[cheerful music] - Hello, my name is Renata Townsend.

I'm a New Victory teaching artist.

I'm on the land of the Lenni Lenape People, also known as Knowlton, New Jersey.

You may be wondering why is this lady in her bathroom recording this video?

I'm gonna tell you.

Today, we're going to tell a shadow puppetry adventure story.

And one of the key ingredients in shadow puppetry is making sure you have a room that's super, super dark.

And it just so happens that my bathroom gets really, really dark.

So in just a moment, I'm going to use this flashlight, known as a torch in Australia, and these puppets, and we're gonna tell a story together.

Are you ready?

Okay, so first I'm gonna teach you some basics of puppetry.

My dad, here, you can say hi, Dad.

- [Dad] Hi, dad.

- [Teacher] He is going to be holding the light for me.

And then, I have my puppet right here.

Now, I want you to see what happens when I bring my puppet closer to the light, or farther away from the light.

It gets clearer.

And so, when you're doing your shadow puppetry story, I want you to think what your entrance is, how you enter the space.

And maybe you exit this way.

Or, you exit off this way.

So we are going to go on an animal shadow adventure.

First, you need to introduce your animal and tell your audience something about them.

Where do they live?

What do they like to do?

This is Huey.

Huey is a koala who lives in Australia.

And their favorite thing to do is eat eucalyptus.

Every day they wake up and they go searching for eucalyptus.

One day Huey decides to go on an adventure.

They want to find the most eucalyptus and bring it back to their home.

But the further they go, the more confused they get.

They're not sure if they had turned left, or right.

And then, the moon comes out.

And it's getting dark and cold.

And they feel scared and alone.

And they, they're not sure what to do.

And all of a sudden they hear a coyote.

[imitating coyote crying] And they think, "Oh my gosh, I'm gonna...[gasping]" The coyote shows up.

And the coyote says, "Hello, I heard you're lost."

"I can take you home."

And the koala says, "But I heard you're dangerous, "I heard you eat koalas like me."

And the coyote says, "Ah, come on, I'll bring you home.

"I'll even show you where the best eucalyptus is."

So Huey ends up getting home, and they feel so much better.

And they feel proud that they made a new friend.

All right, I hope that you had so much fun.

I hope that you continue making lots and lots of shadow puppetry [indistinct].

And you tell so many stories about animals, about creatures, about anything that your imagination comes up with.

Thanks for watching, see you later!

Oh, say goodbye, Dad.

- [Dad] Goodbye, Dad.