Tears of Joy Theatre’s

There’s a Nightmare in My Closet Curriculum Guide

Shadow Puppetry During the performance of ‘There’s a Nightmare in my Closet’ Michael reads the poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. Our puppeteers bring this poem to life with shadow puppets built out of kitchen utensils. This particular kind of shadow puppetry is very unique, however, shadow puppetry is an old tradition and it has a long history in Southeast Asia; especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. It has been an ancient art and a living folk tradition in China, India, and Nepal. It is also known in Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Germany, France, and the United States.

Shadow puppets can be made from almost any material. Early shadow puppets were made from cloth and leather. However, if you think about it, the very first shadow puppets were shapes made by human hands. Imagine a caveperson creating the silhouette of an animal on a cave wall by firelight. You’ve probably done the same thing with a flashlight in a dark room or while camping in a tent.

Examples of hand shadows to try;

Jabberwocky BY LEWIS CARROLL

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand; Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree And stood awhile in thought. And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. “And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” He chortled in his joy. ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

Language & Creative Writing

Much like Dr. Seuss, Lewis Carroll invented his own words to describe the world of his famous and fantastical poem ‘Jabberwocky’. However, the first words created by humans were just sounds that people gave a meaning to. Meaning, inventing words isn’t new. Humans have been doing that since we started talking to one another. We encourage you to word-invent, too! CHALLENGE: Come up with a your own, unique word. How do you spell it? What is the definition of this word? Can you use it in a sentence?

It seems very funny, but it’s rather hard to

understand.

Art

Over the years, many artists have rendered their own ideas about what the creatures described in ‘Jabberwocky’ look like. However, it's important to remember that the best images that any of us can see are the ones created in our own imaginations. There is no right or wrong way to imagine something. CHALLENGE: Make your own illustration of the either the Jabberwocky, the Bandersnatch, or the Jubjub Bird. Compare your illustration with your classmate’s. Remember, no one can get it wrong. That’s the best thing about art!

Conquering Imaginary Fears Part of being human is being scared sometimes. It happens to everyone. Why do we fear? Fear helps to keep us safe and away from danger. For example, if you saw a strange dog walking down the sidewalk all by himself you might feel a little afraid. That fear you were feeling might’ve made you find a safe place to be until the dog was gone. The fear of a strange dog is a ‘real’ fear. Other fears, however, are ‘imaginary’. Imaginary fears can run away with our imaginations, especially at night. Fears about monsters under the bed or in the closet aren’t really keeping us out of danger, but they can keep us awake and give us nightmares. Fortunately, there is a fun and easy way to help us get rid of imaginary fears, even when they feel very, very serious. We have to fight imagination with imagination!

EXAMPLE:

ELLA AND THE WITCH During the day, Ella spent many hours playing in her bedroom. She felt very safe and happy there until it was time to turn off the lights and go to sleep. Ella couldn’t help but wonder if there was something scary in the dark room that she couldn't see. She began to feel afraid. Being afraid made her think that there MUST be something there to be afraid of. But what? Ella’s imagination began to run wild. Suddenly, in her imagination, Ella pictured a witch under her bed waiting -just waiting- for Ella’s favorite stuffy to fall on the floor so she could grab it. Ella’s fear overwhelmed her. She wanted to run to her parents but she was too afraid to get off the bed. She was afraid of the witch! Too frightened to move, Ella began shouting for her parents. When Ella told them what she was afraid of, they just shook their heads and said she was being silly. Her father even checked under the bed to prove it to her but it didn’t make Ella feel any better. It took her a long time to fall asleep. The next day Ella felt very silly for having been afraid of what she had imagined the night before. However, that night, and for many nights after, the same scary picture came into Ella’s head when she was lying in bed. Every time it did, Ella felt afraid. She knew that the witch was just in her imagination, but Ella was scared of her all the same. Finally, she had had enough. One night, as she laid in bed in her dark room, the image of the witch once again reappeared in Ella’s imagination. This time, however, instead of letting her imagination run away with her, she decided to take control of it. Instead of imagining that the witch was under the bed, she imagined that the witch was in a great big toilet. Ella then imagined reaching out and flushing it. She imagined watching the witch going around and around, down and down, until she had been completely flushed away. Ella immediately felt better and had a much easier time falling asleep. For several nights following, the image of the witch would pop back up in Ella’s mind, but each time it did she reminded herself that she had flushed that witch, and she remembered how empty the toilet had been once the witch had disappeared. Pretty soon, Ella forgot all about the witch and her fear.

CHALLENGE: Either draw a picture or write a scenario of something that scares you, or something that you are afraid will happen. Now draw or write the scenario again, but this time give it a happy ending. You can imagine yourself saving the day, or if you prefer, you can imagine someone else coming to the rescue…even Spider-Man!