Bunnicula study guide - Young People`s Theatre

Study Guide
Adapted for the stage by Jon Klein
From the book by Deborah and James Howe
Lyrics by Jon Klein and Music by Chris Jeffries
Directed by Allen MacInnis
November 9 to December 18, 2005
Table of Contents
Seeing it Live
As members of the audience, you
play an important part in the
success of a theatrical
performance.
SEEING IT LIVE
THE PLAY
Cast…………………………………………………………
Creative Team……………………………………………...
Characters………………………………………………….
Synopsis……………………………………………………..
Reflections on a Vampire Rabbit……………………………
1
1
1
1
2
THE INTERPRETATION
Director’s Note…………………………………………….
Set Designer’s Note………………………………………...
Costume Designer’s Note………………………………….
3
4
5
FOR DISCUSSION
Vampire Lore……………………………………………….
6-7
ACTIVITIES
Drama
8
A Stage Adaptation…...………………………………………
9
Anthropomorphism………………………………...………...
10
Animal Drama Games………………………………………
Music
11
Musical Director’s Note..…………………………………....
11
Music Exercises……………………………………………..
Sheet Music………..…………………………………………. 12-13
English
14
Vocabulary………………………………………………….
14
Literary and Cultural References…………………………...
Visual Arts
15
Puppets and Puppetry………………………………………
RESOURCES……………………………………………..
16
NOTES…………………………………………………….
17
Please review the following
theatre rules with your students
prior to your LKTYP visit:
Food, drinks, candy and gum are
not permitted in the theatre.
LKTYP is a nut-free zone. As so
many children have severe lifethreatening allergies, NO
PEANUTS or NUT products may
be brought to our theatre.
No electronic devices are
permitted in the theatre – they
affect our sound system. As well,
photography, audio and video
recording during a performance
is prohibited by the Canadian
Theatre Agreement.
Students are not permitted to
leave the theatre unless they are
accompanied by an adult.
Live theatre is an active experience.
Theatre is a two-way exchange.
Actors are thrilled when the
audience is engaged and
responsive. We want you to
laugh, cheer, clap and really enjoy
your time at the theatre.
However, please be considerate
audience members. Talking,
whispering and excessive
move ment during a live
performance are distracting for
the actors, and disruptive for
other audience members.
Enhance your visit by
encouraging your students to
look at different aspects of the
production. Before the show,
identify tasks for your class.
Have one group of students
looking at the set, another
listening for the music and sound
effects, a third watching the
lighting and a fourth the
costumes. Compare notes after
the show about what they
observed. Your students will
become more informed and
they’ll be surprised by how much
they noticed. Ask them to be
prepared with one question for
the actors after the show.
Brainstorm with them about
possible topics to get the most
out of the experience!
The Play
Cast
Richard Binsley……………………………………….Harold
Corinne Koslo…………………………….…………Chester
David Collins…………………………………….Mr. Monroe
Deann de Gruijter……………………………..Mrs. Monroe
Peyson B. Rock…………………………………...……...Pete
Isaiah Grant………………………………………..……Toby
Mike Petersen……………………………………..Puppeteer
Creative Team
Allen MacInnis…………………………...………….Director
Liz Baird……………..………………….…...Musical Director
Phillip Clarkson…………………….….....Costume Designer
Nigel Scott…………………………….……...…Set Designer
Kevin Lamotte………………………….….Lighting Designer
Maxwell T. Wilson…………………...……….Stage Manager
Kristen Kitcher……………………..Assistant Stage Manager
Characters
Synopsis
It's a dark and stormy night. Chester, the family cat, and Harold,
the family dog, sit waiting for their owners to return home from
the movies. Chester and Harold are more than just pets. They're
good friends too. When the Monroes finally get home, they come
bearing a surprise; they've found a bunny in the movie theater. But
this is no ordinary rabbit -- this is the extraordinary Bunnicula.
