PERFORMANCE GUIDE
Cuesheet
Me and My Shadow Patch Theatre Company of Australia
Can a girl make friends with her shadow? Maybe…with a little help from her imagination.
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HELLO, ND TEACHERS A EASE PA R E N T S ! P L OR S E E PA G E 5 F N AND IN F O R M AT IO A C T IV IT IE S .
Getting Ready for a WELCOME TO THE SHOW
LITTLE TALK, LOTS OF ACTION
Get ready for a magical world where something can be anything—a flashlight can be a space rocket, a child can be a dinosaur, and a girl’s shadow can be a goofy and playful boy. All this happens on stage with two actors pretending to be the girl and boy plus some paper, lights, shadows, music, words, sounds, and even a little magic.
The girl and boy talk, but they’d much rather play and move. But don’t be fooled. Even though they don’t say much, they’re communicating a lot with each other and with you. Watch how they use their bodies and faces so you can tell what they’re doing and feeling. And listen up: The performers come from the country of Australia, so you might notice they talk a little differently. That’s called an accent—an Australian accent to be exact!
A GIRL AND HER SHADOW In the performance, you’ll meet a young girl who loves to play and use her imagination, probably just like you do. One day, she discovers her shadow can be pretty fun to play with—especially when it comes to life as a boy! But when she gets mad at him, she finds out that her world is very different without her friend.
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Magical World of Light
WHAT IS A SHADOW ANYWAY? Remember the last time you saw your shadow? Maybe it was a sunny day or a bright light shined on you. That’s because to have a shadow, you need light. Shadows appear when light shines on something solid, like you, or a building. That light can’t shine through you, right? So when you block the light, it can’t reach the other side of you. That’s where you see your shadow, usually on a wall or on the ground.
IMAGINATION COMES OUT OF THE SHADOWS Sometimes theater performances have objects on stage that tell you exactly where the action happens, like a bed and toys to show a child’s bedroom. In this performance, you’ll see a lot of…brown paper bags. But hold on. By using their imaginations, the girl and boy have lots of fun using bags, paper, balloons, and a few other everyday objects, too. With a little imagination of your own, you’ll be seeing cars, tall buildings, a queen’s crown, and more.
And although your shadow is a copy of you, it won’t look exactly like you. It doesn’t have color or clear details, like the buttons on your clothes. Sometimes it’ll be blurry, sometimes sharp. Sometimes it’ll look bigger or smaller. And sometimes it’ll make you laugh because it looks mysterious or funny when you move.
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, Shadows, and Friends YOUR SHADOW FRIEND
SHADES OF STORYTELLING
In the performance, the girl’s shadow is a boy. At first he copies everything she does (and it makes her a little mad!). Then they play and become friends. Imagine your shadow could come to life. What would it be like? Why?
Shadows are fun, but they also have been a popular way of telling stories for thousands of years. Storytellers would cut out objects from leather, paper, or wood, attach the objects to sticks, and move them between a light and a screen. They would tell funny tales as well as stories of great adventures or valuable lessons. This kind of shadow puppetry is still very popular today.
PLAYING WITH SHADOWS You don’t need any special equipment to have a shadow, just light. Outside, a sunny day will do the trick. At home, you can use a flashlight or lamp and a wall. In theaters like the Kennedy Center Family Theater, light comes from special lamps. For example, look up— way up—to see one type, called spotlights. In the performance, watch how different colored lights shine from different directions to create shadows. And see that screen in the back of the stage? It’s made from large rolls of paper. It’s great for showing shadows, but it’s also good to play around and paint on!
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For Teachers and Parents DEAR GROWNUPS: Welcome to the Me and My Shadow Cuesheet. This guide is designed to help children prepare to see and appreciate the performance. Please help your young theatergoers read and understand the information. Here’s more background information for you and some activity ideas designed to add to the children’s experience.
VIVID IMAGERY Patch Theatre’s visual poem Me and My Shadow combines words, music, and sound, plus light, shadow, color, and water to tell its story about imagination and friendship. The performance also features the company’s innovative staging. For example, the performers “paint” the screen using sprayed water (applied from behind). They also perform moves that seem magical, like the girl’s appearing to levitate or have an extralong arm. After the performance, have children recall these and other “illusions” and discuss ways they might have been created.
PERPLEXING SHADOWS The performance plays with shadows and also looks at the theme of friendship. After the show, help children explore these ideas further. Possible questions include:
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What most surprised you about the shadows you saw on stage? Why? How were the girl and her shadow/the boy different? The same? How can friendship make you happy? Sad?
ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN
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A Bag Full of Tricks
Casting Shadows
Before or after the performance, think of five things a plain brown paper bag could be (besides a bag). Use a bag to show your ideas to a friend. Remember, with your imagination, something can be anything.
During the performance, the girl and boy sometimes make their shadows bigger or smaller. Use a flashlight or lamp to create your shadow on the wall. Try to change how your shadow looks by moving closer to or farther from the light. What makes your shadow bigger or smaller?
David M. Rubenstein Chairman Michael M. Kaiser President Darrell M. Ayers Vice President, Education
A Few More Things WATCH FOR…
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how the girl “paints” on the paper background on stage what makes the girl mad at the boy how the boy and girl show sadness what the boy “paints” for the girl how it looks like the girl is wrapped in blankets in her bed how the girl says goodnight to her cut-out dolls
LISTEN FOR…
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how the girl and boy talk at the same time the tinkling music as the girl and boy play with little lights what happens when the girl tries to sing into her paper microphone
THINK ABOUT…
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when the girl tears down the wall and the boy is not there, where you imagine he went whether you can be friends with your shadow in real life, and why or why not what you liked best about the performance, and why all the fun with shadows and whether it could have been a dream— and why or why not
A good audience—stays quiet (unless you want to laugh)
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doesn’t sleep
Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David and Alice Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.
Education and related artistic programs are made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.
www.kennedy-center.org/artsedge Cuesheets are produced by ARTSEDGE, an education program of the Kennedy Center.
AND REMEMBER… doesn’t eat
Additional support for Performances for Young Audiences is provided by Adobe Foundation, The Clark Charitable Foundation; Mr. James V. Kimsey; The Macy's Foundation; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Park Foundation, Inc.; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; an endowment from the Ryna and Melvin Cohen Family Foundation; U.S. Department of Education; Washington Gas; and by generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.
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listens
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and claps
at the end. And, the Shadow says, “HAVE FUN!”
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Learn more about education at the Kennedy Center at www.kennedy-center.org/education The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. © 2014 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts