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Joseph DR New user Texas 8 Posts |
Thanks for all the great info I found here on this site. I did my first show and it was a success!
I'm an elementary art teacher and also our school's mascot. I put on a magic show for the whole school (650+ people). Wow! What a rush it is when I get the kids laughing and gasping at the magic effects. I've always been interested in gags, comedy and magic. Now I have an outlet for it. I put on a show once a month for my school. Each time it's a different character trait theme: Responsibility Perserverance Honesty Respect Loyalty etc... I'll be posting more soon. Joseph :O) |
Dr. Delusion Special user Eugene, Oregon. 733 Posts |
Welcome to the Café. Great ideas on the character traits for your shows. I hope they all go as well as the first one.
Bob. |
DanielCoyne Special user Western Massachussetts 544 Posts |
I'd love to hear a more detailed report about how you developed the routine and the character, what effects you performed, what responses you got etc.
-Daniel |
Joseph DR New user Texas 8 Posts |
Thanks Bob and Daniel,
To answer your requests for more info- Here’s the detailed version: How I created the character: Our school is called Sam Houston Elementary and our symbol is a "jet airplane." Well, there are no "jet" mascot costumes. But we had an old bear costume in storage. I suggested to the principal that we could have the bear be the mascot even though we are jets, not bears. Just like the Houston Rockets have “Clutch, the Bear.” In the past, when the PE teacher would wear the bear costume, the younger kids would get scared of him. I guess it was too realistic because it was a plain bear. So, we dressed the bear as an airline pilot. This made it more comical and accepted by the kids. I’ll post a pic of it later. So that’s my character, a Bear Airline Pilot. Now what to do with it? Well, at first, I just showed up to school assemblies (which are held every Friday morning) to act a fool, hug the kids and clown around. I wanted to learn more, so I got some books on mime and clowning. That helped a lot! Then I found “Clown Magic” by David Ginn, and that gave me the idea to use magic in my appearances. My brother and I have always liked comedy, gags, and magic but I didn’t think to use it with the bear until I read Mr. Ginn’s book. I spoke about this to the counselor and she suggested that I incorporate the character traits in my appearances. So we agreed the best way to do it would be that I present a 15 -20 minute show onstage once a month instead of just doing walk-arounds every Friday. Before, I was silent like most team mascots. Now I have a clip-on mic and I have a voice. Of course, the kids know it’s me in the suit, but that’s okay. It works out well because I can communicate better this way. Now, for more info on the character traits, click on these links: http://www.coreessentials.org/ http://www.coreessentials.org/What_We_Teach.php Our school uses something similar to this. Basically, there is a character trait for each month of the school year. For example, at our school the character trait for the month of January is "Dependability." So each day, during morning announcements (which are live broadcasts to each classroom's TV) the counselor reads a quote about Dependability, its meaning, importance, examples of, etc... I listen to the announcements and think about how I can incorporate the trait into a magic routine. Last month, the character trait was Perseverance. My brother let me borrow his PB&J magic trick. I pulled out my spring snakes, rubber chicken, and thought of the following: So here are the basics of that Act: Introductory song – Banana Splits theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2se2I70CJ0 http://www.televisiontunes.com/Banana_Splits.html Curtain opens, bear ran out, sprayed silly string, high-5s, hugs, hand shakes with kids and teachers. Back onstage: Bear pulled out sign that had a picture of an “eye” and a “tin can” on one side. The other side had a picture of an “eye” and the word “know” on it. Bear showed one side of the sign to the left half of the audience. Audience saw an “eye” and the word “know.” They yelled, “I know!” Bear flipped the sign and showed the other side to the right half of the audience and they yelled, “I can!” when they saw pictures of an eye and a tin can. So I did this back and forth to get the audience yelling out, “I know I can!” over and over. Kind of like that commercial where they yelled, “Tastes great!” and “Less filling!” Next I got back onstage and I told the audience how exhausting that was and such and such patter… I grabbed a handkerchief and wiped at my bear face and underarms (this got a lot of “Eewww!” from the kids). As I wiped at my bear face again I said, “Whoa, this handkerchief smells bad! It smells REALLY bad!” I hammed it up and acted dazed and such. Of course, the kids thought that it was because of me wiping my armpits. But then, with a flip of the hands (I practiced this a lot) the handkerchief extended into a humongous, oversized, ultra-big cow-printed underwear! This really got a lot of laughs and “Eewws!” I noticed my principal was not happy about this gag but who cares! I told the audience how hungry I was and that I hadn’t eaten breakfast, but that I was in the mood for a PB&J sandwich. Then I did patter about cleanliness and its importance. So I pulled out Kandu’s Wet One’s spring snake baby wipes. I go to pull it and the snake jumps out. I act all crazy and scared. The kids laugh. My son is my assistant. He’s in kindergarten. He wears a dinosaur costume from Halloween. So he runs out from backstage and grabs the snake and fights with it like David Ginn and takes it backstage along with whatever falls to the floor. He’s my “ditch bag” so to speak. I put on a huge bib that has a picture of a big empty plate on it. There’s also a steak knife and a fork on it. I rubbed my bear belly and told them I was starving. I showed them the PB&J under the canisters and told them I had to do it the magic way, just like Roscoe the Rabbit had taught me. I patter more about my white bunny friend and that they will meet him soon. It’s a puppet I’ve been practicing with that I’ll introduce in a later show. To be continued…..(my wife’s nagging, gotta go) |
donrodrigo Special user U.S.A. and Europe 635 Posts |
I'm going back to school guys. With this kind of teacher.
Hi Armadillo keep up the good work (should be more people like you on this planet.)Lots of magic luck to. Respectfully Don. |
DanielCoyne Special user Western Massachussetts 544 Posts |
Wow -- sounds like a very well thought-out performance. I'm sure the kids loved it. Good stuff! : )
-Daniel |
Joseph DR New user Texas 8 Posts |
Thanks for the words of encouragement, guys! The following is the rest of my act. I copied and pasted it directly from my notes, so it's an abbreviated version:
Bear wants to make a PB&J sandwich. New wand from bunny friend so he'll do it the magic way (breakaway wand). Show them the PB&J, then pick up wand and start to explain how you're going to do it. Wand limps. Look don’t see with wand. Ham it up. Finally see wand broken. Tries to fix it. Broken? No, needs recharging. Shows “Wand Recharger” to audience (drawer box decorated to look like a battery charger), shows it empty. Places wand inside and says he needs to read the instructions: “Must count to 10 backwards in order for it to charge correctly.” Asks audience to help him count so that the wand can fully re-charge. Audience counts down from ten. Bear opens box and spring snakes fly out. Dino-Boy grabs snakes, fights them and takes backstage. Bear says it must’ve over-charged. Closes box, opens it and takes out breakaway wand. Tries the magic words, “Munchous Crunchous Duplex Deluxe” Doesn’t work. Tries again and again. Not working. Bear is discouraged, gives up, sits on edge of stage all balled up, head buried in hands. Negative self-talk, “I’m just no good at this. Why even try? I’ll never be able to get it right.” Assistant enters center stage and shows “I know I can” sign to audience. Audience chants, “ I know I can” Bear is energized and encouraged. Tries PB&J trick again. Doesn’t work. Suddenly the bear says, “What a minute! The real magic words are ‘I know I can’ not ‘munchous crunchous duplex deluxe!’ Man, I was way off!” Tries again with “I know I can” magic words. IT WORKS! Does it again and again and it works. Now where’s the sandwich? Looks around. Ham it up! Ask Magic Wand (breakaway wand). Wand takes control, leads bear into audience. Leads to Teacher’s purse (seated in audience). Asks teacher if he can look in her purse for his PB&J sandwich. Teacher says no. Bear pleads, “I’m hungry!” Asks kids to say, “Please, Mrs. _______!” Teacher agrees, bear looks in, acts embarrassed by what he sees. Quickly closes purse. Apologizes to teacher about seeing inside. Says he shouldn’t have picked her purse to look in. Understands why she said no. (This leads audience to want to know exactly what is in the purse that is so embarrassing to look at. I can imagine other teachers running images in their minds about what may be inside. Funny!) Bear asks if kids want to see inside. Ham it up. Bear states, “As you well know, my wand has been given me problems all morning. And I still think it’s a bit messed up because I certainly did not order…(pause)… a chicken sandwich!” Bear pulls out rubber chicken. Audience laughs. Pulls out a fake fried egg. “I also didn’t order an omelet!” Finally bear is happy because he --Pulls out a PB&J Sandwich! Thanks Teacher. Audience applauds teacher Goes onstage and thanks boy and girl. Bows, Curtains close. Theme song plays again. --Joseph |
Justin Style Inner circle 2010 Posts |
Hello, I’m Justin Style. Welcome to the Café!
Here's a clip of some kids laughing at my show: http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=2lpItUPAz6g |
Jimeh Inner circle Ottawa, Ontario 1399 Posts |
Welcome to the Café Joseph! Good to have you on board...
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