Chester is the family cat. He is
curious, intelligent and very well- When the family's produce starts losing its juice, Chester thinks he
knows what's causing the fantastic phenomenon. Bunnicula is
read.
sucking the vegetables dry because he is a vampire! Chester tries
Bunnicula is a mysterious rabbit to convince Harold, and then the rest of the family, that Bunnicula
recently adopted by the Monroes. is a vampire. He fails and temporarily loses Harold as a friend.
Chester then tries to starve the bunny by barring the way to the
kitchen. In a last-ditch effort to save Bunnicula, the vet is called.
Mr. Monroe is the father. He is
Finally, after Chester is sent for counselling, the three pets learn to
a professor.
live in harmony.
Mrs. Monroe is the mother. She
is a lawyer.
Harold is the family dog. He is a
big floppy-eared dog, impetuous
and cheerful. He is also the
narrator of the story.
Pete is their 10 year-old son.
Pete in his Halloween costume.
Toby is their 8 year-old son.
1
The Play
Reflections on a Vampire Rabbit
it was funny…Bunnicula was a
character who lived in my mind and
cropped up in an occasional handmade greeting card. The thought
never occurred to me to write a
story about him…I was involved in
the theatre then, working as a
literary and theatrical agent by day,
directing off-off-off-off-off Broadway
shows and pursuing a graduate
degree in theatre…Debbie was
trying to make a go of it as an
actress…It was Debbie’s mother
who said, “What a wonderful
From the time I was a kid and
founded the Vampire Legion with a character for a children’s book.”
Debbie and I knew nothing about
couple of friends, I was a sucker,
you should pardon the expression, children’s books, [we] didn’t know
for vampires. One of the things that an “intermediate” from a ”YA”. My
model for writing a children’s story
my late wife Debbie and I had in
common was a passion for B-movie was my personal favourite, E.B.
versions of Dracula… If anything it White’s Charlotte’s Web.
was this late-night viewing that led Debbie’s models, more likely, were
Bram Stoker, Jane Austen, and
directly to the creation of
Mary Shelley.
Bunnicula. But why a rabbit? I
haven’t a clue except that I thought
Our play is based on the novel
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
by Deborah and James Howe.
Before the musical adaptation
was created by Jon Klein and
Chris Jeffries, the Howes’ book
was extremely popular and
spawned a Bunnicula series that
was eagerly devoured by young
readers. James Howe tells us
how he came to write the
original Bunnicula chapter book:
The puppet is sand-bag weighted so that,when left
alone, it is in a crouched position.
2
We sat down at that bright red
[kitchen] table and, with no sense
at all of where we were headed,
began to sketch out the story.
“Transylvanian bunny turns into
vampire at night.” Those were the
first words written under the
heading “Count Bunicula”, our title
at the time – and the first spelling
of the rabbit’s name. “Bunicula”
became “Bunnycula” which in turn
became “Bunnicula”.
James Howe
Excerpt from Seattle Children’s
Theatre educator’s resource guide.
The Interpretation
Director’s Note
The theme of our 40th
Anniversary season is who in the
world are you, which I guess you
could say means it’s a season
about identity: who we innately
are and who we try to be; what
influences our identity; how do
others reveal or hide who we
are. This theme is explored in
the wide range of plays we are
offering this year and, in
Bunnicula, we have fun with a
case of mistaken identity.
is a comedy that offers a quirky
view of family life from the
perspective of the family pets.
This is what drew me to the play.
My own dog, Fidel, is a valued
member of my family and it
In Bunnicula, Chester the cat
amuses me to wonder what he
might be mistaken about the
innocent new pet bunny being a thinks of his life with us. Chester
vegetable-juice-craving vampire. and Harold in this play are
Attaching bits of evidence to an hilarious to me because they
think and act just the way I
immediate dislike for the little
imagine dogs and cats do. I
rabbit, Chester becomes
wonder if you will find their
convinced the Monroe family
behaviour to be like your own
needs saving from an evil pet.
While Harold the dog may be a pets or those of your friends …
From early Greek and Roman
and if you don’t have a pet or
step behind the cleverer cat,
comedies through Shakespeare
Harold also offers a point of view know any pets, try imagining
to contemporary movies,
what a zoo is like from the
akin to “innocent until proven
mistaken identity remains a
animals’ point of view. It may
guilty”. When it comes to
popular comedic plotline.
