Academic literature on the topic 'Puppet theater in education Puppet plays'

Background, problems and innovations of the study. The modern Puppet Theater in Poland is a phenomenon that is very difficult for definition and it opposes its own identification itself. Problems here start at the stage of fundamental definitions already. In English, the case is simpler: “doll” means a doll, a toy, and “puppet” is a theatrical puppet, as well as in French functions “poupée” and “marionette” respectively. In Polish, one word serves both semantic concepts, and it is the reason that most identify the theater of puppets with theater for children, that is a big mistake. Wanting to get out of this hassle, some theaters have thrown out their puppet signage by skipping their own names. Changes in names were intended only to convey information to viewers that in these theaters do not always operate with puppets and not always for the children’s audience. In view of the use of the word “animation” in Polish, that is, “vitalization”, and also the “animator”, that is, “actor who is animating the puppet”, the term “animant” is suggested, which logically, in our opinion, is used unlike from the word “puppet”. Every subject that is animated by animator can be called an animant, starting with classical puppets (glove puppets, cane puppets, excretory puppets, silhouette puppets, tantamarees, etc.) to various plastic shapes (animals, images of fantastic creatures or unrelated to any known), any finished products (such as chairs, umbrellas, cups), as well as immaterial, which are animated in the course of action directed by the actor, either visible to viewers or hidden. In short, the animator animates the animant. If the phenomenon of vitalization does not come, that is, the act of giving “the animant” the illusion of life does not occur, then objects on the stage remain only the requisite or elements of scenography. Synopsis of the main material of the study. In the past, puppet performances, whether fair or vernacular, were seen by everyone who wanted, regardless of age. At the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, the puppet theater got divided into two separate areas – theater for adults and the one for children. After the war, the professional puppet theater for adults became a branch of the puppet theater for children. In general, little has changed so far. The only puppet theater that plays exclusively for adults is “Theater – the Impossible Union”, under the direction of Mark Khodachinsky. In the Polish puppet theater the literary model still dominates, that is, the principle of starting to work on the performance from the choice of drama. There is no such literary work, old or modern, which could not be adapted for the puppet theater. The only important thing is how and why to do it, what significance carries the use of animants, and also, whether the applying of animation does the audience mislead, as it happens when under the name of the puppet theater at the festival shows performances that have nothing in common with puppets / animations. What special the puppet theater has to offer the adult audience? The possibilities are enormous, and in the historical perspective may be many significant achievements, but this does not mean that the masterpieces are born on the stones. The daily offer of theaters varies, and in reality the puppet theaters repertoire for adults is quite modest. The metaphorical potential of puppets equally well justifies themselves, both in the classics and in modern drama. The animants perfectly show themselves in a poetry theater, fairy-tale, conventional and surrealistic. The puppet theater has an exceptional ability to embody inhuman creatures. These can be figures of deities, angels, devils, spirits, envy, death. At the puppet scenes, also animals act; come alive ordinary household items – chairs, umbrellas, fruits and vegetables, whose animation gives not only an interesting comic effect or grotesque, but also demonstrates another, more empathic view of the whole world around us. In the theater of dolls there is no limit to the imagination of creators, because literally everything can became an animant. You need only puppeteers. The puppet theater in Poland, for both children and adults, has strong organizational foundations. There are about 30 institutional theaters (city or voivodship), as well as an increasing number of “independent theaters”. The POLUNIMA, that is, the Polish branch of the UNIMA International Union of Puppets, operates. The valuable, bilingual (Polish–English) quarterly magazine “Puppet Theater” is being issued. The number of puppet festivals is increasing rapidly, and three of them are devoted to the adult puppet theater: “Puppet is also a human” in Warsaw, “Materia Prima” in Krakow, “Metamorphoses of Puppets” in Bialystok. There is no shortage of good dramas for both adults and children (thanks to the periodical “New Art for Children and Youth” published by the Center for Children’s Arts in Poznan). Conclusions. One of the main problems is the lack of vocational education in the field of the scenography of the puppet theater. The next aspect – creative and now else financial – the puppet show is more difficult, in general more expensive and more time-consuming in preparation than the performance in the drama theater. Actor-puppeteer also gets a task those three times heavier: to play live (as an actor in a drama theater), while playing a puppet and with a puppet. Consequently, the narrative of dramatic story on the stage is triple: the actor in relation to the viewer, the puppet in relation to the viewer, the actor in relation to the puppet. The director also works double – both the actor and the puppet should be led. It is necessary to observe the effect that arises from the actions of both stage partners. So the second threat seems to be absurd, but, alas, it is very real – the escape of puppeteers from puppets. The art of the puppet theater requires hard work, and by its nature, it is more chamber. This art is important for gourmets, poets, admirers of animation skills, as well as the searchers for new artistic ways in the theater, in wide understanding. Fortunately, there are some real fans of the puppet theater, and their admiration for the miracle of animation is contagious.

