COMMUNITY PUPPET-BUILDING WORKSHOP & PUPPET PAGEANT
Since 2009, the Mansfield Downtown Partnership and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry have teamed up to provide our community with a unique artistic experience!
Prehistoric Mansfield
Our Community Puppet-Building Workshop took place on Saturday, September 13 and Sunday, September 14.
During the Celebrate Mansfield Festival on Saturday, September 27, be on Betsy Paterson Square at 2:30 PM to see the results as participants (and audience members!) perform Prehistoric Mansfield, A Community Puppet Pageant!
Produced in collaboration with UConn’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and directed by Sara Peattie of Boston’s Puppeteers Cooperative, with live music by Waldron’s Studio 88, Prehistoric Mansfield will present a day in the life of the animal kingdom thousands of years ago in what is now Mansfield.
In a soap opera format narrated by a Giant Beaver (Castoroides ohioensis) and featuring an enormous and boastful Stag Moose, a swarm of gossiping insects, and other puppet characters, Prehistoric Mansfield will be an exciting family-friendly spectacle performed at the Celebrate Mansfield Festival on the afternoon of Sept. 27.
No experience is necessary to participate in these free community puppet-building workshops. Space is limited, so advance registration is strongly encouraged.
Participants can come for one or both days but should register for the 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM or/and 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM time slot(s). Minors must be accompanied by an adult.
To register for the workshop, visit www.ticketleap.events/tickets/bimp-0/2025-cmf.
If you require accommodation to participate, contact the Ballard Institute at bimp@uconn.edu or 860-486-8580.
Many thanks to Laura Stone Photography, Kim Bova Photography, Javaun Crane-Bonnell, Kathleen M. Paterson, and Emily Wicks for the images on this page.
