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  • 1.  Dwarfs for Snow White

    Posted 09-02-2015 08:50

    We're doing FairyTale Courtroom this fall.  In it, the dwarfs are called as witnesses.  I'm trying to think of the best way to present the student as dwarfs.  Any ideas?  We've had so many discussions, but nothing seems to look or feel right.

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    Trevor Yarbrough
    Teacher
    Dyer County High School
    Newbern TN
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  • 2.  RE: Dwarfs for Snow White

    Posted 09-02-2015 21:39

    Perhaps taller set pieces than one would normally build so as to make the students look shorter would achieve the effect? Though, it depends if you are working with younger or older students if that could be successful. It might be worth a shot!

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    Kara Faraldi
    Lynchburg VA
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE:Dwarfs for Snow White

    Posted 09-03-2015 00:22
    Hi Trevor,

    You might want to consider using a technique called Forced Perspective, mainly used in film (i.e. The Lord of the Rings) where the smaller character is further away from the viewer and the larger character is closer. If the characters look where each other would be if there were in the same plane (the taller character looks down at the floor in front of them, the shorter character looks up), the overall effect should work.

    Of course, this works best when you have a single-level audience (no balcony) so they can't see the gap between actors.

    Hope this helps!

    Amy



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  • 4.  RE: Dwarfs for Snow White

    Posted 09-03-2015 07:37

    We've done Snow White twice made the conscious choice not to differentiate their characters by height. Looking back, I'm surprised that this topic never came up.  We just defined the characters by their names (i.e., Sneezy sneezed, Grumpy was grumpy) and never worried about the others'  perceptions of what a dwarf looks like.

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    Kristie Bach
    Retired Theatre Teacher
    Traverse City MI
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Dwarfs for Snow White

    Posted 09-08-2015 13:30

    I agree with Kristie, I don't think they need to be a different height for it to work.

    However, I was in the Wizard of Oz in high school and the way we did the munchkins was so much fun and a similar plan might work for dwarves too. We had a raked stage with a bunch of trap doors. All the munchkins went underneath and popped up through the trap doors. We made costumes that had fake arms and used our real arms as feet. We danced and everything, but obviously, we couldn't do something like walk across the stage or carry things.

    As I think more about this idea, you wouldn't have to build a raked stage, a similar concept would work as long as the bottom half of the actor is covered. They could pop up behind a platform or a piece of scenery. You could even make them more mobile by costuming their bottom half in black and then having them sit or crawl across the stage. 

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    Ginny Butsch
    Community Manager
    Educational Theatre Association
    Alexandria KY
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    Original Message