Sheila Kerrigan, The Mime Who Talks!
Sheila educates and delights 3rd-5th graders with the show, “The Scientific Mime, or, What’s Up With Gravity?” Author of “The Performer’s Guide to the Collaborative Process,” she teaches workshops on mime, forces and motion, juggling, small-group communication, collaboration, and creative process. She taught “Community-Based Performance” at Duke, and “Creating Original Performance” at Bennington’s July Program. President of the SE Center for Arts Integration, she was a Fellow with A+ Schools, and Alternate ROOTS’ Resources for Social Change. Founder and performer with TOUCH Mime Theater for seventeen years, director and performer for Jelly Educational Theater, Sheila has performed for young people for years.
ARTS-CURRICULUM INTEGRATION: (THEATRE) (MOVEMENT/SCIENCE) (LANGUAGE ARTS) (MIME)
Performance The Scientific Mime or What’s Up With Gravity?
GRADES: 3-5
“The Scientific Mime, or, What’s Up With Gravity?” is a 45-minute show for 3rd-5th graders. Science is full of abstractions and invisible forces that are hard for young people to grasp. But once they’ve seen a mime struggling against gravity, pulls, inertia, and other forces, they become real. It’s interactive: the audience sees, hears, says, and does gestures for key vocabulary. The show begins with a lecture-demonstration about mime that draws a direct line to ELA RL.1. It also connects to NC Standards in Theatre, PE, and Physical Science. Belly laughs are included. (Brain research shows that we remember better when we have an emotional connection to content.)
Max Participants: 350
Performance Duration: 45-50 minutes
Special Requirements: Performance space minimum dimensions: 24’ wide x 20’ feet deep x 10’ ceiling height; floor must be clean and clear of sharp objects. Audience needs to see the floor. A gym with audience seated on bleachers on one side can work; an auditorium can work, too
Single Performance Fee: $625
Two Same-Day Performances: $1,062.50
One performance and 1 workshop: $781.25
Video Series The Scientific Mime , or, What's Up with Gravity?
GRADES: 3-5
Six short video excerpts of “The Scientific Mime, or, What’s Up With Gravity?” — each one illustrates a concept in the Forces and Motion Science Standards. Teachers may use videos to introduce concepts for grades 3rd-5th Physical Science standards. Start off a lesson about gravity with a 5-minute video of a mime struggling against gravity and weight. Or spark interest in air (it’s a gas!) with a mime walking against the wind, juggling scarves, and playing with balloons. Other topics include: mass and inertia; sound waves; force, push and pull; and friction.
The videos spark excitement about science and help concrete thinkers grasp abstract concepts. In them, audiences are invited to do sound-and-movement gestures for key vocabulary along with Sheila! Why? Because students use visual, oral, auditory, and bodily learning pathways all at once. –see, say, hear, do—and that helps cement learning by storing information in four different areas of the brain. Plus, silliness is embedded, and brain research has shown that people remember better when they have an emotional connection to content.
Max Participants: Up to the teachers.
Duration: Each video is 5-7 minutes in length
Special Requirements: Purchaser must have the ability to download/stream video
Download/Streaming Fee: $75 for all six videos. (A link to videos will be sent after purchase)
Workshop Create an Original Performance: Masterclass
GRADES: 6-12, adults
For adults, senior adults, middle school, high school, and college students who want to collaboratively create their own work, this Master Class will start them on the journey. Participants will investigate HOW to work together happily, WHAT are the burning questions they want to build a performance around, and WHO the audience is for these questions. Then they will set off on a comprehensive approach for generating performance material, paying attention to both collaborative and creative processes. Sheila’s book, “The Performer’s Guide to the Collaborative Process,” (www.Lulu.com) provides the foundation for this Master Class.
Max Participants: 30
Performance Duration: 90 minutes
Special Requirements: Participants should bring writing materials. Room should have enough space for everyone to move around at once. Space on the wall for posting, and/or whiteboard, blackboard
Fees:
- Singe Workshop: $281.25
- Two Same-Day Workshops: $312.50
- Three Same-Day Workshops: $343.75
Workshop Mime or Juggling Workshop
Mime Workshop: students learn to create invisible objects and imaginary worlds. They work with partners and learn to: focus on a partner, accept a partner’s offers, lead and follow. They tune into kinesthetic awareness, body language, non-verbal communication, characters and feelings. They explore ideas in groups through improvisation and discussion. They create mime skits that incorporate their new skills.
Juggling Workshop: PE teachers know that learning to juggle improves coordination. Sheila demonstrates juggling—by throwing up and dropping. (The best jugglers drop more than anyone!) Sheila brings balls, scarves, and bean bags. Balls will fly. Gravity is your friend! Jugglers help each other!
Max Participants: 25
Performance Duration: 45-60 minutes
Special Requirements:
- Mime Workshop: Any classroom, meeting room, or performance space that is free and clear of furniture, with enough room to avoid collision with people or objects.
- Juggling Workshop: A gym or stage is best—a place where flying balls will not break things and where people can chase their balls without crashing into furniture.
Fees:
- Singe Workshop: $281.25
- Two Same-Day Workshops: $312.50
- Three Same-Day Workshops: $343.75
- Four Same-Day Workshops: $375
Workshop Small Group Communication For Teachers
How can I help my students learn to collaborate, so that they can discuss and work together happily in small groups? How do I break down the skills of listening, facilitating, accepting, affirming, and the many other elements of collaboration? You can build a norm of collaboration in your classroom by giving students the tools and insights they need to attend to HOW they work together WHILE they work together in small groups. This workshop will break it down for you and give you ways to build students’ collaborative skills over time.
Max Participants: 30
Performance Duration: 90 minutes
Special Requirements: Participants should bring writing materials. Enough open space for everyone to move around at once. Tables and chairs for everyone to sit and work in small groups
Fees:
- Singe Workshop: $281.25 plus $15 printing fee
- Two Same-Day Workshops: $312.50 plus $15 printing fee
- Three Same-Day Workshops: $343.75 plus $15 printing fee