Program / Event Details

The Spider and the Crocodile is an original Anansi Story written by Khaleshia Thorpe-Price. This story is presented as an intimate shadow puppetry presentation. Performances are done on a small scale in individual classrooms.

Anansi seeks the aid of Crocodile to move large amounts of fruit from the garden across the river to his mountaintop home. Crocodile plans to take all of the fruit for herself. However, Anansi is steps ahead of her. This story is part of a larger project, The Diaspora of the Trickster. In the series, the audience learns about the journey of the African Trickster. They engage in trickster tales from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Southern United States.

The performance includes audience participation, sign language, and physical storytelling. In addition, the audience will use their bodies to physicalize the characteristics of the characters and the setting.

Benefits for program participants include:

-Connecting with African/African American Culture through creative drama, storytelling, music, and movement.

-Learning about the geographic journey of African Tricksters.

-Engaging and working collaboratively to tell African Trickster tales

-Learning and using the actor’s tools (body, voice, and imagination)

-Understanding character objectives and motivation

-Identifying and dramatizing character traits

-Sequencing and retelling a story

-Identifying the problem and solution of the story