Artists on Tour. Folktales & Shadow Theater. Christine Langford

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1 Artists on Tour Christine Langford Folktales & Shadow Theater Study Guide Written by Christine Langford Edited & Designed by Kathleen Riemenschneider Cincinnati Arts Association, Education/Community Relations, 650 Walnut St., Cincinnati, OH Phone , Fax

2 Folktales Introduction A folktale is usually an anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated among a people forming part of an oral tradition. A fairy tale is a story (as for children) involving fantastic forces and beings (such as fairies, wizards, and goblins). Folktales were told by adults to their children over many generations to teach a history of their people or to teach the children how to behave. Folktales possess many or all of the characteristics listed below: Part of the oral tradition of a group. More frequently told than read. Passed down from one generation to another. Take on the characteristics of the time and place in which they are told. Sometimes take on the personality of the storyteller. Speak to universal and timeless themes. Try to make sense of our existence, help humans cope with the world in which they live, or explain the origin of something. Often about the common person. May contain supernatural elements. Function to validate certain aspects of culture. Common Elements in Fairy Tales/Folktales Setting: It can be any country or any time period. Many European tales are in the deep woods, castles or poor huts. Characters: Usually very simple and divided into the good and the bad. Plot: Movement of plot is usually from powerless to power; poverty to wealth. Animals: Often have human-like characteristics: talk, wear clothing, etc. Stock Openings and Closings: Most open with once upon a time and end with happily ever after. Formulas: Use threes or sevens: three little pigs, three Billy goats gruff, etc. Descriptions: They don t go into detailed descriptions but use one word to describe: wicked stepmother, brave tailor. Tricksters: Stories contain a trickster, usually an animal and unlike the main character who is either good or evil they are a mixture of good and bad.

3 Pre-Performance Workshop Activities Discuss this concept with the students and ask them if folktales have an underlying moral. Have students give examples of stories with morals. The following are three examples. 1. Pinocchio Don t tell lies. 2. The Tortoise and the Hare Never give up, despite the odds. 3. The Ugly Duckling Don t judge people from their looks. Students list the different moral lessons found in the tales and discuss what these morals reveal about the cultures from which they emerge. Students use the following questions to write a folktale based around a moral lesson. Who is the main character in your story? What characteristics does the main character have? Where does the story take place? What struggle must the main character deal with? Are there other characters in the story besides the main character? What relationship do they have to the main character? Is there any magic in your story? Do any of the characters learn a lesson in the story? What kind of lesson? Post- Performance Workshop Activities Grades 3-4 Students read the tale aloud together and use a story sequence graphic organizer to record the most important events from the story. After reading the story, students create a visual representation of the story in the form of a collage, comic book, or a puppet show. Grades 5-6 Students conduct online research to find information about their assigned culture. In a culminating activity, students retell their folktale using a visual representation and then summarize the research they compiled. Students give one another feedback on their oral presentations. Suggested Internet Resources Famous American Folktales and Stories Myths, Folktales, and Fairy Tales Teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/ West African Folktales Native American Folktales

4 Academic Content Standards Drama Theater Historical, Cultural, & Social Contexts Investigate how drama/theatre and storytelling forms past and present of various cultural groups may reflect their beliefs and traditions. Creative Expression and Communication Create the movement and voice of a character to communicate feelings, ideas and activities in various drama/theatre experiences (e.g., skits, puppetry, pantomime, improvisation, storytelling). Analyzing and Responding Describe the plot, characters, conflict, resolution and theme of a dramatic/theatrical work or experience. Compare and contrast the elements (e.g., plot, character, theme, setting) of various narratives. Music Connections, Relationships, and Applications Use music and/or found sounds together with dance, drama and visual art. Visual Art Historical, Cultural and Social Contexts Compare and contrast visual forms of expression found throughout different regions and cultures of the world. English Language Arts Reading Applications: Informational, Technical, Persuasive, and Literary Text Compare and contrast information between texts and across subject areas. Select, create and use graphic organizers to interpret textual information. Identify and explain the defining characteristics of literary forms and genres, including fairy tales, folktales, poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Identify recurring themes, patterns and symbols found in literature from different eras and cultures. Explain how a character s thoughts, words and actions reveal his or her motivations. Identify the speaker and explain how point of view affects the text. Explain the influence of setting on the selection.