Perhaps it is because although we identity, I think we all agree that make you look at animals
differently.
we should be seen for who we
all dread the embarrassment of
Enjoy the show.
are before judgments are made
getting somebody’s status or
about us.
degree of authority wrong, it’s
Allen MacInnis
also just so funny to see
Artistic Director of LKTYP
But more than anything, Bunnicula
somebody completely mistake
one thing for another … like Mr.
Magoo continuously believing his
cat is a dog despite evidence to
the contrary.
Mr. Monroe in bathrobe and shaving
cream.
Toby in his pyjamas.
3
The Interpretation
Set Designer’s Note
Our interpretation of the world
around us takes many forms and
changes greatly with our state of
mind. It can change many times in
the course of just one day. Most
notably it's in our dreams at night
when our fantasies are most
apparent. And what about dogs
and cats like Harold and
Chester? How do they see the
world? What do they dream
about? Do they believe in the
supernatural? I am always
captivated by those moments on
the edge of our dreams when we
catch a glimpse of the
supernatural world around us.
It's always there, just out of sight,
just around the corner waiting to
reveal itself to us if we'd only pay
attention. I wanted to explore in
the set design the possibility of a
world with a portal into another
realm. The doorway, for
example, through which our
characters enter and leave the
safety of their house: is it a
harvest moon with a craggy tree,
or perhaps a supersized dream
catcher? Above all, I wanted in
The set maquette.
4
The Interpretation
the design to celebrate this time
of year when nature lavishes
itself on us with its full harvest,
before giving up the ghost. Is it a
world where vampire bunnies
roam the earth and take flight,
sucking the life blood out of
fruits and vegetables? Or is it just
Chester's imagination?
All the best
Nigel Scott
The Interpretation
Costume Designer’s Note
Allen MacInnis and I sat down
after the workshop of the play to
discuss the looks of the various
characters. We mutually decided
to exaggerate the height of Mr.
and Mrs. Monroe to help set up a
scale of difference between them
and the cat and dog, Chester and
Harold. Hence the use of cheery
and naïf pastel colours. Set
designer Nigel Scott has also
incorporated these colours into
his set. We also chose to use the
exaggerated wigs on the
Mrs. Monroe in rain gear.
The play takes place over seven
different days, so I added several
costume changes to help indicate
the passage of time. It is set in
and around Halloween (October)
The script clearly states that
Chester and Harold must not be so shopping for fall/winter
clothes was made easier by the
costumed as fuzzy animals, so I
availability of this season’s
opted to use brown as their
colour choice and clothing pieces clothing and the pastel colour
such as cat’s-eye glasses, a deer- range that is so popular in the
stores right now.
stalker hat with ear flaps and
mohair sweaters to merely
Phillip Clarkson
suggest animal characteristics.
(see page 9)
Monroes to suggest a sort of
plastic reality to their domestic
bliss.
Mr. Monroe at home.
5
For Discussion
Vampire Lore
Because of Chester’s obsession
with horror tales and his
insistence that the bunny the
Monroes brought home is a
blood-sucking monster, Bunnicula
is chock-full of references to
vampires and ways of conquering
them. Discuss the following with
your students. What references
do they have that may help them
to enter the world of the story?
Have they ever seen a Dracula
movie? Have they ever dressed
up as Dracula at Halloween?
inspired by its depiction of
vampires. These movies and
shows have changed the popular
ideas of what a vampire is.
Probably the most influential was
the 1931 movie Dracula starring
Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi.
Lugosi’s accent -- “I vant to suck
your bluhd” -- and his Dracula
costume, complete with slickedback black hair and a receding
hairline, inspired the Halloween
costume-version of vampires
today.
•
reflections in mirrors
vampires usually live in scary
castles in Transylvania.
Where is Transylvania?
Transylvania is a region in
eastern Europe which is now
part of the country of Romania.
The name Transylvania comes
from the Latin meaning “the land
beyond the forest”. It is a
beautiful area set among the
Carpathian Mountains. It is home
to many picturesque medieval
What is a vampire?
