2016/17 RESOURCE GUIDE Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

ONSTAGE

JERRY SH

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FLIP NIC

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ABOUT OVERTURE CENTER

FOR THE ARTS

Overture Center for the Arts fills a city block in downtown Madison with world-class venues for the performing and visual arts. Made possible by an extraordinary gift from Madison businessman W. Jerome Frautschi, the center presents the highest-quality arts and entertainment programming in a wide variety of disciplines for diverse audiences. Offerings include performances by acclaimed classical, jazz, pop, and folk performers; touring Broadway musicals; quality children’s entertainment; and world-class ballet, modern and jazz dance. Overture Center’s extensive outreach and educational programs serve thousands of Madison-area residents annually, including youth, older adults, people with limited financial resources and people with disabilities. The center is also home to ten independent resident organizations.

RESIDENT ORGANIZATIONS

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society Children's Theater of Madison

Forward Theater Company Kanopy Dance Company

Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company Madison Ballet

Madison Opera Madison Symphony Orchestra

Wisconsin Academy’s James Watrous Gallery Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra

Internationally renowned architect Cesar Pelli designed the center to provide the best possible environment for artists and audiences, as well as to complement Madison’s urban environment. Performance spaces range from the spectacular 2,250-seat Overture Hall to the casual and intimate Rotunda Stage. The renovated Capitol Theater seats approximately 1,110, and The Playhouse seats 350. In addition, three multi-purpose spaces provide flexible performance, meeting and rehearsal facilities. Overture Center also features several art exhibit spaces. Overture Galleries I, II and III display works by Dane County artists. The Playhouse Gallery features regional artists with an emphasis on collaborations with local organizations. The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters’ Watrous Gallery displays works by Wisconsin artists, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art offers works by national and international artists.

RESOURCE GUIDE CREDITS

Executive Editor Writer/Designer

Alanna Medearis Jim Burling

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Dear Teachers,

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 Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters is designed to:

• Extend the scholastic impact of the performance by providingdiscussion ideas, activities and further reading which promotelearning across the curriculum;

• Promote arts literacy by expanding students’ knowledge of music,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 and tocelebrate 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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Arts

Table of Contents

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters and the Dallas Children’s Theater ................................... 2

Zimbabwe of the Past and Present ............. 3

Activity: Making Characters ......................4

Focus On: Arts Integration .......................5

Activity: Collaborative Storytelling and Interpretation ..........................................6

Discussions Before and After the Show.......8

Books to Read ........................................9

Academic Standards .............................. 10

About Live Performance .........................11

Social Emotional Social Studies

Language Arts

Education Categories

Caption

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Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters and the Dallas Children’s TheaterMufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, based on an original African folktale, takes place in an African village in ancient Zimbabwe. Mufaro is a man with two beautiful daughters, Manyara and Nyasha. Manyara is bad tempered and selfish, Nyasha is sweet tempered and generous. When the Great King invites all the daughters of the land to appear before him so that he may to choose a queen, Mufaro and his daughters prepare for the journey. Manyara sneaks out, alone, in the night. She encounters several people on her way to the King’s palace. She is rude and uncharitable to them. In the morning, Mufaro and Nyasha discover that Manyara is gone. They too leave for the Great City. Along the way Nyasha is kind and helpful to people and animals. Nyasha meets the king, who confesses that he had appeared before her on the journey, disguised as a hungry boy, an old woman and a snake. Because of her generosity, Nayasha is chosen to be the queen. Manyara becomes a servant in the queen’s household.

Dallas Children’s Theater serves over 250,000 young people from 100 zip codes, 40 cities and 12 countries each year through its eleven main stage productions, touring, educational programming and outreach activities. Since its opening in 1984, this award-winning theater has existed to create challenging, inspiring and entertaining theater, which communicates vital messages to our youth and promotes an early appreciation for literature and the performing arts. As the only major organization in Dallas focusing on theater for youth and families, Dallas Children’s Theater produces literary classics, original scripts, folk tales, myths, fantasies and contemporary dramas that foster multicultural understanding, confront topical issues and celebrate the human spirit. Their productions promote social values, moral integrity, and reflect the cultural diversity of our communities through casting and themes.

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UNESCO Video: The Capital of the Shona People

A brief overview of the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, including life in the city at its height and fame.

https://youtu.be/I1KRjQmFEIc

Zimbabwe of the Past and Present

The Kingdom of Zimbabwe stretches back sometime before medieval history, but is generally considered to have existed for certain between 1220 and 1450 C.E. The founders are believed to have come north from the area of south Africa, creating an empire that stretched from the interior to the coast. In addition to agriculture, the Shona people of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe mined great mineral wealth, and the kingdom had hundreds of tributary nations and tribes.

