A Teacher’s Guide to

Missoula Children’s Theatre’s

“Treasure Island”

2 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

Dear Educator, As you make plans for your students to attend an upcoming presentation of the Arts for Youth program at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, we invite you to prepare your students by using this guide to assure that from beginning to end; the experience is both memorable and educationally enriching. The material in this guide is for you the teacher, and will assist you in preparing your students before the day of the event, and extending the educational value to beyond the walls of the theatre. We provide activity and/or discussion ideas, and other resources that will help to prepare your students to better understand and enjoy what they are about to see, and to help them connect what they see on stage to their studies. We also encourage you to discuss important aspects of the artistic experience, including audience etiquette. We hope that your students find their imagination comes alive as lights shine, curtains open, and applause rings through Lancaster Performing Arts Center. As importantly, we hope that this Curriculum Guide helps you to bring the arts alive in your classroom! Thank you for helping us to make a difference in the lives of our Antelope Valley youth. Arts for Youth Program Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 2

Overview of the California Content Standards for Public Schools .......................................................................................... 3

Theatre Etiquette .................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Be a Theatre Critic ................................................................................................................................................................... 5

About Missoula Children’s Theatre ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Play Your Part .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Characters to Know ................................................................................................................................................................. 9

Suggestions for Discussion .................................................................................................................................................... 10

Arts for Youth is the title for K-12 educational programs at Lancaster Performing Arts Center

3 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

Curriculum connections: Visual Arts, Music, Theater, and Dance. Language Arts - Literature Kindergarten: Reading

3.1 Distinguish fantasy from realistic text. 3.3 Identify characters, settings, and important events.

Grade 2: Listening and Speaking - Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication 1.5 Organize presentations to maintain a clear focus. 1.7 Recount experiences in a logical sequence. 1.8 Retell stories, including characters, setting, and plot. 1.9 Report on a topic with supportive facts and details.

Visual and Performing Arts - Theatre Grade 5: Creative Expression - Development of Theatrical Skills

2.1 Participate in improvisational activities to explore complex ideas and universal themes in literature and life.

Grade 5: Connections, Relationships, Applications – Connections and Applications 5.1 Use theatrical skills to dramatize events and concepts from other curriculum areas, such as reenacting the signing of the Declaration of Independence in history social science.

Grade 5: Connecting and Applying What Is Learned in Theatre, Film/Video, and Electronic Media to Other Art Forms and Subject Areas and to Careers - Careers and Career-Related Skills

5.2 Identify the roles and responsibilities of performing and technical artists in theatre, film, television, and electronic media.

Content standards adopted by the California State Board of Education. For more information, visit:

http://www.lpac.org/arts-for-youth.cfm

4 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

Arrive on time: Plan for possible delays in travel and parking. Please arrive 30 minutes prior to show time.

Students: Leave recording devices of any kind at home or in your backpack at school

Video or audio recording and photography, including camera phones, are often prohibited by law and may

disrupt the performance. They are not permitted and are considered very rude to the others around you.

Teachers: Turn off or silence all personal electronics

Beeps, clicks, tones and buzzes and light pollution emanated by personal electronics such as watches, pagers,

Bluetooth devices, cell phones, etc. interrupt the performance and spoil the theatre experience.

Observe the instructions of ushers

The ushers are present to offer assistance, ensure rules are observed and provide guidance in the case of an

emergency evacuation. Please show them consideration. You will be asked to exit to the left of the theatre at

the end of the performance.

Be respectful

While entering and exiting the theatre: Put your hands in your pockets or behind your back. Talk very quietly.

Once seated: Do not talk. Keep your feet on the ground. Put your hands in your lap or fold your arms.

Abstain from eating or drinking inside the theatre

Crackling wrappers and containers and food messes in the auditorium are unwelcome. Food, candy, gum and

drinks should never be brought inside the theatre.

Avoid talking, waving and shouting during the performance

Laughing and applauding are encouraged at appropriate times. Shouting to actors/friends is disrespectful to

others. Save personal conversation for after the show. If you must talk, please whisper very quietly.

Do not exit the auditorium during the performance except in the case of emergency

If you must leave, please wait for an appropriate break in the performance. Teachers, please arrive early enough

to escort students to the restroom prior to the start of the show.

Do not get onto the stage or place items on the edge of the stage

To ensure the safety and security of performers and audiences, this behavior is strictly prohibited unless expressly

permitted by a performer or staff member.