Who is Dracula?
villages and fortified churches.
Sometimes Transylvania is called
Dracula is the central character For thousands of years there
a ‘fairytale’ place, because its
have been stories all over the
in the novel Dracula by Irish
historic villages with cobbled
world of blood-sucking monsters. streets and ancient fortresses,
author Bram Stoker, written in
Today we usually think of a
1897. Stoker was inspired by
look like pictures in fairytale
reading accounts of Vlad Tepes, vampire as Bram Stoker’s
books. The wilderness of the
or Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian character Dracula and the
Carpathian Mountains is home to
movies, plays and television
count from the 1400s. Vlad’s
many species of wildlife and is
father belonged to the Order of programs that followed. This has visited by many naturalists, hikers
led to the creation of many fun
the Dragon (or Dracul in
and bird-watchers. Transylvania
Romanian). Tepes, being the son characters, such as The Count
is the home of Vlad Tepes. Many
of a Dracul, was then called Vlad on Sesame Street, or Count
tourists travel there to visit Bran
Chocula, of cereal fame.
Dracula. Vlad was a terrible,
Castle and hear the tales of the
cruel man who, by some
original Dracula.
accounts, killed tens of thousands Here is how vampires are
commonly depicted:
of people during his lifetime.
How do you ward off
vampires?
• vampires are ‘undead’
For hundreds of years it had
humans who are cursed to
been said that Vlad Tepes was a
Many things are associated with
roam the earth drinking
vampire, but it was Stoker who
scaring away vampires. Here are
blood
created the basis of the Dracula • vampires have two pointy
some of the most popular:
that we know today. He
teeth with which they bite
• vampires do not like garlic
described Dracula as a tall old
people in the neck
• vampires cannot stand the
man wearing black, with a long
sight of a cross
• vampires wear formal
white moustache and two pointy
evening wear (usually a fancy • vampires can be killed with a
sharp teeth that stuck out over
suit) and a large black cape
stake through the heart. A
his lips.
with a high collar
‘stake’ is a pointed stick,
different from a ‘steak’ which
• vampires sleep in coffins
Since Stoker’s book was written,
is a big piece of meat
during the daytime and come
dozens of Hollywood movies and
out only at night
• vampires cannot stand
television shows have been made • vampires can turn into bats
sunlight and can be harmed
that were based on Dracula, or
by its rays.
• vampires cannot see their
6
For Discussion
What are vampire bats?
Vampire bats are native only to
Central and South America – not
Transylvania. They are known as
‘vampires’ because they feed on
the blood of animals such as
horses, cows and pigs. They do
not commonly bite humans.
Is Bunnicula really a
vampire?
In our play it is implied that
Bunnicula is only a vampire in
Toby in his Dracula costume.
Chester’s imagination. But if this
is so, how does Bunnicula get out
of his cage every night? Why
does he get sick after smelling
the garlic? Discuss this with your
students. You could have a
debate on whether Bunnicula is
indeed a vampire bunny or if it’s
just Chester’s overactive
imagination that makes us
believe this.
NB If you want to do further
research on vampire history
and culture, especially on the
internet, please be cautious:
material may be of an adult
nature.
Chester with Mr. Monroe’s towel.
7
Activities/ Drama
A Stage Adaptation
2. Each group reads a passage
from the novel (we’ve
suggested two below).
3. Each group discusses how
they would stage the passage.
4. Each group creates a frozen
tableau of the passage.
5. Share with the rest of the
class.
Compare the novel and the 6. Each group creates a threeminute dramatization of the
play
passage.
• What parts of the novel
7. Each group presents their
were chosen for the stage
short play to the rest of the
version?
class.
• What parts of the novel
8. Compare your dramatic
were not chosen?
sketches with our staging.
• Are the characters the same
in the novel and the play?
Suggested passages
• What similarities and
differences can you identify? (Page references are from the
• How do the musical numbers 1999 Simon & Schuster edition of
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
add to the story?
by Deborah and James Howe.)
