PROMPT ARRIVAL gives your students plenty
of time to arrive, find their seats, and get situated. We ask that you arrive 30 minutes prior to the performance.
BUSSES should load and unload students on Broadway
in front of the Lyric Theatre. After unloading turn left on Court Street, go two blocks and park in the Front Street Parking Lot.
USHERS will escort you to your seats. We request that
teachers and chaperones distribute themselves among the students, and help us to keep students in their seats once seated.
BACKPACKS, cameras, food, and drink are not
allowed into the theatre, nor can we store them. Please leave these items at school or on the bus.
PHOTOGRAPHY and video recording
performances are illegal, disruptive, and sometimes
dangerous. Cameras and other recording devices, including
cell phones, will be confiscated.
RESTROOMS are located in the main lobby, but
please only allow students to exit during a performance in the case of an emergency.
GOOD NOISE, BAD NOISE Instead of
instructing students to remain totally silent, please discuss the
difference between appropriate responses (laughter, applause,
participation when requested) and inappropriate noise
(talking, texting, etc.).
to life
hen the first
cave- dweller got up
to tell a story, theatre
began. Almost every
culture has some sort of
live performance
tradition to tell stories.
Television and film may
have diminished the
desire for access to
theatre, but they have
not diminished the
importance.
Live theatre gives each audience
member an opportunity to connect with
the performers in a way he/she never
could with actors on a television or movie
screen. The emotions can be more intense
because the events are happening right
in front of the audience.
In the classroom, theatre can be an
effective teaching tool. We at Tupelo
Community Theatre hope that this
Study Guide will help you discover a
multitude of possibilities for
integrating this son’s productions into
your lesson plans. We encourage you to
delve deeply into our plays with your
students and examine not just the
story and its themes, but also the
manner in which it is told — the casting,
visual design, sound design, movement
and choreography, and dialogue. If we
can be of any further assistance toward
this end, please feel free to call our
office at (662)844-1935, email us at
[email protected], or visit www.tct.ms.
“Theatre brings
life .”
T
Ahe
Any piece of theatre comprises multiple
art forms. As you explore the play with
your students, examine the use of:
WRITING
VISUAL ART/DESIGN
MUSIC/SOUND
DANCE/MOVEMENT
Most (but not all) plays begin with a script — a story to be told and a blueprint of how to tell it. In his
famous treatise, The Poetics, the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle outlined
SIX ELEMENTS OF DRAMA that playwrights are mindful of to
this day:
Plot What is the story line?
What happened before the
play started?
What does each character want?
What do they do to achieve
their goals?
What do they stand to gain/lose? Theme What ideas are wrestled with in the play? What questions does the play pose? Does it present an opinion on those questions, or leave it t o the audience to decide? Character Who are the people in the story? What is their relationship to one another? Why do they do what they do? How do their ages/status/etc. affect them?
Language What do the characters say? How do they say it? When do they say it? Do they speak to one character differently than another? Why?
Music How do music and sound help to tell this story?
Spectacle What visual elements support the play? This could include: puppets, scenery, costumes, dance, movement, and more. Other Elements: Conflict/Resolution,
Action, Improvisation, Non-verbal
communication, Staging, Humor,
Realism and other styles, Metaphor,
Language, Tone, Pattern and
repetition, Emotion, Point of view.
Most plays utilize designers to create the visual world of the play
through scenery, costumes, lighting, and more.
These artists use ELEMENTS
OF DESIGN to communicate information about the world within the play and its characters.
Have students discuss these
elements BEFORE attending the performance and ask them to pay special
attention to how these elements are used in the production’s design. Whether
your students are observing a piece of visual art like a painting or a piece
of performance art like a play, allow them first to notice the basic elements,
then encourage them to look deeper into why these elements are used the
way they are.
LINE can have length, width, texture,
direction and curve. There are 5 basic varieties: ver- ticle, horizontal, diagonal, curved, and zig-zag.
SHAPEis two-dimensional
and encloses space. It can be geometric (eg. squares and circles), man-made, or free-form.
FORMis three-dimensional. It encloses
space and fills space. It, too, can be geometric (eg. cubes and cylinders), man-made, or free-form.
