OBJECT THEATER (Puppet) DRAMA - HOW TO & RESOURCES

The following is a compilation of great ideas and tips from members Amy Crane, Luanne Payne, and Neil MacQueen. Your additional suggestions are welcome!

What is "Object Theater" ?

It's a fun and surprisingly simple way to "put on a puppet drama" in the classroom without having any expensive hand puppets!

Rather than having puppets on hand and speaking parts, students pose and move their everyday objects along a table --dramatizing/posing their object to what's being heard in the narration.

• No scenery.
• No elaborate props or costumes needed.
• No puppets.
  Because you'll be using everyday items found at home or at the church. Salt Shakers can be Joseph's 11 brothers. A wooden meat mallet can be the robbers in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
• No reading or remembering lines.
  Only the narrator(s) need to know how to read.
• Doesn't need much rehearsal.
• And no audience is required.
  Instead, you can just record the play and watch if afterward with your shadow actors (great discussion opportunity).
• No lighting required.

All of these reasons make it the perfect method of dramatizing a Bible story in Sunday School where you don't know how many kids you're going to have, or where age-range is an issue.

NARRATED -- NO SCRIPT FOR KIDS TO READ:

• It's good for younger kids who can't handle much dialogue and for kids who are shy about speaking parts.
• This type of drama is great when you have no puppets, anything can become a puppet.
• Children can take on multiple roles because they can simply change a prop to become another character in the drama.
• If you don't have enough kids for crowd scenes (like Jesus' disciples on the boat), you can have one student holding several large spoons in one hand and the boat (gravy boat) in the other hand.

OBJECTS YOU CAN USE:

Raid the junk drawer and use your imagination.

Some ideas to get you started:

• spoons (wooden, plastic, stainless)
• plastic knives
• cups
• pencils
• stapler
• eraser
• tools (hammers, screwdrivers, pliers)
• keys
• batteries
• salt and pepper shakers
• a piece of colorful fabric
• flashlight
• bucket
• shovel
• blocks
• cardboard or plastic stars
• sticks
• cottonballs
• small baskets
• plastic bottles
• spools
• dolls’ baby bottle
• piece of burlap

In some case you may want to have some accessories on hand to add face features:

• party mustaches
• craft eyes
• hair (wool)
• permanent markers
• one church for the Good Samaritan had two square cheese graters, they took a hammer to one of them .

Here is another photo from Hampton United Church showing their Good Samaritan Kitchen Utensil Puppets.

SCRIPTS

Object theater usually use a script spoken by off-screen narrator(s). These scripts are usually created by the teacher from the scripture passage -- and made more dramatic with embellishments. Storybook Bibles and online scripts (such as some of those found here at Rotation.org), are a good way to build a script that works for you.

When creating your script, include or emphasize "action words" that can serve as CUES to the puppeteers. Pause and emphasize those words as you narrate, and remember to leave space for the actors to do their thing before continuing your reading.

You can also create your own by looking up the story in THE VOICE version of scripture which breaks down stories like a script. You can see a good example of The Voice's translation/format for Lazarus' story here.

• Children's Bible storybooks are often a good place to start too.
• First, read them the story and discuss it. Then re-read the story and have the children take turns (may do it in groups if you have a large group) the puppeteers perform as you read.  You can add to the story drama by adding exaggerated movements to your dialog. For example, for the Good Samaritan... The priest JUMPED in surprise. Then he LOOKED SLOWLY TO THE RIGHT AND SLOWLY TO THE LEFT to make sure no one was watching...
  
  

PUPPETEER WITH EVERYDAY OBJECTS

• Rehearsal is helpful. Listen and discuss the narration.
• Suggest and practice movements, poses you can do with your objects.
• Exaggerate movements slowly, don't move too quickly, so they make an impact.
• A table will be your stage, just hang a sheet over it. Puppeteers can be sitting behind the table.

HOW TO MOVE DIFFERENT TYPES OF OBJECTS

YouTube Video: Turning objects into puppets with Lori Hopkins - shows how to move different puppets (all timings approx.

• Woman - using a simple piece of cloth (at 4:37 minutes)
• Man - Hammer (at 8:17 minutes)
• Baby - Stainless Steel Pot Scrubber (at 11:28 minutes)
• Boat - Tin Can (at 13:09 minutes)
• Group of Fishermen - fingers inside a yellow dish glove and over that a winter glove with fingers cut off (at 13:35)

MAKE A VIDEO RECORDING OF YOUR OBJECT THEATER!

• Kids love to see themselves, it's fun, and it's a good opportunity to discuss and reflect.
• Recording the object theater also gets rid of the need for an audience.
• Your video can also be shared on the church's social media without "privacy" concerns (because the kids' faces are not seen).

Recording Tips:

• Use a late-model cellphone or video camera that is good in low-light conditions.
• Put the camera on a tripod to maintain a stable focus on the screen.
• Have the narrator stand near the camera's microphone for clearer audio.
• Make sure you have a powercord for the camera AND a cord to plug the camera into a larger screen for viewing by the class!
• Most cellphones don't "pause" the recording, they stop it. So if you have many scenes in your shadow drama, and stop the camera in-between each scene, you will end up with a series of video files to view. In this case, you may just decide to "let the camera keep recording" and keep your time between scenes very short.
• If you have an actual video camera, or high-end camera that takes video, it mostly like has a "pause" button that allows you to pause the recording and still end up with only one file to show.
  
  

Object Theater Lessons/Scripts

Found here:

• Good Samaritan lesson by Amy Crane using Kim Hunter's script.
• Anointing of David lesson by Jan Marshall, script included.
• David & Goliath lesson by Carol Hulbert using LDM's script.
• Joseph and His Brothers lesson by Amy Crane, script included.

More Kurt Hunter Scripts for Object Theater:
http://www.huntermarionettes.com/rotation-model/

• Joshua and Walls of Jericho link
• Paul Sees the Light link

Other Resources:

• What is Object Theater by Katy Warner for Arts Centre Melbourne's 2016 School Season
  https://www.artscentremelbourn...1-object-theatre.pdf

Photos courtesy of Luanne Payne, Hampton United Church, Hampton, ON Canada