Paper Theatre 2011

SHAPE-SHIFTING LEGENDS

OF HAWAII

Thursday, August 25 •12:00 noon & 12:30 pm

Lower level, west wing

Geisel Library, UCSD. Free!

PAPER THEATRE

It's the smallest show on Earth!  A full production in a scale model theatre, much like was done in the Victorian Era when families gathered, after hours of cutting & pasting, to bring a play to life.

Paper Theatre was a popular Victorian Era educational toy.  These colorful scale model theatres were cut and pasted together from posters promoting specific playhouses and advertising specific plays. The paper doll characters included were often in the likeness of popular actors of the era and were costumed as seen in an actual stage play. Distinctive architectural elements of the historic playhouses were meticulously showcased on the paper sheets of these scale-model promotional kits, including backdrops of specific productions. Scripts, translated into several different languages, were included in these kits, showing the international popularity of these toys.

An exhibit of Victorian Era replicas and modern interpretations of paper theatre is featured in the UCSD Arts Libary the day of the paper theatre performance.  This year's featured play, about shape-shifting folk legends of Hawaii, will be preformed in a tiny replica of a 1922 theatre still active in downtown Honolulu called the Hawaii Theatre.