SPACEis defined and determined
by shapes and forms. Positive space is enclosed by
shapes and forms, while negative space exists around
them.
COLORhas three basic properties:
HUE is the name of the color (eg. red, blue, green), INTENSITY is the strength of the color (bright or dull), VALUE is the range of lightness to darkness.
TEXTURErefers to the “feel”
of an object’s surface. It can be smooth, rough,
soft, etc. Textures may be ACTUAL (able to be felt) or IMPLIED (suggested visually through the artist’s
technique).
Based on the motion picture by Jean Shepherd,
Leigh Brown and Bob Clark
Adapted by Philip Grecian
A smoking furnace, a bully named Farkus, a pack of thieving-baying hounds, a dingblang-fuzzle-whizzin-mouthed
old man, a prized leg lamp that’s more leg than lamp—and a bunny suit: Is this the stuff of Christmas? It is for Ral-
phie, and all he really wants is a legendary official Red Ryder 200-Shot Carbine Action Range Model Air Rifle with a
compass and this thing which tells time built right into the stock. Brighten the holidays with this hilarious and criti-
cally acclaimed stage adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s wry and witty tale of a special Christmas past and journey back
to a time when we all had less and it felt like more.
The film A Christmas Story opened in theatres in 1983 and has since become an American classic. Since 1997, the
movie has been shown on television every year on Christmas Eve into Christmas Day in a 24-hour marathon. Based
on a series of short stories by Jean Shepherd, the film was adapted into a stage play in 2000 by Philip Grecian and
has enjoyed successful runs in every corner of the United States and parts of Canada.
A special thanks to SYRACUSE STAGE for allowing use of the material in this study guide.
A look at
A Christmas Story As our Narrator, the Adult Ralphie, describes it, fictional Holman, Indiana, where
the Parker family is looking forward to Christmas, offers a Norman Rockwell view of American life
in the late 1930s. Ralphie Parker, our nine-year-old hero really, really, really wants an “official Red
Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a
compass in the stock, and this thing that tells time.” Whiney little brother Randy, who has not
willingly eaten a meal for as long as Ralphie can remember, is forcing the spunky Mrs. Parker to
resort to some pretty desperate means to get some food into him. Mr. Parker
(The Old Man), the bumbling but well-meaning dad, is anxiously awaiting a “Major Award”
from a contest submission.
Christmas fever has also taken hold in school, where Ralphie unsuccessfully tries to enlist his teacher, Miss Shields, in his
campaign for the Red Ryder Rifle. After school, Ralphie and his pals Flick and Schwartz work to avoid bully Scut Farkus, who
strikes terror in the hearts of all those poor souls just trying to walk home from school.
Ralphie’s hilarious rush toward Christmas includes an encounter with a frozen flag pole, a visit to Santa, and a pink bunny
suit on the big morning. Could the Red Ryder rifle still be under the tree?
Created in 1938 by comic book artist Fred Harman, the fighting cowboy
character Red Ryder enjoyed a long life in comic books, novels, radio shows, movie
serials, and on TV. Red Ryder was also a merchandising face for Daisy Air Rifles,
which sold air rifles and BB guns similar to — but not exactly the
same as — the one Ralphie Parker wants to see under the tree.
Harold Grey’s comic strip Little Orphan Annie, featuring a plucky little girl and her faithful
dog Sandy, first hit the funny papers in 1924. By the time the Great Depression hit, the optimistic
tot with curly red hair was a national icon. A 15-minute daily radio series featuring her
adventures began in 1930 and continued through 1942. The show, sponsored by Ovaltine, a
popular chocolaty drink mix, offered kids like Ralphie a secret decoder pin so they could
decipher coded messages, usually previews of the next episode. Little Orphan Annie slipped
quietly back into the comic strips until 1977 when she reappeared as the heroine of the
megahit Broadway musical Annie, which has been made into a film twice.
nnie
Little Orphan When the Chicago Tribune Syndicate dropped the Little Orphan Annie in
June of 2010, the once ubiquitous strip was carried by only 20 papers. But
never fear. The spunky kid and Sandy may live on in merchandising deals, and
the musical Annie is slated for a revival.
