They are intriguingly
paradoxical. They've been dead for about 65 million years,
but scientists are still discovering new things about
dinosaurs. Although the word implies something that is
obsolete and so has failed, the species was phenomenally
successful in terms of longevity. They are usually depicted
as fierce, bloodthirsty beasts and yet the vast majority of
them were docile, plant eaters. And although a hungry
Tyrannosaurus could've swallowed a 4 yr. old in one gulp,
children love dinosaurs, especially ole T.Rex.
Why call a show The Great Dinosaur Mystery? The entire field
of paleontology reads like a detective story; finding the
clues (fossils), using the clues as puzzle pieces to
assemble creatures never before seen by humans, studying the
collected information to solve the mystery of why dinosaurs
became extinct, and finally adding the information gathered
from the detective work to help form theories of what our
earth was like in prehistory.
But there must be a particular mystery in the plot that’s
solvable.
The story is set in the basement of the Natural History
Museum. Dr. Vander Plastercaster (Please, just call me Doc)
is about to give the audience a behind the scenes tour of a
new dinosaur exhibit, when she finds a mysterious box. “It
was supposed to be filled with fossils, but it was empty!”
Enter Detective Joe Kafootsie, Special Forces: Strange
Phenomena Detail. He’s found a giant shoe and thinks it
might belong to a dinosaur! Suddenly dinosaurs begin
appearing with messages from a mysterious character named
Tootsie. Who is Tootsie? What do the messages mean? What’s
going on?
It's all part of the great, great, great, great, Great
Dinosaur Mystery.
"I'm pleased to say that the
reality lived up to the reputation. Our audience of 2,223
people was thoroughly delighted and entertained by the skill
of the singer/actors and puppeteer." —The Cynthia Woods
Mitchell Pavilion, The Woodlands, Houston, TX
"As usual, you folks manage
to keep our 1,800 seat arena theatre full of children who
remain attentive, interactive and thrilled with the magic of
live performance. The teachers...are quite impressed with
your abilities to create new work, keep it educationally
sound, and maintain the level of stamina necessary to hold
their students." —North Shore Music Theatre, Beverly, MA
"The audience was captivated
whenever the dinosaurs appeared...creatively weaved an
environmental theme of caring for the earth in the story.
—The Discovery Center, Fort Lauderdale, FL
"The Great Dinosaur Mystery
was a complete success." —Luther Burbank Center for the
Arts, Santa Rosa, CA
"The trio of puppeteers,
musicians and actors was highly professional, easy to work
with, and touring with a brilliant, fun and exciting
production." —New Mexico Tech Performing Arts Series
"Thank you so much for
coming with your wonderful show, The Great Dinosaur Mystery.
The performance was both an entertaining as well as an
educational experience for the children of the Brazos Valley
area...we are anxiously awaiting your performance next year.
—MSC Opera & Performing Arts Society, Texas A&M University
3 hours before house
opening
3 people to help unload
Parking space for 30 ft. truck needed
Minimum Stage
Requirements:
Depth: 20 ft
Width: 40 ft
Height: 10 ft
Tech Support:
1 lighting technician
(2nd technician, if possible, for follow spot)
1 sound technician
1 dresser (preferably 2)
Set:
The set consists of a
wall of flats across the back.
The stage must have
wing space of at least 8 feet on either side of the
proscenium. This is for puppet placement and space
for our very large “magic box” (6’ by 4’ by 40”)
which is on wheels.
One set piece sits
downstage left and one sits downstage right
next to the proscenium wall.
Lighting:
stage left - 2 about 9’
high (one at approximately 3 feet from proscenium &
one approx 12’ from proscenium and one stage right
four feet high and approx 18” from the proscenium
widened to about 3’)
Bright wash over the rest of the performance area
Sound:
We prefer to plug into
existing house system in conjunction
with company's 8 Shure UC wireless transmitters and
receivers:
3 Shure vocal microphones
2 transmitter pacs plug directly into 2 guitars, one
electric and two acoustic.
1 wireless mic for mandolin
2 monitors, downstage left and right.
Note: Our sound system is always in the truck, so it
is available for
use in halls when needed. It includes:
1.) Crown 120 amp
2.) Mackie CR 1604 mixer
3.) 2 Klipsch speakers
4.) 2 EV monitor speakers
5.) All necessary cords, stands, and adaptors
Instruments:
Rain Song
Acoustic/Electric Guitar
Telecaster Electric
Mandolin
General:
2 Dressing rooms with
toilet facilities
Plenty of cool drinking water, please
When load-in or shows span a mealtime, a meal should
be brought in.
(Please avoid fried foods and dairy)
THE STORY
The Great Dinosaur Mystery takes place in the basement
of a Natural History Museum, somewhere in the United States.
