DR. SUESS’S THE CAT AND THE HATDR. SUESS’S THE CAT AND THE HAT

ONSTAGERESOURCE GUIDE

2015/16

ABOUT OVERTURE CENTER

FOR THE ARTS

RESIDENT ORGANIZATIONS

RESOURCE GUIDE CREDITS

PETER RABBIT TALES Overture Center – OnStage 1 

Dear Educators,

In this resource guide, you will find valuable information that will help you apply your academic goals to your students’ performance experience. We have included suggestions for activities which can help you prepare students to see this performance, ideas for follow-up activities, and additional resources you can access on the web. Along with these activities and resources, we’ve also included the applicable Wisconsin Academic Standards in order to help you align the experience with your curriculum requirements.

This Educator’s Resource Guide for this OnStage presentation of Peter Rabbit Tales, is designed to:

• Extend the scholastic impact of the performance byproviding discussion ideas, activities and further reading that promote learning across the curriculum;

• Promote arts literacy by expanding students’ knowledge ofmusic, science, storytelling and theatre;

• Illustrate that the arts are a legacy reflecting the values,custom, beliefs, expressions and reflections of a culture;

• Use the arts to teach about the cultures of other people andto celebrate students’ own heritage through self-reflection;

• Maximize students’ enjoyment and appreciation of theperformance.

We hope this performance and the suggestions in this resource guide will provide you and your students opportunities to apply art learning in your curricula, expanding it in new and enriching ways.

Enjoy the Show!

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Table of Contents

About Peter Rabbit Tales .......................... 2

Beatrix Potter .......................................... 3

Activity: Storytelling and Writing ...............4

Activity: Nature and Conservation .............5

Masks and Puppets ..................................6

Activity: Make a Mask, Make a Character ... 7

Books to Read ........................................8

Academic Standards ................................9

About Live Performance ........................ 10

PETER RABBIT TALES Overture Center – OnStage 2 

About Peter Rabbit TalesThe Tale of Peter Rabbit, published in 1902, was Beatrix Potter’s first book and became an instant classic. It’s the story of Peter; a naughty rabbit-child who disobeys his mother’s warning and goes into Mr. McGregor’s garden. Peter stuffs himself on vegetables and is almost caught by Mr. McGregor. During the chase he loses his coat and shoes, but manages to escape under the garden gate. When Peter returns home, ill and exhausted, his mother puts him to bed with chamomile tea.

Enchantment Theatre Company’s production of Peter Rabbit Tales brings this story and two others by Beatrix Potter, to life. The performance also dramatizes two of Potter’s later Peter Rabbit stories, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, and The Tales of Mr. Tod, while adding other beloved Beatrix Potter characters such as Squirrel Nutkin from The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin and Mrs. Tiggly-Winkle from The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.

Enchantment Theatre Company is a professional non-profit arts organization based in Philadelphia whose mission is to create original theater for children and families. For over 35 years, the company has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and the Far East, presenting imaginative and innovative theatrical productions for school groups and families. Originally a

privately owned touring company, in 2000 Enchantment put down new roots in Philadelphia, where it was reestablished as a resident non-profit theater. While dedicated to serving its home community, the company also maintains an extensive national touring schedule that includes performances on its own and in collaboration with the nation’s finest symphony orchestras.

In its home city, Enchantment has reached audiences of about 20,000 per year through its innovative and imaginative presentations of literary classics for children. Its newest program, Enchantment Everywhere, was started in the spring of 2014, and takes completely portable productions directly into school auditoriums, community centers and local venues – anywhere children and families gather. On tour across the United States each year, the Company reaches more than 150,000 people in 35- 40 states. Based on extensive experience, about 80% of the company’s touring audience is comprised of children from 5-12 who delight in the company’s fantastic life-size puppets, skilled masked actors, original music, and startling feats of magic and illusion. It is to their infectious laughs, astonished gasps, and enthusiastic applause that Enchantment is dedicated.

