{"id":235724,"date":"2025-10-01T07:30:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T11:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=235724"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:37:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T15:37:43","slug":"uconn-puppet-arts-alums-shine-bright-as-diamonds-in-60th-anniversary-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/10\/uconn-puppet-arts-alums-shine-bright-as-diamonds-in-60th-anniversary-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Puppet Arts Alums Shine Bright as Diamonds in 60th Anniversary Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Walking through the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry<\/a> these days is like thumbing through a \u201cWho\u2019s Who\u201d of major contributors to the field of puppet arts.<\/p>\n

Names like Stephen Kaplin \u201979 (SFA), Mary Hildebrand Nagler \u201912 MFA, and Esme Roszel \u201920 (SFA), to name only a few, are in boldface on placards next to the fabric, foam, felt, foil, and folded paper creations they either conceived, created, or contributed to.<\/p>\n

Someone like Janibeth Johnson \u201968 (CLAS) is credited with being an innovator of overhead projector shadow theater, in which one uses a typical classroom projector to bring to life shadow puppets like Hajj, which she designed and fabricated as a UConn student.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic when stage performances were scarce, Austin M. Costello \u201915 (SFA) used Unicorn Lawyer to entertain on Instagram, while Mark Blashford \u201917 MFA delighted with his Doorstep Marionette birthday telegram those who celebrated in lockdown.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Barbara A. Pollitt \u201979 (SFA) shares an alma mater with Heather Asch \u201991 (SFA) and Felicia Cooper \u201921 MFA though they graduated decades apart. They and all the others are connected through the legendary Frank Ballard, founder of UConn\u2019s world-renowned Puppet Arts program and influencer to students then and now.<\/p>\n

UConn Puppet Arts<\/a>, part of the Department of Dramatic Arts<\/a> in the School of Fine Arts<\/a>, celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and the Ballard Institute and Museum\u2019s latest exhibition, \u201cArt, Movement, Imagination: 60 Years of UConn Puppeteers,\u201d<\/a> serves as a love letter to the program and its eponym.<\/p>\n

\n

The puppets can make us laugh and cause us to cry. They can inspire us to action and give us ideas to contemplate. Reality and fantasy are equally expressed through the puppet arts. Well presented puppetry can be magic. — Bart P. Roccoberton Jr., Professor and Director of Puppet Arts<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cUConn puppetry is everywhere in the field across the United States, Europe, and Asia. It\u2019s ubiquitous,\u201d says John Bell, the exhibition\u2019s co-curator and museum director. \u201cUConn puppeteers uniformly do really good work in designing and building and performing. You just know if puppeteers are coming from UConn, they\u2019re going to be working at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n

From \u2018Sesame Street\u2019 to \u2018Avenue Q\u2019 With a Stop at Studio 8H<\/strong><\/h4>\n

It all started with Ballard, who joined UConn in 1956 to teach set design and serve as the technical director of the Harriet Jorgensen Theatre, but who continually advocated for a full-fledged puppetry program at the University. A Master of Fine Arts was created in 1965, a year after Ballard taught the University\u2019s first puppetry course, and in 1968, a bachelor\u2019s and Master of Arts were added.<\/p>\n

\"A
The marionette Josephine was designed by Frank Ballard for the 1989 Connecticut Repertory Theatre production of “H.M.S. Pinafore,” his last production at UConn. Twelve UConn students performed in the show that featured 89 puppets. (Kimberly Phillips\/UConn Today)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFrank had a really big impact on UConn. Without him there wouldn\u2019t be a program,\u201d says Bart P. Roccoberton Jr., who studied under Ballard and succeeded him as Puppet Arts director in 1990. \u201cWithout Frank, UConn Puppet Arts wouldn\u2019t be on the map as the only degree-granting program of its kind in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballard\u2019s marionette, Josephine, built for Connecticut Repertory Theatre\u2019s 1989 performance of \u201cH.M.S. Pinafore,\u201d begins the museum\u2019s exhibition that showcases UConn alums\u2019 work in the fields of innovation, performance, fabrication, and education.<\/p>\n

