About the Production
Notes from the Director (Jim Morrow)
About the Director
Notes from the Composer (Steven Naylor)
About the Composer
Pictures

About the Production

First produced in the Fall of 2001, WHEN DINOSAURS DANCE BY MOONLIGHT has enchanted more than 30,000 spectators in Nova Scotia, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador. It’s a whimsical tale of a young boy who meets a collection of extraordinary dinosaurs who parade by his window at bedtime. He’s frightened but fascinated, and soon becomes a welcome member of the gathering. Each dinosaur is distinctive, amusing, fanciful – and anatomically accurate.

The show features director Jim Morrow’s highly unusual “backpack” silk marionettes, decorated with stunning original­ity by renowned silk artist Holly Carr. The play's hilarious lyrics and composer Steven Naylor’s engaging music, add to the mag­ic of the production, as does Sheree Fitch’s wonderful wordplay and fun-filled characters. Parents, teachers and youngsters have warmly applauded the production.

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Notes from the Director, Jim Morrow

Mermaid Theatre's play is an adaptation of a wonderful story written by Sheree Fitch, in which a quiet night of reading leads to the invasion of a young boy’s bedroom by a cast of unusual dinosaur characters. From the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex to the diminutive Micropachycephalosaurus, these fantastical animals, who once roamed our earth, have been the source of inspiration for writers since their discovery almost two hundred years ago. Sheree’s skillful manipulation of language playfully introduces our audience to this cast of unique personalities.

The construction of Mermaid’s dinosaurs is based on a traditional puppet style called a ‘marionette’ in which the puppet is suspended from strings. In the case of our dancing dinos, we have included both the conventional sized marionette as well as an expanded version for the larger creatures.

Many accomplished artists have contributed their time and energy to the success of our show, including our Composer-in-Residence, Steven Naylor, who created the soundscape; Holly Carr, who decorated the puppets and stage with her wonderful silk paintings; and Bill Carr, who gave each dinosaur a distinctive voice. No Mermaid performance would be complete without the talents of our Production Manager, Deborah MacLean, and our Shop Manager, Jonathon Ford, who lent their considerable skills to all aspects of the show, and in particular with the evolution of the puppet design.

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About the Director: Jim Morrow, Director/Production Designer

Jim Morrow creates puppets for stage, television and film. He's directed numerous shows for Mermaid Theatre, including Borrowed Black, Goodnight Opus, Noah and the Woolly Mammoth, Very Eric Carle, Guess How Much I Love You and I Love My Little Storybook, Swimmy, Frederick, Inch by Inch as well as designed many others. A gifted performer, Jim has toured extensively in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. He serves as director of puppetry for Symphony Nova Scotia's production of The Nutcracker, and frequently conducts master classes in puppetry in North America and abroad. Jim Morrow is Mermaid Theatre’s Artistic Director.
 

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Notes from the Composer, Steven Naylor

Imagine a very, very large dinosaur walking down the street outside your house. Would you hear her footsteps? Or feel them? Probably both!

If you’ve been to the movies lately, you may have already had an experience like that. Movie theatres usually have special speakers called subwoofers, which reproduce very low pitched sounds much better than ordinary speakers. If you feel the floor shake in a theatre, it’s probably just a subwoofer (not a real dinosaur).

Of course, there’s a lot more to the music for this play than footsteps. In fact, if you listen carefully, you’ll notice several different styles or moods of music, depending on which character the music supports.

Try to pick out some of the styles we use - and see if you can hear how the music ‘goes with’ a particular character or with what’s going on in a scene. Listen for the rhythms, especially when the dinosaurs are dancing! Or try to identify the instruments making the sounds, listening for ones you know already, and for ones you have never heard before.

And finally, try to notice which sounds are high, which ones are low - and which ones are so low that you feel them more than you hear them!

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About the Composer: Steven Naylor

Steven has created the music for more than a dozen Mermaid shows, including Stuart Little, Just So Stories, Gulliver's Travels, Very Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Eric Carle Favorites, Guess How Much I Love You and I Love My Little Storybook. His many other professional activities include original film and television scores; contemporary music and 'musique actuelle' performance; university teaching and curriculum development; and a long-term international involvement with electroacoustic concert music. Steven is Mermaid Theatre's Artistic Consultant, Music and Sound Design
 

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Pictures

Click on the image to enlarge.  For more pictures, please see the Mermaid Theatre page.

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