Professional Lectures and Demonstrations

Our basic puppetry experience for a theater / drama class is outlined below. With prior arrangement, we could add other aspects, more in-depth discussion or additional sessions, including storytelling techniques and playwriting.

This experience includes:

1. Watching the set up of the stage: 

• Seeing how it compactly folds to easily fit into a vehicle
• Learning the names of the various parts of the stage
• Observing the attaching of the curtains and decorations
• Discovering where and how lights and sound equipment are attached and manipulated

2. Dave will explain every aspect of puppet theatre, as used by the Roz Puppets, including:

• the type of puppets used in his performances
• puppet manipulation
• voicing various puppets
• the stage type he uses (pictured to the right)

3. Dave will explain the basic aspects of rod and hand puppets, including:

• definitions
• manipulation
• description of the basics of how they are created
• age-appropriate history and details

There will be time for questions from the students throughout the demonstration.

With prior arrangement, groups of up to 4 students at a time can try their hand at using basic puppets (rod or hand puppets) behind the stage. This makes the experience interactive and helps keep students engaged throughout our time together.

Please note: This opportunity is only available for grades 6 and up.

Is your library looking for a unique staff development day idea for your programming staff? Roz Puppets offers a demonstration to help your employees gain the knowledge to confidently and effectively use puppets in their programs.

Our basic puppetry experience for library staff is outlined below. With prior arrangement, we could add other aspects, more in-depth discussion or additional sessions, including storytelling techniques and playwriting. We do not currently offer puppet construction courses, but plan to include them in the future.

During this 90 minute long experience:

1. Dave will explain every aspect of puppet theatre, as used by the Roz Puppets, including:

• the type of puppets used in his performances
• puppet manipulation
• voicing various puppets

2. Dave will explain the basic aspects of rod and hand puppets, including:

• definitions
• manipulation
• description of the basics of how they are created
• a brief history of puppets

There will be time for questions from the staff throughout the demonstration.

Groups of 4 staff members at a time can try their hand at using basic puppets (rod or hand puppets).

A handout of useful books, as well as sources for puppet blanks that your staff can decorate to make their own, will be provided.

Please note: we will not bring our professional puppet stage with for this experience, as our main focus here is to equip your staff for performing puppets as part of programming, not as a professional style puppet show. If you would like to book the “Behind the Scenes” experience (at an additional cost) in addition to this puppet manipulation experience, please note that in your email.