From Maggie Flanagan \u201920 MFA, whose \u201cStop-Motion Scale Sample Dress\u201d is on loan from LAIKA Studios, to Brad Williams \u201992 MFA, whose Ebenezer T. Squint from Nickelodeon\u2019s \u201cPinwheel\u201d is just as green up close, the exhibition includes 40 pieces and more than 100 alums who\u2019ve made their mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the trained puppeteer\u2019s eye, I can see how these artists have influenced one another,\u201d says Matthew Sorensen \u201919 MFA, who co-curated the exhibition with Bell and is a visiting professor of puppetry. \u201cIt\u2019s interesting to see all these influences and all the global traditions of puppetry on display come together cohesively, which of course is the spirit of puppetry.\u201d<\/p>\n

One cannot talk about UConn\u2019s puppetry program without noting its longtime association with programs like \u201cSesame Street,\u201d where many alums, including Richard Termine \u201978 MFA<\/a>, cut their teeth as young professionals or continued already thriving television careers, nominated for – and in many cases winning – Emmy Awards.<\/p>\n

Pam Arciero \u201981 MA worked on \u201cBlue\u2019s Clues,\u201d in which she performed and voiced Polka Dots Blue. Jennifer Barnhart \u201994 (SFA) performed with Trekkie Monster in the Broadway show \u201cAvenue Q.\u201d David Rudman \u201985 (SFA) founded Spiffy Pictures, which begot \u201cJack\u2019s Big Music Show\u201d on Noggin and Nick Jr. John Cody \u201917 (SFA) performed with SpongeBob SquarePants The Magic Conch Shell in \u201cSpongeBob\u2019s Pineapple Playhouse.\u201d And Frankie Cordero \u201904 (SFA) fabricated Pink Mouse for the PBS show \u201cDonkey Hodie.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, don\u2019t assume UConn-trained puppeteers are starving artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cUConn alumni puppeteers oftentimes build in large shops like Monkey Boys Productions in Pennsylvania, which does work for \u2018Saturday Night Live,\u2019\u201d Bell says. \u201cIf you see a puppet on SNL, and that happens relatively often, it quite possibly is the work of a UConn alum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of the Same Tight-Knit Community<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Sorensen says the puppet community is a tight-knit group with this person having contact information for that person, and so on. Between these personal connections and social media solicitations, the exhibition\u2019s planning committee sought photographic examples of work from grads, then debated which best told the story of UConn Puppet Arts and which would comprise the show.<\/p>\n

\"An
Tiger Andros was one of several puppets used in the 1998 production of “The Legend of the Charter Oak,” which told the story of Connecticut’s charter using animals as the main characters. Tiger and the other puppets were designed and fabricated by Susan Tolis ’92 (SFA) and Joyce Ritz ’96 MFA, assisted by a handful of other UConn alums. (Kimberly Phillips\/UConn Today)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One unusual example they chose came from seven UConn fine arts alums \u2013 Susan Tolis \u201992 (SFA), Joyce Ritz \u201996 MFA, David Regan \u201901 (SFA), Carol D\u2019Agostino \u201997 (SFA), Bob Ritz \u201993 MFA, Rolande Duprey \u201979 (SFA), and Robert Laughlin \u201989 (SFA) – who in 1998 created the puppet show, \u201cThe Legend of the Charter Oak,\u201d for the Old State House in Hartford.<\/p>\n

Bell explains that Laughlin was hired to form a puppet troupe and develop a show that told the story of Connecticut\u2019s legendary Charter Oak. The show used as character inspiration the taxidermy animals formerly on display in the Old State House\u2019s museum of curiosities.<\/p>\n