Act out scenes from the
1. From Chapter Six “Harold
novel
1. Divide the class into groups Helps Out”, pages 72-3, starting
with Harold reading from the
of 4 or 5.
Reading Deborah and James
Howe’s Bunnicula is a perfect
complement to watching our play
and a way of combining an
English and/or Literacy activity
with Drama. Discuss the
adaptation with your students.
Ask them to:
book on vampires, “To destroy the
vampire and end his reign of terror,
it is necessary to pound a sharp
stake,” and ending with “He
dragged the steak across the floor
and laid it across the inert bunny.
Then with his paws he began to hit
the steak.”
2. From Chapter Eight,
“Disaster in the Dining Room”,
pages 86-7, starting with Harold
carrying Bunnicula to the salad
bowl and encouraging him to
eat, “Okay,” I whispered, “there’s
your dinner. Go to it! Get your fill
as fast as you can, poor bunny. I’ll
stand guard,” and ending with
“Bunnicula not sure what to do,
jumped high in the air and landed,
with a great scattering of greens,
smack in the center of the salad
bowl. Lettuce and tomatoes and
carrots and cucumbers went flying
all over the table and onto the
floor.”
Bunnicula cast members (clockwise from top) Corinne Koslo, Mike Peterson (puppeteer),
David Collins, Richard Binsley, Deann de Gruijter Photo: Daniel Alexander
8
Activities/ Drama
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is a literary
device whereby animal
characters (or objects) are given
human characteristics. In
Bunnicula, Harold and Chester
are a dog and a cat who display
human traits and are seen as
more human than the human
characters in the play. Ask your
students to identify the human
and animal characteristics of
fictional animal characters:
Harold
Harold and Chester
• What are Harold’s human
characteristics?
• What are Harold’s animal
characteristics?
• What are Chester’s human
characteristics?
• What are Chester’s animal
characteristics?
Other fictional animals
• What other fictional animals
do you know?
What are their human
characteristics?
• What are their animal
characteristics?
Bunnicula
• What about the character of
Bunnicula? Does he display
human or animal
characteristics?
• Why is Bunnicula a puppet
rather than a human actor?
•
Chester
9
Activities/ Drama
Animal Drama Games
the animal makes.
5. Students combine movement
and sound and interact with
other “animals” without
touching.
6. Students create a person
with his/her animal
characteristics.
Animal Pairs
7. In groups of 4 or 5, students
1. Write names of animals on
create a three-minute scene
cards.
with their person-animal
2. Each student picks a card and
characters.
moves around the room
exploring the qualities of
Find Your Animal Mate
their animal.
1. Create two card sets, A and
3. Students explore the
B, with the same animal
movements the animal makes
names (e.g. two cards with
silently.
giraffe, two cards with snake,
4. Students explore the sounds
Many children’s games involve
animal characters and allow the
players to become animals.
Drama exercises can also be
adapted to include animals. Play
these with your students:
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
etc.)
Divide the class in two
groups, A and B.
Ask the students in group A
to take a card from set A;
ask the students in group B
to take a card from set B.
Students move around the
room exploring the
movements of their animal.
Students find the other
student with the same animal
characteristics.
In pairs, students explore
their animals’ language.
In their animal pairs, students
have an animal sound
conversation.
Chester in his
Dalmation sweater.
Bunnicula
10
Activities/ Music
Musical Director’s Note
As Musical Director I taught the
cast the music to the show, created the underscoring and sound
design of the show, and finally, I
play the show from my keyboard.
The first thing was to prepare
the music for the cast. The sheet
music provided for the show was
very sketchy and had little infor-
mation regarding the styles. We
came across a recording of some
piano accompaniment from a
previous production that gave
me some ideas as to the styles.
The second thing I did was create
underscoring and sound design.
The Director knew he didn’t
want real sound effects in the
show, but rather to use musical
instruments to emulate effects. I
collected several instruments
that not only could be used in
the underscoring and scene transitions, but could also emulate
effects like thunder and lighting.
Liz Baird
Music Exercises
1. The music for Bunnicula is presented in a variety of styles that
create the mood for each scene.
