Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 16:41:42 +1000
From: jdalhsim-AT-netspace.net.au (Janet Dalgliesh)
Subject: Re: workshop


>As well as performing shows in schools, I offer a workshop for children
>from 8yrs to 12yrs. This has been really successful this year in
>encouraging children to get into puppetry. I love seeing older children
>that thought puppets were for little children, going home and making
>their own and performing with them.
>I am about to get next years workshop ready and so am looking for ideas.
>Is anyone willing to share ideas publically or privately that may be
>suitable? I realise sharing is a two way thing.
>Thankyou very much.   Ray Cooper, (New Zealand).   #:o)
>


A couple of years ago we ran a series of workshops in schools for 5-8
year-olds that worked really well.  Rather than focussing on making puppets
(which isn't our skill base) we decided to show the kids how to participate
in their own show as performers (something many little ones are very
hesitant to do).

The schools only had enough space in their schedules to let us perform for
45 minutes, then run workshops for 45 minutes, so we had to come up with a
lot of shortcuts.

We made a collection of very basic 2D cutout puppets from heavy card, then
covered them in crepe paper.  The larger ones were jointed with paper
fasteners, etc - the idea was that after we left the teachers and kids
could create their own very quickly.

We had two different, simple stories - both basically journeys or quests,
one set in the ocean, the other in the jungle.  By using kids to perform
the animals as well as the environment (eg being trees, waves, etc), the
whole class could participate in one event.

We directed the "event", and rehearsed the kids in these two-minute stories
(complete with bushfires and storms at sea - lots of sound effects and
drama!), and we always had incredibly positive responses.  The kids had a
sense of completion, achieving something they'd thought beyond them in a
very short space of time.  The teachers often said they'd previously lost
interest in doing drama in the past because it was too hard - we'd shown
them how easy it could be if the planning was right from the beginning, and
they said it had inspired them to do their own projects.

I had worried that our approach might be too dictatorial, leaving nothing
for the kids to contribute, but in fact the presence of some clear
parameters allowed for really good improvisation from the kids within the
storyline - it actually helped, in such a tight timeline.

It was even more successful than we'd anticipated, and I was quite
disappointed when the season ended - though also very exhausted and
relieved!

If you'd like more detail, Ray, email me and I'll try and dredge up the
memories!

Cheers, Janet

**************************************************
Janet Dalgliesh and Hugh Simpson

jdalhsim-AT-netspace.net.au

"I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I understand
....in the doing is the learning"

                Confucius




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