5 Shadow Puppet Theater Shadow Puppet Theater is the animation of two dimensional figures or silhouettes that are backlit against a white screen. Unlike other types of puppets, the shadow puppet itself is never seen in performance, only the effect it creates. The performing shadow puppet is not just a single object of wood or cardboard, but a collection of things working together. However clever or beautiful the puppet shape, it s the puppet s combination with light and a screen that makes its magical effect. History Shadow puppets have a rich history in many cultures but the most well known come from Indonesia. Before writing was invented people recorded their history orally through storytelling. In ancient Indonesia people added puppets to help tell the stories, and so each village s storyteller was known as a Puppet Master. When the Puppet Master put on a show the whole village would come to watch. Men and women would sit in separate groups with the Puppet Master s screen between them. The men would sit on the Puppet Master s side of the screen, watching him perform and sometimes adding music. The women and children would sit on the other side of the screen, watching the shadows made by the puppets. The Puppet Master used his hands and even his feet to make the puppets move and add noise effects. A bowl of fire hung above his head to project the shadows onto the screen. The Indonesian meaning for shadow is close to our idea of imagination, thus shadows are a link between the small world inside us and the larger outside world. When you bring a myth to life it has a power that goes beyond mere storytelling. Chinese legends state that the first shadow puppet was made more than 2,000 years ago to entertain the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He was deeply saddened by the death of his favorite concubine and lost interest in his kingdom. A minister, seeing the shadows cast by dolls as children played, had the idea to create a puppet image of the departed woman and created a shadow play to cheer up the Emperor. Shadow puppetry was very popular during the Tang and Song Dynasties in many parts of China. The origins of shadow puppets in India are attributed to the gods, and the plays usually take place outside of temples to Shiva, who is the patron god of puppets. Legends say that Shiva and his goddess wife Parvati one day visited the shop of a toymaker who had created some wooden dolls with jointed limbs. Parvati, enchanted by the dolls, asked Shiva to let spirits enter the dolls so that they could dance. The toymaker, watching this from behind a screen, saw only shadows and got the idea to create shadow puppets. Turkish shadow puppets were always comic and satirical. The main characters are Karagöz and Hacivat. The two are always arguing, but the native wit of Karagöz always triumphs over the book learning of Hacivat. The two were workmen in the time of Ottoman Emperor, Orhan I. Their bantering arguments were said to entertain their co-workers but slowed construction of an important mosque in the capital city of Bursa. Executed for delaying the work, the two became folk heroes and were brought back to life in the form of shadow puppets. In the 19th century, Karagöz migrated to Greece and became Karagiozis, a poor hunchbacked Greek who uses mischievous and crude ways to find money and feed his family. Java has three types of puppets, all with the word Wayang in their name. Wayang literally means shadow, but refers to all types of puppet theater. The shadow puppets of Indonesia are Wayang kulit: leather shadow puppets used to perform Indonesian versions of the Indian Hindu epics. Shadow puppets may have come from India with traders and priests who used them to explain the Hindu religion; however, puppet theater was established in the royal courts by the 1st century A.D.

6 Workshop Lesson Each segment begins with a short demonstration, and then participants are shown how to make and manipulate their own shadow puppets, devise stories and rehearse the plays. By the end of the workshop, participants are enabled to produce their own shadow puppet performances. Full Day Workshop: Shadow Puppet Exercises, large scale comparison between light sources. Demonstrate use of different projected backgrounds, moving and static. Puppet making and manipulation. Different ways to make a shadow screen. Set building for 3-D shadows (panning with light). Culminating small group performance using learned techniques. Half Day Workshop: Set building for 3-D shadows. Make a shadow movie! Pan through scenery, in and around structures, zoom in and out of scenes. Learn the lighting techniques that bring cinematic possibilities to Shadow Theater. Special effects with transparent and reflective materials. Materials: Recycled cardboard and boxes, toys, miniature trees, tape, paper, scissors, colored tissue paper, colored cellophane, glue, punches, brass fasteners, bamboo skewers, acetate, pencils, markers, large shadow screen, overhead projector, and black vinyl tablecloth. Internet Sites to Explore