For the opening number, a Gilbert and Sullivan style tune accompanies “Pet in the House”. It
is followed by a military march, a
creepy tune, a ballad and a tango.
Ask your students to identify the
style of each song listed below:
Pet in the House
Room For All
Vampire Theory
Poor Cat
Only Friend
2. On the following pages you
will find sheet music for “Poor
Cat” and the “Pet in the House
Reprise”. Work with your students to play and sing these excerpts. Ask them to write their
own verses to follow these brief
examples. If you have a particularly enthusiastic group ask students, in pairs, to choreograph a
dance to each tune.
3. Sound effects for the theatre
can be created with musical instruments and other objects.
What kind of objects can you use
for a creepy play? How about an
adventure story? A comedy? Explore sound with your students
and compare your choices with
the choices made in the play.
11
Activities/ Music
Poor Cat (excerpt)
Lyrics by Jon Stein, music by Chris Jeffries
(Use of this material restricted.)
12
Activities/ Music
Pet in the House Reprise (excerpt)
Lyrics by Jon Stein, music by Chris Jeffries (Use of this material restricted.)
13
Activities / English
Literary and Cultural References
Famous writers are mentioned
• Who is the author of
because Chester is such an avid
Frankenstein? Where is she
reader. He is even named after
from?
an author, G.K. Chesterton. Ask
your students:
Chester describes a “gypsy
caravan” that is made up of
• Can you name books written covered wagons, not station
wagons as Harold eagerly
by Charles Dickens and
Edgar Allen Poe? Where are suggests. In fact, today’s Roma
peoples do travel in motorized
these authors from?
vehicles, mostly vans, to set up
• Who is the author of
Dracula? Where is he from? camp in market towns or in
vacant lots in cities. They prefer
not to be called gypsies because
of the association to “gyp” (slang
for swindle or cheat). Chester is
using a term from films and
novels set in the nineteenth
century. Ensure that your
students are aware of the period
use of this term and the
contemporary alternative.
Vocabulary
Bunnicula is rich in intriguing
vocabulary, including words
pertinent to vegetable matter
and vampire lore.
1. Ask your students to identify
the vegetables in the following
list:
acumen
arugula
blight
bok choy
casserole
endive
minions
sibling
sapling
• Which other vegetables are
mentioned in the play?
• Which ones turn white?
2. These are geographical names
connected to the Dracula
myth.
Carpathian Mountains
Isle of Wight
Romania
Transylvania
• Can you locate these on a
map?
• Can you find pictures of
these locations?
14
Prop books
Activities / Visual Arts
Puppets and Puppetry
Many puppets can be
A puppet is anything manipulated
•
by a person (a puppeteer) to create combinations of more than one
type of puppet. Look at puppets
a character in a performance.
on television, in the theatre or in
pictures and try to find examples
Puppets have existed for
of puppets that are combinations
hundreds of years and are used
all over the world, with different of hand and body puppets, or
•
regional puppet traditions. Some hand and rod puppets. You will
be surprised at how many there
examples are:
are!
• shadow puppets in Bali
• bunraku puppets in Japan
In Bunnicula, the rabbit puppet is
• Punch and Judy puppets in
presented in three different ways:
Great Britain
• marionettes in the Czech
• one version is manipulated by
Republic
a puppeteer, mostly as a
hand puppet, but articulated
Different kinds of puppets are
to be extremely animated
built differently:
A hand puppet is a puppet that
is manipulated only by the hand
of a puppeteer. Types of hand
puppets include sock puppets and
Punch and Judy-type characters.
Often, performers using hand
puppets are concealed from the
audience.
A body puppet uses a part of
the puppeteer's body to
represent the same part of the
puppet's body. For example,
using a puppeteer's hands as the
puppet's hands, or the
puppeteer's feet as the puppet's
feet. Sometimes the performers
using body puppets are concealed
from the audience and other
times they are visible. The term
for when puppeteers are visible is
'open puppetry.'
