Centennial High students perform virtual show during pandemic

When you’re stuck at home staring at a computer screen during the COVID-19 pandemic, all you need for an adventure is a common household item — like an empty toilet paper roll — and some imagination.

That’s the message behind a 36-minute children’s puppet theater show, “The Adventures of T.P. and Friends,” recently created by advanced theater students at Centennial High School in northwest Las Vegas.

“The whole storyline talks about a child trapped behind the screen,” Centennial High theater teacher Tania Webb told the Review-Journal.

The show covers topics such as nutrition, exercise, making new friends, kitchen safety, hand hygiene, courage, sharing your feelings and telling the truth. And there are interactive components that allow children watching the video to get involved by answering questions and participating in a dance party.

Webb, who’s in her 17th year as Centennial High’s theater teacher, said her hope for the children who watch the puppet show is “maybe a few moments of happiness and not frustration while they’re sitting at a computer.”

Her 23 advanced theater students — in Theater III/IV — wrote the script and recorded their scenes individually at home during distance learning. Video clips were edited together to make one show and the finished product was completed last month.

So far, more than 150 people — the majority of whom are elementary school teachers in the Clark County School District — have requested a copy of the video. Some even responded from across the United States and internationally after Webb posted about the project in education-related Facebook groups.

“We’ve hit other continents now,” Webb said. “That’s so cool.”

Since the video was posted, Webb’s students have also been invited to be guest performers for virtual elementary school classes. And they’d already received requests from teachers for videos about academic topics.

Centennial High is part of the Clark County School District, which has operated under distance learning since the school year began in August. Superintendent Jesus Jara announced last week the district — which has about 307,000 students — will stick with distance learning for the rest of the semester due to rising coronavirus case numbers.

‘Everything can be an adventure’

Webb’s students created puppets out of common household items such as a sock, oven mitt, stuffed animal and hand soap dispenser. T.P., an empty toilet paper roll with a face drawn on with black pen and hair made out of multi-colored yarn, is the first to be introduced during the show.

One of Webb’s students, Zoey Haider, made her puppet Lola using a bottle of lotion. During the show, Lola tells children she learned that “lying sure is a slippery slope.”

Semaj Butler McCoy, who teaches children beatboxing — making percussion noises using one’s voice — during a dance party scene, said the challenge with putting together the show was recording himself at home instead of performing in front of a live audience.

“For me, at first, it was really difficult,” Butler McCoy said, but noted it was important to ensure the audience gets the same experience regardless.

Butler McCoy said it was also cool to see classmates step outside their comfort zone and make the project work under the circumstances.

For younger children who watch the show, a goal is to show them if they “use their imagination, everything can be an adventure,” Webb said.

Another goal was to get children physically moving during distance learning. “Kids are having such a hard time sitting,” Webb said. She later added: “Life is just flipped on its head for these kiddos.”

Keeping the energy up

When the new school year began, Webb’s advanced theater students were excited to see their classmates and reconnect, she said. But then, she started to feel their energy level drop and more of them were turning off their cameras during classes held using Google Meet.

Webb brought up the idea in September for a puppet theater project geared toward elementary school students. She said some of her students were excited about it while others were “kind of disappointed” because they’re upperclassmen and wanted to do something powerful and dramatic this year.

Webb wrote the introduction to the show. And Centennial High alumna Megan Barker — a musician and songwriter in Nashville — wrote two songs, “Adventure” and “Count to 10.” Barker also led rehearsals for two of Webb’s students who performed the songs.

One of Webb’s students, Jazmein Thurgood — who talks to children about courage during the show — said performers normally feed off the audience’s reactions, so it was important while recording from home to keep energy level up and be passionate about what they were performing.

Thanks to the project, Webb said she can feel her students’ enthusiasm coming back a bit during distance learning. “I just want to keep that energy up.”

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.