PETER RABBIT TALES Overture Center – OnStage 3 

Peter Rabbit Online

Make sure you check out the official website for peter rabbit online. It comes complete with introductions to all the characters, games to play, additional information about the life of Beatrix Potter, and more.

http://www.peterrabbit.com/

Beatrix PotterBeatrix Potter was born a 150 years ago in Victorian London on July 28, 1866. Potter was the first child and only daughter of Rupert Potter, a barrister and an avid amateur photographer, and Helen Leech Potter. Potter was the first child and only daughter of Rupert Potter, a barrister and an avid amateur photographer, and Helen Leech Potter. The Potters resided in Bolton Gardens, Kensington and were endowed with inherited wealth, initially made in trade.

The Potters’ means provided them with a comfortable life in town as well as summers away in a series of rented properties in beautiful country settings, first in Scotland and later in the Lake District. These summers proved of inestimable value to young Beatrix, for she grew up immersing herself in a rustic life, tramping about on her own, delighting in the land and its native fauna and flora. She wandered freely, gathered specimens of insects and small mammals as well as mushrooms, which fascinated her, and she constantly sketched from nature.

Beatrix Potter had a solitary girlhood. In keeping with the mores of her day, girls were not permitted to go to school but were tutored at home and not encouraged to play with children from other families. As Unitarian Dissenters, moreover, the Potters were consigned to the margins of Anglican London society, and this may have contributed to her shyness and social awkwardness. Like so many Victorian girls and women of her class, she was not encouraged to grow up. She lived with her parents well into her forties. She had no money of her own and not a shred of external independence. She wrote that, by age 28, she had never been anywhere by herself. With her parents, she moved seasonally from city to country and back, and in relation to them, she remained a child. We do know, however, that despite her dutiful demeanor and outward compliance, she felt rebellious, for she kept a coded journal and wrote many letters. Qualities she

gleaned from the conditions of her personal life, from her repressive epoch, and from her close observations of nature found their way into her children’s books and lent them their staying power.

Children and animals seem almost interchangeable in Potter’s inner world, and in real life she took on the care of many pets over the years, including frogs, lizards, snakes, hedgehogs, mice, rabbits, and pigs, as well as dogs and cats. These pets became subjects for her endless sketchbook studies. She enjoyed leading one of her rabbits Benjamin by a leash and fed it gooseberries. Unlike Aesop and La Fontaine, she observed animal behavior not merely in order to reflect on the morality of humans; she wanted to capture them as they are, true to species. Yet, her animals are drawn so that we can identify readily with them. Potter’s Peter, for example, is both rabbit and boy: the more rabbit, the more boy, and vice versa, so that he confronts us with our own connection to the natural world.

Young Beatrix Potter courtesy of the Beatrix Potter Society

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Activity: Storytelling and WritingAges 8-10

Purpose: For students to learn more about Beatrix Potter by practicing their own writing, storytelling, and illustration.

Objectives: Students will practice collaborative storytelling, and pairing illustrations with subtitles, and interpreting other illustrations for meaning.

Materials:

• Paper

• Writing and drawing materials

Procedure:

1. Group Storytelling (Listening, Speaking): Tell a story as a group with each student telling just one line at a time.You can begin the story to set-up the adventure, but you never know where it will go. For example: “One day,Hawthorne School’s fourth grade class (substitute your school and class) decided to go on a walk to Blue CreekPark (substitute a location near you).” Go around the room with each student contributing one line. Remindstudents to listen to what has been said and build on what has already happened in the story. Help them move thestory along and find an ending.

2. Writing a Story in Pairs (Writing, Reading): Divide students into pairs. Ask each student to write the first line ofa story. Ask everyone to put pencils down after the first sentence. Have students trade papers with their partner,read the first line of their partner’s story, and add a second line. Ask everyone to put pencils down and tradepapers again. Repeat this process until partners reach a conclusion to both stories. Once they are done, you couldhave students copy these stories onto blank paper, one or two lines per page, and have them illustrate them.

3. Draw Your Own Tale (Drawing, Visual): Imagine that you’re an animal who lives in the woods. What kind of animalare you? Do you live in a tree trunk… under the ground? Who are your friends? Are there other animals thatfrighten you? Draw an adventure you might have in the woods. What are you looking for? Who do you meet?What do you find? How do you get home? Can you write captions for each drawing you create?