5 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

Dispose of garbage in proper receptacles

Help preserve a pleasant environment by depositing all debris in appropriate receptacles.

Extend common courtesy and respect to your fellow audience members

Civility creates a comfortable and welcoming theatre experience for all.

Bring very small children only to age-appropriate performances

Small children easily become restless at programs intended for older children, and may cause distractions.

During the performance watch for:

• Facial expressions and actions

• Costumes

• Props

• Music and sound effects

• Vivid stories and word pictures

Missoula Children’s Theatre was founded in 1970 by Jim Caron, who continues serve as Executive

Director. Jim and Music Director Michael McGill created the eight original musicals that are currently

touring with thirty teams of MCT Tour Actor/Directors – including Treasure Island.

6 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

The cast auditions for the show on Monday and rehearse for just a few short days. You will be amazed

by what they have accomplished. Nearly 55,000 young people will participate as performers in the

Missoula Children’s Theatre International Tour Project this season. Nearly 1,100 communities in all 50

states, 6 Canadian territories and provinces and 16 countries will be visited!

Missoula Children's Theatre (MCT), the nation’s largest touring children’s theatre, has been touring extensively

for more than 30 years now from Montana to Japan, and will visit nearly 1000 communities this year with 30

teams of Tour Actor/Directors. A tour team arrives in a given town with a set, lights, costumes, props and

make-up, everything it takes to put on a play...except the cast. The team holds an open audition and casts 50-

60 local students to perform in the production. The show is rehearsed throughout the week and two public

performances are presented on Friday and Saturday. All MCT shows are original adaptations of classic

children’s stories and fairytales . . . a twist on the classic stories that you know and love. Creativity, social

skills, goal achievement, communication skills and self-esteem are

all characteristics that are attained through the participation in this

unique, educational project. MCT's mission is the development of

lifeskills in children through participation in the performing arts.

7 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

The Missoula Children's Theatre takes pride in presenting, TREASURE ISLAND, an original adaptation of Robert

Louis Stevenson’s epic novel.

Young Jim Hawkins, a mischievous lad, lives with his mother and six

sisters in a seaside village on the coast of Maine. The year is 1782

and the American War for Revolution is in its last days. Longing for

adventure, Jim comes under the hypnotic spell of the legendary pirate, Long John Silver. While waiting tables

in the family Inn, Jim finds a treasure map and, with the villainous Silver as his seeming mentor, sails

uncharted seas with only the ragged map and a flock of gulls as guides. Always up for adventure, Jim’s ruffian

friends say farewell to their village parents and serve as cabin boys for Silver and his band of hilarious

(although unsavory) pirate types. Once on the island, nights are sleepless as true colors are revealed in our

hero’s quest for the proverbial happy ending. Then - at last - the treasure is found and hand in hand we’re

homeward bound.

TREASURE ISLAND - it’ll shiver ye timbers!

8 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

You have an important role to play; it wouldn’t be a play without you! Your part is to pretend the play is real. Part of this

includes accepting certain theatre ways, or conventions:

1. Actors tell the story with words (dialogue), actions (blocking), and songs.

2. Actors may sing songs that tell about the story or their feelings.

3. Actors may speak to the audience.

4. An actor may play several different characters (doubling) by changing their voice, costume or posture.

5. Places are suggested by panels on the set, and by props.

How to play your part:

A play is different from television or a movie. The

actors are right in front of you and can see your

reactions, feel your attention, and hear your laughter

and applause. Watch and listen carefully to

understand the story. The story is told by the actors

and comes to life through your imagination.

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Jim Hawkins: the boy who finds the treasure map; he is the protagonist and chief narrator. His parents are the owners of "The Admiral Benbow Inn."

Billy Bones: ex-mate of Captain Flint's ship and possessor of the map of Treasure Island. Dies of a stroke brought on by a combination of alcoholism and fear when "tipped" the Black Spot.

Squire John Trelawney: a skilled marksman, he is naïve and hires the crew almost entirely on Long John Silver's advice. He has some sea-going experience and sometimes stands watch in calm weather. His propensity to talk too much is nearly the downfall of the expedition.

Dr. Livesey: a doctor, magistrate, former soldier (having served under the Duke of Cumberland) and friend of Trelawney who goes on the journey and for a short while narrates the story.

