At Platypus Theatre our mission is to educate children about classical music in an intelligent, engaging, relevant, interactive and, most, of all, entertaining way. This applies not only to the shows we create but also to the resource material we provide to the schools that attend our performances.

Whether you’re a music specialist or a generalist you’ll find a treasure-trove of interactive exercises and lesson plans that will not only enhance your students’ enjoyment of the concert they will attend, but will help you to meet the music requirements of your school board’s curriculum.

We like to take both our shows and our resource materials beyond the realm of music learning. As our namesake implies – an animal made-up of many disparate attributes – we strive to look at art and education holistically: how do different, sometimes seemingly disjointed attributes come together to create a complete artistic experience, or a complete human being? When you come to the performance you will see how music and theatre as well as  their individual components – melody, rhythm, tone-colour, harmony, masks, costumes, puppetry, lighting, story-telling, to name just a few – come together to create the experience.

The same holistic thinking and whole-learning approach goes into our educational resource materials so that in addition to fulfilling the music components of the curriculum, through the exercises and activities, students will explore cross-curricular themes in social studies, drama, dance, visual arts, language arts and science.

And finally, separate from academic subjects, each show and study guide considers the emotional and psychological education of the students. On the show home page on this site and at the front of the resource materials, you will see the character education connections that are explored in each program.
We look forward to sharing a Platyputian experience with you at the concert hall or your school. Happy exploration until then!

Peter Duschenes
Artistic Director

Platypus Shows as Education Concerts

Each Platypus Theatre program is tailored to suit both the primary (kindergarten to third grade) and junior divisions (fourth to seventh grade). Our in-depth and relevant study guides were developed by teachers, with separate activities by grade level and curriculum that meet or exceed most state and provincial standards for arts education.