Puppets: None
Props: Ears or similar for: Dog, Cat, Frog, Mouse, Cockroach (all but Mouse and Cockroach can be other animals instead)
Presenters: Two
Audience: Family Storytime
Since we often do team storytelling at our Library, I get to try stories that others have been doing for a while, but are new to me. I knew the story of Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, but had never actually read or performed it for kids. It's a favorite of Sheila's, though, and she suggested we do an act-out version for an outdoor performance at our local Wilsonville Arts Festival. There's singing involved, which is not my favorite thing, but it's supposed to be bad singing and that I can do. The version we did, developed by Sheila and Terri over the years, features Sheila as the beautiful bug. She wears some antennae and some frilly stuff and voila: a cockroach.

In the Deedy book version, Martina tests each of her suitors by spilling coffee on them and watching their response. We adapted this, going with a more direct approach for younger audiences: She asks each suitor to sing, and when they sing badly, she rejects them. So I enter as Senor Perro, with dog ears of some sort, and of course am instantly smitten by her cockroachian beauty. (I'm never sure if kids get the absurdity of a cockroach being so popular with all the guys, but I sure think it's funny). When she asks me to sing ,I do a badly out of tune version of "Twinkle Twinkle," substituting "woofs" for all the words. That's simple enough for the kids to catch on quickly and join in. When Martina expresses her displeasure, I leave sadly, then reappear as Senor Gato, then Senor Rana. Same tune, different words ("meow" and "croak"), same result.

Having done it this way, I'm definitely considering it for a one-person puppet show in the future (maybe an excuse to buy that cool Folkmanis cockroach puppet that I think is discontinued but must still be available somewhere...)_
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