Although sixty years have passed since the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War scant regard has been given to the theatre's contribution during the conflict to the entertainment and education of soldiers. Yet drama was prominent in the range of cultural and pedagogic activities which was a marked characteristic of the Republican army. A distinct genre, known as teatro de uigencia (theatre of urgency), was actively promoted by the Republican authorities as a means of encouraging soldiers and civilians towards a ‘correct’ pro-Republican perspective. Teatro de uigencia works were generally short, single act pieces but with a surprising variety of dramatic styles and propaganda intentions. Satirical lampooning of Franco's Nationalist forces took place, for example, alongside drama whose earnestly expressed purpose was to train the enthusiastic but inexperienced Popular Militias in battlefield strategy, the importance of fortification and the need for rigorous self-discipline. Such plays were performed by a variety of theatre companies. Some, such as Lorca's La Barraca and Max Aub's El Búho, had existed since before the war but travelled to frontline locations during the conflict to lend vigorous support to the Republican forces. Other companies, known as Guerrillas del Teatro, arose from initiatives of the Ministry of Education and were attached to the Army of the Centre and the Army of the East. Still more groups were encouraged by the General Commissariat of War through its Sub-Commissariat of Agitation, Press and Propaganda. While precise details are extremely sketchy, it is also clear that, within army units themselves, performance troupes were formed for the purposes of entertainment and politico-military education through drama.

This scientific article focuses on plays written only in regard to child literature by writers from Nakhchivan. Works written by some writers such as J.Mammadguluzada, A.Abbasov, A.Yadigar, Tofig Mutallibov, K.Agayeva, B.Iskandarli, Z.Vedili, T.Seyidov, S.Djanbakhshiyev etc are involved in research. Plays for children are the most important field in terms of influencing child's inner world and forming child's mindset. Considering these fact we can say that plays written by writers from Nakhchivan have great impact on the literal- aesthetical education of young generation. The dramaturgy of child and the youth has entered a new phase of development since 1960. Over these years the theme of child dramaturgy has so expanded that it has started to play a marked role in the education of young generation.In this field Puppet theatre named after Mammad Tagi Sidgi and Nakhchivan State Child theatre has immense services. Top priorities of these theatre are works written on a basis of Azerbaijan folk fairy tales. The recording of fairy tales are crucially important in this time when there is a considerable decline in book reading habits and fairy tales are getting forgotten gradually. The opportunities of this field in the enlightenment of children are extensive. Key words: Nakhchivan, dramaturgy, child, literature, play, spectacle

The recent acquisition of space for the Museum of Puppetry at Ljubljana Castle (on the occasion of the centenary of puppet art in Slovenia) is one of the more important steps towards achieving the goal of finally granting puppet art its proper place among the performing arts as well as in the entire history of art in Slovenia. The greater part of the museum mission has been taken over by Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, wherein they prepared an excellent work project and brought to fruition one of the best museum presentations in Slovenia around. They present the history of Slovenian puppetry at a very high professional level (authors: Ajda Rooss and Nadja Ocepek) and, at the same time, have established that the collection must be studied carefully and properly preserved and restored (Zala Kalan). Thus, the new museum has achieved a perfect balance between fun, play, cultivation and education.

The author applies the aesthetics of reception (Hans Robert Jauss), which refers to literary texts, to puppet shows. This paper examines performances from Zadar Puppet Theater, which have long been held in repertoire. The plays Little Red Riding Hood (1952) and How Long is a Tale (1996) were selected. Little Red Riding Hood was produced at a time when puppet theater was an imitation of acting theater, and the play How Long is a Tale arouse during the era of postmodern puppetry when the screen disappeared and the puppet could be created from any material.

