Article published on November 11th on Mimosa Arts, by Karan Simpson.
This version of Pinocchio begins with the creative minds of Tout a Trac, a unique theatre group based out of Quebec, Canada and TPAC Education and Development staff.
A Master Class workshop was held by Tout a Trac at TPAC through their Art Smart program. This workshop provided TPAC teaching artists skills and knowledge in creating characters and movement with masks in preparation for their multi week school teaching program regarding the story of Pinocchio.
TPAC worked very closely with Tout a Trac translating both script and music from French to English. Many long hours and much laughter later Pinocchio came to life on stage for the school children of Nashville.
Nashville Public Television (NPT) produced a wonderful Arts Break segment highlighting this amazing experience.
I was fortunate to document the entire program through still photography. I have said this before and I will continue to do so… I love this part of my job!
Please take a moment to watch the Arts Break segment and enjoy the progression of the program in stills below.
Support the arts, y’all!
– Karan
Master Class Workshop 2013.07.14
Tout a Trac theatre group conducts workshop to instruct teaching artists in creating characters with masks and movement. These lessons are applied in the classroom by the teaching artists as they teach students how characters are created in performances.
Teacher Workshop
TPAC Education and Development staff and TPAC teaching artists hold school workshops with participating classroom teachers to provide instruction and inspiration for methods of teaching arts to their students. With an emphasis on the story of Pinocchio, teachers were enlisted to rewrite songs and participate in character creation. The dedication of the classroom teachers is truly an inspiration to me and it makes me smile that the students of Nashville have such caring people in their lives on a daily classroom basis.
Classroom Program
TPAC teaching artists provide classroom instruction in creating characters, how puppetry works, and how the story of Pinocchio may be rewritten in modern day terms.
Becoming a sneaky fox…
Learning puppetry and movement…
Rewriting the story of Pinocchio in present day…
Touch Tour
TPAC Education and Development has a strong relationship with the Tennessee School for the Blind. For this production of Pinocchio, cast members provided a touch tour of the stage set and props, introducing the students to the story of Pinocchio by allowing them to experience what the props and masks feel like and how they are used.
Performance day at TPAC
Area schools participating in the Arts Smart program attend the opening performance of Pinocchio at TPACs Polk Theatre.
Here are the pictures taken by Karan Simpson: click here.