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The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez

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The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez Pacific Conservatory Theatre Student Matinee Program Presents The Whipping Man By Matthew Lopez Generously sponsored by Tim Bennett A Study Guide for Educators 1 Welcome to PCPA A NOTE TO THE TEACHER Thank you for bringing your students to PCPA. Here are some helpful hints for your visit to the Severson Theatre. The top priority of our staff is to provide an enjoyable experience of live theatre for you and your students. Use the study guide to prepare your students prior to the performance. Each study guide has grade level notations that will help you navigate to material you can use in your curriculum. SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENT ETIQUETTE Notable behavior is a vital part of theater for youth. Going to the theater is not a casual event. It is a special occasion. If students are prepared properly, it will be a memorable, educational experience for all. 1. Have students enter the theater in a single file. We suggest you have one adult for every ten to fifteen students. Our ushers will assist you with locating your seats. Please wait until the usher has seated your party before any rearranging of seats to avoid injury and confusion. While seated, teachers should space themselves so they are visible, between every ten to fifteen students. Teachers and adults must remain with their group during the entire performance. 2. Once seated in the theater, students may go to the bathroom in small groups and with the teacher’s permission. Please chaperone younger students. It’s important to know that due to the intimacy of our theater space, should you exit while the show is in progress, you will not be allowed to re- enter the theatre until a moment within the performance that would allow you to be reseated with minimal distraction. There are some shows that won’t allow you to re-enter until intermission or not at all during the second act. Once the show is over, please have students remain seated until the lead instructor / chaperone dismisses your students. 3. Please remind your students that we do not permit: • food, gum, drinks, backpacks or large purses • disruptive talking. • disorderly and inappropriate behavior (stepping on/over seats, throwing objects, etc.) • cameras, radios, cell phones, audio recorders or electronics games. (Adults are asked to put cell phones on silent or vibrate.) In cases of disorderly behavior, groups may be asked to leave the theater without ticket refunds. 2 4. Teachers should take time to remind students before attending the show of the following about a live performance: Sometimes we forget when we come into a theatre that we are one of the most important parts of the production. Without an audience there would be no performance. Your contribution of laughter, quiet attention and applause is part of the play. When we watch movies or television we are watching images on a screen, and what we say or do cannot affect them. In the theatre the actors are real people who are present and creating an experience with us at that very moment. They see and hear us and are sensitive to our response. They know how we feel about the play by how we watch and listen. An invisible bond is formed between actors and a good audience, and it enables the actors to do their best for you. A good audience helps make a good performance. 5. Photographs and / or recording of any kind is forbidden in our theatre. However, there is a “Photo Opportunity” to be found in front of the theatre, with the show billboard on display. Feel free to take as many “selfies” or group pictures as you’d like. The Education and Outreach department of PCPA welcomes you as a partner in the live theatre experience from the moment you take your seats. We hope that your visit will be a highlight of your school year. Matt Koenig and Derrick Lee Weeden 3 HOW TO USE THIS STUDY GUIDE The Study Guide is a companion piece designed to explore many ideas depicted in the stage production of The Whipping Man. Although the guide’s intent is to enhance the student’s theatrical experience, it can also be used as an introduction to the elements of a play, and the production elements involved in the play’s presentation. Although many students are familiar with the general storyline, this specific stage adaptation presents a wealth of new questions for this generation to answer. Teachers and group leaders will want to select portions of the guide for their specific usage. Discussion questions are meant to provoke a line of thought about a particular topic. The answers to the discussion questions in many instances will initiate the process of exploration and discovery of varied interpretations by everyone involved. This can be as rewarding as the wonderful experience of sight and sound that The Whipping Man creates on-stage. It is recommended that the play (available at either your local bookstore or for purchase online), be used in conjunction with discussion of the theatrical elements of the production. Antwon D. Mason Jr. and Matt Koenig 4 The Whipping Man Creative Team and Cast Director Mark Booher Scenic Designer Abby Hogan Costume Designer Arnold Bueso Lighting Designer Jennifer ‘Z’ Zornow Sound Designer Elisabeth Weidner The Cast Simon Derrick Weeden* Caleb Matt Koenig John Antwon D. Mason Jr. * Member, Actors’ Equity Association 5 A note from the Director of The Whipping Man Director of The Whipping Man, Mark Booher The incredibly layered story touches on a multitude of themes including race, history, religion and family. PCPA’s Artistic Director Mark Booher is drawn to the play’s deep humanity. “In all the awful, painful, brokenness of it, there are feelings that we humans are bound to one another, even when we don’t want to be, even when there are profound realities and highly charged energies that would make our separation understandable. The reality that we are a family in many forms and that we’re going to have to reckon with what that implies. I enjoy and respect the historical specificity – which is different from historical accuracy – of the setting. It is so particular, and there is so much information available to us about this critical moment in American history, but it is not a historical record. The big pictures of history that we know about are full of fascinating anomalistic individual experiences that are often lost to ‘History.’ It is a play of rich and brutal situational context, but it is a play about the inner man – dignity, decency, hate, longing, brutality, honesty, goodness, love, devotion. It stands in the midst of many difficult questions about faith and family, war and slavery and freedom, wrong and forgiveness , body and spirit- and is brave enough not to offer simplistic answers or trite resolutions.” 6 ELEMENTS OF THE STORY A SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY The play begins on Thursday, April 13, 1865, just five days after the American Civil War has ended. A wounded young Confederate soldier (Caleb DeLeon) has returned home, to find his family home in ruins. Ravaged by the war, it is now an empty shell of what was once a fine estate. Scorched and demolished by fire, all it’s riches ransacked by looters. His family has fled to safer territory, but Simon, an elder and faithful former slave of the family’s, is staying with the house until the DeLeon family returns. Simon immediately notices the week-old bullet wound festering on Caleb’s leg and insists that amputation will be necessary, much to Caleb’s fear and disapproval. He refuses to be taken to a hospital, and insists Simon be the one to perform the amputation. Against his better judgment and full of doubt, Simon agrees. As Simon begins to ply Caleb with whiskey and making preparation for the improvised surgery, a hooded figure presents itself in the broken doorway. This is John, another former slave of the DeLeon family and childhood companion of Caleb’s. John has taken to looting the abandoned houses around town and upon his return is surprised to find Caleb home. Simon returns with a toolbox and more whiskey. Knowing that the amputation will take more then one man to perform, Simon asks John to help. But John is not as keen to help now that he is a freed man, claiming that the care of the DeLeon family is no longer his concern. With some persuasion from Simon, John agrees to help in the grisly operation. As the scene comes to a close, John holds a panicked and distraught Caleb down as Simon takes a saw to his infected leg. The next morning, as Caleb convalesces, evidence of John’s looting is lays scattered about the ruined home. He offers Simon “stolen” coffee and eggs to put a breakfast together for them. At this time, Simon reveals to John that he is waiting for Caleb’s father to return with his wife and daughter, because Mr. DeLeon had promised he’d give him money to start a new life if they were emancipated. 7 That evening when Caleb wakes up in a great deal of pain, but he comes to terms with the events of the night before. They sup on a meal Simon has prepared, cooking up Caleb’s horse that died on his trek home. John informs the other two that it is the Sabbath and that it is almost Passover. As they pray before their meal, Simon and John notice Caleb does not join in prayer. This leads to a heated conversation that informs us, the DeLeon slaves have adopted the Jewish faith of their former owners.
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