The Daily Campus

Issue date: 9/22/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Alyssa Carroll Some of the puppets featured at the Ballard Museum of Puppetry include Lamb Chop.

Though many students' only association with puppets may be the characters of "Fraggle Rock," "The Muppets" or "Team America," the Ballard Museum of Puppetry is teaching students that puppetry is a whole lot more.

The museum, located on the UConn Depot campus, has colleted hundreds of puppets that have been donated by puppeteers and various organizations.

"Puppets Through the Lens" is the Ballard's current exhibit, running through Nov. 30. The exhibit features some of the most famous puppets from the film and TV industry, including Lamb Chop and friends, a compsognathus from "Jurassic Park," the Gopher from "Caddyshack" and many more.

The musuem, which opened in April 1996, is named after Frank Ballard, who established the nation's first complete undergraduate and graduate program in puppetry at UConn. The museum has also been the state's official museum of puppetry since 2003.

"I thought it was really interesting how much goes into puppetry," said 5th-semester nursing major Molly Harrison. "I never really thought about all the different aspects, like building the set and making the puppets, learning how to act through the puppets. I also didn't realize how many puppets I am actually familiar with, like the 'Lamb Chop' and 'Thomas the Tank Engine' characters."

A 10-part series of Fall Puppet Forums of free artists' talks and film showings began Sept. 6, and will run in conjunction with the "Puppets through the Lens" exhibit.

The forum will feature five uncommonly seen puppet films on Monday nights at the Student Union. Movies to be shown include Heather Henson's "Handmade Puppet Dreams" and Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's "Being John Malkovich."

The series also includes five live talks with puppet artists taking place on various evenings at the Ballard Institute, all at 7:30 p.m. Guests will include "Sesame Street" puppeteer Martin P. Robinson, and Flexitoons creators Craig Marina and Olga Felgemacher. All of the events will be free and open to the public.

The next event will be Monday Sept. 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Student Union, and will feature the film "Handmade Puppet Dreams Volume II," a collection of avant-garde puppetry.

The Ballard museum is open Fridays and weekends noon to 5:00 p.m., and is free. Donations are appreciated, however.

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