Puppetry in Theatre and Arts Education

Johanna Smith is Professor of Theatre Education, Improvisation, and Puppetry at California State University, San Bernardino where she is also part of the Entrepreneurship faculty. She has served as an artist and educator for professional theatres, museums, colleges, libraries, public schools, private schools, and preschools around the world and loves how puppetry captivates everyone, everywhere. She is a frequent presenter on puppetry as a powerful educational and artistic tool for teachers, and has taken her own "no budget" puppetry productions with CSUSB students on international tours.

Puppetry in Theatre and Arts Education is breezily written, in a style that is assuring and engaging. The intended audience for this book is the elementary educator, but the methods presented and the lessons are highly adaptable and could be used to teach anyone with an interest in puppetry and a desire to learn how to manipulate a puppet and endow it with personality.

• 1 Introduction About My Lesson Plan Structure2 Johanna’s Newspaper Challenge or The Puppetry Test 3 What is a Puppet? (The Plastic Bags Lesson) 4 Head, Hands, and Heart 5 Everyday Object Puppets 6 The Power of Design: Puppet Metaphors 7 Dwarves Word Cards7 Chakabesh Traps the Sun: Shadow Puppets andStorytelling 8 Puppetizing Children’s Literature 9 Puppetizing Science: A Cross-Disciplinary Plan for Younger Children 10 Puppet Filmmaking in the Classroom 11 Giant Puppets and Community CelebrationsThe Fabulous Art of Paper MachéVersion by Johanna12 Quick and Easy Ideas for Making Puppets 13 Finding Material for Puppetizing Lessons 14 A Plan for Devising A New Puppet Play Conclusion Bibliography Index