Digital Resources Library
A robust collection of lesson plans, articles, and activities that allow students and educators of all ages to explore and learn about the arts and arts integration.
Kennedy Center Education School Performance
Doodle POP
Family Theater
All ages will delight in this playful show’s stunning interactive projections, live whiteboard drawings, and abundance of theatrical imagination.
Friday, May 15 at 11 a.m. is a sensory-friendly performance.
May 13 - 15, 2026
Event Information
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Genre
60 Min
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Runtime
Estimated duration is approximately 60 minutes.
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Genre
Theater
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Most enjoyed by
Grades PreK–2
Welcome to the Learning Guide
Learning Objectives
Education Standards Alignment
- Re7.1 / Re7.2: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
- Re8.1: Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Common Core Standards
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7: With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K–5.1: Participate in discussions describing characters, events, or visual elements, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
CASEL Competencies (Social and Emotional Learning)
- Social Awareness: Demonstrate empathy and compassion for others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.
What to Expect
Performance
- The performance is approximately 60 minutes.
- The story is told through movement, live music, projections, puppets, and drawing on whiteboards.
- The set is an open space with a backdrop made of whiteboard material, which is drawn on throughout the show by the performers.
Performers
- Woogie: One of the two friends who portrays the story. They wear a matching outfit with Boogie, but have a nametag that distinguishes them. They love to draw and be silly, and care deeply about their friend Boogie.
- Boogie: Portrays the story with Woogie. Loves being creative but also feels their emotions very deeply. They care about the environment and love playing with their friend Woogie, even wearing matching outfits with them.
- The Turtle: A small turtle puppet who is seen throughout the story, lost but searching to find their way back home. The turtle interacts with Woogie and Boogie throughout its journey.
- Three musicians sit on the right and left sides of the stage throughout the show. One of them plays the piano, one plays the drums, and one plays any recorded audio in addition to creating live sound effects.
- There is one technician backstage who does visual effects throughout the show. They make props come to life and create visual effects for audiences, while being unseen the entire performance.
Sound
- Live music is played throughout the show. This music features multiple genres, including lively circus music, classical instrumental music, recognizable songs from pop-culture, and more.
- While the show has almost no dialogue, the performers use their voices to make sound effects, (drawing, getting stuck, etc) and to express feelings like pain, anger, or surprise.
- Songs, instrumental music, and sound effects (running water, bubbles, thunder, pops, zings, etc) help tell the story. Sound effects are both pre-recorded and made live by the performers and musicians.
Visuals
- The performance includes live whiteboard drawing by the performers throughout the show, most often on a large whiteboard backdrop.
- Projections, smoke, puppets, shadow puppets, and bubbles are used throughout the performance to make the drawings come to life.
Lighting
- Light changes occur throughout the show to set the location of the scene and show the mood or feeling of the scene. This includes changing colors, brightness, etc.
- Towards the beginning of the show, the bright lights onstage turn off unexpectedly. This prompts the performers to use flashlights to see and learn how to “turn off and on” the lights onstage. This becomes faster and faster, which creates a rapid flickering of lights for a moment.
Audience Interaction
- At the beginning of the performance, an audience member is invited to the stage to draw a white-board picture of one of the performers.
- Throughout the show, performers point into the audience or look for facial reactions from audience members.
What to Bring
- Please bring any tools that will help make the experience comfortable for you! Some suggestions are: noise-canceling headphones, sunglasses or visors, fidgets, and communication devices.
Resources
Share your feedback!
We’re thrilled that you’ve joined us for a performance this season! We would like to hear from your students and you about the experience. After the performance, follow these steps to share feedback:
- Share the survey link with your students for them to complete the student survey.
- Complete the educator survey.
- If you’re a parent or caregiver, complete the parent/caregiver survey.
Each survey will take approximately five minutes to complete. The results will be used to inform future Kennedy Center Education program planning. Thank you in advance for sharing your valuable perspective!
Kennedy Center Education
Building the Future
of Arts Education
Professional development for educators. Summer intensives for young artists. Teaching artist guided activities. Performances for young audiences. Classroom lesson plans. Arts-focused digital media.
Kennedy Center Education offers a wide array of resources and experiences that inspire, excite, and empower students and young artists, plus the tools and connections to help educators incorporate the arts into classrooms of all types.
Our current teaching and learning priorities include:
Performances for Schools
In-person and virtual performances, along with supporting educational content to help guide learning.
Current Topics in Arts Integration
Current approaches to arts integration in the classroom, inclusion, rigor, and adopting an arts integration approach at the school and district level.
The Theory and Practice of Anti-Ableist Arts Education
An asynchronous online course that invites educators and administrators to think about our students’ disabilities as social and cultural identities that enrich our classrooms and communities.
The Vice President of Education is generously endowed by the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation.
Generous support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.
Gifts and grants to educational programs at the Kennedy Center are provided by The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Bank of America; Capital One; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Carnegie Corporation of New York; The Ednah Root Foundation; Genesis Inspiration Foundation; Harman Family Foundation; William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust; the Kimsey Endowment; The Kiplinger Foundation; Laird Norton Family Foundation; Lois and Richard England Family Foundation; Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; The Markow Totevy Foundation; Dr. Gerald and Paula McNichols Foundation; The Morningstar Foundation; Myra and Leura Younker Endowment Fund; The Irene Pollin Audience Development and Community Engagement Initiatives;
Prince Charitable Trusts; Dr. Deborah Rose and Dr. Jan A. J. Stolwijk; Rosemary Kennedy Education Fund; The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates; The Victory Foundation; The Volgenau Foundation; Jackie Washington; GRoW @ Annenberg and Gregory Annenberg Weingarten and Family; and generous contributors to the Abe Fortas Memorial Fund and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas. Additional support is provided by the National Committee for the Performing Arts..
The content of these programs may have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education but does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the federal government.