"Doc" (alias Professor VanderPlaster Caster) is giving "a
basement tour" to the audience about a new dinosaur exhibit
("Dinosaurs Forever").
She spies a huge box in the basement she's never seen
before. It's empty. Suddenly Mama Maiasaura strolls out.
They sing Mama's song ("Mama Maiasaura"). She delivers a
cryptic message for Doc from a mysterious female named
Tootsie and then she leaves.
While the professor is trying to make sense of Mama's
message, a detective from the local police department
arrives, carrying a giant shoe. Inspector Joe Kafootsie is
on a serious case, trying to solve the mystery of the shoe.
It seems there have been sightings of strange creatures
resembling dinosaurs all over town. Someone found the shoe
by the library. Could it belong to a dinosaur? Kafootsie and
the Doc form an alliance and Kafootsie makes the entire
audience "deputy detectives for the day" to try to
understand what's going on. ("I'm a Detective, Too").
A variety of prehistoric visitors arrive with messages from
Tootsie. Each of these creatures offers a clue to their
mysterious appearances, but none will tell Doc and Kafootsie
why or how they keep appearing. Finally the owner of the
shoe arrives and explains the mysterious appearances. Why
are the dinosaurs appearing with cryptic messages? Who owns
the shoe? Finally the mystery guest pulls together all the
clues and solves the mystery.
ORDER OF SONGS CAST OF CHARACTERS 1. DINOSAURS FOREVER Michele Valeri.... "Doc" (Dr.Vander
Plastercaster)
2. MAMA MAIASAURA Cammie the Camarasaurus
3. I'M A DETECTIVE, TOO
Matthew Holsen......Joe Kafootsie
4. THE LIZARD IN ME Alan Apatosaurus
5. BIG BAD BABY REX
6. BABY PROTOCERATOPS Ingrid Crepeau.... Heidi the Volunteer
7. ALAN APATOSAUR'S LAMENT Mama Maiasaura
Dolly Dimetrodon
Frank the Pterodactyl
8. EXTINCTION STINKS Big Bad Baby Rex
9. DINOSAURS FOREVER (reprise) Protoceratops Triplets
Tootsie the Triceratops THE COMPANY In 1984 Michele Valeri, Michael Stein, and Ingrid
Crepeau formed the company that would become Dinorock
Productions, Inc. Since then Dinorock has created three
traveling shows, all combining acting, live music, and
puppetry. They have performed over 2,000 shows for close to
one million children from coast to coast.
MICHELE
VALERI
Michele Valeri is a singer,
songwriter and children's entertainer. She has produced,
composed, and performed 3 award–winning children's record
albums. Following the success of her record album "Dinosaur
Rock", she collaborated with Michael Stein and Ingrid
Crepeau to create a stage show of the same name that has met
with rousing success from the Smithsonian Institution, the
Kennedy Center to the White House. When she is not
performing, Ms. Valeri travels all over the country doing
teacher and artist training workshops as the
Artist–in–Residence for the Wolf Trap Institute for Early
Learning Through the Arts.
INGRID
CREPEAU
Ingrid Crepeau has been
designing and constructing puppets of all kinds for over 30
years. In 1971 she joined the Smithsonian Institution where
she designed, constructed and costumed puppets and performed
in all productions. A cofounder of Patchwork Puppet
Productions, Ms. Crepeau is the winner of two regional Emmy
Awards for design of the puppets she constructed for
"Sneakers", an award–winning children's TV series in
Washington, DC. One of her many creations has been accepted
into the historical collection at the Smithsonian
Institution. Ms Crepeau's creations have appeared in several
major theatre productions in Washington, DC. In October of
1984 she built and played five life–size dinosaurs at the
Smithsonian Institution's Discovery Theatre. With the
addition of another dinosaur she delighted hundreds of
thousands of children all over the country with these huge
performing puppets in "Dinosaur Rock".
MATT HOLSEN
Matt Holsen has been a professional musician,
singer/songwriter and composer for 28 years. As part of
Dinorock’s original touring company, Matt traveled through
the Southwest, Midwest and up and down the East Coast as
Professor Jones in Dinosaur Rock for three years in
the 1980’s before moving on to record his own work and
produce recordings for some of Washington’s leading folk
singers. He won a Wammy in 1997 for his fine production work
on Tom Presado Rao’s last award winning CD. He has arranged
and performed with such distinguished area Jazz ensembles as
Uptown while at the same time singing with the
Choral Arts Society. Matt’s unerring musical abilities were
realized for Dinorock when he became Boris Ankylosaurus for
the recording of The Great Dinosaur Mystery. We are
thrilled to have him back as musical director,
multi-instrumentalist, singer and actor; a musical artist
who can do it all and make it all look so easy.
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