The Ugly Duckling & The Tortoise and The Hare

CORBiAN Visual Arts and Dance

The Ugly Duckling

Mother duck knew from the very beginning that one of her babies would be different from the rest... this egg was too large and oddly shaped! Upon hatching it is clear - mother duck has an Ugly Duckling! Teased, chased and pushed aside from his friends and family, Ugly Duckling must run away from the pond and venture out on his own. Through the different seasons and new friends along the way, he continues his search for others who will love him for who he really is…an Ugly Duckling?

A beloved story about personal transformation and acceptance.

The Tortoise and the Hare

The famous story of the race between the tortoise and the hare is best known today for teaching the moral that "slow and steady wins the race."

Director's Notes

Our goal is to take the two well-known underdog classics and bring them to life with the same technology that was developed for Darwin the Dinosaur. There will be no fixed set but the production will require approximate stage dimensions of a 30 ft width, 20 ft depth and 16 ft height. The electroluminescent wire (EL Wire) puppets and props will be mainly three dimensional and brought to life by 3 performers who are dressed in full black. Puppets and props will be designed for travel within special crates. Each story will feature classical and contemporary music ranging from jazz to pop. At this time, short narration will precede each story.

Lights will only be used for bows where we will need a downstage special and a general wash. The show will require a completely darken house, however, given the audiences' age we want to make sure that the transition to darkness is comforting. Nighttime sounds and full house lighting will be available as the audience enters and as the show begins we will make the transition from night to day by dimming the lights and introducing daytime noise (e.g. rooster crowing).