in this one box you can show your dreams, your fears, your pride, or your passion. In the first toy theatre a young man (high school kid?) presented an Edward Goreyesque nightmare. My favorite part was when he slid a shadow screen out of the top to project the monstrous mother chasing the protagonist. In the second, a man played an interview with his grandfather who was a puppet on a little porch hooked onto the side of a suitcase. In the suitcase were photos on foamcore that showed the places and people in the story of this man's grandmother. What a great way to share personal history! The 3rd theatre was a miniature schoolhouse with numbers representing the teacher and students. The play was about the scandal in Atlanta where administrators and teachers changed students' answers to raise scores and get more money. I'd like my Theatre Team to explore Toy Theatre more -- especially if they want that control over an entire project. It would be a great addition to the Party for the Arts too.
The other experience my students are going to love is a shadow puppet improve technique I explored in a workshop this morning. Teams work on an overhead projector with puppets they have made or are making on the spot and improvise a story told by another teammate who is taking suggestions from the audience. I was nervous about being in an improve competition, but I felt all my creative juices gurgling up, and I had a ball.
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