Captain Alexander Smollett: the stubborn, but loyal, captain of the Hispaniola.

Long John Silver: formerly Flint's quartermaster, later leader of the Hispaniola's mutineers. Engaged as the ship's cook, and formerly the quartermaster on Flint's ship. Seemingly respectable in the beginning, he is landlord of "The Spy-glass" public house. Throughout the novel it is made clear that Silver is a remarkably charming man, whom even his enemies can't quite dislike. It is also clear that he is intelligent, ruthless, manipulative, and without a conscience.

Israel Hands: ship's coxswain and Flint's ex-gunner; tries to kill Jim Hawkins and ends up in Davy Jones' Locker. The character may have been named for the real-life pirate Israel Hands.

Ben Gunn: a half-insane and marooned ex-pirate, who becomes a lodge keeper after losing his share of the treasure; speaks in a "rusty voice" and craves toasted cheese. He has already found and removed the treasure before the events of the story.

Pew: a blind ex-pirate (used to be part of Flint's crew), now beggar and killer, who dies when he is trampled by horses. With Pew and Long John Silver, Stevenson sought to avoid predictability by making the two most dangerous characters in Treasure Island a blind man and an amputee.

Captain Flint: a feared pirate captain who dies in Savannah from rum; also the name of Long John's parrot.

10 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

Grades K-8

If students are familiar with the story of Treasure Island, have them put on short skits of Treasure

Island. They could bring in props and costume pieces from home.

Have the students write a rhyming poem about Long John Silver.

Create a mural that reflects a pirate theme.

Decorate the classroom walls with thematic creations from each student.

Have a “dress-up” day where students come dressed as a character from the story.

Read and talk about pirate stories from cultures around the world.

Contrast and compare Robert Louis Stevenson’s story of Treasure Island with the Missoula Children’s

Theatre adaptation.

Write a new ending or twist to the Robert Louis Stevenson fairy tale.

Grades 5-8

Have a discussion about Truthfulness and Loyalty

The original novel deals with the development and coming-of-age of its narrator, Jim Hawkins. Jim's moral

development culminates when he promises Silver not to attempt an escape, and then meets with Dr. Livesey

at the edge of the stockade. Jim, fearing that he may divulge the Hispaniola's location under torture, tells

Livesey where the ship is so that the doctor can move it away before the pirates can find it.

Moved by the prospect of a youngster facing torture, Livesey tells

Jim to escape with him. Jim refuses saying, "I passed my word,"

adhering to the middle class heroes' ethic of truthfulness even at

the risk of an excruciating death. Livesey counters by offering to

11 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

make Jim's moral standing dependent on his own: "I'll take it on my shoulders, holus bolus, blame and shame,

my boy." Jim refuses this dependency, choosing to act as an independent adult like Livesey and his comrades:

"'No,' I replied, 'you know right well you wouldn't do the thing yourself--neither you, nor squire nor captain;

and no more will I.'"

Several of the other heroes are remarkable for standing by their word, notably Dr. Livesey who, loyal to the

Hippocratic Oath, keeps his word to render assistance to the sick, even those he despises such as Billy Bones

and the pirates who have captured the stockade. It is mainly lack of loyalty and truthfulness that distinguish

Long John Silver from the heroes, who otherwise share many values with him. Silver is not only a chronic liar,

but also an extremely skilled and convincing one. He pretends so convincingly not to know Black Dog that Jim

Hawkins admits, "I would have gone bail for the innocence of Long John Silver."

His tales to his fellow mutineers about his early career under Captains England and Flint are probably at least

partly fanciful. When Jim Hawkins falls into his hands, Silver readily promises to abandon his crew and return

to Captain Smollett's orders in exchange for Jim's intervention to spare Silver's life. Then, when he believes

Flint's treasure is in his reach, Silver plans (at least according to Jim's perception) to go back on his word, kill

Jim, and seize the Hispaniola for himself. Finally, when he finds the treasure gone, Silver again changes sides

and betrays his crew. As his last ruse, Silver escapes his captivity with a bag of guineas and disappears.

12 Treasure Island Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

This study guide for “Treasure

Island” was created by Lancaster

Performing Arts Center Staff.

Other resources consulted: (Contents of links on the World Wide Web change

continuously. It is advisable that teachers review

all links before introducing them to students.)

mctinc.org

wikipedia.org