7 Shadow Theater Vocabulary Mime the art or technique of portraying a character, mood, idea, or narration by gestures and bodily movements; pantomime. Silhouette the outline or general shape of something uniformly filled in, a two-dimensional representation of the outline of an object such as a cutout. Shadow a dark figure or image cast on the ground or some surface by an object intercepting light. Opaque not allowing light to pass through, NOT transparent or translucent. Transparent easily seen through, clear, transmits light. Translucent permitting light to pass through but diffusing it so that persons, objects, etc., on the opposite side are not clearly visible. Overlap extend over and partially cover. Umbra a region of complete shadow resulting from the total obstruction of light by an opaque object. Penumbra a fringe region of half shadow resulting from the partial obstruction of light by an opaque object. Depth of Field the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that cast sharp and distinct shadows in relation to a projected light source. Rules of Shadow Theater Students behind the screen: DO Students in front of screen: WATCH Students on the side: WATCH THOSE WHO DO Shadow Fundamentals Exercise 1: Find Yourself Invite 3-4 students behind the screen. Have each student identify his/her own shadow among the others. What happens to your shadow in relation to the light source as you move around? What is the difference between the profile and frontal view? What happens when shadows overlap? Exercise 2: Play With Difference in Scale Have a friend stay large on the left side of the screen. Place another person to the right but have him or her stay small. Next, direct the actor making the larger shadow to pound at intervals with one fist on the head of the smaller shadow and have that person react (over-exaggerated movements). After a couple of minutes of this routine, instruct students to switch scale as slowly as possible. Is it necessary for the actors to touch one another in order for their shadows to touch?

8 Exercise 3: Play With Differences in Speed of Motion Direct students to perform the same motion, one moving rapidly, while the other moves slowly. How does rapid movement appear behind the screen? Does the action read better to the audience with rapid or slow movement? Exercise 4: Introduce Voices Instruct two students to stand on opposite sides of screen casting equal sized shadows. Two other students stand alongside the end of the screen. One gives a prompt; I feel very happy, while the student at that end of the screen acts out the words. Repeat at other end using a different vocal prompt. How does sound add to the meaning and motivation of a character? How do actors motivate one another? Mime Ideas/Charades shopping together baker waiter jumping rope tailor soldiers marching ballerinas animals ages (young to old) sports musicians emotions (make cards using faces from How Are You Feeling Today? ) expansion (one shadow becoming many) reduction (many shadows merging into one)

9 Shadow Dance Students form a line and dance behind the screen in procession, each miming a specific character prompt (proud warrior, dignified old king, mincing lady, creeping robber, walking robot, stumbling drunkard, etc). Shadow Play Exercises Outdoor Shadow Play for Sunny Days Outdoor Shadow Play Build a human pyramid with shadows. Stand in such a way that your shadow is in front, beside and behind you. Shake hands with or signal to it. Try to get away from your shadow. What happens when your shadow climbs up steps? What happens when you walk towards a wall on which your shadow is cast? Try to catch shadows on your body. Make your shadow do acrobatics. Do you feel anything when someone stands on your shadow? Play a game of Shadow Tag. Reference Sites for Hand Shadow Puppets & Table Top Screen blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/10/shadow_puppet_making_inst.html Cincinnati Arts Association 9 Folktales & Shadow Theater

10 Instructions for building a large shadow screen Materials: 1 PVC pipe cut into the following: four 6 foot lengths (2 verticals & 2 horizontals), and four 17 lengths for legs. 1 standard size white shower curtain/liner and rungs, 2 90-degree joints for 1 PVC, two 4-way LT joints for 1 PVC. Standard T-joints can be substituted for the (non-standard) 4-way LT joints. However, the lower horizontal bar will be eliminated, creating an overall design that is less stable. References Abad, R. (ND). Explorations into shadow theater: An Instruction Manual from ShadowLight Productions. info@shadowlight.com Bryant, J. & Heard, C. (2002). Making shadow puppets. Tonawanda. Kids Can Press Ltd. Lade, R. (1996). The most excellent book of how to be a puppeteer. Brookfield. Copper Beech Books. Reusch, R. (2005). Schattentheater band 3: theorie + praxis. Schwabisch. Einhorn-Verlag + Druck GmbH. Rivelli, B. (2009). Teaching through shadows. Puppetry International. 26, Wisniewski, D. & Wisniewski, D. (1996). World of shadows: teaching with shadow puppetry. Englewood. Teacher Ideas Press. Zubrowski, B. (1995). Shadowplay making pictures with light and lenses. William Morrow & Company. Cincinnati Arts Association 10 Folktales & Shadow Theater