G
ean hepherd was born on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, on July 26, 1921. He earned his amateur radio
license when he was just 16. Shepherd’s career
began in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he had a
television program called Rear Bumper. In 1957,
he was recommended to replace Steve Allen
on NBC’s Tonight Show, but NBC executives
were contractually obligated to offer the job
to Jack Paar. However, Shepherd’s work in
television continued, and in the early 1960s,
Shepherd ran his own weekly television show
on WOR in New York. Between 1971 and 1994, he wrote and produced numerous works for both
television and cinema and was the writer and narrator of the show Jean Shepherd’s America. The
show followed Shepherd as he told his famous narratives, visited unusual locales and interviewed
local people of interest. He used a similar format for his next show, Shepherd’s Pie. Shepherd had a
gift for relating to a wide audience, and it is believed that he performed entirely without scripts. In
addition to his radio and television work, Shepherd also performed regularly at various local colleges
and universities. Due to his popularity, these shows were sometimes broadcast live on the radio. Eight
record albums of live and studio performances of “Shep”, the nickname Shepherd was known by, were
released between 1955 and 1975.
The Film Shepherd’s most famous work is the
1983 feature film A Christmas Story, which is
now considered a holiday classic. A Christmas
Story was based on collected short stories
from Shepherd’s books In God We Trust, All
Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night
of Golden Memories. Several of the stories
were ones Shepherd had shared with his
radio audience including “Duel in the Snow,
or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid”
and “Flick’s Tongue.”
In the film, Shepherd provides the voice
of the adult Ralph Parker. He also has a cameo
role playing a man overseeing the line at the
department store where people are waiting
for Santa Claus. A Christmas Story, which has
remained popular since its debut, is just one
example of Shepherd’s ability to create some
of the most nostalgic and truly American
pieces of humorous storytelling. Shepherd’s
simple and relatable style has often led to
his being compared to Mark Twain. Shepherd
died on October 16, 1999.
Philip recian
began his show
business career at the age
of four as a ventriloquist and a
magician. […] Other works
include Dickens’ A Christmas
Carol, The Velveteen Rabbit, The
Dragon of Nitt, Lion
and the Lyre (translated and
performed in Russia), Little Pills
(based on Moliere’s
Imaginary Invalid), Toby Saves
the Farm, and a translation of
Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Mr.
Grecian has also adapted
many novels and films into plays for staged radio
dramatization, including Dracula!, Frankenstein, Twisted
Tales of Poe, The Blood Countess, and It’s a
Wonderful Life. Other plays include his widely popular
children’s classic, The Velveteen Rabbit and the official stage
adaptation of the motion picture A Christmas Story, which
is produced annually by a number of professional,
educational and community theatre companies throughout
the English-speaking world.
M
Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story is based in part on In God We Trust, All
emories Others Pay Cash, a collection of his short
story memoirs first published in the 1960s.
Shepherd’s writing is precise: he knows
exactly how to use a phrase to evoke a
ake emoirs
memory. That’s one reason A Christmas Story is so special. Even its most outrageous moments feel grounded in reality, and the
reader experiences it along with the characters.
What is a Memoir?
A memoir is a piece of autobiographical
writing, usually shorter in nature than a comprehensive autobiography. Like most
autobiographies, memoirs are generally written from the first person point of view;
however, memoirs are structured differently from formal autobiographies, which tend
to cover the writer’s entire life. Memoirs focus on the development of the writer’s personality.
Memoirs are often more emotional and concerned with capturing particular scenes, or a series
of events, rather than documenting every fact of a person’s life. The development of a memoir is
determined by the work’s context and is therefore more flexible than the traditional chronological
development of an autobiography. The narrative structure of a memoir is also different from an
autobiography in that it has many of the same qualities as a traditional piece of fiction. Memoirs
have a setting, plot development, imagery, conflict, characterization, foreshadowing, flashback,
irony, and symbolism.