Reflection:

Ask your students: Do you think this is how Beatrix Potter wrote her stories? What kinds of places might she have explored to write her stories the way she did? What about the actors we see in the performance of Peter Rabbit Tales?

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Activity: Nature and ConservationAges 4-10

Purpose: Connect the stories of Beatrix Potter with issues of conservation and the practice of nature observation.

Objectives: Students engage with nature and practice using their senses to observe a variety of elements including shapes, textures, numbers and colors. Students will discuss the observation, care, and conservation of animals.

Materials:

• Ideally an outside area, though if one is not available someitems mentioned in the procedure could be brought into theclassroom.

Procedure:

1. Where do animals live? We see animals around us all thetime, but we don’t always see where their homes are. Takeyour students outside and ask them to sit under a tree. Whoelse is there? A tree can be an apartment building for manykinds of animals. Can they count the number of creaturesthey observe? Squirrels, birds, chipmunks, mice, ants? Canthey imagine what their homes are like? Discuss with yourstudents the habitat of their animal neighbors.

2. Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny are from England and are called European Rabbits. These wild rabbits havegrey/brown fur, long ears, large hind legs and fluffy white tails. Rabbits are social animals and like to live in coloniesor warrens with up to ten family members. In North America, there are many breeds of wild rabbits: cotton-tailrabbits – brown/grey with white tails and medium ears; jackrabbits – enormous ears, longer hind legs and fur thatchanges with the seasons; snowshoe hares – with furry feet and color changing fur. Ask your students why theythink rabbits have long ears and long hind legs. Why do they think some wild rabbits have fur that changes colorwith the seasons? What other kinds of rabbits have your students seen? Domestic pet rabbits are bred to be white,black, brown or multi-colored, large or dwarf, lop-eared or long eared. Does anyone in the class have a pet rabbit?What breed is it?

3. Outdoor Treasure Hunt. Divide your class into two groups and send them on a treasure hunt. Each group will havea pad of paper and a pen and will make a list of what they find. They’ll be looking for: Numbers – find leaves with1/2/3/4/5/6 points; Colors – find examples in nature of red, yellow, blue, brown, green…and anything else; Shapes– find an example of a circle, square, rectangle, oval, star, spiral; Textures – find examples of hard, soft, wet, dry,prickly, smooth. Note: students should observe and record what they see but not pull leaves, pick plants, or eatberries!

Reflection:

Discuss with your students different activities their community could undertake to preserve or enhance the natural environment around them. Create a community garden, park or preserve? Create a conservation area for animals? Conserve woodland areas against future development? Why do they think these different activities would be of value?

Courtesy of Green Schools National Network

PETER RABBIT TALES Overture Center – OnStage 6 

Masks and PuppetsIn this production of Peter Rabbit Tales, actors wearing animal masks portray all of the characters. Though masks are often more rare in American contemporary theater, they have been used since the very beginnings of theater.

The early Romans used enormous masks that exaggerated human characteristics and enhanced the actor’s presence in the huge amphitheaters of their day. Greek theater used masks that were human scale to designate tragic and comic characters. Masks have been used in the early Christian church since the 9th century and were revived during the Renaissance in Italy with the Commedia Dell’ Arte.

Theater throughout Asia has used masks to create archetypal characters, human and divine. In Balinese theatrical tradition, for example, masks keep ancient and mythological figures recognizable to a contemporary audience, preserving a rare and beautiful culture. Though used differently in every culture, the mask facilitates a transformation of the actor and the audience.

Similar to masks, puppets also have a long and esteemed history. They have been used to represent gods, noblemen and everyday people as well animals and mythical creatures. In the history of every culture puppets can be found, from the tombs of the Pharaohs to the Italian marionette and the English Punch and Judy. The Bunraku Puppet Theater of Japan has been in existence continuously since the 17th century. In the early days of Bunraku, the greatest playwrights preferred writing for puppets rather than for live actors.

Puppets are similar to the mask in their fascination and power. We accept that this carved being is real and alive, and we invest it with an intensified life of our own imagining. Masks and puppets live in a world of heightened reality. Used with art and skill, they can expand boundaries, free the imagination, inspire dreams, transform possibilities, and teach us about ourselves.