A rod puppet is a puppet that
has parts that are manipulated
using a rod. Often rod puppets of
people have one rod which
controls the body and one or
two other rods that move an
arm or a leg.
a second version is handled
by the family; this is a
simpler, less articulated
bunny and is sturdier so as to
sit on its own and be passed
around
the third is a flying Dracula
bunny in black cloak; it
crosses the stage from one
side to the other in black
light.
Puppet design by Nigel Scott
15
Resources
Resources
Books
Websites
Seattle Children’s Theatre,
Bunnicula educator’s resource
guide www.sct.org/
new_tickets/04_Bunnicula.pdf
Following the enormous success
of Bunnicula: a Rabbit Tale of
Mystery, James Howe has
written dozens of books,
including the immensely popular Overture Center for the Arts
series Tales From the House of (Omaha Theatre for Young
People), Bunnicula study guide
Bunnicula,with these titles:
www.overturecenter.com/
OnStage/Bunnicula_SG.pdf
It Came from Beneath the Bed
Invasion of the Mind Swappers from
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-tale
Asteroid 6!
Howie Monroe and the Doghouse webquest
www.longwood.k12.ny.us/ridge/
of Doom
wq/daubert2/index
Screaming Mummies of the
Pharaoh's Tomb II
Bud Barkin, Private Eye
The Odorous Adventures of Stinky
Dog
Other Bunnicula books
Howliday Inn
The Celery Stalks at Midnight
Nighty-Nightmare
Return to Howliday Inn
Bunnicula Strikes Again!
Bunnicula’s Pleasantly Perplexing
Puzzles
Bunnicula’s Long-Lasting-LaughAlouds
Bunnicula’s Frightfully Fabulous
Factoids
Bunnicula’s Wickedly Wacky Word
Games
Picture books
Horace and Morris, but Mostly
Dolores
There’s a Dragon in My Sleeping
Bag
There’s a Monster Under My Bed
16
For information about different
types of puppets, and for great
pictures and games check out the
website Strings, Springs and
Finger Things. This is a virtual
exhibit of the Ontario Puppetry
Association collection of puppets
at the Canadian Museum of
Civilization.
www.civilization.ca/arts/ssf/
ssf00eng
You can learn more about
puppets from around the world
at: www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/
traditions/index
Check out the Hinterland Who’s
Who article on Bats in Canada
www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=63
Arts Impact: Making a difference in the lives of students
LKTYP is proud to have Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life as lead
sponsors for its Arts Impact program, which provides opportunities for disadvantaged
students to participate in quality arts education. Arts Impact’s goal is to deepen students’
understanding of theatre, allowing them to be inspired by the material presented on
stage and to think in ways that challenge their own perceptions.
Connections: Addressing
the pattern of poverty
There is empirical evidence that children who live
in poverty are at greater risk of dropping out of
school. Studies have also proven that exposure to
arts improves scholastic ability and attendance.
Thanks to the generosity of CIBC World
Markets Children’s Miracle Foundation,
LKTYP can offer special subsidized tickets to
qualifying schools.
Notes
17
YPT (now Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People) was founded by Susan Rubes to give children a
chance to experience professional theatre created especially for them. LKTYP has been making a
contribution to the healthy development of youth in Ontario for 40 wonderful years.
It seems to me that, when children imagine something, it isn't less important to them because it isn't
real. Children can make imagined experience real experience. It is for this reason, that I am certain of
theatre's ability to have a lasting effect on their intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual
development. Studies about the impact of the arts support this. Increased cognitive skills, advancement
in adaptive social behaviour, expanded communication and problem-solving abilities, and a decrease in
racism and delinquency are some of the effects that research has linked to the impact of the arts and
arts education on young people. Theatre for children truly is life changing.
Allen MacInnis
Artistic Director
Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People
Study Guide by Aida Jordão, with Betony Main
Design and Layout by Nikki Fullerton
Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People
165 Front Street East
Toronto, ON M5A 3Z4
416 862-2222
www.lktyp.ca
Aida Jordão, Associate Director
Wayne Fairhead, Consulting Director
Educational Services Department
416 363-5131 x230
edservices@lktyp.ca
SEASON EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
SEASON MEDIA PARTNERS