This forum will celebrate the Ballard Institute’s new exhibition of the same name, with acclaimed puppet scholar Dr. Claudia Orenstein of the CUNY Graduate Center in New York, UConn Puppet Arts Program Head Bart Roccoberton, and John Bell, Director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry. The speakers will explore the ways that puppetry in the United States transformed during the twentieth century from a popular low-culture entertainment to an accepted form of legitimate theater and a massively influential mass-media phenomenon.
To learn more about the speakers and the forum, visit bimp.uconn.edu/2026/02/12/becoming-modern/.
Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served.
For more information, contact: Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at 860-486-8580 or bimp@uconn.edu