Who writes Memoirs? Historically, memoirs have dealt with public matters rather
than personal. Many older memoirs contain little or no information about the writer and are almost
entirely concerned with other people. Traditionally, memoirs tended to be written by politicians, military leaders, or businessmen. The books often dealt exclusively with writers’ careers rather than their private lives. Modern expectations, however, have changed this, even for heads of government. People are interested in seeing the human side of others. Memoir writing is becoming popular with people from all walks of life, including Holocaust survivors, actors, teachers, musicians, petowners, and former first ladies. What is special about a memoir is that it allows the reader to learn about a small moment in another person’s life, a moment that might have had a dramatic effect on the beliefs and attitudes of the writer.
OTHER MEMOIRS FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT…
Home
by Julie Andrews
Growing Up
by Russell Baker
An American Childhood
by Annie Dillard
Marley & Me
by John Grogan
The Life You Imagine:
Life Lessons for
Achieving Your Dreams
by Derek Jeter
Teacher Man
by Frank McCourt
Dreams From My Father
by Barack Obama
B
10
ullying among children and
teenagers has been considered a
normal and expected part of growing up
in the United States. Only in recent years
have people really started to consider the
damage that is done by bullying and the
lasting effects it can have on those who
suffer from it. In A Christmas Story, Scut
Farkus plays the role of that era’s typical
neighborhood bully. Twist an arm, make
a kid or two cry and then go on your way.
BULLYING In the past, the victim of bullying who ran to the teacher or his parents would have been
despised as a “snitch.” Children either suffered in silence or fought back, much like Ralphie.
The Effects of Bullying Almost 30 percent of teens in the United States
are estimated to be involved in bullying as either
a bully, a target of bullying, or both. Researchers
have found that bullying is the worst among young
teens and that boys are more likely to engage in
physical bullying, while girls more often bully
each other emotionally. Those who are the victims
of either type of bullying can suffer from a number
of negative effects. People who feel isolated
because of being bullied sometimes cannot cope
with the situation and feel as if they are helpless.
Depression, anxiety and antisocial behavior are
more common among those who are bullied, as is
alcohol and drug use. Some people who are bullied
may even resort to violence against themselves or
others.
ullying Yesterday and Today What makes bullying from the past so different
from today is that it was often confined to minor
scuffles. Unfortunately, in recent years it has
morphed into a complex selection of methods for
tormenting another person. Bullies of today can use
technology to ruin the lives of people they’ve never
even met. Bullying includes a wide
variety of behaviors, including direct
attacks such as hitting, threatening or
intimidating, maliciously teasing and
taunting, name-calling, making
sexual remarks, stealing or
damaging belongings or more
subtle, indirect attacks such
as cyber bullying, spreading
rumors or encouraging others to
reject or exclude someone.
hat to Do if You’re Bullied There are things that victims of bullying can do to help alleviate the
situation. First, talking to a parent, a teacher, school counselor, or principal can be
beneficial. Many teens who are targets of bullies do not talk to adults because
they feel embarrassed, ashamed, or fearful, and they believe they should be able
to handle the problem on their own. Others believe that involving adults will only
make the situation worse. However, education professionals have the training and
the resources to handle a bullying situation so that there is a positive outcome.
Students who are bullied should avoid being alone, and should ask their friends for
support. Building self-confidence is important because bullies often target those
they see as weak or insecure. Playing sports, joining a club, or participating in an
after school program can help those who are being bullied to make new friends
and build self- esteem.
a
IN
Writing a Memoir
Instructional Procedures:
Lesson Summary Students will use memoir
writing as a way to explore
the significance of an event
or an important moment in
history. Modifications are required by the Individual teacher to meet the appropriate grade level and skill of each student.
1. Discuss with students the idea of memories […]
2. Next, discuss the idea of a memoir. Is it different from an autobiography?
Memoirs are more than just an account of the past. They are an opportunity for
individuals to explore, to discover and to make connections.
3. Explain that history is more meaningful once we as humans are able to see
the whole picture in reflection. Getting into the mind of a historic character is
one way to shed more light on a historical subject. Likewise, making life con-
nections to events allows us to create a connection that results in a deeper
understanding or sometimes the yearning to know more [...]
4. Have students brainstorm a timeline of their lives, adding key events as well
as important and even not-so-important experiences. ie: illnesses, schooling,
moves, sports, girl/boyfriends, losses, etc.
