Teachers Corner

The following study guide has been designed to help make your students’ experience of our show as meaningful as it can be. For many children, it will be their first time viewing a live theatrical production. We encourage you to use this guide to prepare your students before they come to the show, and to discuss topics, themes and ideas back in the classroom so that their appreciation will be all the more memorable and significant.

Our 61st Season’s show, Here We Go! takes our audience on a marvelous journey from the wild west, to a forest of fir trees, a bowling alley, and a faraway planet, with many interesting stops along the way. Children will delight in the mix of classic sketches and new surprising stories, terrific tunes, and cardboard and paper costumes and sets. The hour-long show will engage children creatively, cognitively and socially and have them leave the theater singing, dancing, thinking, connecting and creating. Since our beginnings in downtown New York City’s dance and theater scene, The Paper Bag Players have reached an audience of many millions as the longest running children’s theater in the USA.

A Note to Students to Help Prepare Them for the Show

One thing that makes live theater different from television and movies is that the show is taking place in the very space you are, at the very moment you are watching it. Your presence is a very important ingredient: without an audience, there is no show! You are part of the show whether you are silently listening, laughing, or clapping. Sometimes, you will be called upon to help the performers, shouting advice, getting out of your seats to dance, and singing along with them. We can’t wait for you to see our show – and to be part of it, too! Finally, we love to hear from you: If you have time to draw us a picture about your favorite moment, or a letter telling us what made you laugh or think about something in a new way, we will certainly appreciate it. Your artworks and letters are always treasured!