The Very Hungry Caterpillar ERG - Seattle Children's Theatre

PUPPETRY IN THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR
The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favorites is told entirely through the use of
black-light puppetry and narration. In all three stories presented in this production, a main
character goes through a series of physical transformations. Puppetry allows the play to
illustrate those changes in a fascinating way.
Black-light puppetry uses a stage lit with ultraviolet, or black, lights. The puppeteers and some of
the architecture of the stage are covered in black velvet, which cannot be seen under the lights.
This allows the puppeteers to be completely hidden, while the puppets can be any size and have
a large range of motion. The puppets themselves are fluorescent colored, so they are fully visible
and able to move or float in what sometimes seems to be midair - or even disappear.
The way in which the puppets are manipulated is born out of
the ancient tradition of Bunraku puppetry, originally developed
in Japan. This style of puppetry has multiple puppeteers
operating one puppet by moving different rods attached to its
feet, hands and head. Bunraku puppeteers dress in black
clothing to attempt to blend into the background as much as
possible. Bunraku plays feature traditional Japanese music and
tell popular stories that the audience often knows beforehand.
This is similar to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is told
with music and narration from the books themselves.
Bunraku puppeteers
This style of presentation allows the puppeteers to mirror Eric Carle’s
collage illustrations while making the stories come alive with movement
and texture. The audience sees the stories performed in a way
that stays true to the spirit of Eric Carle’s books.
Operating The Very
Hungry Caterpillar puppet
ACTIVITY:
Puppetry is a form of theater that can easily be recreated at home or in the classroom to
explore stories, feelings, problems and transformations.
Have the students write a short story and create a paper bag puppet of one of the characters
in their story. Attach material like pipe cleaners, string, paper fasteners and rubber bands that
can flow, jiggle, and bounce so the students can explore what happens when the puppet moves
in different ways.
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