--adapted from material from The Cleveland Play House
Avarice:
Desperado: VOCABULARY excessive desire for
wealth or gain
Celluloid: a tough, flammable
substance used in
motion-picture film
Consummation: the act of completing or
finishing something
Delusion:
a persistent false belief
a bold or violent criminal; a
bandit of the western U.S. in the
19th century
Festering: to cause irritation or
bitterness; to exist in a state of
deterioration
Insensate: lacking sense, understanding or
feeling
Invective: abusive or insulting speech,
expression or language
from the script Lexicon: the vocabulary of a language, an
individual speaker or a subject
Malevolent: vicious ill will, spite or hatred;
producing harm or evil
Ovaltine: a brand of powdered milk
flavoring similar to Nesquik
the weasel
family from which the
domesticated ferret
is derived; slang for a
despicable person
Simoniz: a brand of car wax
Zenith: the culminating point; the
highest point reached in
the heavens by a celestial
body
IN
a Persuasive theme Lesson Summary Students will use
their persuasive writ-
ing skills to convince
a group or person to
believe their message.
Modifications are required by the individual teacher to meet the appropriate grade level and skill of each student.
Instructional Procedures: . Introduce the idea that there are two sides to every
story. Good example to illustrate this point is to read
the story of The Three Little Pigs followed by the reading
of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs written from the
point of view of the wolf.
. Discuss with the students how the two stories differ.
A Venn diagram would be useful for recording student
responses, either individually or together on the board.
. Once students are familiar with the concept of two
sides to every story, discuss how the wolf tells his
version of the story – leading to the notion of persuasion.
. Ask students for forms of persuasion that they are
familiar with such as various advertisements.
5. Next discuss the elements of persuasive writing:
• Convincing arguments without sarcasm or name-calling • Evidence to support viewpoint (facts, examples, etc.)
• Appeal to the reader’s sense of logic
• Anticipate and address opposing views
• Strong conclusion summarizing the importance of the writer’s
view point – often with a memorable thought
. Instruct the students that they will have the op-
portunity to argue the side of a character that may
have been “unjustly” accused or misunderstood. Some
possible characters include: Cinderella’s stepmother or
stepsisters, the Evil Queen in Snow White, Goldilocks,
the Wicked Witch of the West, Rumpelstiltskin, Prince
John, the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook – just to name
a few (For younger students it is easiest to give the class
the same topic or character: Tom Turkey at Thanksgiving
trying to convince a hungry holiday celebrant not to have
the turkey for dinner.)
. Students need to brainstorm the reasons they might
use to argue his point of view. They also must brain-
storm as many reasons as possible to support the oppos-
ing view in order to effectively counter any opposition.
. Have students present their arguments in a well
formatted essay while following the writing pro-
cess. Guidelines and rubric should be determined by the
teacher based upon desired outcomes.
APPROPRIATE GRADES: 2-6
(This lesson addresses NYS English Language Arts Language
Standards 1, 2, 3 and 4.)
Extension • Students could give a speech
to the class as their “accused”
character with the classmates
rendering a secret ballot ver-
dict.
• Students can write a persua-
sive advertisement for a favor-
ite novel
• Students can invent a new
product idea and write a pro-
posal for a company to buy it.
Materials and Resources: “The True Story
of the Three Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka
Courtesy of The Cleveland Play House
TEACHING THEATRE/ARTS
ArtsWork.com
http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/teachers/resources/theatre1.htm
ChildDrama.com
http://www.childdrama.com/lessons.html
Educational Theatre Association
http://www.edta.org/publications/teaching.aspx
Kennedy Center
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/teach/hto.cfm
Viola Spolin
http://www.spolin.com/
INFORMATION SOURCES & RESOURCES
The Cleveland Playhouse
http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com/
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
by Jon Scieszka; Illustrated by Lane Smith
Education.com
Stopping Bullying Behaviors: Advice for Parents and Caregivers
http://www.education.com/reference/article/bullying-advice-
parents-caregivers/
Bullying: An Age-old Problem That Needs New Solutions
http://www.education.com/reference/article/bullying-about-
power-and-abuse-of-power/
14