Background, objectives of the research. The article reveals the method of improving the professional skills of the actor of the puppet theater, aimed at the organic connection of the puppet technique with the actor’s internal psycho-techniques. The peculiarity of creating a stage image in the puppet theater is that the functions of the puppeteer actor in the creating of a role “on the inside line” coincide with the functions of the drama theatre actor. However, the process of making the stage character in the puppet show is built according to other laws: “vitalizing” through the puppet – the main instrument of the puppeteer. Based on the methods of teaching professional subjects in high schools of puppeteers of Kiev and St.-Petersburg, the author develops and complements the teaching methods of the puppet theater actor’s skills, concentrating on the puppet-master’s technique and the process of gradually “reviving” a puppet by virtue of an actor training. Results of the study. Mastering professional skills and abilities takes place based on of working with puppets of various systems in training exercises and sketches, which gradually fills with elements of acting; continues and improves on the stage of the educational theater and ends with the creation of a stage image with a puppet in a diploma performance. The training provides such an external technique, with which the actor-puppeteer correctly performs all kinds of puppet’s moves. For this purpose, it is necessary to learn the possibilities of the puppet in the process of physical incarnation of a role, it is necessary to understand the laws of its convincing plastic living. This can be achieved through training, resulting in skills that will become semi-automatic. The wonder of the puppetry lies in the fact that the viewer, even in the “open manner”, does not notice the puppeteer and directs all his attention to the puppet, watching her “process of living”. However, the skills and abilities themselves will not become expressive means until they are will be connected with the internal psychology of the actor. The purpose of educating the puppet theater actor is to teach him the organic, natural playing with a puppet. The training involves visual control over the puppet, coordination of the self-own body with the puppet’s body and gradual introduction to the training process the elements of actor psychophysics. Because an actor creates an inner image, and the puppet becomes an external plastic expression, a manifestation of this image. The puppet mastering consists in the fact, that the puppet in the hands of the puppeteer reproduces meaningfully and consistently a series of sculptural finished poses, characteristic for a particular role. The construction of sculptural mise-en-scenes and plastic dialogues requires the possession of skills of “microscopic” hand plastics. “Micro-plastics” convinces viewers in presence of an internal monologue and permanent “life” a puppet on a stage. Alternation of movement and expressive postures is the component of the stage action of a puppet. Gradually, through regular training, students in practice study the technical possibilities of the “body” of the puppet – its torso, head, hands, “legs”, beginning to use them freely in stage action. It is advisable to start the development of puppeteer’ technique from the cane puppet, because its construction is closer to the “human”. The observation of the plasticity of the human body takes place in rhythmic lessons. Imaginative thinking of a student and his fantasy help to acquire the ability to analyze, control, choose moves of a puppet, and mutually co-ordinate them in space. Teaching the profession of puppet actor begins with the lessons aimed at the development of plastics of hands and fingers, their professional position. Work of hands is the first and necessary link in the creativity of the actors of the puppet theater. The degree of their training depends on accuracy of working with a puppet. Therefore, it is so important, before giving the student a puppet, to draw his attention to the constant training of dexterity, ductility and expressiveness of hands. In exactly owning gymnastics of the puppet actor’s hands, performing different imaginative and musical-plastic exercises and etudes, a student acquires the vocational specificities and develops his own internal abilities. Such a technique is necessary for the gradual transition from the technique of movement to the ability to use independently this technique for the embodiment of creative ideas in etudes. Creation of etudes is a continuation of training exercises and based on the inventing of the proposed circumstances requiring certain effective actions in these conditions. Motivation for action arises from familiar, understandable, vital for the student of the proposed circumstances. The student gradually, from the rehearsal to the rehearsal, clarifies the plot of the sketch, enriches and clears the proposed circumstances, based on which the storyline unfolds, that forces him to select and fixe the behavior of the actors. Etudes develop a student’s fantasy; they promote the assimilation of the laws of stage action. In etudes, students make their first steps in scenic communication with a partner – a puppet. In etudes, the student first encounters the need to create a scenic character and his behavior logic in the proposed circumstances. All stages of creating a stage etude a student takes on individual classes with a teacher. Conclusions. The process of forming the future actor-puppeteer has a complex character including as well as the mastering the techniques of driving puppets of different systems, from traditional to modern, and the actor’s mastership – the art of stage – reincarnation. This process continues on the stage of the training theater, where the student receives his first scenic practice – in the main and occasional roles, in mass scenes, in partner interaction. The image created in the diploma performance must carry all the signs of the actor-puppeteer profession: temperament, humor, actor mastership and the perfect possession of puppet technique, in any system of theatrical dolls. The Higher Theater Schools of Ukraine basing on the traditions and the latest achievements of stage art, forms the actors-puppeteers who professionally own all of major puppet systems and have the necessary skills to create a scenic image with a puppet. Such an actor will be able to enter in a creative team of a professional theater and continue searching for new expressive possibilities of a puppet at the theatrical stage.

Puppet theater was considered a marginal form of entertainment during Mexico's colonial era. People saw puppet plays on temporary stages outside of churches, at various fairs, and in private homes. The puppet groups were officially overshadowed by the theater performances, especially those at the Coliseum of Comedias, one of the financial channels for the Hospital Real de Naturales. Leasing the coliseum provided one of the major sources of income for this royal charity for indigenous health care. In order to maintain the Coliseum's profitability and the benefits derived from it, colonial authorities prohibited most theater groups from performing outside of the Coliseum. The lease owner often called for government assistance against puppet troupes, in particular when they threatened attendance at the theater. This resulted in the so-called “League Comedy” (Comedia de la legua), which was a performance given at least five leagues outside of the central theater district of Mexico City, Puebla, and Guadalajara.

This study utilized an ethnographic methodology to examine and describe the various aspects and processes occurring in a children's group as the members created their own puppets and accompanying puppet plays. Individual and interactive behavior patterns were isolated and analyzed as a means of gaining an in depth understanding of the puppetry process. The puppetry process, in turn, was viewed in terms of information it provided regarding the individual members and the group process. The facilitative and non-facilitative aspects of the procedure were delineated. The adult leader met with a group of six boys, in grades four and five, for 12 one-hour sessions in which they made puppets and then created puppet plays around issues that they had articulated as problems. The group sessions were videotaped and transcribed. The transcriptions were coded in an effort to extensively analyze the puppetry process and the group process, and the ways in which the two processes interacted. An independent observer/rater was utilized in order to provide some validity for the researcher's reported results. The puppet-making task appeared to offer an opportunity for individuals to begin to come together in a common, but individual task. Characteristic styles and individual personality dynamics were evidenced. General response to the task was enthusiastic, with varying degrees of satisfaction expressed regarding their finished products. The play-creating and performing process met with less success than the puppet-making. While the group members appeared to be generally amenable to contributing ideas for the puppet plays, the process met with far more resistance in the cooperative task of putting their ideas into a finished product. The group discussion and interaction that occurred around these tasks provided a vehicle by which to view levels of interpersonal skills and the group's overall stage of development. The puppets the children created appeared to act as metaphors in expressing the group members' views of themselves and in enabling the symbolic representation of some of their central concerns. The plays they created paralleled the process that actually took place in the group. The subject matter and content of the puppets and plays provided information and evidence as to how each member approached and solved problems. The discrepancies in the ways in which the researcher and the independent observer/rater viewed the positive and negative social/emotional interactions of the group members, coupled with the small number of subjects included in this study preclude generalizing to other groups of children at this time. Further studies, with additional groups of children, utilizing parametric statistics are called for before any such generalizations can be made.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005.
Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xvii, 326 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 236-244). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

碩士
國立新竹教育大學
幼兒教育研究所
102
The children and I tell stories through using puppet shows in plays as part of our teaching and learning. Using data collected through observation, conversations with colleagues and self-reflection, then applying narrative study and analysis, I consider how those stories are told, the meaning of the activity, and the contribution and importance of the supporting environment. In doing so, I also reach a greater understanding of myself. The research reveals that: 1.Children draw on life experiences, conversations, and stories they have heard or imagined when creating stories in their puppet shows. 2.Children find images from natural or simple objects and use them to represent scenery or puppet characters. Such divergent thinking is fundamental to creativity and problem-solving. 3.Other artistic aspects of their puppet shows, such as music and movement, provide opportunities for the children to discover the depth of the stories hidden in the words. 4.Children sense and observe everything that happens around them. A supporting environment, including simple and natural toys, inspires their imagination. Equally important are giving them enough time and space to play, being models for them to imitate (demonstrating the teacher’s love of storytelling, puppet shows, singing etc.), enriching their life experiences, and other strategies that let the children gradually enter the world of drama. 5.Every child is unique. This is important since a core principle of education is to see individuality in every child, give them time and space to play and to be themselves.

This dissertation investigates the development of early modern Japanese joruri puppet theater in the eighteenth century, focusing on representations of female characters in the works of three major playwrights. Joruri developed as a theatrical form combining chanting, music, and puppetry that was regularly performed for urban commoners. The plays were also commercially printed for leisure reading. The genre achieved immense popularity and exercised significant influence over early modern popular consciousness. The contemporary bakufu government licensed theaters and controlled what could appear on stage. In the shadow of this censorship, joruri developed genre conventions that reinforced the social order based on Confucian ideals, a strict class and gender hierarchy in which individuals were of less importance than the family, clan, or state. For this reason, joruri is often viewed as becoming progressively more formulaic and conservative. However, I argue that joruri playwrights straddled the fence between preserving a formula that reinforces the Confucian ethical order and its rigid gender and class hierarchy in order to avoid being banned and subverting it to speak to the audiences' anxieties about authority and the existing societal order. The instances of subversion often involved renegotiation of the genre conventions surrounding female characters whose tribulations arose from their low positions in the social order and whose tragic circumstances were highlighted by the drama. By examining the representations of innovative female characters by three major playwrights over the course of joruri's development, I show that the essence of these plays lies in these moments when joruri creates an alternative world where the repressed voice emerges, gender and class expectations are revisited, and the societal status quo is called into question. Chapter One provides an overview of the history of joruri, particularly in relation to women, its major playwrights and theaters, and its formal conventions. Chapter Two focuses on the representations of prostitutes as heroines in love suicide plays by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724). I argue that Chikamatsu subverted the contemporary class and gender hierarchy by depicting prostitutes, who were at the bottom of the social hierarchy, as morally exemplary romantic heroines. Chapter Three examines the recurrent representations of stepmothers in Namiki Sosuke's (1695-1751) plays in the context of the existing conventional representations of stepmothers in joruri. I argue that Sosuke's unconventionally realistic depictions of the dark psychology and transgressive behavior of seemingly-exemplary stepmothers highlight the conflict between individual desire and social obligation and call into question the absolute priority of social obligation. Chapter Four examines the work of Chikamatsu Hanji (1725-1783) written during a time when joruri and kabuki were engaged in a particularly strong cycle of mutual influence and borrowing. I argue that Hanji's reinvention of provincial daughters as unconventionally outspoken in the female realm of love, and yet pawns in the male realm of politics, subtly criticizes societal norms that subordinate the value of the individual to the maintenance of the social order. Through examination of how each playwright established and renegotiated joruri's genre conventions in creating his innovative female characters, this dissertation sheds light on the multiple functions of joruri: as didactic theater, popular entertainment, and a site for subtle criticism where early modern conceptions of gender and class and societal norms were reexamined and reimagined.

A person reading an average of sixteen books per year is considered high even in so-called First World countries. This achievement is even more remarkable if it is performed by children of low-income families. An example is the participants of PETI, Child Labor Eradication Program of Jardim Canedo, a neighborhood located over part of the Sa˜o Paulo - Brasi´lia Pipeline, situated in Senador Canedo, Goia´s, Brazil. In 2007 this community experienced the Striving Readers Transpetro Program, which aims to develop a taste for reading among children. Transpetro expects to be helping to overcome the low-quality Brazilian education, reflected in the 72% rate of functional illiteracy. The chief objective of the Program is the development of art education workshops and the creation of the “Readers Group - What story is that?”. The workshops are meant for the educators, with the purpose of offering tools form them to spur the children into reading through techniques such as story-telling, theater, singing, puppet shows, set constructions and other audio visual resources. The Readers Group is intended for children. Participation is voluntary and offers literary books according to the childs’ taste and literacy. In the first year of operation, Striving Readers Transpetro Program relied on the participation of 100% of the educators in the Art Education Workshops and a commitment of 93% of the Readers Group members. It also played a part in the improvement of the childrens performance in formal school. Furthermore, the Program contributed to the mapping of libraries available for PETI members, supported the assembly of a catalogue of institutes that sponsor striving readers programs and performed workshops with the technical staff at selected institutes to educate them on how to conduct fund raising. Such actions, as a whole, ensured sustainability to the program and promoted a company relationship with the community and with the Regulatory Authority. This is a socially responsible approach to ensuring childrens’ rights are met.