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Cinderella Pictures from London
The poster from the Cinderella puppet show that I saw.
The theatre where the Cinderella puppet show was performed.
Great ideas, you guys! - Red Kite Phase 2
Great ideas you guys!
I love how Irene thinks there might be a villain! And, Abou was really using his imagination about the cardboard box covering the moon. Allison, sorry I have no pics of Big Ben to share with you. Most of our time has been spent inside theatres and meeting rooms. Tomorrow I hope to go out and get some good photos of London to share with you. Eric, I hope you weren't too late for your bus.
Today I saw a a great puppet show of Cinderella at a theatre called the Little Angel. It was really lovely and creative. I have never seen a Cinderella puppet show (the Cinderella puppet was so sweet to look at) before and it was really unusual and the music was original and perfect! Thanks, Mr. Rench for keeping us all in touch. I can't wait to see you guys on Friday.
Jacqui
Third set of pictures from London - The Red Kite Project Phase 2
Here I am blogging on my laptop in the Oily Cart offices
The Oily Cart costume shop. Irene, look at all the costumes!
Kathy, the Oily Cart General Manager
Kerry Shaw Brown in the Oily Cart rehearsal room
More photos from London - The Red Kite Project Phase 2
Here I am on the set of the Oily Cart show "If All the World Were Paper."
Tim from Oily Cart and a bird puppet. The bird's tail feathers are made of something we used to make wind in The Red Kite Project phase one.
If All the World Were Paper---The Red Kite Project Phase 2
Yesterday we drove two hours in Tim and Amanda's truck to a little town called Warwick where we say a show Tim, Amanda, and Max created called “If All the World Were Paper." It is a performance for little kids 3-6 years old. It's a really neat show about a paper doll that comes to life, flies on a paper airplane and falls into a sea of ink. The music was written by Max and is all played on a ukelele. I wish you could see it. The picture you see of the bird puppet is from the show---isn't that cool? All made from paper and a big fan. What would you do if all the world were made of paper?
After the show, we had a nice long meeting with Tim, Amanda and Max to talk about our new show. Remember the one we are going to put on Navy Pier about the ship that uses Cody Kites to sail to the moon? Did you ever find out anything you can tell me about Cody Kites?
During our meeting we came up with the idea that maybe the moon isn't shining down on earth anymore and we need to take our imaginary ship to the moon to find out what's wrong. Can you use your imagination and tell me why you think the moon might suddenly stop shining? Could it be that its batteries are dead? Could it be that it went on holiday to another solar system? What do you think happened?
As I write this it is a chilly morning in London and I am sitting in Tim and Amanda's living room. Keeping warm by their fireplace and thinking about my good friends back in Chicago.
Tell me how you all are and what you have been doing.
Love, Jacqui
Photos from London - The Red Kite Project Phase 2
Here I am brainstorming with Oily Cart staff about The Red Kite Project in their offices. (L-R: Jacqui, Amanda, Max and Tim)
Here's a puppet in the Oily Cart offices. Look carefully: his body is made of an everyday object. Can you tell what it is?
Videographer Kerry Shaw Brown in the Oily Cart rehearsal room in London.
Staff of Oily Cart in London after a lunch break.
CHEERIOS: BREAKFAST IN GREAT BRITAIN----THE RED KITE PROJECT PHASE 2
Hello Friends in Room 208 and 307. Thanks for writing to me! Hi Dejuan. I am staying at Tim and Amanda's house---they are two of the people you met in October when we performed the 'House of the Winds' for you. Tim played the Captain. They have a lovely house in London. Billy, I miss you, too! Donald, I will be back in the classroom with you all next Friday, December 21st at Drama Time. Jackson, the weather here is chilly, but not as cold as Chicago. Today the sun is shining. Yay, I love to see the sun shining. Don't you? How is the weather in Chicago?
Irene, thanks for the seasickness advice. I flew here on a plane. The plane ride took 6 and half hours. It is also 6 hours later here. So if it is midnight in Chicago, it is 6 AM in the morning here in England. So, I am not seasick right now but jetlagged---this mean my body thinks it is still in Chicago and feels like I should be sleeping while everyone here is up and working---all cheery and wide awake----while I am yawning a lot and drinking loads of coffee! I also had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast this morning. They are as popular here as they are in America.
Yesterday we had a brainstorming meeting (this is when we sit together and share our ideas with each other about the new show) about our new RED KITE production. The play will be on Navy Pier at the Chicago Children's Museum and we are thinking that our set will now be a big ship, called The Red Kite. Tim told me he thinks that the Red Kite should have 'Cody Kites' as sails. Can you all learn something about Cody Kites on the internet or from your library and let me know what you think of them? I have never heard of them before.
If we sail our imaginary ship with Cody Kites then Tim thinks we should sail all the way to the moon! What do you think of that idea? A play about a ship that has these powerful kites that lift if out of the water and take it all the way to the moon? What can you imagine we would find on the moon? Let's accept that we know the moon is filled with rocks and has no one living on it. But in your imagination---there could be ANYTHING on the moon! There could be marshmallow mountains or marooned space ships. I am thinking it would be fun to find a new kind of animal called a Moon Bunny. What would it look like? What would it eat? Can you share some of your ideas with me so I can give them to Tim as he writes the new play?
That's it for today. I need to get back to work.
Write back. Love, Jacqui
Crossing the Pond - The Red Kite Project Phase 2
This Sunday I will fly from Chicago to London to do some more work with our Red Kite Project collaborators from Oily Cart. Accompanying me will be our video documentary-maker, Kerry Shaw Brown. (Kerry is the camera guy from the Red Kite/ House of The Winds workshop.) He is making a movie about this project/production and will be coming with me on this trip to film a behind the scenes look at our process and to interview Tim Webb, Max Reinhardt, and Amanda Webb---the artists from Oily Cart. This blog is for anyone who wants to learn more about this project, but mostly it is for the students in the Autism classes at Agassiz Elementary School---a Chicago Public School---Rooms 307 and 208.
The last time I saw our friends from London's Oily Cart----Tim, Amanda and Max--- was in October---the last day of the Red Kite workshop. We got to spend time with the actors and artists and watch a short video Kerry made for us----it was so fun to see pictures of everyone and of the 307 and 208 students enjoying the “House of the Winds” performance. That same night Lally (our collaborator from The Autism Program at UIC), Tim, Amanda, Max and I had a nice dinner together at a party downtown at the Harold Washington Public Library and then said goodbye (with big, warm hugs) on a rainy Chicago street. We said we would see each other again soon when I would go to see them in London---in December.
Now it is finally December and I am packing my things to go to work with Tim on writing a new script. We are rewriting the show before we rehearse some more in March and install it on Navy Pier at the Chicago Children's Museum (our community partner) this April. Then you will see a new and improved show---but it should be just as fun and full of surprises—I know how much you all loved playing in the falling snow, wrapping up in the blankets and that dancing around to that great blanket folding music! After thinking a lot about our show “The House of the Winds” and getting feedback from you and your teachers, and then meeting with all of our theatre designers----sets (Tracy), costumes (Rachael), music (Kevin/Max) and video (Kerry)---Tim and I have decided to work on setting the show on a ship sailing the high seas----the ship is called (but, of course!) The Red Kite.
When I leave Chicago this Sunday it will be nighttime; when I get to London it will be Monday morning there. I am staying at Tim and Amanda's house. We are going to drink tea, talk, brainstorm and write all day. I will send you some photos from there and tell you more about what we are doing once we arrive across the pond --- that's what a lot of people call going overseas---going “across the pond.” Be sure to write back and send me your thoughts and questions….
Jacqui Russell, Artistic Director
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