Many of the illustrations in the book Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters show the fortress-city of Great Zimbabwe in ancient times. This city was a main trading center of the Shona people starting in the 1400s. There, the Shona sold gold, copper, and ivory to Arab merchants. The remaining ruins of the city show that the Shona were skillful builders. Notably, the walls were constructed without mortar, using only a masterful understanding of

architecture and weight to construct sturdy, long-lasting walls. The ruins of three of their stone structures, the Hill Complex, the Great Enclosure, and the Valley Complex, are still visible, and are today a cultural heritage site in Zimbabwe.

The Kingdom of Zimbabwe gave way to later nations, also of the Shona people, which in turn fought against the Zulu in the 19th century, and both groups resisted the incursion of the British Empire for many years. The British exploited fighting amongst local kingdoms to gain rights to mineral and animal wealth in the area, ultimately taking control over a large area that came to be called Rhodesia. In the 20th century, along with many others in east Africa, the people of the country that would become Zimbabwe resisted and gained independence from the United Kingdom.

By Janice Bell - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42835093

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Activity: Making CharactersAges 5-7

Purpose: Prepare students to see a play and interpret actors performing as animals.

Objectives: Students will use imagination, movement, concentration, and simple characterization to become various animals. They will practice actions associated with each animal. They will understand that actors pretend to be someone else.

Materials:

• A noise maker or instrument, such as a drum, harp, keyboard, etc.

Procedure:

1. Explain that actors are people who pretend to be someone else. In Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, actors willpretend to be different people and animals. How might you pretend to be a mouse? A fox? An owl? A dancingsnake?

2. Explain to your students that Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters is a folk tale, a story told over and over again. Many ofthe people listening would already know how the story goes, so what was most important was making the telling ofthat story interesting to watch and hear. Practice makes perfect!

3. Have students imagine that they are the storyteller. Have them use their bodies, facial expressions and voices andact out the following:

• A snake

• An old person

• A hungry young child

• A messenger

• A king

4. If students could use only one prop to help create one of the above characters, what would they choose? Discusshow actors use many elements, including costumes, props, physical features and voice to create a character.

5. If you need more character ideas, you can add some of the following prompts:

• Can you sit up and beg like a dog? Can you eat grain like a horse? Can you lie in the mud like a pig?

• Ask the children to use their imaginations to pretend to be different animals. Sample leads...

• Pretend you are a tiny kitten. How big would you be? How would you move? Can you chase a piece of yarn?

• Pretend you are a crocodile, swimming in the water.

• Pretend you are an elephant. Can you show me your big trunk?

• Pretend you are a kangaroo. How high can you hop?

• Pretend you are a big, old turtle. Show me how slowly you move.

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Focus On: Arts IntegrationAs you know, the experience of attending an arts performance can have a lasting impact on your students. This guide is designed to help you extend the scholastic aspect of the performance before and after in your classroom. Additionally, live performances like the one your students will be attending provide great opportunities for deep, interdisciplinary lessons using an arts integration approach.

About Arts Integration

Across the nation there has been a growing interest in arts integration as an approach to teaching in which the arts leverage learning in other subject areas such as science, language arts, mathematics, and social studies.

At Overture Center, we are excited by the possibilities arts integration can bring to a school to:

• Motivate students to engage more fully with the related subject area, encouraging joyful, active learning.

• Extend how learners process and retain information by combining several learning modalities (visual, aural, and kinesthetic) and thus, reaching a wider range of students.

• Make content more accessible and allow for personal connections to content.

• Help students understand and express abstract concepts.

Through this model, the arts become the approach to teaching and the vehicle for learning. Students meet dual learning objectives when they engage in the creative process to explore connections between an art form and another subject area to gain greater understanding in both. For example, in a social studies classroom, students can meet objectives in both theater and social studies by dramatizing a historical event. By mutually reinforcing objectives in both theater and social studies, students gain a deeper understanding of the content and are able to demonstrate their learning in an authentic context.

Arts Integration Resources and Activities:

Overture Center offers a variety of Professional Development Workshops for Teachers in Arts Integration each year. To find out about our next workshops and other resources for your teaching, visit overture.org/residencies. For more information on Arts Integration, please visit ArtsEdge, The Kennedy Center’s online resources (https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/how-to/series/arts-integration/arts-integration).

