Sheltered by Alix Sobler
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Sheltered By Alix Sobler World Premiere and Winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwright Competition Resource and Audience Guide for grades 6-12 Created by Creekside High School’s 9th grade Honors Literature class taught by Ms. Carmen Kinnebrew As part of the Alliance Theatre Institute’s Dramaturgy by Students Program Under the guidance of Teaching Artist Ebony Tucker Actor’s Express, 887 West Marietta Street NW Suite J-107 Atlanta, GA 30318 Thursday, March 1 - Sunday, March 25, 2018 Student Matinees: Thursdays, March 15 & 22, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. Sheltered Resource Guide Page 1 of 27 Sheltered: Table of Contents Curriculum Connections______________________________________________ pg. 3 The Playwright: Alix Sobler ___________________________________________ pg. 4 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition _____________ pg. 5 Sheltered: Synopsis _________________________________________________ pg. 6 Sheltered: Cast _____________________________________________________ pgs. 7-8 Sheltered: Characters ________________________________________________ pgs. 9-12 Sheltered: Vocabulary, People, and Phrases _____________________________ pgs. 13-14 Sheltered: German Language ______________________________________ pg. 15 Sheltered: Jewish Culture ____________________________________________ pg. 16 Sheltered: Jewish Vocabulary ___________________________________________________ pg. 17 Sheltered: WWII Countries and Timeline________________________________ pgs. 18-19 Sheltered History: The Holocaust ______________________________________ pgs. 20-21 Sheltered: Pre- and Post-Show Discussion and Creative Writing ____________ pgs. 21-22 Sheltered: Word Dump _______________________________________________ pgs. 23-24 Sheltered: Reality Stories _____________________________________________ pgs. 25-26 Resources __________________________________________________________ pg. 27 Sheltered Resource Guide Page 2 of 27 Curriculum Connections English Language Arts Georgia Standards of Excellence ELAGSE9-10RL4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone.) ELAGSE9-10SL1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. Social Studies Georgia Standards of Excellence SS8H9 Describe the role of Georgia in WWII. a. Describe key events leading up to American involvement in World War II; include the Lend-Lease Act and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. SSUSH19 Examine the origins, major developments, and the domestic impact of World War II, including the growth of the federal government. Theatre Art Georgia Standards of Excellence TAHSFT.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work TAHSFT.CN.2 Examine the role of theatre in a societal, cultural, and historical context. TAHSFT.RE.1 Engage actively and appropriately as an audience member. TAHSFT.RE.2 Critique various aspects of theatre and other media using appropriate supporting evidence. Language Arts Core Curriculum Standards: CCRA.R.3. CCRA.R.4. CCRA.L.3. CCRA.SL.2. ELACC6-8RH2 National Core Arts Standards: TH: Pr4.1.6. TH: Re7.1.6. TH: Re8.1.8. TH: Re9.1.8. TH: Cn10.1.8. TH: Cn11.2.6. Sheltered Resource Guide Page 3 of 27 The Playwright: Alix Sobler Alix Sobler (Playwright) is a playwright and performer who is honored to have won the 2018 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, resulting in this production. Her play The Great Divide won the Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, and other plays have been finalists for the O’Neill New Play Conference, the Henley Rose Playwriting Competition and the Jane Chambers Award. She has had work read, workshopped or produced at theaters across North America, including the Roundabout Theater Company (New York, NY), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg, MB), the Finborough (London, UK), The Segal Centre (Montreal, QC), Brown Trinity Playwright’s Rep (Providence, RI), and others. She has a BA from Brown University, and recently graduated with her MFA from Columbia University. In addition to theater, she is passionate about crafting and animals. Find out more at alixsobler.com. Sheltered Resource Guide Page 4 of 27 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition The Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition is a one-of-a- kind national competition that transitions student playwrights to the world of professional theatre. Each year, final-year candidates in the country's leading graduate playwriting programs are invited to submit a play to the Alliance Theatre. An in-house