Panel: Puppet Theater For Toddlers
Puppet Theater For Toddlers: How to Do It?
Sharing our Experience and Ideas
The Train Theater, International Puppet Festival Jerusalem
August 11, 2015
Organized and produced by:
Dr. Naomi Yoeli, Dramaturge of the Train Theater
Dalia Maayan, General & Artistic Director of the Train Theater and the International Puppet Festival
Moderated by: Dr. Naomi Yoeli
Dear friends and colleagues,
Everyone knows that, from the moment a child is born, he or she responds to play. The puppeteers among us observe the moment when a baby can recognize an object or person – a puppet, doll, toy, story or mother – as something separate from itself, and begin to interact with it. This is the moment when the next puppeteer in the family, or perhaps a puppet theater enthusiast, is born.
Over the last few years, many creative efforts have been made to produce theater performances, puppet theater and storytelling specifically for toddlers, and even for young babies, from birth to three years old. At this year’s International Puppet Theater Festival, we will showcase a wealth of performances for tots and toddlers. We felt that this would be a valuable opportunity to hold a panel discussion with the festival’s guest puppeteers, educators and researchers, with the aim of expanding the conversation on this subject. In doing so, we hope to inspire a renewed desire among multidisciplinary artists to stimulate interest and thought regarding this art form among children’s cultural guardians: their parents, caregivers, kindergarten teachers and grandparents.
Dalia Yaffe-Maayan & Naomi Yoeli
Program and Speakers:
Sibylle Tröster: “Animal Train” – The dramaturgy of a children’s book on stage
Sibylle Tröster – General and Artistic Director of Theater Waidspeicher and Synergura Festival, Erfurt, Germany
Ajda Ross: “Turlututu” – An interactive performance for small children
Ajda Ross – Artistic Director of Lutkovno Gledališče Ljubljana (Lubliana Puppet Theater), Slovenia
Stanislav Doubrava & Vítek Peřina: “About the Lamb that Fell from the Sky” – Basic principles of our first show for toddlers
Stanislav Doubrava – Director of the Naive Theatre and Mateřinka Festival, Liberec, Czech Republic
Vítek Peřina – Author and Dramaturge, Naive Theatre, Liberec, Czech Republic
Antonio Catalano: “Tic Tac Tic Tac” – The creation of sensitive worlds for babies
Antonio Catalano – Artist and artisan of Universi Sensibili, Casa degli Alfieri, Italy
Dr. Shlomo Ariel: Theater as a research laboratory of early childhood
Dr. Shlomo Ariel – Clinical psychologist and family therapist
Author of “Children’s Imaginative Play: A Visit to Wonderland”
Ran Cohen-Aharonov: Why is puppet theater beneficial for young children?
Ran Cohen-Aharonov – Early childhood specialist, children's author, Director of Early Childhood Department at The Institute for Democratic Education
Shachar Marom: Baby Einstein vs. Object Theater
Shachar Marom – Object theater artist and Co-Artistic Director of the International Puppet Festival, Jerusalem
Hila Flashkes: Opher and Ophra, an illustrated story by Oded Burla
Hila Flashkes – Multidisciplinary artist, puppeteer, graphic designer, typographer and animator
Galia Levi-Grad: Shushu my Mentor: Puppets in storytelling for toddlers
Galia Levi-Grad – Visual theater artist, storyteller and puppeteer at the Train Theater
Dr. Naomi Yoeli – Puppeteer and Dramaturge at the Train Theater