Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows:
Whale Tales
by Talking Hands Theatre
presented by the Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry and the Mansfield Downtown Partnership
The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut is excited to present its 2025 Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series with free, outdoor, family-friendly puppet shows on three Saturdays in July and August at 11:00 AM on Betsy Paterson Square in Downtown Storrs.
August 2: Whale Tales by Talking Hands Theatre It’s the aquarium that comes to you! As part of this musical puppet show the audience will meet a bevy of creatures that live in the sea, including a walrus, a seahorse, a giant beluga whale, a horseshoe crab, and many more. The show features whimsical songs by acclaimed children’s musician Brent Holmes.
Talking Hands Theatre was founded in 2004 by artist Anna Sobel, who has been a professional puppeteer since 1998. In 2003 she was the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to study puppetry in India as a tool for social change and education. She is now based in Western Massachusetts and performs all over New England.
Reservations are not required. Chairs will not be provided, and audience members are encouraged to bring their own blankets and seating. Seating space will be first come, first served. In case of rain, the shows will take place in the Ballard Institute Theater at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.
The Summertime Saturday Puppet Show Series is co-sponsored by the Mansfield Downtown Partnership and supported by a generous gift from Phillip Mairorana in memory of his wife Theresa Mairorana, and by UConn Gives donations by Ballard Institute supporters.
MAKE A DAY OF IT!
Enjoy breakfast before the performance or lunch afterwards at one of the 20+ restaurants in Downtown Storrs, all within an easy 7-minute walk of the Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry! See what’s cooking here.
Pictured: Nautical Bowls (34 Wilbur Cross Way, next to Action Packed in the June Salamy Krisch Courtyard)
PARKING is available in the Downtown Storrs Parking Garage, which is FREE for your first 2 HOURS, and just $1/hour thereafter. The garage is about a 2-minute walk to the Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry.