Summertime Saturday Puppet Shows:
The Little Red Hen
by WOnderSpark Puppets
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.
July 26: The Little Red Hen by WonderSpark Puppets WonderSpark company member (and UConn Puppet Arts program alumna) Julia Darden presents the classic story of a Hen who needs YOUR help to make some bread. The Little Red Hen is an interactive tabletop puppet show that gets kids moving their bodies, calling out and laughing. Every animal on the farm wants to eat the Hen’s bread, but no one wants to help make it. The audience learns the benefits of helping and teamwork while exercising and singing along!
WonderSpark Puppets is a New York City-based puppet theater company led by Chad Williams and UConn Puppet Arts Program alumna Z Briggs. The company’s mission is to spread joy, spark imagination, and share laughter through high-quality puppet performances. They have partnered with NYC Public Schools, the New York Public Library, and such companies as CAMP and Bed Bath & Beyond, and have toured original productions and puppetry workshops internationally to festivals in Thailand and Taiwan.
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.