Punch and Judy, Andrew Howe, Flickr

Kyōto - Gion: Gion Corner - Bunraku, Wally Gobetz, Flickr

PETER RABBIT TALES Overture Center – OnStage 7 

Activity: Make a Mask, Make a CharacterAges 5-10

Purpose: To prepare students for a theatrical performance that uses masks, and to practice inventing their own animal characters.

Objectives: Students will discuss performance, and different kinds of animals. They will critique actors in performance. They will interpret music and sounds to build characters.

Materials:

• Plenty of space to move around safely

• Mask making crafts: You can acquire blank white masks froma craft store, or use paper plates with holes cut out.

Procedure:

1. Brainstorm and Improvise — Explain that actors are peoplewho pretend to be someone else. In Peter Rabbit Tales,people called actors will pretend to be different animals.How might you pretend to be a mouse? A fox? An owl? Asquirrel? Have your students demonstrate their version ofthese movements. Then try sounds. What sound do theseanimals make: cat, dog, cow, duck, rooster, horse, lion?

2. Mask Making — Ask your students to make a mask of an animal of their choice. Give them plenty of time to dothis, and decorations can range from simply markers, to glued on ears and eyes from cardboard or fabrics.

3. Mask Performance — Give the students a chance to move as their animal while wearing the masks. Ask them: howdid wearing the mask change how you moved? Did it make it easier, harder, or just different?

4. Add Music — You can play different melodies and ask your students how it affects their movements. You can alsoCreate rhythm instruments, such as shakers, using easily obtained materials such as empty pop cans, plastic bottlesand aluminum foil pie tins. Gather dried beans, peas, rice or small pebbles. Place dried beans, rice or pebbles inpop cans, plastic bottles or between aluminum pie tins. Cover holes with masking tape or tape pie tins together.Cover with fabric or construction paper and decorate with markers or yarn.

Copyright© C. David Russell, Production Designer

Peter Rabbit Tales - Actors and Masks in Rehearsal

In this playlist of short videos, each actor from Peter Rabbit Tales introduces themselves, their charters, and some of the characterizations and movements they’re employing to create a character that goes with their masks. This can be a great video to present pre-show, especially for young children before the show, especially if the masks seem scary at first! You can also inspire your students to try it themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo4bTksLcotZrwhiQiAjQRKT5Es8GfMjB

Copyright© C. David Russell, Production Designer

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Books to ReadHere are some great Peter Rabbit Tales related books to read with your students:

Eccleshare, Julia. Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter: Portraits of Children’s Writers. London: National Portrait Gallery, 2002. Ages 8-14.

50 different biographies of British children’s authors and illustrators.

Kelsey, Elin, and Clayton Hanmer. Not Your Typical Book about the Environment. Toronto: Owlkids, 2010. Ages 6-10.

This unique book focuses on upcoming potential solutions to the environmental crisis - smart technologies, conservation efforts, and new practices that can help save the planet.

Lobel, Anita. 10 Hungry Rabbits: Counting & Color Concepts. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. Ages 3-5.

One by one, 10 very hungry rabbits find 10 very yummy vegetables for Mama Rabbit’s soup pot. Artist Anita Lobel combines learning to count with color concepts in this mouth-watering celebration of good things to eat.

Potter, Beatrix. Helen Beatrix Potter Complete Collection. United States: Orintage, 2013. Ages 4-10.

All of Beatrix Potter’s works in a single comprehensive volume.

Rohmer, Harriet, and Julie McLaughlin. Heroes of the Environment: True Stories of People Who Are Helping to Protect Our Planet. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2009. Ages 9-12.

True stories of 12 people from across North America who have done great things for the environment. Features stories about a teenage girl who figured out how to remove an industrial pollutant from the Ohio River, a Mexican superstar wrestler who works to protect turtles and whales, and a teenage boy from Rhode Island who helped his community and his state develop effective e-waste recycling programs.

Wallner, Alexandra. Beatrix Potter. New York: Holiday House, 1995. Ages 8-10.

This colorful book for children details the life of Beatrix Potter, from here upbringing to becoming a writer.