The following sample activity was developed to give you a taste of an arts integration lesson and to encourage arts integration in your classroom.

The Kennedy Center’s Definition for Arts Integration

Arts Integration is an APPROACH to TEACHING

in which studentsconstruct and demonstrate

UNDERSTANDINGthrough an ART FORM.

Students engage in aCREATIVE PROCESS

which CONNECTSan art form and another subject area

and meets EVOLVING OBJECTIVES

in both.

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Activity: Collaborative Storytelling and InterpretationAges 10-12

Purpose: To practice the telling of a story through improvisation, group devising, and collaborative performance.

Objectives:

Social Studies: Students will practice collaborative performance found in the traditional storytelling methods of ancient Zimbabwe, and discuss how folk tales are passed down over time.

English Languages Arts: Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in an English text, The Jabberwoky, and apply the Chinouyazue storytelling techniques to this other tale.

Theatre: Students will improvise, practice and perform their own interpretations of text, and engage with multiple points of view through drama.

Materials:

• Several copies of Louis Carrol’s The Jabberwoky (supplied), with a different stanza on each

Procedure:

1. Explain to your students that Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, pays homage to the traditional storytelling methods used by the people of ancient Zimbabwe. This is a very interactive form of theater. This play makes use of the ancient tradition in the form of Chinouyazue, the narrator or storyteller. Chinouyazue will tell the story and he will ask for the help of the audience along the way. Please inform your class that it is expected, and important for them to participate when asked to do so. The audience may be asked to chant, clap, make nighttime noises, laugh, toast and applaud to enhance the atmosphere of the play’s storyline.

2. Tell your students that, just like in many cultures, stories told by a Chinouyazue are passed down from one generation to another. Since the audience often already know the stories, storytellers must be entertaining. They often include song, dance, and pantomime . Sometimes the storyteller asks for the audience’s help, perhaps singing a chorus, or shouting out an answer or even by choosing the end of the story. Tell your students that they will be practicing these same skills today.

3. Ask students to sit in a circle and explain that you are going to begin by telling a story as a group. The facilitator may begin the story with any line. For example, ‘‘Once upon a time, there was a child who was very happy because…’’ at this point, the story will be continued by the next person in the circle. Try to make sure each student only has one line or sentence before passing it to the next person. (This activity can be adapted to other lesson plans by using it to recall details from a history project, to retell literature read in class, or to discuss what happened with a science experiment.) Another alternative for this activity is to ask each student to only use one word in each before passing the story to the next person.

4. Next, tell your students that physical energy and group cooperation is just as important, if not more so, than the telling of the story. To practice this, explain that you’ll apply this technique to a story from a different setting. In the next part of the activity, read your students Louis Carrol’s poem The Jabberwoky, from Through the Looking Glass.

Arts Integration Activity

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The Jabberwoky

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought --

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’

He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

5. Ask your students what the poem was about. Did it make sense? Have you heard those words before? Explain to your students that the author made up most of those words, and was playing with the idea of making meaning without “real” words. Even without using words that are recognizable, did a story form in your mind?

6. Tell your students that they will now get a chance to retell this story, and add their own performance to it. Break your students into small groups of three or four. Have each group choose one Chinouyazue, a storyteller, and give that student four lines (see poem) or one stanza to read. The others in the group will perform whatever they think that stanza is about, as the Chinouyazue reads.

7. Arrange the groups in order of their stanzas. Give them time to practice and experiment. You can prompt them with examples: What does it mean when something is “Slithy?” How do you galumph? What does a Tumtum tree look like?

8. When it seems like they are ready, give them one more detail: this whole story takes place in a spooky forest. This means that when their Chinouyazue is not reading, and their group is not performing, they should make any noise they think they might hear in such a spooky glade. Caution them that no matter what they do, it can’t be so loud or so distracting that it takes away from the storytellers.

9. When ready, you can perform the whole thing at once. Let them try it multiple times to get it right, and try different approaches. You can always point at each group in turn to keep the activity coordinated.

10. If your students are still engaged by this activity, you can try it one last time, but with total improvisatory freedom: you read the text, they all perform at once, either stepping forward into a role, or simply providing background sound effects.

Reflection:

Explain to your students that this activity used The Jabberwoky to get them to focus on the performance of a story as much as the actual details. Ask your students: What stories do we tell over and over again? What did you watch for while performing this story? Unlike The Jabberwoky, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters won’t use nonsense words, and tells a familiar story–could the performers and the Chinouyazue still invent new details? What stories do you know that have multiple versions?

