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  • 1.  Ideas for JAMES AND GIANT PEACH

    Posted 11-21-2024 12:25
    Please share what worked for you and what did not.  I need ideas, tips and advice.  Thank you.


    --
    Kathy Siler
    Theatre Educator. Payson High School
    Thespian Troupe Director HS Thespian Troupe 4972
       Guest Teacher, Rim Country Middle School
       Thespian Troupe Director Junior Thespian Troupe 88736
    Oscar Wilde said,
    "I regard the theater as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another what it means to be a human being."


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  • 2.  RE: Ideas for JAMES AND GIANT PEACH

    Posted 11-22-2024 08:56

    Hey Kathy,

    We just closed this show this past week.  Two helpful items: we used blow up beach balls to show the growth of the peach.  We had a tree with a hook on it.  Narrators changed the ball in connection with the dialogue.  We didn't try to hide.  Additionally we used fabric for James to walk behind for the tunnel.

    Break a leg!



    ------------------------------
    Lisa Gunn-Becker
    NJ
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  • 3.  RE: Ideas for JAMES AND GIANT PEACH

    Posted 12-02-2024 23:41

    Thank you everybody.  I LOVE all of your ideas.  You have truly inspired me.  I'll see what the Stage Director wants and I might ask questions.  Blessings on our efforts to excite students.



    ------------------------------
    Kathy Siler
    Theatre Educator
    Payson High School
    AZ
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Ideas for JAMES AND GIANT PEACH

    Posted 11-25-2024 11:39

    Hey Kathy! I just closed James a couple of weeks ago. Here is a link to pictures we had taken during tech. What specifically are you looking for help on? I also did the scenic and puppet design for it, so I can offer insight there, as well. Most of the show centered around our peach, which we built from lumber, insulation foam, and fabric and rigged to roll forward and backward onto our 18' turntable. Puppets were a huge challenge, and we actually still have them if you end up wanting to work something out and rent them or something of the sort. Let me know!



    ------------------------------
    Shawn Doremus
    Director/Producer
    Moon Area High School Theatre Program
    Troupe Director
    Int'l Thespian Society Troupe #2484
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Ideas for JAMES AND GIANT PEACH

    Posted 11-26-2024 17:07

    We did the straight play as a one act a couple of years ago and had a lot of fun with the piece-- costuming is fun, set design is fun, and object work (perhaps our greatest joy) that was a lot of fun, too.  Scenically, we used umbrellas and a ladder to represent the peach and also had a lot of fun working with these to make the peach, grow, role and move.  Here are a couple of photos.  Have fun!

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/43682280@N06/52972108986/



    ------------------------------
    Michael Johnson, MA
    Retired
    Trinity High School
    Trinity, NC
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  • 6.  RE: Ideas for JAMES AND GIANT PEACH

    Posted 11-27-2024 13:17

    Hello-

    We did this show last spring and we invited one of our really active elementary school choir programs that eventually feeds into us to come be extras in a few scenes.  We built them seagull puppets (wings flapped) on a PVC pull and we also built out of cardboard double jointed sharks attached to PVC pipes also so the elementary school kids could be the sharks and seagulls.  We mixed in a few of our high schoolers with each group on stage to help lead them.  We added them in also for New York at the end and as reporters and the gardening ladies for the Money on the Tree song.  Are you doing puppets for your insects in the beginning?  Still have ours in the office right now.



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    Jennifer Gysbers
    Vista Del Lago High School
    CA
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  • 7.  RE: Ideas for JAMES AND GIANT PEACH

    Posted 12-03-2024 20:00

    When we did the show several years ago, we did all of the "magic" and puppetry as shadow puppetry. So the initial insects, the retelling of James' parent's death, the growing of the peach, the peach flying and dropping on the Empire State Building, etc. were all done with shadow puppets. We had an entire puppet team of students who were dedicated to creating and presenting the shadow puppets.



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    Sarah Karlen
    Fine Arts & Theatre Director
    Abundant Life Christian School
    WI
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