1 Unit and 2 Resources tagged "Puppetry" for Drama Teachers.
by Jenny Goodfellow
This unit on Puppetry is designed for middle school and up, to introduce students to the material and get them comfortable with performing in a safe and low exposure environment. This is a unit that builds to a culminating experience for your students. Each lesson is designed to explore techniques, provide opportunities for creative collaboration among your students, and give them opportunities to perform. Some of the lessons require materials to build or create puppets. Puppetry can be as easy as drawing a face on your finger for finger puppets, to actually purchasing your own finger puppets for students to use. While the focus of this unit is puppetry, your students will explore other skills as well. There’s the obvious ones of creative thinking, teamwork, and problem solving. They are also going to explore storytelling, performing skills, and playwriting.
Masterclass is a series of one-on-one interviews with experts, creators and innovators in the world of Theatre that you can study in-depth, or share with your classes. Think of this series as 'Inside the Actor's Studio' for Drama Teachers. In this masterclass, Matt Webster talks to to Reay Kaplan Maxwell, an actress and professional puppeteer. This discussion focuses on her experience as a professional puppeteer.
In this resource, Todd Espeland shares the directions on how to make your own shadow puppetry theatre out of a box, shadow puppetry templates, how to use shadow puppets with your students, and a rundown of the development process. Additional attachments including a bonus video and handout are included if you have students doing this project at home.
Our parent company Theatrefolk offers a fantastic selection of plays written specifically for high school and middle school students.
Whether for performances or class study, there's something for everyone: relevant & relatable themes, simple sets & costumes, flexible casting options and much more - a perfect addition to any drama program!