This meant puppets like the tiger, heron, and crocodile at the center of the Ballard Institute and Museum\u2019s exhibition were anthropomorphized into real-life people like Joseph Wadsworth, who famously took the state\u2019s charter in 1687 and hid it in a tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cUConn puppet alumni in the community who are doing different things routinely work together,\u201d Bell says, adding the exhibition itself has been a reason for many to return to Storrs and reconnect with old friends.<\/p>\n

Sorensen says he, Bell, and Roccoberton traded off speaking during an opening reception tour, standing aside if they saw the maker of a particular piece was on hand and had a story to contribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cSusan Tolis operated the marionette of Josephine in \u2018H.M.S. Pinafore,\u2019 and she told a great anecdote about working with Frank Ballard,\u201d Sorensen says. \u201cShe was struggling to make a very long marionette work, and Frank, even though he was quite elderly and had Parkinson\u2019s, climbed up on the marionette bridge and just whipped the puppet around and made the most beautiful gesture. It was a special opening, not only to have all that energy but their memories and personal anecdotes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roccoberton\u2019s Red Queen puppet stands tall in the back corner of the museum – her eyes fixed on the smaller puppets below, just as a royal\u2019s gaze would. He designed and fabricated her 10-foot-tall frame for State Farm Insurance, which commissioned a stage show with a Broadway-caliber cast for company events in Chicago and Las Vegas. The show used the story of \u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d to talk about insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen first asked to create the Red Queen, I was given a design and asked to fabricate it in a way that would have been terribly heavy,” Roccoberton \u201990 MFA recounts. “I gained permission to redesign the character using a paper sculpture technique taught to me by Albrecht Roser, a German puppet master who was a guest artist when I was a student in 1977. The new figure weighed less than a quarter of the original request and had a fluidity on the stage that was remarkable for a 10-foot figure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sorensen says he designed and fabricated Black Bird for the theater show, \u201cAfterlife: A Ghost Story,\u201d put on by a company in Troy, New York. \u201cAfterlife\u201d tells the story of a couple whose child is swept out to sea during a storm and considers what happens after death.<\/p>\n

The fantastical bird is built of detritus churned up during the storm, he says, a perfect example of his \u201cfound object phase of building\u201d and uses fishing nets to fill out the wings and rake heads as a train of tail feathers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love fabricating. I can make a foam Muppet-esque puppet. I can carve wood, but this is my new jam,\u201d Sorensen says of readapting everyday objects. \u201cIt\u2019s just finding things and assembling them in imaginative ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building a Foundation with Wooden Reeds<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Take another example, this one from Penny Benson \u201915 MFA, whose Prancer the Reindeer was designed for a production of \u201cPrancer,\u201d a play about Santa\u2019s reindeer. The animal comes together thanks to a series of bent wooden reeds to create the animal\u2019s shape, tufts of raffia for the mane, burlap skin and hooves, along with metal internal mechanisms for movement and zip ties to hold it all together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the way she\u2019s using all these different materials. It\u2019s ingenious,\u201d Bell says, explaining that Prancer\u2019s puppeteer would be visible to the audience during the performance, human form becoming part of the beast. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautifully innovative puppet. It\u2019s not trying to be realistic. It\u2019s wanting to show you the materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of Prancer\u2019s skeleton is airy, although Benson bent the wooden reeds around her hips at the top of her rear legs so they bulge where her muscles naturally would protrude, giving the feeling of a solid animal.<\/p>\n

\"A
Lady Liberty, designed and fabricated by Joseph Therrien ’17 MFA, came together in one night in 2011 for use during an Occupy Wall Street march the next day. Over the last 14 years, it’s been used hundreds of times at other social, racial, and economic justice events. The puppet is part of the latest exhibition at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry that pays tribute to the 60th anniversary of UConn’s Puppet Arts program. (Kimberly Phillips\/UConn Today)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOne of the things I love about puppetry is when you leave an empty space, then the viewer, the audience, gets to fill that in,\u201d Sorensen says. \u201cIn a sense, an abstract puppet is easier to connect with emotionally than an incredibly well-made replica. The more abstract, the more space we leave for the imagination, the more effective it can be on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

