March 20, 2017 | Ginger Jenne

‘Twisted Tales’ to Terrorize Audiences at the Ballard!

Step right up ladies and gentlemen! Step right up and prepare to be shocked, delighted, and horrified during Doc Foster’s Twisted Tales! The one and only Doctor Thaddeus J. Foster rolls into town to beguile audiences with his rare and ghastly brand of storytelling. Nowhere else will audiences have the opportunity to marvel as monsters, […]

"Doc Foster's Twisted Tales" by UConn Puppet Arts Program MFA candidate Shane McNeal, a delightfully macabre puppet show that will premiere on 3/24!

Step right up ladies and gentlemen! Step right up and prepare to be shocked, delighted, and horrified during Doc Foster’s Twisted Tales! The one and only Doctor Thaddeus J. Foster rolls into town to beguile audiences with his rare and ghastly brand of storytelling. Nowhere else will audiences have the opportunity to marvel as monsters, specters, and demons congregate to terrorize the innocent! Stories of intrigue, love, betrayal (and the occasional murder) lay in store for the curious and the brave. Nothing is sacred or too strange for Foster, who reminds us that not every story has a happy ending.

UConn Puppet Arts graduate student Shane McNeal (back) as the outlandish Doc Foster with UConn Puppet Arts undergraduate students Esme Roszel (left) and Katherine Folker (right) as Benjamin and Missy.

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is pleased to host the premiere of Doc Foster’s Twisted Tales, a wickedly macabre puppet show anthology combining hand and shadow puppetry and crankies to bring four original tales of terror to life as told by the eccentric Doc Foster and his misfit troupe of performers. UConn Puppet Arts Program MFA candidate Shane C.S. McNeal pays tribute to the horror genre with this twisted dark comedy of cautionary tales.

Shane McNeal, MFA candidate in the UConn Puppet Arts Program, has been creating, designing, and performing for puppet theater and film since 2008. He has worked as a puppeteer with a wide range of artists and organizations including the Silk City Chorus, the Connecticut Repertory Theatre and the Boston Pops. He returns to the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry after his family-friendly performances of Canteen Tales: Quest for the Golden Spork, and Victoria’s Not So Bedtime Stories, which debuted in the 2016 Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series.

Performances will take place in the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Theatre on Friday – Sunday nights at 7:30pm from March 24 – April 2.

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/. Tickets may also be purchased at the Ballard Institute on the day of performance. This show is recommended for audiences aged 13 and older. For more information about this show, visit bimp.uconn.edu or call 860.486.8580.