Join San Francisco Opera’s Department of Engagement and Connectivity at the Asian Art Museum’s Free First Sunday and step into the playful world of the Monkey King! These workshops feature local puppet artists leading hands-on activities, lively demonstrations, and fun craft activities inspired by the upcoming world premiere production of The Monkey King. Families will have the chance to move, play, and bring puppets to life! No experience necessary, just bring your imagination! Rolling 25- and 45-minute sessions will take place throughout the day alongside docent-led gallery tours. Featured puppet artists to be announced soon!
Monkey King Make & Play: The Art of Puppetry Schedule of Events
10:00 am - Pop-up Creature Puppet Demonstration w/ Vinh G. Nguyen | 25-min | Courts
10:30 am - Puppet Making w/ Jess Nguyen from ShadowLight Productions | 45-min session | Koret Learning Center
11:00am - New Japanese Clay
11:30 am - Pop-up Creature Puppet Demonstration with Vinh Nguyen | Courts
12:00 pm Puppet Making w/ Jess Nguyen from ShadowLight Productions | 45-min session | Koret Learning Center
1:00pm - Exploring the Puppetry of The Monkey King Part 1 w/ Ramon Abad | 25-min | Courts
1:30pm - Exploring the Puppetry of The Monkey King Part 2 w/ Ramon Abad | 25-min | Koret Learning Center
2:00pm – Collections
3:00pm - Puppet Demo & Workshop by Nao Kobayashi | 45-min session | Courts
3:30pm - New Japanese Clay
Workshop Activity Outline
Pop-up Creature Puppet Demonstration with Vinh G. Nguyen: Enjoy a whimsical puppet demonstration, performed by theatre artist Vinh G. Nguyen of Carefree Puppetry. The presentation is an exploration of movement, music, and a menagerie of animals created from recycled materials.
Exploring the Art of Shadow Puppetry with ShadowLight Productions: In conjunction with San Francisco Opera’s The Monkey King, this hands-on workshop led by ShadowLight Productions introduces participants to the art of shadow puppetry. The session will explore how light can be used to cast the shadows of paper puppets, combining movement and sound to create the animated imagery of shadow theater. Participants will learn traditional and contemporary techniques and make their own puppets using provided templates and materials to experiment with on a small screen. The workshop will be led by ShadowLight teaching artist Jess Nguyen, who is also a puppeteer in the Opera’s production.
Exploring the Puppetry of The Monkey King with Ramon Abad: This family-friendly drop-in workshop has two parts:
Act 1, Performance: Audience members will be invited to form a 3-person puppetry team to make a puppet move and dance. The puppets used will be similar to the puppetry involved in SF Opera’s production of The Monkey King!
Act 2, Puppet Movie Studio: Soon after, everyone is invited to come to the Education Room to make their own moving-mouth puppets out of paper! After making puppets, participants are welcome to make short videos with their puppets on their own phones in front of backgrounds that Ramon will bring!
Free. Registration not required but encouraged.
