Pages from puppet shows

PUPPET SHOWS FOR HOME AND SCHOOL MAUDE OWENS WALTERS

PUPPET SHOWS For Home and School By MAUDE OWENS WALTERS KHKK

With illustrations and diagrams KKKH

This book has grown out of actual experiences of the author with puppet shows in the North Carolina College for Women in Greensboro. After each performance, enthusiastic audiences wanted to know just how puppets were made, how they could walk, how they performed their tricks and capers, how the theatre was built, where the puppeteers stood, and a number of other practical matters. The author undertakes to supply all this information.

In addition she has suggested groups of stories suitable for puppet performance and has written a dozen wellknown stories, like "SnowWhite" and "Cinderella," in dramatic form for the puppet stage.

HHKK DODD, MEAD 8C COMPANY

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PUPPET SHOWS FOR HOME AND SCHOOL BY

MAUDE OWENS WALTERS ILLUSTRATED

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY NEW YORK 193 9

COPYRIGHT,

1929

BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC.

P R I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A B Y T H E V A I L - B A L L O U P R E S S , I N C . , B I N G H A M T O N , N .Y .

To BILL AND BOBBIE

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PREFACE This book has grown out of experience with puppet shows in the North Carolina College for Women, Greensboro, North Carolina. Because the work has been so enthusiastically greeted by participators and audiences, and because there have been so many inquiries about how to have puppet shows, the book has been written.

After each performance an enthusiastic audience has come behind the scenes to get a better knowledge of just how the puppets were made, how they could walk, how they were able to perform their little tricks, how the theater was made, where the puppeteers stood, and to ask where a book could be found that would tell all about puppet plays. They have been keenly disappointed when told that no such book has been written. One mother said, "We have seven children at home.

Wouldn't that be enough to have a puppet show? One boy likes to make things." Can you think of anything finer than a family puppet show? It is for this mother, and for others, vii

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PREFACE

that the experiences and suggestions of the following pages have been written. The thought that has given courage to the writing of them has been the hope that they might serve to help and encourage others to become more interested in children's puppet plays.

Grateful acknowledgment is extended to the students of my summer classes in the North Carolina College for Women, Greensboro, North Carolina, for the splendid cooperation they gave me in the preparation and presentation of puppet plays there from summer to summer.

M. O. W. University of Porto Rico Rio Piedras, P. R.

CONTENTS CHAPTER

I

A. B. C. D. E. II

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P U P P E T SHOWS FOR T R A I N I N G CLASSES

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Starting the Puppet Play T h e Theater Puppets Puppeteers Puppet Tricks

P U P P E T SHOWS FOR C H I L D R E N

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A. Selection of Stories for Puppetizing B. Arrangement of the Story in Dramatic Form C. Providing the Puppets D . Providing a Theater E. Assignment of Parts and the Actual Presentation F . Suggestive Combinations of Plays III

V A L U E S OF T H E P U P P E T P L A Y

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A. Quotations from Sterling Leonard B. T h e Shifting of the Center of Attention from the Child to the Puppets C. Opportunities Afforded for Correlative Activities D . T h e Enjoyment the Child Gets from the Puppet Play E. Quotation from Gesell F . Quotation from Emma Bolenius ix

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER

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G. Opportunity for Expression That Is Spontaneous and Highly Motivated H. The Puppet Play as Subject Matter for Composition Work I. The Puppet Play as Realization of the Theater as a Totality J. The Ease with Which the Puppet Play Lends Itself to Magic and Unusual Characters SUGGESTIVE LIST OF STORIES SUITABLE FOR PUPPET PERFORMANCE

A. Stories That May Be Used with but Slight Modification B. Longer Stories That Need Considerable Adaptation IV

STORIES WRITTEN IN DRAMATIC FORM FOR THE PUPPET STAGE

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. L. M.

The Three Little Kittens The Three Bears Little Red Riding Hood The Three Little Pigs Little Black Sambo The Sleeping Beauty Jack and the Beanstalk Cinderella Epaminondas Snow-White Humpty Dumpty A Mad Tea-Party Rip Van Winkle

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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63 69 75 83 92 102 111 123 135 141 155 170 187 201