Oxford High School Theater collaborated with the OHS Orchestra to put on “Peter and the Wolf.” This production was unlike anything the school had done before. Instead of the usual acting with lines and dialogue, the cast relied on shadow puppets, narration and live music to bring a classic fairytale to life. The collaboration with the OHS Orchestra and community Orchestra members added an entire new layer, making it a production that combined movement, storytelling and music.
“Normally, we memorize lines and movements and discover what makes our character tick, but in this show, only the narrator speaks,” junior Emerson Denham said. “We use those lines to figure out what makes our puppet do what it does.”
Theatre teacher and director John Davenport hand-picked this unique show to incorporate the musical elements of orchestra with the performance of the “puppets” to tell a story. The performance showed the audience that talking is not a requirement to convey a story or message.
“Each show we produce is unique because each time it is a different story,” Davenport said. “There are different styles and different designs. The most unique aspect of this production is it is a collaboration with the OHS Orchestra. The puppeteers have to listen intently to the music. They almost have to memorize its details. Some moments in the music, however, are not as specific to synchronizing as other moments, so it is more about the puppeteers paying attention to what the orchestra is giving them.”
Bringing together the orchestra, choir, and theater department for the first time in years pushed the production far beyond a traditional school concert, requiring months of preparation and collaboration from students across multiple programs.The scale of the project made the experience unlike any past performances leading students to notice just how much the production had grown.
“This show took everything to a whole new level,” junior Sasha McGinness said. “We usually just have concerts with the string orchestra and sometimes the choir, but this production required a much bigger budget, more coordination, and so much more effort to accomplish.”
While the orchestra created the musical world of Peter and the Wolf, theatre students brought the story to life through shadow puppetry, a technique that demanded a completely different kind of performance preparation. The shift in technique pushed students to rethink how they approach storytelling on stage.
“This show is unlike anything I’ve ever done in OHS Theatre,” Denham said. “Normally we memorize lines and discover what makes our characters tick, but this time only the narrator spoke. We had to rely solely on movement and use those lines to figure out what was motivating our puppets.”
For students in the orchestra, this production offered a rare chance to step beyond a traditional concert format and collaborate directly with theatre performers, creating a unified story told through both sound and movement. With this collaboration it challenged the students to think differently about their role in telling the story.
“This show was taken to a whole different level,” McGinness said.“Including the theatre department required a lot more effort and a higher budget than our normal shows. I just felt lucky to be part of the music that helped tell the story.”
