Playing with Shadows

Overview

Discover the secrets behind the art of shadow puppetry in this multimedia exploration, designed for grades 5-8, which explores this age-old art form through animations, videos, interactive activities, and more.

Suggested Use

Technically, shadow plays are fairly simple in terms of theatrical production: they require only a light source to cast a shadow, a screen to catch the shadow, and a figure to create a shadow. Using Chinese Shadow Puppet tradition as the framework, this interactive provides a rich introduction to the artistry and technology behind this traditional form of storytelling.

In additon to providing background on the cultural, historical, technical, and artistic details of shadow theater, the site allows users to explore the elements of screen, light and puppet to learn about the interplay of light and shadow in the creation of a production through interactive animations, as well as the deeply interactive "Puppet Studio." This 3-dimensional space will invite users to become online puppeteers, building puppets and choreographing simple shadow plays to explore the complex interactions between light, puppets, and screen.

While Playing with Shadows was designed in conjunction with the Kennedy Center’s Festival of China, the site does not focus specifically on Chinese shadow puppetry, but rather, provides an overview of the art form as a whole.

You may wish to guide students through Playing with Shadows using a language arts and social studies lens with the ARTSEDGE lesson, "Puppets on the Move: China and the Silk Road." Or you may wish to explore the science aspects of shadow puppetry through an ARTSEDGE lesson on the properties of light: "Shadows & Light: The Matter and Energy of Shadow Puppetry." You may also wish to have students create their own shadow puppet shows using the information provided in the "Behind the Shadows" section of the site. Alternatively, you could provide students with the guiding questions below and have them work individually or in pairs to answer the questions and "play with shadows" on their own. Most students will quickly figure out that they must "Look Behind the Screen" to learn more about each topic and click on the Chinese characters alongside particular puppets to access videos, but you may wish to give students this hint.

Guiding Questions for the "Background" section:

• What is the earliest known reference to shadow theater in history?
• When did shadow shows first appear?
• What is the difference between traditional Javanese shadow theater and Turkish shadow theater?
• What is the difference between France’s version of "Chinese Shadows" and traditional shadow puppetry in China?
• What is the difference between the traditional way of making puppets and the modern way?
• How can you cast shadows with different gray tones on the screen?
• What is a "stock" character? Provide an example.
• What is the main theme found in Indonesian shadow plays?

Guiding Questions for the "Playing with Shadows" section:

• How can you create colored shadows on the screen?
• Why do you think fabrics like linen and lace create lighter shadows than cardboard?
• What are the definitions of transparent, translucent, and opaque?
• What is the best kind of screen to use in a shadow puppet show?
• What is a simple way to create different sizes of shadows?
• What is challenging about the placement of the light used in shadow puppet shows?
• What is light intensity?
• What are the different ways emotion can be expressed through puppetry?
• If you could direct your own shadow puppet show, what would you do? What puppet would be your main character? Would you use set pieces? If so, which ones? What sorts of sounds would you use?
• What is most surprising to you about the art of shadow puppetry?

Guiding Questions for "The Puppet Studio": [Please note: This "beta" version of the site has limited functionality in the Puppet Studio section. Check back in mid-December for a Studio experience in designing, building and then choreographing your own Shadow Play!]

• What factors influenced your choices for the parts of your puppet? For example, were you interested in color or shape?
• What did you learn about shadow puppetry from moving your puppet around on the screen?

Guiding Questions for "Tales and Legends":

• What is your favorite video clip? Why?
• What does a puppet’s movements communicate about a particular animal? For example, how would you describe the way the bear moves versus the crane?
• What do the crane, turtle, dragon, and bear represent in Chinese culture?
• What is a vignette?

Guiding Questions for "The Masters":

• What did you learn about the art of shadow puppetry from Ping Chong and Zhao Yu Ming?
• Ping Chong uses video to create contemporary shadow puppet shows. Can you think of other ways that this traditional art form can be made "new"?
• What questions would you like to ask a master shadow puppeteer?

Technical Requirements

This multimedia site is bandwidth-intensive, requiring a high-speed Internet connection. Users should be equipped with speakers (or headphones in a lab or classroom setting) and will need the Flash 7 player. It is highly recommended that users set their monitor display to 1024 x 768 (or 800 x 600) for the best viewing experience.