A short overview of conducting an effective puppetshow

1. Puppets Galore
Fundamentals of
Effective
Puppet Shows
http://puppetsgalore.wordpress.com
Glenn McKnight

2. Topics
● Part One  Part Two
–Scripts ­Logistics
–Characters ­Staging
­Extra Staging
–Protagonist
­Special Effects
–Plot
­Electrical and Lighting
–Humour
­Music
–Rehersals
–Having Fun

3. Scripts
 Know your audience and know
what you can or cannot write
about. If your skit will be put on
in a church, make your skit
about Biblical principles and so
forth.
 If your skit will be put on in
front of an organization run by
the government or in a
government building you may
not be allowed to use religious
beliefs in your skit.

4. Characters
 Know the characters that will
be in your play. Look at what
you have to work with and
write your script around that.
 Pick a main character
(protagonist) from among the
puppets you have in your
selection.

5. Characters: Antagonist
 Choose a bad guy (an
antagonist) who will make
life hard for your hero.
 When choosing this
character, which can be a
boy, girl or animal, make sure
it is one that is believable in
appearance.
 For example, don't choose a
sweet looking little boy to be
your villain.

6. Plot
 Come up with a plot. Along
with who your character is,
you need to know what your
play is about, where it is
happening and what is wrong.
 Your character must desire
something, but is unable to
get it for some reason.

7. Humour
 Come up with some humour.
Children love slapstick humor
and lots of animation.
 Make it fun and exaggerate
everything to the hilt

8. Rehersals
 Practice your skit with your
puppets. Check out their
expressions as you go
through the play which will
give you inspiration.
 Use improvisation as you go
and write down any new
ideas or dialogue that comes
to you in this process.

9. Have Fun
 Try to avoid preachy
language or longwinded
dialogue.
 Make your skit full of action
and try not to let the scenes in
your script be stagnate. The
most important rule in
creating a puppet skit is to
make it fun and enjoyable.

10. Logistics
 If you have alot of stuff,
ask for suitable truck
size parking near
unloading doors
­Ice/snow free path
­Access to
ramps/elevators
 Adult assistance if
equipment must be
carried up/down stairs

11. Staging
 Shape: A stage is a triangle
 Size: 14' wide x 7'deep x 9'high.
 Pathway: A path 3'wide must be left on all sides.
 Location: The stage is most often set in a corner of the
room with diagonal seating.
 Height: The puppets' playing floor is 6' off the actual floor -
we do not need or want a raised stage.
 Viewing: From chairs are set back ten feet
 Viewing: From the floor are set back fifteen feet .

12. Extra Staging
 Video screen & projector
(placed to the SL side)
 Picture props are place in
the front of the stage
 Mood and spot lighing
attached on the frame or at
the

13. Special Effects
 Dramatic effects to showcase the action including:
 Use of "smoke"/fog machines to create a mood for scary
or compelling stories
 Video projection
 Projection of pictures, videos and on location cameras to
enhance the story
Others
 ­micro pyrotechnics
­bubbles
­"snow"

14. Electrical and Lighting
 Standard electrical outlets
 CSA rated Extension cords
 2 separate circuits
preferred
 LED lighting
 Strobe light/Kaleidoscope
light
 Spot lighting on stage

15. Music
 Music enhances the performance
 Select free music from Internet Archives.
Http://www.archive.org
 Songs can be saved as a MP3 file or Wav format
and played during the performance
 If you have any musical volunteers or performers
have them be creative and provide music interludes
or character music forms ie. Peter and the Wolf

16. Thank you
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