PETER RABBIT TALES Overture Center – OnStage 9 

Theatre:

A.4.1 Attend a live theatre performance and discuss the experience

• explain what happened in the play

• identify and describe the characters

• say what they liked and didn’t like

• describe the scenery, lighting and/or costumes

D4.1 Explain strengths and weakness of their own work and that of others

D.4.2 Identify strengths (what worked) and weaknesses (what didn’t work) in character work and scenes presented in class

D.4.3 Identify what they need to do to make their character or scene more believable and/or understandable

D.4.4 Share their comments constructively and supportively within the group

Music

C.4.5 Echo simple rhythmic and melodic patterns

F.4.2 Identify simple music forms upon listening to a given example

English Language Arts

A.4.1 Discern how written texts and accompanying illustrations connect to convey meaning

A.4.4 Read to acquire information

C.4.3 Participate effectively in discussion

D.4.1 Develop their vocabulary of words, phrases, and idioms as a means of improving communication

F.4.1 Conduct research and inquiry on self-selected or as signed topics, issues, or problems and use an appropriate form to communicate findings

Visual Art

K.4.3 Use what they are learning about life, nature, the physical world and people to create art

Social Studies

C.4.3 Explain how families, schools, and other groups develop, enforce, and change rules of behavior, and explain how various behaviors promote or hinder cooperation.

Science

C.4.3 Select multiple sources of information to help answer questions selected for classroom investigations

Academic Standards

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About Live PerformanceTheater, unlike movies or television, is a LIVE performance. This means that the action unfolds right in front of an audience, and the performance is constantly evolving. The artists respond to the audience’s laughter, clapping, gasps and general reactions. Therefore, the audience is a critical part of the theater experience. In fact, without you in the audience, the artists would still be in rehearsal!

Remember, you are sharing this performance space with the artists and other audience members. Your considerate behavior allows everyone to enjoy a positive theater experience.

Prepare: Be sure to use the restroom before the show begins!

Find Your Seat: When the performance is about to begin, the lights will dim. This is a signal for the artists and the

audience to put aside conversations. Settle into your seat and get ready to enjoy the show!

Look and Listen: There is so much to hear (dialogue, music, sound effects) and so much to see (costumes, props, set design, lighting) in this performance. Pay close attention to the artists onstage. Unlike videos, you cannot rewind if you miss something.

Energy and Focus: Artists use concentration to focus their energy during a performance. The audience gives energy to the artist, who uses that energy to give life to the performance. Help the artists focus that energy. They can feel that you are with them!

Talking to neighbors (even whispering) can easily distract the artists onstage. They approach their audiences with respect, and expect the same from you in return. Help the artists concentrate with your attention.

Laugh Out Loud: If something is funny, it’s good to laugh. If you like something a lot, applaud. Artists are thrilled when the audience is engaged and responsive. They want you to laugh, cheer, clap and really enjoy your time at the theater.

Discover New Worlds: Attending a live performance is a time to sit back and look inward, and question what is being presented to you. Be curious about new worlds, experience new ideas, and discover people and lives previously unknown to you. Your open mind, curiosity, and respect will allow a whole other world to unfold right before your eyes!

Please, don’t feed the audience: Food is not allowed in the theater. Soda and snacks are noisy and distracting to both the artists and audience.

Unplug: Please turn off all cell phones and other electronics before the performance. Photographs and recording devices are prohibited.

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SPONSORS

AMERICAN GIRL’S FUND FOR CHILDREN Funding for this resource guide and the OnStage Performing Arts Series for Students is provided by a generous grant from American Girl’s Fund for Children, a philanthropic foundation created to support programs and services for school-age children in Dane County. Since its founding in 1992. American Girl’s Fund for Children has supported programs in the arts, culture and environment.Sponsored by American Girl’s Fund for Children. Additional funding provided by the DeAtley Family Foundation, Teresa Welch and Nancy Barklage, Sara and Eliot Butler, A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, The Lex Company LLC, Promega Corporation, Madison-Kipp Corporation, the Evjue Foundation-the charitable arm of The Capital Times, and by contributions to Overture Center for the Arts.