Do you remember watching “Sesame Street?” What about “Jack’s Big Music Show?” Or “Avenue Q?”
Some of the artists who serve as the talent behind the puppets on those programs got their start at the University of Connecticut’s Puppet Arts program. It’s the only program in the country where a student can get a degree in puppetry – and it’s marking its 60th anniversary.
A recent celebration of the Puppet Arts program featured notable alumni, including Jennifer Barnhart (“Sesame Street,” “Avenue Q,” “Between the Lions”) and John Cody (“SpongeBob SquarePants”). A variety of puppetry was celebrated -- fine-art marionette puppets; shadow puppets; stop-motion puppets. In fact, the selection of puppets seemed endless.
Program director Bart Roccoberton, Jr. and John Bell, the director of the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, sat down with Connecticut Public and reflected on alumni puppeteers and their work, as well as how the program has shaped artists, designers and more.
“Puppetry has been with us from the beginnings of civilizations and I think it’s going to stick with us as time goes on,” said Roccoberton, Jr.
Frank Ballard launched the UConn program in 1964. The classes were so popular that sections were added and enrollment had to eventually be limited, UConn officials said. Through the years, the program has helped students with acting, stage building and crafting a puppet.
Ballard's connection to Muppets creator Jim Henson allowed Ballard to send his students to Henson, which helped further the growth of the UConn program.
As Ballard once said: “A puppet is the artist’s soul set free.”
Explore UConn’s puppetry history in Connecticut Public’s latest Mini-Doc.
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The exhibition celebrating the Puppet Arts program’s 60th anniversary -- “Art, Movement, Imagination: 60 Years of UConn Puppeteers” -- is on display at the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry in Storrs.
