets may be purchased in person at the box office, by calling (860) 486-2113, or online at https://itkt.choicecrm.net/templates/UCRT/index.php?prod=bimp. A $3.00 surcharge will be added to any purchases made online or over the phone. Tickets may be purchased at the Ballard Institute on the day of performance. There will be a limited number of seats. This show is recommended for ages 12 and up. For more information about this show, visit http://bimp.uconn.edu or call (860) 486-8580.

ECHO will be performed in conjunction with the Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s MFA Puppet Arts Festival, featuring works by Ana Craciún, Gavin Cummins, and Kalob Martinez running March 24-April 3 in UConn’s Studio Theatre. On March 26 and April 1, 2, and 3 there will be additional free presentations of works by Anatar Marmol-Gagné and Krista Weltner at 5 p.m. in the Studio Theatre. For more information about these shows, visit crt.uconn.edu.

Galleries Closed for Exhibition Installation, November 2-13

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From November 2-13, 2015, Ballard Institute staff will be deinstalling our current exhibition “The Work That Follows: 50 Years of UConn Puppeteers” and installing our new exhibition “From Thought to Image: 30 Years of Sandglass Theater.”  While the main galleries at the Ballard Institute will be closed during this process, the museum will remain open during normal business hours, and our exhibit titled “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 From Thought to Image: 30 Years of Sandglass Theater on Saturday, November 14 at 4:30 p.m. at the Ballard Institute. The opening events will include two performances of Isidor’s Cheek by Ines Zeller Bass of Sandglass Theater, at 1 and 3 p.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater.

Down the Rabbit Hole: Ballard Celebrates 150 years of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

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This past Saturday and Sunday, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry offered fall community puppet-building workshops with acclaimed Boston puppeteer Sara Peattie.

This year’s free workshops held at the Ballard Institute workshop space celebrate the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Participants brought the colorful and fantastic figures that popular Carroll’s fanciful world to life, rendering the White Rabbit, the Red Queen, the Cheshire Cat, the March Hare, and the eponymous Alice into puppet form.

Workshop participants are invited to parade with their puppets as part of the Celebrate Mansfield Parade that will be held on Sunday, September 20 at noon (Line-up begins at 11am at Farrell Field near the Post Office). The parade is part of the 12th Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival.

Sara Peattie’s dramatic puppet creations have been featured at community parades and pageants across the United States. Long a mainstay of Boston First Night festivities and the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in New York City, Sara Peattie’s work—through her Boston-based Puppeteers Cooperative company and Puppet Free Library—combines community participation, simple, cheap, and practical puppet-building techniques, and a brilliant design sense that allows community members of all ages to take part in the age-old pleasures of participatory puppet performance in public spaces. Sara recently designed and directed the community puppet parade and pageant in Storrs Center as part of the 2015 Puppeteers of America National Puppetry Festival.

For information on the 12th Annual Celebrate Mansfield Festival, visit http://www.downtownstorrsfestival.org

Brian and Wendy Froud on Faeries, October 9 at 6 p.m.

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ortraits, drawings, studies and tales of those mysterious creatures, fairies, fill the pages of Brian Froud’s Faeries’ Tales by Brian and Wendy Froud. We meet individual fairies and learn their stories. Following their popular book Trolls, Faeries’ brings readers into the depths of the mysterious and enchanting realm of these intriguing beings. Brian Froud, a renowned British artist, has created some of the most respected and highly acknowledged mythic artwork of our time. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Original Artwork. Wendy Froud is an American (born in Detroit) who is a doll artist, sculptor, and puppet-maker, best known for her work creating creatures for the Jim Henson films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, as well as her work on the Star Wars series, for which she was the fabricator of Yoda. The Frouds live in Devon, England. Bart Roccoberton, the Director of the Puppet Arts Program at UConn writes, “Brian and Wendy Froud have inspired the Puppet Arts, internationally, since the mid-1970s with their imaginations and creativity.”

Please call 860-486-8525 to reserve a seat.

RECEPTION at 5:30 p.m.

TALK: 6:00 p.m.

BOOKSIGNING immediately following