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Find your voice and share your skills with your showstopping performance. This is how we build confidence and exercise courage.
Creators
On paper, use your favorite pencil or pen to practice your autograph so you're ready to sign for your fans at the stage door.
By the way, what's the difference between a signature and an autograph?
Pro Tip: Make it big (so it's easy to see!) and fast, because you'll have to sign dozens after every performance!
• an Archamelia toy house!
• balloons
• banana peel
• bat
• binoculars
• blue light x 2
• bowler hat x 2
• bullhorn
• clown fish x 2
• comedy/tragedy masks
• confetti cannon
• cowboy boot
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below. Look closely! They can be anywhere around the theater.
• crescent moon
• director's chair
• disco ball
• elephant
• fire escape
• Greek coin
• keyboard
• kite
• maracas
• microphone
• nest
• octopus
Identify the instruments in the Topsy-Turvy Teatro's Orchestra Pit?
Scholars
ANSWERS:
French horn, cello, clarinet, electric guitar, accordion, saxophone, harp, shamisen, djembe, drum, trumpet, banjo, trombone
Make a pretend microphone out of paper! You'll need:
• inner tube from paper towels or toilet paper
• construction paper and cardboard
• markers, crayons, tape and glue
• yarn and scissors
Builders
Creators
Graffiti Tags are signatures by the artist who created the work. (They are often done in one color with a strong contrast to the background.) Can you read the phrase "Art Love" in the Topsy-Turvey Teatro's Tag? It was created by Sebastien Marcovici.
Make your own graffiti tag! Think of something special and turn it into graffiti art!
Scholars
Did you know the first recorded theater was established at the beginning of the 5th century?! What was it called?
What is the longest running musical...ever?!
Have you found the Viking helmet? Why is the horned helmet associated with opera? What is a Zombie Cultural Symbol?!
Who owns the costume hanging in the window of the dressing room?
Creators
Make your own graffiti tag STICKERS! You will need: paper, markers, packing tape, scissors, and repositionable tape.
Explorers
Find visual representations for the following popular sayings of the theater in the walls of the Topsy-Turvey Teatro.
• "quarter mark"
• "fly rail"
• "limelight"
• "a half-hour call"
• "steal the show"
• "break a leg"
• "orchestra pit"
• "raked stage"
• "footlights"
• "the boom"
• "curtain call"
• "$10 hat on a 5¢ head"
• "a dinosaur is in my way"
BONUS: What do these sayings even mean and where did they come from?
We are Cleo and Chloe, the Clown Fish, and we love to laugh! Let's create a stand-up comedy routine with all your favorite jokes.
Storytellers
Builders
Abracadabra! Learn some magic tricks for your next performance.
Creators
You'll need a magician's name and outfit. For your name, take your favorite adjective and the name of your first pet. Create a magician's hat and throw a cape around your neck. You can use towels, blankets, sheets...
Storytellers
Like a rabbit from a hat, pull your magic tricks out of your back pocket at the next family dinner!
Why "No Whistling" in the theater? And why do we tell performers, "Break a leg!"?
Research and learn about more theatrical superstitions.
Scholars
What and where is the "fly rail" and why is it called that in the first place?
Find all 6 flies causing mischief in the fly rail.
Explorers
Explorers
Find the autograph pen near the artist's entry. Why does it have that name?
If you rearrange the neon letters in the sign over the artist's entry, you'll get the name of a famous restaurant known for serving countless Broadway legends.
What is, and who invented, the banana peel pratfall? What is a pratfall?
Creators
Location! Location! Location! A great story is all about location!
Set up your Topsy-Turvey Teatro in alternate spaces. For example, if you wanted to tell a story using that (in)famous turtle quartet who live in the sewer...set it up under the bathroom sink!
Or, if your story takes place on the moon, set up the Teatro on a boulder in your backyard. How can context inspire your next great adventure?
The Phantom Mouse wants to see your story come to life! Write out the screenplay. Make sure to draw some pictures, and give your characters names and costumes.
Once you have your story, cast it with your friends and family.
Now it's time to memorize your lines!
I'm so old! I've performed 13,370 times. I'm ready to be entertained. Tell me a story using the piano with the frayed cord, the lit confetti cannon, and the trapeze artists.
