The Crescent Moon Bear

Three dimensional Shadow Theatre with minuscule figures and 3d image projections through a hand made projector, with live narration and electronic music.

The show is also presented live in English, French or Italian after arrangement.

THE SHOW

The Crescent Moon Bear is an adaptation of an ancestral story that we borrowed from the Japanese oral tradition. It is a shadow theatre performance for children and teenagers that talks about war, life and death, love, universal values and moreover about a little child’s adventurous journey trying to save her fathers soul.Through the various themes and messages conveyed through the play we wanted to talk about the irreversible consequences of war. War is part of human history some may say part of human existence.

Children do conceive and question the social and existentialist issues within the community they grow. As parents, teachers and educators we know that very well. Thus how can one talk to a child about the vanity of war? How is it possible to clarify the irrational – the absurdity of war? The illogical, thus the absurd is inexplicable, its dimensions are beyond common sense. On the contrary, by being sincere and open, we may teach our children History, inspire our children universal values and ideals, so they will remain authentic people who will create one day a world based on truth, equality and communal values.

With love, persistence, faith, courage, purity of heart and bravery everything is possible! One’s love can move mountains , so they say.
Don’t you agree?

Through the use of innovative techniques we compel you to watch a very personal piece of art-work produced by ParaMana Puppet Theatre. This performance is based on three dimensional shadows, experimental shadow theatre, and projections of images through a prototype hand made projector, live narration and electronic music.

The Crescent Moon Bear will make you drift away to a land of purity, innocence, beauty and straightforwardness.

At the end of the performance we invite all children backstage where we present our innovative techniques and constructions. We discuss about the issues brought out in the play, and we bring forward technical issues that we faced in the process of the “making of”. We then encourage them to play, to try out this fascinating game that is created between the light and shadow, how to animate a figure, how to bring an object into life through the use of light and shadows.

ParaMana Puppet Theatre
ParaMana Puppet Theatre is composed by independent artists that derive from various artistic backgrounds: creative writing, painting, theatre, arts, music and poetry. All of us use and share our artistic knowledge and sensibilities for the expansion of Experimental and Modern Puppet Theatre in Greece. Our main motif is the love that each nourishes for his art and the instinctive interest to share with the public our thoughts and concerns through this unique medium: the Puppet.

We experiment, we discover, we learn and enrich our techniques every day. But above all we travel! This is our way to escape from the repetitive and cruel reality of an adults life: by drifting away from the unconsciousness of dreams, to the realism and reality of life. What a beautiful and interesting game that is: to be alert!

From 2007 ParaMana Puppet Theatre organises workshops of construction and animation for adults and children and builds puppets, masks and set design for other theatre and production companies (Anemon Productions, ARTE Channel, ERT Channel) in Greece.
Since 2006, ParaMana Puppet Theatre has created three shows: Femme Squelette, 02-02, and The Crescent Moon Bear.
ParaMana Puppet Theatre is experimenting on various puppet techniques: Bunraku, Human Size Puppets, Three dimensional Shadow Theatre, rod puppets and table top puppets.
The company has performed in various venues and festivals in Greece and abroad:
International Puppet and Mime Festival in Kilkis – (GR), Imagini dellinterno in Pinerolo – (IT), Festival Mondial des Theatres de Marionnettes á Charleville-Mezieres (FR), Cultural Festival of demos Kazantzakis – Crete, MCF Michael Cacoyannis Foundation – Athens, Epi Kolono Theatre, Cantina Social, Quilombo Centro Cultural, SIX D.O.G.S, etc, and in the streets of Thessaloniki, Crete, Patras, Athens etc.