I'm so excited!

Wow! I put out the casting call for the two plays and I had "Spiderella" entirely cast in less than 24 hours and have just a couple parts left in "Caterpillar's Wish." I'm really grateful that so many colleagues are interested in adding their voices to the dialog. I had a sneaky suspicion that many of my co-workers were aspiring actors. ;)

It's the night before our LATI showcase where we complete the program and display our projects. I've just finished putting the final touches on my display board and pulled together all my supplies needed for tomorrow's event. I'm really happy with the project I've chosen. I feel it's a project that will benefit not only my colleagues from all branches, but also the young patrons and families who attend the programs. And, as if that weren't enough, it's been a whole lot of fun to work on! :)

Casting Call

A casting call has been made to my coworkers to see if anyone would like to be a part of the show. Here's what they've received:

Have you dreamt of being a star? Now is your chance! Lend your voice to the upcoming, highly-anticipated traveling puppet show for Summer Reading Club 2008: Catch the Reading Bug!

Two puppet shows are in the works and we are looking for the voices behind the magic…perhaps your voice! Do you imagine yourself as the Fairy Mothmother or the Cicada Prince in the smash hit Spiderella? How about a caterpillar or snail in the sweet story of Caterpillar’s Wish? Lend your vocal cords to this sure-to-be sensational production.

Cast of Characters for Spiderella:
Narrator
First Ladybug Stepsister
Second Ladybug Stepsister
Spiderella
Fairy Mothmother
Cicada Prince

Cast of Characters for Caterpillar’s Wish:
Narrator
Caterpillar/Butterfly
Bee
Snail

We will be practicing together as a group on Thursday, December 6th and recording the following week on Thursday, December 13th. Look over the attached scripts and let Julie know if you would like to participate. First dibs on characters to anyone who responds a.s.a.p. Any questions, just ask!

--So, we'll see the response we get...hopefully, there won't be fistfights breaking out for the various parts. ;)

gotta love technology...

So I'm trying to figure out how to attach a picture to our intranet discussion board...to no avail. I can do it posting the pics to my blog, so that's what I'll do. I'll figure out a better way eventually. :)

Spiderella

So, remember when the mice sing in Cinderella: "Cinderelly, Cinderelly, hmm...hmm..hmm.hmm... Cinderelly..." I can't remember that middle part.

Anyway, one of my awesome co-workers found a super-cool script for a children's play "Spiderella." It's a take on Cinderella, but with a spider as the main character, 2 ladybug stepsisters, fairy mothmouth, cicada prince, etc. I'm so excited and think this will be a perfect addition to the preschool and up crowd. More details to follow... (thanks Donna!)

Keep on, keeping on...

So, I've pulled every Anansi book possible and I'm whittling down the possibilities of what story to use for a puppet show for preschool and up. I really want to cater to the younger crowd and plan a show that is age appropriate for them, so I came across Mary Murphy's book A Caterpillar's Wish. It's very "toddler friendly," so I'm working on the script for that part. That way, if branches in our system want to use the puppet show box as part of a two's storytime or program, it's there. :)
I'm really having a much more difficult time (than I thought) finding bug-themed songs on CDs. I have plenty of songs and rhymes to sing along to, but I'm looking for an action song on a CD to really get the kids up and moving.
All in all, this has been a fun project so far. Time to go search the catalog for more CDs and other ideas that may light a spark...

LATI project: Starting to post my progress...

For my LATI project, I am going to create a traveling puppet show for Summer Reading Club 2008. Over the past six months, a few colleagues of mine and I created a puppet show, "The Gruffalo," and we traveled to the various branches in our county to perform our show. The puppet show was well-received and we loved putting it on for many children in Frederick County.
I'd like to keep the tradition, while making a few changes.
With the traveling puppet show, I plan on sticking to our Summer Reading Club theme for 2008, "Catch the Reading Bug @ Your Library."
I plan on creating a script from a bug-themed story, recording the dialogue, gathering all of the necessarily props for the puppet show, and including activities to encourage audience participation (action songs, fingerplays, movement activities). This traveling puppet show will fit into a box (Rubbermaid tub) and can travel around to the different branches. Branches who request the box will be able to open it up, review the materials, and present the show without too much preparation.
One of the suggestions in our project assignment is to keep track of our progress. I plan on using my blog to do so. More to come!

Thing 23: I think I can, I think I can...

Wow! I can't believe this is the last post for 23 Things...or, I should put it this way, I can't believe I'm actually finished with my posts for 23 Things. :)

This project was truly one of the best learning experiences I've had in any profession to date. I really liked that it was self-paced and the project was all about trying out new web technologies in an entirely hands-on process. I probably would not have created a blog on my own or would have even known where to begin when it came to trying out the latest/most useful sites on the web.

Toward the middle of the program, I was hoping that we would be assigned one Thing per week/e-mail so that we could really delve into the technology, but in looking back on that thought...I don't know if sticking with it for 23 weeks (half a year), would have been wise. I think I understand now why we would have a couple tasks each week! :)

If given the option to do this again, I would definitely sign up for it. The big question - where do we go from here? Golly gracious...hopefully doing more of these kinds of things.