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Schpountz and the Others
The play, Schpountz and the Others, was conceived like a riddle, without language, and is about differences and feelings. Can we identify the feelings of others? Do we have the same feelings for the same reasons? The show plays on the fine line between sympathy, empathy and compassion.

For grades 4-5.

Please see new shows for more about Schpountz




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To Feel is in Question
A show/lecture for adults.

To watch, to feel, to figure out, to decipher, to understand, to situate ourselves, are among many actions we make as spectators.
Nevertheless, we commonly associate spectator with passivity. Why?
Our societies celebrate artists, “emitters,” and discount spectators, “receivers,” creating a hierarchy, which I, Isabelle, would like to put in question.




The Art of Being a Spectator

What does it mean to be a Spectator?

How to use live theatre as a pedagogical tool: a puppet show, Floppo, followed by a discussion/workshop about critical thinking and what it means to be an active, rather than passive, spectator, for grades 4 and 5.

Puppets, Kids and Critical Thinking" article in Albuquerque Journal by Leslie Linthicumgo...


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String
A Dance & Object Show for young children

Key, the character, is waiting, her back to the audience playing cat’s cradle. Opening herself to the stage, she discovers the red winding rope, symbol of life to be tamed. Following the rope, Key finds the large bundle and unpacks seven brown paper bags. Each bag holds another emotion, the seventh, the bag of dreams and future, will be opened ... tomorrow.

The set is a metaphor for a blank page: a natural canvas back drop (6’x 9’); a slightly bigger canvas on the floor; upon it a brilliant red rope leading to a huge canvas bundle.

String is a show where Marie Margaret Moore, actress and dancer, and Isabelle Kessler, director and writer, have woven three expressions: dance, theatre and object theatre. Their goal is for children to explore the emotions and power of imagination. To reach this goal they decided to take the path of simplicity: very few objects, a very simple setting, no music tracks, no lights effects, just a human being curious about her feelings, from fear to joy.


A review in Seattles Child" of a performance of "String" at the Frye Museum of Art, Seattle, Washington Statego...


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It's Time
It's Time!

Sparrow, the main character, is in her workshop. In this quiet gray nest, color is born, feather by feather. A yellow feather: the sunrise? A blue feather: storm of blue sky? Story fragments create a bird, then an egg -- what color will it be? Simplicity and tranquility are explored in this play, which is a haiku of movement and form.

It's Time! is a new object theatre production for the very young, when each moment is a discovery and magic is in the emotions. Performed by Isabelle Kessler.

Audience maximum: 40 children (ages 2-5) plus any comfortable number of adults. Running time: approx. 30 minutes

See a video of Its Time on Vimeo! go...


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Billy Goat Ballad images
Billy Goat Ballad
Cornebique, a billy goat and big fan of the blues, hits the road, to forget an unrequited love. He finds himself, unexpectedly, in charge of a tiny dormouse, an animal of which he has never heard! Flesh, Weasel, special agent, is on their trail. He means to capture this last remaining male dormouse and reunite him with the sole remaining female, in order to create the world’s biggest corporate food supply for ... weasels.

Adapted from La Ballade de Cornebique by French author Jean Claude Mourlevat.

The set is constructed of a big box, 7 feet long, 6 feet high, and 4 feet deep. A wide window has shutters which magically open and close on universes as different as a sweetheart rendezvous, a desert and a labyrinthian palace.

Billy Goat Ballad is intended for families and elementary school-age audiences. Audience maximum: 100. Running time: 65 minutes.



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What a Choice!
A one-woman object theatre performance for adults. Bernadette Barbotine is in an inflatable life boat atop saw horses. Her lighthouse is a glass of water - is it half full or half empty? Is it better to belong to the idiotic optimists or to the boring pessimists? What a choice!

Audience maximum: 200. Darkness required. 70-minute performance.

We are pleased to let you know that we have a 9 minute (edited) video of this piece online! Click the right bottom thumbnail above, or click the link below to download.

You may also request a longer (22 minute) DVD of this video! Please contact us by emailing us at info@lorenkahnpuppet.com.

Click to download video of What a Choice (114MB)go...


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Isabelle Kessler as Bernadette Barbotine in My Island for a Boat
My Island for a Boat
A play about choices in life. Bernadette Barbotine stands on a high stool, begging for a boat to get her out of an uncomfortable situation. In her suitcase are objects which help her - metaphorically - with her struggle.

An offshoot of "What a Choice" created especially for middle-school audiences.

Maximum audience: 60. Running time: Approximately 30 minutes, followed by an open discussion with students about the show, Object Theatre, and European theatre.

Music composed by Gaspard Le Demgo...


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Natalia
Natalia is a Jewish grandmother, teller of tales, riddles and dreams, a vignette. For ages 6 - adult. Her show can be paired with "Put a Light On" or "Floppo". Audience maximum 100. Intimate setting preferable.

Running time: 15-30 minutes.



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Floppo
Floppo is a hand-puppet show, performed from a walking stage, which is reminiscent of theatres used by traveling puppeteers at Renaissance fairs. The show is a broad and humorous version of The Frog Prince, with some Spanish dialogue and live music.
Appropriate for ages 5 – adult; audience maximum is 100. An intimate setting is preferable.

Running time: approximately 30 minutes.



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right bottom: Click the photo to view VIDEO of "Peek a Boo"
Peek-a-boo!
Peek-a-boo! is an object play for toddlers, preschoolers, and adults. Eleven little moments of life punctuated by the song of a disobedient cuckoo clock.

Can be performed in English, French, or German. Audience maximum: 40 children plus any comfortable number of adults.

Running time: approx. 35-40 minutes.

Watch a (condensed) version of this piece by clicking the thumbnail above lower right. You may also request a DVD of this video! Please contact us by emailing us at info@lorenkahnpuppet.com.

email us to request a DVDgo...


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left top: From "Put a Light On"
right top: Click the photo to view EDITED VIDEO of this piece.
Put a Light On
An object theater play for adults, teens and family audiences. Using very few words to provoke thought and laughter, a puppeteer and a musician ask: what really makes us tick? Audience maximum 100. Can be paired with Natalia.

Running time: approx. 30 minutes.





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