Any Fun, Educational Puppet Scripts?

[davidmartiste]

Hi gang. I've been working for years producing with a local theatrical company and my first passion - puppetry - has been demanding to be realized of late. We've been discussing the possibility of performing for schools & libraries [for 6-10 year olds] with educational themes such as the magic of reading, bullying, manners, conflict resolution, working as a team, environment/ recycling, etc. What I don't want is something boring and preachy. I'm hoping for something more funny & hip along the lines of muppet or pixar-style humor. I'm familiar with the standard theatrical script services but, just curious if anyone knows of a good educational script resource before I start posting on Craigslist.

 

[staceyrebecca]

The Puppeteers of America has a puppetry store with several books with scripts for schools...some can be pretty lame, so watch out for that. Basically if you're 2 ounces of bored, your kids will be 8x that much. Still there might be some fun ones to check out.

You also might want to think about writing a script yourself. You won't have to worry about copyrights/royalties that way. Personally, I write my own. I figure I'm the most hilarious person in my world anyway... (my world is very small..)

 

[Blink]

As a teacher and a puppet person myself, I can say that it would be important to get feedback from the educators in your area. Become familiar with the needs and curriculum of the school boards/libraries in your area.

Then, as Stacey Rebecca said, write your own. I am more likely to ask a performer back if their show was well done and original.

Workshop your idea. Write up a drraft, perform it for free for some people (hopefullly kids in your target age group and educators) and get their honest feedback on what you can do to make it better.

By offering some free performances, you will also be making greta connections to potential customers, while reviceing your own needs in the process.

Then you can modify your show until you have something that kids and educators alike will enjoy.

Anyways, those are my thoughts.

 

[Whispers]

Puppet Productions and One Way Street both have pretty entertaining scripts that can be done as well as musicals. Might want to check that out and also try writing your own scripts, you'd be surprised! But you may want to run screen tests with smaller audiences just to know if its worth it. Good luck!