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Discussions Before and After the ShowPre-Show Discussion Questions:

1. In Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters the sisters take a journey through the forest. What would you take with you if you had to travel through the woods? Why did you choose the things you chose?

2. The character Manyara is considered to be rude and self-centered. What are some ways a rude, self-centered person might act? What kinds of things might they say? How do other people feel when they deal with a rude person?

3. The character Nyasha is considered to be generous and sweet. What are some ways a generous, sweet person might act? What kind of things could you do that would be generous?

4. Write this question on a large poster pad: What is beauty? Call on volunteers to share their conceptions of beauty. Make a list of students' ideas. Ask students to note how beauty is treated in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.

5. The artwork in the book Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters is beautiful, but it is a flat page with paintings. On stage, the background and scenery will probably not look exactly as it does in the book. Why might it look different?

6. How would you make the scenery for the story? Students might like to draw the scenery the way they think it will look.

7. Sibling rivalry is when brothers or sisters fight or disagree. Do you ever fight or disagree with your brothers or sisters? Why do brothers and sisters sometimes not get along? How could they get along better?

Post Show Discussion Questions:

1. What was your favorite part of the show? Why?

2. Before seeing the show, we talked about the concept of ‘‘beauty.’’ How did this story treat beauty? What lessons about beauty do you think the show presents? Do you agree with them? Why, or why not?

3. Nyasha becomes the Queen because she has the most desirable qualities for a queen. How was Nyasha a good person? Have students think of ways they can show kindness and responsibility in the classroom. They can create scenes from their ideas and act them out for the rest of the class.

4. The play ends with the wedding of the King and Nyasha. Manyara becomes a servant for the queen. What do you think will happen next? What will Mufaro do? How will Nyasha like being a queen? Is it right for Manyara to become a servant? Do you think she has learned any lessons

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Books to ReadBarchers, Suzanne I. Multicultural Folktales: Readers Theatre for Elementary Students. Englewood, CO: Teacher Ideas, 2000. Ages 7-11

This resource book includes many readers’ theater scripts at all different reading levels. Representing more than 30 countries and regions, the 40 reproducible scripts are accompanied by presentation suggestions and recommendations for props and delivery. Each has been assessed for readability using the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Scale and is grouped for grades one through five.

Sheehan, Sean. Zimbabwe. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1993. Ages 10-12

This is a good general reference book for the geography, history, government, economy, people, and culture of Zimbabwe and its people.

Sierra, Judy. Cinderella. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx, 1992. Ages 8 and up

This book includes many different story versions of the Cinderella story from all parts of the world. Introduces the idea of folklore as having recurring themes, without using Europe as the baseline for traditions of storytelling or mythology.

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English Language Arts

B.8.1 Create or produce writing to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes

C.8.1 Orally communicate information, opinions, and ideas effectively to different audiences for different purposes

F.8.1 Conduct research and inquiry on self-selected or assigned topics, issues, or problems and use an appropriate form to communicate their findings

Social Studies

A.8.7 Describe the movement of people, ideas, diseases, and products throughout the world

C.4.1 Identify and explain the individual’s responsibilities to family, peers, and the community, including the need for civility and respect for diversity

C.4.6 Locate, organize, and use relevant information to understand an issue in the classroom or school, while taking into account the viewpoints and interests of different groups and individuals

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

Dance

A.4.1 Recognize and explore space, time, and force as the three elements of dance

A.4.2 Define and maintain personal space and move safely in groups throughout the general space

A.4.5 Explore forms of locomotion using other bases of support (such as roll, crawl, cartwheel, or slide)

A.4.6 Combine various locomotor forms with directional changes (such as forward, backward, sidewards, diagonal, or turn)

A.4.7 Create shapes through movement and move at low, medium, and high levels

A.4.8 Demonstrate movements using various pathways (such as straight, curved, zig-zag, twisted, or turning) on the ground and in the air

A.8.6 Demonstrate increasing kinesthetic awareness, concentration, and focus in performing movement skills

A.8.7 Continue to observe and describe movement elements in creative dance studies using appropriate movement/dance vocabulary

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

Sponsored by American Girl's Fund for Children. Additional funding provided by the DeAtley FamilyFoundation, Kuehn Family Foundation, A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, Promega Corporation, WisconsinArts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, Green BayPackaging/George F. Kress Foundation, Nancy E. Barklage & Teresa J. Welch, and by contributions toOverture Center for the Arts.

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