Guidelines for Participating in Puppetry:

An individual or a team of participants will select, modify, or create an appropriate Bible-based puppet script to produce and perform based on the current LTCSW theme. (It is not required that the puppet play be from the Bible.)

• Ensure that participants not perform in more than one puppet play or event in any given time slot.
• Provide for storage of puppets, costumes and props. No storage will be provided in the puppet performance room, but one of the convention rooms at the DoubleTree will be designated for prop storage. It is a good idea to clearly mark puppet and prop storage with the name of the team’s congregation. Leave puppets or props unattended at your own risk. The performance room and storage area will be on the ground floor of the DoubleTree convention area, with no need to transport items up or down stairways or elevators.
• Register each team by grade category as determined by the oldest team member’s grade level.
• Deliver a completed Team Event Registration Form to the event director at the beginning of the performance period.

Guidelines concerning Performance

• Staging: Adults and other non-participants may help in setup and take-down. Set-up should be completed in under five minutes; tear-down also has a five minute time allotment. If a team chooses to use their own stage, they still must set it up, perform, and take it down within the five-minute time period. All non-participants must be clear of the stage during performance before the team starts.
• Narration & other ‘live’ actors: the inclusion of human players or narrators is allowed and encouraged IF it does not detract from or overshadow the puppetry presentation.
• Projection: Dialogue should be spoken clearly and voices projected. The puppet’s mouth action should be realistic and in synchronization with the words being spoken. The lower jaw of the puppet should drop away from the head when speaking. The mouth action may be sparingly exaggerated to emphasize emotion or loudness.
• Microphones: Microphones will be set up prior to the performance for use by your group. There will NOT be microphones available to each performer, but 2 or 3 community mics set on stands that can be strategically placed inside the stage.
• Adult Voices: Adult voices may NOT be used (live or pre-recorded) and the dialogue of the play must be performed live.
• Eye Contact: Puppets should interact (look at) each other and occasionally look at the audience to “involve and draw them into the story.”
• Posture: Puppets are half-body or full-body. Half-body is stomach, arms, and heard. Full-body is legs, stomach, arms, and head. A puppet should be held erect, representing the good posture of a human. Unintentional swaying, sinking, or leaning on the stage is not professional.
• Puppets’ Appearance: Costumes should be appropriate for the roles being portrayed.
• Special Effects: Stage props, sound effects timing of effects, etc. all add to the success of a play. Playing of pre-recorded special effects sound clips is allow. Pre-recorded dialogue/voice clips are not allowed.
• Audience Engagement: Puppeteers, via their script and acting skills, need to create a positive, informative experience for the audience–be engaging while entertaining.
• Teamwork: Team must display cooperative interaction with each other throughout the entrance, setup, performance, take down and exit of the puppet play.
• Let the Show Begin: Each team will enter with props and puppets from a staging area at the side of the room or through a room door. A team participant must announce, “Ready!,” or “Stage Set!,” at the beginning of the play. Once the puppet skit is completed, all puppets and team members are to leave the stage area, and a team participant must announce, “Finished!,” or “Stage Clear!,” after the last participant of the team exists the stage. Then, completion time will be recorded.
• Performance Time: Each team will have a maximum eight minutes of performance time. In grades 3-6 the performance must be a minimum of four minutes. In grades 7-12 the performance must be a minimum of five minutes. There will be hard stop at ten minutes. A deduction of 2 points will be taken for each 30 seconds under minimum performance times and for each 30 seconds above the maximum time.

 

Judging Criteria:

Puppetry teams will be evaluated at the LTCSW Convention by three judges. Judges should be familiar with various basic and advanced puppetry techniques. Judges will be given a hard copy of the judging criteria as well as receive a brief review at the beginning of each session.

• Performances will be evaluated using using a 100-point scoring system.
  1. (15 Points) Biblical Application & LTCSW Theme
  2. (30 Points) Lifelike Presentation (lip synchronization, mouth action, eye contact, posture, entrances and exits, and character roles)
  3. (10 Points) Voice Projection
  4. (5 Points) Puppets’ Appearance
  5. (10 Points) Special Effects
  6. (15 Points) Effect on Audience
  7. (15 Points) Teamwork
• An award rating will be assigned based on the point average among the three judges.
• As a general rule, awards will be assigned accordingly: GOLD, 90-100 points; SILVER, 70-89 points; and BRONZE, 0-69 points.

 

Resources:

• Where can puppets be purchased? From The Puppet Store at thepuppetstore.com. Also, search EBAY or Amazon. Many LTCSW involved churches are willing to share what they have.
• What is the cost of puppets? There are three basic sizes of puppets/ A 30-inch full-body puppet is meant for bigger puppeteers or teenagers. They can run between $70 and $100 when new. A 14- or 16-inch full-body puppet is meant for smaller puppeteers or younger primary students. They can run between $30 and $70 when new.
• What are the best practices for bringing scripts? One suggestion is to have the puppet plays printed on double-sided paper which is the slipped into a plastic sleeve. Most puppet scripts run 3-5 pages. The plastic sleeves containing the scripts can be held together by a key ring or good-sized paperclip. Printing each speakers words in a different color helps puppeteers keep their places.
• Does my congregation need to build a puppet stage? LTCSW provides a puppet stage for the convention performances, but it is a good idea to construct one for use a the home church as it allows the puppet coordinator to adequately place puppets, determine heights (some younger puppeteers might need a chair or stool), and to adequately size props. The schematic for the stage used at convention can be found at the “Puppet Stage Schematic” given in the header above.
• Will microphones be available? Yes, microphones will be set up prior to the performance for use by your group. There will NOT be microphones available to each performer, but 2 or 3 community mics set on stands that can be strategically place inside the stage.