panel of readers evaluates the scripts and selects a slate of finalists to advance to the final round. Those scripts are then sent to a national panel for judging. In conjunction with Alliance Theatre Jennings/Hertz Artistic Director Susan V. Booth, the judges select the Alliance/Kendeda winner. The Alliance Theatre produces the winning play on the 200-seat Hertz Stage as part of the following season. Readings of the plays have been produced in New York (in 2012, in partnership with the Lark Play Development Center) and Atlanta and other venues around the country. These out-of-town partnerships include a relationship with Fox Theatricals (since 2006) and with the Kennedy Center and NNPN (since 2010). All of the playwrights establish an ongoing relationship with the Alliance Theatre and the city of Atlanta. Each winner is also offered the option to have their play published and licensed by Samuel French. The program is led by Celise Kalke, chosen by American Theatre to be one of 25 American Theatre leaders of the future. Sheltered Resource Guide Page 5 of 27 Sheltered: Synopsis It is 1939, and Nazi Germany has introduced harsh race laws targeting Jews while taking over large swaths of Central Europe. Fearing the worst, a Jewish couple makes an extraordinary decision; to arrange for 50 European children to be given up by their parents and taken to safety in the United States. Each child must have an American family to house them when they arrive, but willing fosters are hard to find. As a last desperate measure, the couple endures a tense dinner party with estranged friends from a violent household in the hopes of finding a home for one more child. A suspenseful story inspired by true events that will leave audiences on the edge of their seats. Sheltered is the winner of the 2018 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwright Competition. From a student’s perspective Sheltered is a story about four friends, Evelyn and Leonard Kirsch and Roberta and Martin Bloom. Evelyn and Leonard appear to be a normal American couple living and working in Philadelphia prior to the start of WWII in Europe. Roberta and Martin Bloom’s relationship is a stark contrast to that of their friends. In a moment that will change lives of many generations, Evelyn and Leonard make a very important decision. While millions of Jews are trying to escape Germany, Evelyn and Leonard are planning a trip to Austria, with plans to take 50 children back with them to the United States and into safety. But when commitments are threatened, Leonard and Evelyn must make a burdensome choice. Sheltered Resource Guide Page 6 of 27 Sheltered: The Cast Lauren Boyd Lane (Hani Mueller) is thrilled to be back at the Alliance. Other Alliance credits include Tall Girls, Courage, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Alice Between. Other favorite theater credits include Singles in Agriculture (Aurora Theatre), Evr’y Tongue Confess (Horizon Theatre), and On the Verge (New School for Drama). TV/Film: "Hindsight,” “Gone,” “Halt and Catch Fire,” “Powers,” Office Christmas Party and American Made. M.F.A. in Acting from the New School for Drama. Love and thanks to my parents and my late husband Michael Isaac Lane. Amanda Drinkall (Evelyn Kirsch) Alliance debut. Chicago credits: Venus in Fur, Ah Wilderness, Continuity, Measure for Measure (Goodman Theatre), Mary Page Marlowe (Steppenwolf), King Charles III (Chicago Shakespeare), By the Water, White Guy on the Bus, Funnyman (Northlight), Last Train to Nibroc (Haven Theatre- Jeff Award, Best Actress), Dutchman (American Blues), Pygmalion (Oak Park Festival), Great Expectations (Strawdog), hamlet is dead. no gravity; The Skriker; Pullman, WA (Red Tape Theatre) and twenty shows with The Back Room Shakespeare Project, as a Stakeholder. TV: "Chicago Med," "Bobby & Iza." Film: The View From Tall. B.F.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Represented by Gray Talent Group. Park Krausen (Roberta Bloom) Recent: Midnight Pillow at Theater Emory (directorial debut), performed Beckett in Germany and Norway, translated plays and taught a Beckett master class at Exeter. National: Lincoln Center, Hartford Stage, About Face, Chicago Dramatists; associate artist of North Carolina Shakespeare, Georgia Shakespeare and Out of Hand. Producing Artistic Director of Théâtre du Rêve, the only francophone theater in the US. Education: Emory University (BA Theater and French), National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, Paris. Proud member of AEA. Uncannily, this play dives into her grandmother's Jewish community in Philly in 1939. Thank you for supporting live