Sensory Friendly Pre-Visit Guide...The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pre-Visit Guide P a g e | 2 Introduction: We want to make your theater experience as enjoyable and memorable as possible

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pre-Visit Guide P a g e | 1

Sensory Friendly

Pre-Visit Guide

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia presents

The Very Hungry Caterpillar &

other Eric Carle Favorites


Introduction:

We want to make your theater experience as enjoyable and memorable as possible.

This guide has been created so that families attending the sensory friendly

production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar & other Eric Carle Favorites can

familiarize themselves with the show and its characters as well as the technical

elements of the production.

We also have a pre-visit guide for Samueli Theater available at

www.scfta.org/sensoryfriendly.

The performance is approximately 50 minutes long. There is no intermission, but

you can leave at any time and come back in.

Some light will remain on in the theater throughout the show so that you can move

around, exit and enter as needed.

We hope you have a great time at the performance!

About the Show:

Three beloved stories by Eric Carle, award-winning children’s book illustrator and

author, are retold on stage through the magic of black light and fanciful puppets.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar follows the wonderful adventures of a very tiny and very

hungry caterpillar as he eats his way through an amazing variety of foods on his

path to becoming a beautiful butterfly. High up in the sky, Little Cloud playfully

transforms himself into various creatures, including a sheep, an airplane, a shark

and more. The Mixed-Up Chameleon is bored with his life, sitting about predictably

changing color all day. Following an adventurous trip to the zoo, he attempts to

emulate the beautiful animals he sees before concluding that there is value in his

own unique self.

Notes on the Production:

This story is told through the use of puppets and blacklight. Black lights on the stage

light up the puppets and props while everything else on stage remains dark (there

will be house lights on throughout the performance). A pre-recorded narrator reads

the books as two performers, dressed in black and invisible to the audience,

manipulate large puppets. Accompanied by a musical score, the puppets appear to

leap, float and fly, bringing Eric Carle’s stories to life.

Announcements:

There will be a brief announcement just before the performance begins.

http://www.scfta.org/sensoryfriendly


Meet the Cast/Characters:

There are two puppeteers who perform in the show and one stage

manager that runs the lights and sounds from off stage. The puppeteers

wear all black and will be barely visible on stage and control all the

puppets you see during the show.

The first puppeteer’s name is Andrew Young. Here is what he looks like:

The second puppeteer’s name is Ben Leger. Here is what he looks like:


The stage manager’s name is Kevin Olson. Here is what he looks like:

Set:

The stage is mostly dark throughout the show so that the props and

puppets can light up with the black light. For the first part of the show,

the set is made up of several small houses and trees that props and

puppets appear above and for the second part of the show, the set is

made up of a patch of sand/grass that props and puppets appear above.


Lighting:

There are only a few very subtle light changes during the show with the

exception that the lights on stage very briefly go off at the end of the

performance. The stage remains mostly dark and is almost entirely lit

with black light which makes the puppets, props and set glow.

Sound:

There is original music and narration throughout the performance. There

are no other sound effects.

Show Walkthrough:

All characters and props in this show are performed by puppets controlled

by two puppeteers.

The narrator briefly introduces the three stories. The first story is Little

Cloud. The stage is dark except for a few houses and trees. Clouds float

slowly over the houses. Little Cloud moves around quickly and playfully.

Little Cloud changes its shape to look like different things:

• A giant cloud

• A sheep

• An airplane

• A shark

• Two trees

• A rabbit

• A hat

• A clown


Here is Little Cloud as a clown:

The other clouds drift by and call for Little Cloud who joins them to

become one big cloud. The big cloud rains. Raindrops appear beneath the

cloud and then the big cloud exits the stage.

Here is the big cloud raining:


The second story is The Mixed-up Chameleon. The houses and trees are

moved off stage revealing yellow sand behind them. A flower with a green

chameleon enters the stage. Then a tree appears on the stage. The

chameleon changes into the colors of the objects it walks on:

• Brown like the tree

• Red like the flower

• Yellow like the sand

A fly enters, and the chameleon exits. The sand is moved off stage

revealing a patch of grass behind it. The chameleon enters, now green

from the grass. The chameleon exits and returns dark grey. The fly returns

and the chameleon shoots out its tongue and catches the fly. The

chameleon turns green again.

Here is the chameleon catching the fly:

The chameleon sees a sign for the zoo and follows it.


Here is the chameleon seeing the sign for the zoo:

A series of animals appear on stage:

• A giraffe

• A flamingo

• A deer

• A fox

• A bear

• An elephant

• A man and woman

• A seal

• A turtle

• A fish

Here is what the giraffe and flamingo look like:


The chameleon enters and sees all the different animals and tries to

become like them by changing its body:

• The chameleon turns white like the bear

• The chameleon gets pink feathers like the flamingo

• The chameleon gets a bushy tail like the fox

• The chameleon gets two fins like the fish

• The chameleon gets two antlers like the deer

• The chameleon gets a long neck like the giraffe

Here is the chameleon with these different animal parts:

The chameleon gets more animal parts:

• The chameleon gets a shell like the turtle

• The chameleon gets a head and trunk like the elephant

• The chameleon gets two flippers like the seal

• The chameleon gets a hat like the people

A fly enters, but the chameleon can no longer catch it.


Here is the chameleon with all the different animal parts trying to catch

the fly:

A rainbow appears on stage and the chameleon walks behind it.

Here is the chameleon with the rainbow:


All the other animal parts fly up and away and the chameleon returns,

changed back into a grey chameleon. The chameleon catches the fly,

turns green and exits. Stars appear in the sky.

The last story is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The moon rises on stage and

a tree appears. On the tree there is a leaf with an egg. The moon sets and

the sun rises. The egg on the leaf hatches into a small caterpillar. The

caterpillar crawls around and looks for food.

Here is the caterpillar with the sun:

The caterpillar eats through different types food, leaving a hold through

the food:

• One apple

• Two pears

• Three plums

• Four strawberries

• Five oranges

• Chocolate cake, ice cream cone, pickle, swiss cheese, salami,

lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake and watermelon


Here is the caterpillar eating some of the food:

After it eats each of these foods, the caterpillar kicks the leftover food off

the stage.

Here is the caterpillar kicking a strawberry:


The tree appears again. The moon rises and sets and then the sun rises.

The caterpillar climbs in the tree and eats through the leaf.

The caterpillar grows into a big, fat caterpillar. It hangs from the tree and

a cocoon grows around it. The cocoon falls off the tree and a butterfly

appears. The butterfly flaps its wings, flies around the stage and exits.

Here is the butterfly:

End of Performance

If you have any questions about our sensory friendly performance of The

Very Hungry Caterpillar, reach out to us at [email protected].

Documents

Sensory Friendly Pre-Visit Guide...The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pre-Visit Guide P a g e | 2 Introduction: We want to make your theater experience as enjoyable and memorable as possible