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current exhibits
Toy theater was one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when mass-produced, miniature versions of popular stage productions sold by enterprising printers were customized by young people in the middle-class homes of Europe and the United State. This exhibit will bring together historic toy theaters of the classic tradition including English, Danish, and early twentieth-century American examples of the Institute’s collection, as well as contemporary examples.
April - November 29th
Toy Theaters of the World
The Ballard Institute
April - November 29th
Titeres y Máscaras
The Ballard Institute
This exhibit will trace the development of puppet, mask, and object performance as elements of European ritual and indigenous American ritual, and their subsequent development after Spanish Conquest as the hybrid culture of the Americas. It will include the compelling language of Central American, SOuth American and Caribbean masks; the use of performing objects in such rituals as Dia de los Muertos; the immensely popular marionettes of the Rosete-Aranda family of Huamantla, and Dominican puppet theater and mask performance as both children’s entertainment and experimental performance.