Storytellers
Ready to advertise the performance? Create a poster to excite your fans and boost ticket sales.
Elements to consider:
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The title of the spectacle
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Drawings of performance highlights
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Top billing names of the performers
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A catchy phrase
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Names of the playwright, director, choreographer...
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Collage with pieces of costumes from the performance
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And photographs!
Once finished, tape your poster to the door of your bedroom. And get ready for the audience to start lining up!
Creators
Builders
You've written the script, rehearsed the lines, and created the posters. Now it's time to build the stage. Like the Topsy-Turvey Teatro, you might consider:
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Chairs for the audience
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An opening/closing curtain
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Props
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Some lights (footlights and spotlights)
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Orchestra
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Concessions
You can also perform outside! This is called an amphitheater!
Explorers
Locate all the objects listed below. Look closely! They can be anywhere around the theater.
• bear
• dressing room x 2
• frog puppet
• fruit basket
• ghost
• golden crown
• galloping horses
• keyboard
• graffiti art x 2
• lamppost
• nail
• neon sign x 3
• neon feet
• opera glasses
• peanut x 4
• Phantom Mouse
• phone booth
• piano x 2
• piece of popcorn
• pigeon
• quarter note
• rabbit counting
• rabbit hiding
• raccoon
• red gloves
• red wheel
• rocket
• seagull x 8
• seal
• seashell x 8
• shoes
• skeleton
• spotlight
• stage manager
• star that's pink
• star in a star
• swan
• tassle x 2
• top hat x 4
• trapeze artists
• tree
• treble clef
• unicorn
• Viking helmet
• wand x 2
• wet paw prints
• white violin
• wig
• wooden wheel x 2
• yellow bag
• yellow chair
Grab your favorite action figurines or dolls and steal the show by singing your favorite songs from your favorite movies behind the microphone!
Storytellers
Oo-oo-oo SCARY!!! Ghost Lights!!!
Not really! They're actually very helpful. But, what are they? And, where is the real Ghost Light in the Topsy-Turvey Teatro?
Scholars
Creators
Grab your supplies and create some animal friends for the raccoon thief.
Cut them out and tape them to the end of some popsicle sticks.
Use them for a puppet show in the Topsy-Turvey Teatro. When they are not in use, tape them to your laptop for company during Zoom!
Scholars
Did you know people once threw cabbage, roses and tomatoes onto the stage? What's the history behind this funny behavior?
What are concessions? Make your own with these recipes!
Have you ever heard of a "raked" stage? What is it, and why were stages built this way?
The Topsy-Turvey Teatro has footlights. Have you found them? What are they used for in the theater?
Why do you suppose old-fashioned footlights used seashells and candles?
BONUS: Speaking of candles, did you find the firework show?
Scholars
Perspective is a trick that illustrators use to make 2-dimensional drawings appear to be 3-dimensional.
Topsy-Turvey Teatro applies perspective too! If you look at the stage from the "right" angle, the illustrated floor on the vertical wall appears to extend horizontally from the base.
This photo shows how the stage floor at first appears to be flat, even though it actually bends upward at a 90º angle.
This same trick exists in the carrier, too. Can you find it?
And Consider These
Did you know that people can read music, just like they read letters on a page? If you haven't learned yet, consider it here!
In the dressing room is the musical score for "Magnetic Rag," by Scott Joplin, who was known as the King of Ragtime. Take a listen!
Learn about why stringed instruments have that "f"-shaped opening. What would happen if that shape were changed?
Did you know that the kiosk for the theater is a mixture of themes: circus, theater, aquarium, and magic castle. What elements in the kiosk represent these 4 themes?
Look closely at the Topsy-Turvey Teatro's roof. The shingles become an audience when it folds down for showtime!
In the dressing room is a pot filled with dirty dance clothes. The side reads, "my knits." What does it say in the mirrored reflection?
Did you know the dressing room is located at Jacob's Pillow? On their website, you can take a virtual tour of their historic theater, and even see performances in their archive!
Somewhere on the Topsy-Turvey Teatro is a silhouette of the inventor, Charlie Hodges, dancing. Can you find it? (Hint: It's very similar to a photograph taken by Anne Menke.)
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