But how does someone learn to sculpt that way?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a technique that we teach,\u201d Sorensen says of bending wood. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t come up a lot, but if we\u2019re doing a project that calls for it, we\u2019d show the student how to take the reed, soak it, and shape it. It\u2019s a centuries-old technique that appears in a lot of puppetry traditions globally.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues, \u201cThese are the kinds of foundational things you learn as a puppetry student here at UConn. Here\u2019s how you sculpt. Here\u2019s how you make a mold. Here\u2019s how you sew a puppet. Here\u2019s how you do a hand puppet performance. Here\u2019s how you carve a marionette.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

These are the kinds of foundational things you learn as a puppetry student here at UConn. Here\u2019s how you sculpt. Here\u2019s how you make a mold. Here\u2019s how you sew a puppet. Here\u2019s how you do a hand puppet performance. Here\u2019s how you carve a marionette. — Matthew Sorensen \u201919 MFA<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Joseph Therrien \u201917 MFA draped Lady Liberty, built for the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, with painted burlap. Chia-yin Cheng \u201999 MA designed Firebird with feathers and tulle for the ballet, \u201cThe Firebird,\u201d in 2006. Anthony Sellitto-Budney \u201923 (SFA) fabricated Carnival Master out of L200 foam for a 2024 production of \u201cWhere Are You Going, Little Horse?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our training, we really stress, even for those who are here as designers and fabricators, that you should be able to demonstrate how to operate what you\u2019re building. So, in most of the fabrication classes, there is a presentational element, even if it\u2019s not a full scene,\u201d Sorensen says. \u201cThen there are other people in our program who just walk into a room and they\u2019re naturally performing, but they need work on fabrication. We draw both kinds of students, along with those who are interested in doing it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joyce Noel Williams \u201919 MFA did just that with Lolly the Library Book, which she designed, fabricated, performed, directed, and wrote for the Nashville Public Library\u2019s Wishing Chair Productions, where she\u2019s a full-time puppeteer.<\/p>\n

The pink, felt-bound book with its own ISBN number on the spine \u2013 actually, a direct manipulation puppet with mechanisms to move its eyes and mouth – taught children how to use the public library in an instructional video.<\/p>\n

\"An
Prancer the Reindeer was designed and built by Penny Benson ’15 MFA for a 2023 production of “Prancer” about Santa’s reindeer. The puppet is part of the latest exhibition at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry that pays tribute to the 60th anniversary of UConn’s Puppet Arts program. (Kimberly Phillips\/UConn Today)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI like this exhibition because it illustrates the varied areas where puppetry functions \u2013 the well-known television and film puppetry, Broadway puppetry, activist puppetry, even mental health puppetry \u2013 not just in these different areas but also using so many different techniques,\u201d Bell says. \u201cI\u2019m impressed by the integrity of the designs. These are really well-done puppets.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Being part of humankind\u2019s desire to understand the world around them in the earliest tribal gatherings, puppetry has been used for religious beliefs, education, social organization, entertainment, and political commentary,” Roccoberton says. “The expressions of the puppet arts are boundless.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues, \u201cAs puppet performers, we must engage the audience\u2019s imagination, so the movements and sounds that we present can be interpreted to lead toward an understanding of intended characters and story. With the audience, we can take journeys of a thousand miles and condense centuries of history in a short time. The puppets can make us laugh and cause us to cry. They can inspire us to action and give us ideas to contemplate. Reality and fantasy are equally expressed through the puppet arts. Well presented puppetry can be magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cArt, Movement, Imagination: 60 Years of UConn Puppeteers\u201d is on display through Oct. 26 at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry in Downtown Storrs.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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