ShadowLight School Programs

Shadow Theatre School Residencies

Our school residencies can be modified for one-week or multi-week residencies. Our teaching artist will work with classroom teachers to design a curriculum that best fits your goals, project scope and aligns with the California Content Standards in the Visual and Performing Arts for the selected grade level.  

Residencies offer students a chance to explore elements of shadow theater in depth while teachers can use the residency as a staff development opportunity to learn how to teach lessons themselves.  Residencies culminating in a performance are typically take place one or two days a week for at least ten weeks.  We strongly recommend that time be set aside for teaching artists and classroom teachers to work collaboratively to integrate the multi-disciplinary art form into their weekly lesson plans.  Our teaching artists are a great resource for learning to create shadow theatre in your classroom, teaching world history, mythology and storytelling!

Rates: Depend on the scale and scope of the project and may be adjusted to fit school budget restraints.  If the workshop site is outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, transportation and housing costs will be added on top of the workshop fee.

Things to consider when scheduling a program:
    - Class size is limited to approx. 30 students per session
    - One credentialed teacher must be present and in the room

Space Requirements: A theater stage, which can be completely darkened, is the ideal location for the workshops, since it is most efficient to have one place in which to develop and perform the piece. However, any size room can work, as long as there are window shades which can be completely closed for darkness, and enough space to accommodate a paper screen that is at least 8 feet tall and 8 feet wide with 8 feet of space behind it for performers and lights.

Equipment & Materials: In most classes, we use overhead projectors as the light source for the shadow plays. In some cases, we may provide our custom-made lights, which require only a regular grounded three-prong electrical outlet in any location.  Also we typically request that you provide other materials such as paper, card board, tape, scissors and clear plastic transparency sheets. Our teaching artists will help you come up with a comprehensive list for your class.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Plan, develop, design, produce, and perform a production: Our brand of Shadow Theatre is a unique art form where theatre, visual art, literature, movement and film-like effects are manually integrated. The students will acquire the vocabulary and capability necessary to navigate through these different disciplines in order to create their own original shadow theatre.

• Integrate what they learned into practice: The multidisciplinary nature of our art form makes it a perfect tool for integrative learning. In the past, our partner schools have combined our program with language art, social studies, science, and visual art classes.

• Learn how to use communication, organizational and assessment/problem-solving skills: Students have a rare hands-on opportunity to work together towards a common goal: a production where cooperation and collaboration are necessary for success. This hands-on approach has been especially effective for our partner schools, providing a strong framework for individual and collective growth.

• Creative expression: Students will develop scripts based on their own stories, a subject or a theme and stage the text using improvisation in a group setting

Shadow Theatre Workshops

One day and multiple day workshops are available. Our teaching artists will work with classroom teachers to create the best curriculum for your students in grade levels: K-12.

The multidisciplinary nature of our art form makes it a perfect tool for integrative learning.  In the past, our partner schools have combined our program with language art, social studies, science, and visual art classes. 

Rates: Depend on the scale and scope of the project and may be adjusted to fit school budget restraints.  If the workshop site is outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, transportation and housing costs will be added on top of the workshop fee.

Student Learning Outcomes: 

• Overview of the unique art form and history of Shadow Theater

• Participate in a hands-on project with particular elements of the art form such as: puppet/mask making, experimentation with light sources, exploring dramatic structure, and character development.

Performances and Assemblies

ShadowLight Productions offers age-appropriate assembly performances by professional shadow theatre artists for students ranging from kindergarten through high school.  Shadow theater presentations highlight dramatic and comic stories from world folklore, as well as, original contemporary tales from Traditional Greek Karaghiozis, Traditional Balinese Wayang and "The Flying Pig Fish," a timeless and colorful tale of fun and acceptance! 

Performances are available for schools, libraries and museums.  Each show is forty to sixty minutes long with a Q&A period at the end.  

Contact ShadowLight for assembly performance rates.

Student and Teacher Testimonials

"My favorite part was making puppets and working on the plays.  I learned how not to be shy and be open about the play."  
- 5th Grade Student / Francis Scott Key

"The thing I like most about your class is when you have students come up and pretend to be puppets.  In your class, I have learned how to be creative and smart.  You make shadow theater class fun." 
- 4th Grade Student / Francis Scott Key

"My favorite part was doing the warm-ups because I liked that we were able to release our wiggles in class.  I feel happy about the performance because I showed the audience the hard work I put into the play and the audience appreciated it." 
- 5th Grade Student / Francis Scott Key

"I really love your shadow theater activity. It's my favorite activity in school."  
- 4th Grade Student / Francis Scott Key

"Engaging, energetic, positive and experienced!  Full experience of light and shadow - hands on with a projector and props."
-  3rd Grade Teacher / Leonard Flynn Elementary

Scheduling/Reservations

Please contact:
Caryl Kientz
Managing Director
e: caryl@shadowlight.org
tel: 415 648 4461