Stephen Kaplin News

As part of its 2024 Spring Puppet Performance Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will bring back the popular Chinese Theatre Works company of New York City to perform Hao Bang Ah, Dragon! on Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 11 a.m. in the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.  

On Sunday, January 29, Flushing Town Hall welcomes Chinese Theatre Works to its stage for two family-friendly performances at 1 PM and 3 PM to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with Hao Bang-ah, Rabbit!, featuring traditional budaixi-style puppetry and live music. Both performances will be followed by hands-on workshops for children. 

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present the grand opening of its new exhibitions Army Ants and their Guests: Works Inspired by the Carl and Marian Rettenmeyer Collection and Immaterial Remains: Can You Preserve a Shadow? on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, with refreshments at 6:30 p.m. followed by a free tour of the new exhibitions, a performative lecture by curator Annie Rollins, and performances of AntU toy theaters at 7 p.m. All events will take place at the Ballard Institute, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs. The exhibition will be on display through Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020.

In 2019, Flushing Town Hall offers a breadth of outstanding global music, family programs, exhibitions, jazz and workshops. From January through June, Flushing Town Hall will present 72 programs, including 18 world music shows, 10 jazz performances, eight family programs, seven classical music concerts, three exhibitions, and more.  The spring season is a continuation of 40th anniversary celebrations of the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts (FCCA), the steward of Flushing Town Hall.

Great Small Works revisits the work of radical 20th-century New York City puppeteers Zuni Maud and Yosl Cutler. In a bilingual Yiddish-English play that uses Maud and Cutler's satirical puppet scripts and original graphics, together with Great Small Works' own puppets and projections, as well as The Dybbuk and Mae West, Muntergang is a meditation on historical models for changing power relationships.

Theater Project is proud to present Muntergang and Other Cheerful Downfalls, a puppet show inspired by the Modicut Yiddish Puppet Theater, from New York City'sGreat Small Works, May 3 - 6.

As part of the 2016 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present a discussion about The Future of Puppetry at UConn, including UConn Puppet Arts Program alumni prominent in their fields, and moderated by Puppet Arts Program Director Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr.

As part of the 2016 Fall Puppet Forum Series, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will present a discussion about The Future of Puppetry at UConn, including UConn Puppet Arts Program alumni prominent in their fields, and moderated by Puppet Arts Program Director Bart. P. Roccoberton, Jr.

Spend your summer at Flushing Town Hall, which is presenting a fun and dynamic lineup of performances and special events this coming season, providing global arts for a global community in Queens and beyond.

HERE's Dream Music Puppetry Program proudly presents March of the Puppets, taking place March 11 - 19.  March of the Puppets features three unique events: "Puppet Parlor 2016" (March 11 & 12), "The Joshua Show" (March 13) and "Steve of Tomorrow" (March 16 - 19).  Performances, detailed below, take place in the Dorothy B. Williams Theater at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue).            

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry celebrates the opening of its new exhibition, The Work That Follows: 50 Years of UConn Puppeteers today, July 11 With performances of The Nature of Nature at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., The Work That Follows exhibition opening at 2 p.m., And a UConn Puppet Arts Alumni Puppet Slam at 8 p.m.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry celebrates the opening of its new exhibition, The Work That Follows: 50 Years of UConn Puppeteers Saturday, July 11 With performances of The Nature of Nature at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., The Work That Follows exhibition opening at 2 p.m., And a UConn Puppet Arts Alumni Puppet Slam at 8 p.m.

Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Presents Hao Bang Ah, Sheep! by Chinese Theatre Works today, April 11, 2015 At the Ballard Institute Theater Performances at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Presents Hao Bang Ah, Sheep! by Chinese Theatre Works Saturday, April 11, 2015 At the Ballard Institute Theater Performances at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

This year, the floating home of the Waterfront Museum turns 100 years old. The vessel, the Lehigh Valley No. 79 is the only one of its kind still afloat in NY harbor and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By following her 100-year history, 'Out of the Box & Over a Barrel,' tells the saga of commerce, transportation and the lives of the people of the working harbor in the age of lighterage. Along the 'Water Belt Line,' barges, (called lighters) and tugboats were the only link between ships and railways, moving goods across the harbor. 'Out of the Box' tells the story of this bustling era in NYC history before bridges and tunnels. Based on true stories using maps, models, puppets and historic photographs, this multi-discipline show aims to entertain and enlighten audiences about what this last-surviving wooden barge carried and the families and captains who lived on them.

This year, the floating home of the Waterfront Museum turns 100 years old. The vessel, the Lehigh Valley No. 79 is the only one of its kind still afloat in NY harbor and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By following her 100-year history, "Out of the Box & Over a Barrel," tells the saga of commerce, transportation and the lives of the people of the working harbor in the age of lighterage. Along the "Water Belt Line," barges, (called lighters) and tugboats were the only link between ships and railways, moving goods across the harbor. 'Out of the Box' tells the story of this bustling era in NYC history before bridges and tunnels. Based on true stories using maps, models, puppets and historic photographs, this multi-discipline show aims to entertain and enlighten audiences about what this last-surviving wooden barge carried and the families and captains who lived on them.

Immediately following the Great Small Works' Tenth International Toy Theater Festival in Brooklyn, New York, Great Small Works and friends will present an evening of paper theater shows at the West End Studio Theater, hosted by Pontine Theater. The program includes performances by Facto Teatro from Mexico City, Barbara Steinitz and Bjorn Kollin from Berlin, and Great Small Works from New York City.

St. Ann's Warehouse will present a colossal celebration of tiny art, Great Small Works' Tenth International Toy Theater Festival, today, June 14-23.

Immediately following the Great Small Works' Tenth International Toy Theater Festival in Brooklyn, New York, Great Small Works and friends will present an evening of paper theater shows at the West End Studio Theater, hosted by Pontine Theater. The program includes performances by Facto Teatro from Mexico City, Barbara Steinitz and Bjorn Kollin from Berlin, and Great Small Works from New York City.

St. Ann's Warehouse will present a colossal celebration of tiny art, Great Small Works' Tenth International Toy Theater Festival, June 14-23.