Guide Created By Stephanie Wilder
Study Guide:The Little Red Riding Hood ShowBy Russell Davis
Co-directed by Abby Felder and Katie Jones
Sets/Costumes: Marie Yokoyama Sound: Jonesalee Video: Rebecca Williams
Lights: Eric Winkenwerder Dramaturge: Alex Smith Prod. Coord: Jason Williams
The Little Red Riding Hood Show synopsis
Take one girl, equipped with a basket of goodies. Add one Grandmother, sick in bed. Combine with one Wolf, lurking mischievously. Toss in one skeptical Mother, and let simmer for one hour. Russell Davis stirs the ingredients of this well-loved tale in new postmodern directions, concocting a sly and spicy story that delights children and adults right down to the last surprising bite, addressing social media as the modern day “wolf in the woods.”
“…a familiar tale gets an original twist, not just in the story but in the way kids think about it.”- The Philadelphia Inquirer
About the Playwright & Directors
Russell Davis
Playwright
He has received playwright fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, McKnight Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York Council on the Arts, and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Abby Felder
Co-Director
A director, writer, designer, puppet
artist, theatrical producer who works
Off- and Off- Off Broadway in NYC,
nationally and internationally.
Katie Jones
Co-Director
A director, performer, puppeteer and teaching artist, she has spent the last decade working at theatres in Chicago, Denver, and Sarasota.
Meet the Cast
George AwadGrandma
Julia CunninghamLittle Red
Daniele MartinMother
TippinThe Wolf
Questions to Discuss Pre-Show
1. What is a play?2. How is a play different from tv shows or movies?3. Every place we go there are rules that we must follow.
What are the rules we must obey in school?4. Why?5. What are some rules to follow when you are in the
audience of a live theater performance? Why?6. What should we do if the actors ask for audience
participation?
Also Introduce Important Vocab Words 1. lurk: to hang around looking suspicious
2. whiff: to take a deep breath to smell something
3. ponder: To take time to think things over
4. fetching: adjective: attractive, adorable
5. loom: to hang over someone in a threatening way
6. to wolf: to eat something quickly and greedily
7. predator: an animal that survives by eating other animals
8. moral: a lesson to be learned from a story
Fun Activity:
● Play charades by writing each word on a small card, putting them in a hat, and having the person who is “it” act out the word.
● Sentences: Ask students to compose a sentence using each vocab word
Fun with Science - Wolf Facts Average lengthfemales: 4.5 to 6 feet (tip of nose to tip of tail)males: 5 to 6.5 feet
Average height26 to 32 inches (at the shoulder)
Average weightfemales: 60 to 80 pounds males: 70 to 110 pounds
Average foot size4 inches wide by 5 inches long
Length of Lifeup to 13 years in wild (usually 6 to 8 years)up to 16 years in captivity
Fur colorgray, but can also be black or white
Number of teeth42
Sprinting speed25 to 35 miles per hour for short distances
Common fooddeer, moose, caribou, elk, bison, musk-oxen and beaver.
Main threats to survivalloss of habitat due to destruction, development and encroachment by humans; persecution by humans
Weight at birth1 pound
Litter size4 to 6 pups
Pack size2 to 30 or more
Average pack size6 to 8
Pack territory size25 to 150 square miles in Minnesota 300 to 1,000 inAlaska and Canada
Drama - Act out the Story!After seeing the performance of Little Red Riding Hood :
-Sitting in a circle, students should take turns retelling the story of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD, one sentence at a time. Each student should repeat what the students before them said in their own words, then add a sentence, until the story is complete.
-Dividing into groups, students should take on the role of Little Red Riding Hood, Grandmother, Mother, Hunter and Wolf. Then taking 10 minutes, students should rehearse the story they just recited.
-Once students have rehearsed, they should take turns presenting their skits for the group.
Arts & Crafts with Puppet Fun
Make these fun cardboard finger puppets!
Download templates for puppets and scenery at the below link: http://krokotak.com/2014/03/little-red-riding-hood-puppet-theatre-for-small-fingers/
Print, attach to cardboard, cut out, color and let your imagination do the rest!
Little Red Around the World...
Little Red Riding Hood (Charles Perrault).Little Red Cap (Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm).Little Red Hood (Germany/Poland). Little Red Hat (Italy/Austria).
The Grandmother (France).Kawoni's Journey Across the Mountain: (A Cherokee Little Red Riding Hood).
Long Po Po - (Chinese Little Red Riding Hood).
Caperucita Roja (Spanish Little Red Riding Hood).
The story of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD is re-told around the world! Check out these other versions (click to be redirected):
Conversations After Seeing the Show
All Ages:
What’s the difference between storytelling and lying?
Why does Little Red think the wolf sees only in black and white?
Which is better: to tell a story the way it has always been told, or to make some changes in it? Why?
How do you feel when you tell someone what you have observed and they don’t believe you?
What are the pros and cons of sticking to the path or exploring new directions?
What does Little Red mean when she tells the audience “don’t encourage”? What is she afraid of?
Characters in the play make some faulty assumptions about each other. Why? Why is it a bad idea to make assumptions about other people?
At the end of the play the mother is simultaneously a mother, a daughter, and a hunter. Can you be more than one thing at a time?
Who can we trust in the play? Why?
Conversations After Seeing the Show
Additional Questions for Middle School Students:
What do you use the internet for? What devices do you use to connect to it, and did you see any of those in the performance?
Do you think communicating with people you don’t know offline is safe?
When Little Red Riding Hood is posting videos and images of herself, is it representative of who she really is, or is she playing around with her identity?
What are some important questions to ask when reading news online? Do you trust everything you see and read?
Meet Your Fun Guide Author:
Stephanie WIlder received her BA in English at SUNY Cortland followed by an in MA Early Childhood
Education at the Bank Street College of Education. She served as an educator for nearly 40 years, including
for such institutions as Riverdale Country School, NYC, NY, Charlotte Country Day School, Charlotte, NC
and the NC Dept of Juvenile Justice, Swannanoa, NC. She is the owner of Chifferobe Home and Garden in
Black Mountain, NC, which also provided the props for this show!
