October 5 – October 22, 2016 by Caitlin Parrish Directed by Erica Weiss
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The Burials OCTOBER 5 – OCTOBER 22, 2016 BY CAITLIN PARRISH DIRECTED BY ERICA WEISS 2016/17 season for YOUNG ADULTS ANTIGONE: THE GREEK 2 WELCOME LETTER 4 TRAGEDY CONNECTION 6 PLAY SYNOPSIS GUN VIOLENCE, GREEK TRAGEDY CHARACTER AND THE PATTERNS 8 DESCRIPTIONS 10 STEPPENWOLF STAGE 12 OF RESPONSE TAKING ACTION: LEARNING TO NAVIGATING TOUGH EFFECTIVELY USE SITUATIONS:STICKING COMMON CORE 16 YOUR PLATFORM 20 TO YOUR GUNS 24 STATE STANDARDS Each year in Steppenwolf for Young Adults, we hope We find hope and joy in collaborating with our amazing to engage our teachers and students in not only teacher partners. We find inspiration in leading young conversation about the work of art on our stages, people in talk-backs at the theater after each show and ADDITIONAL but in an investigation about the way that art can help getting to hear their always insightful reflections on our RESOURCES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS us discover new perspectives, inspire action in our productions. We aim to provide—through the classroom 25 27 communities or think about the way we engage our world activities outlined here—a way to use art as a means to in different ways. Our 2016/17 season theme asks, inspire change and promote good. “When we stick to our guns, who pays the price?” Or, in other words, recognizing the culture of violence Thank you for joining us for The Burials. We hope you will we live in, how do we participate through our beliefs continue your engagement during our second show of the STEPPENWOLF FOR YOUNG ACCESSIBILITY DATES STUDY GUIDE CURATED BY ADULTS STAFF Jared Bellot and convictions? season, Monster, adapted from prolific young adult writer American Sign Language-Interpreted Walter Dean Myers’ extraordinary novel. Please see the Hallie Gordon Performance ARTICLES BY This season’s fall show, The Burials, inspired by the back cover of this guide for more information. Artistic Director FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14 AT 7:30PM Jared Bellot, Sindy Castro, Emma Leff [email protected] enduring Greek tragedy, Antigone, explores the aftermath (public performance) EDITED BY 312-654-5607 of a mass shooting: how one young woman, one family See you at Steppenwolf! Open Captioned Performance Megan Shuchman and one community responds to this tragedy in Megan Shuchman FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14 AT 7:30PM DESIGNED AND ILLUSTRATED BY Education Director unique ways. From your SYA Team, (public performance) David Masnato [email protected] Audio-Described Performance and Given how hauntingly familiar this type of violence is, the Hallie Gordon Megan Shuchman 312-654-5637 Artistic Director Education Director Touch Tour aim of this guide is to relate the enormity of a story like Jared Bellot SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 Education Assistant Antigone to the epic nature of gun violence and mass Jared Bellot Emilio Robles 1:30PM TOUR / 3PM CURTAIN killings in our country. And, alongside that, to ask how Education Assistant Curriculum and [email protected] (public performance) each of us can help to imagine a world without this type Instruction Manager 312-654-5643 of tragedy and how we can inspire young people to help Emilio Robles us lead the charge in doing so. Curriculum and Instruction Manager [email protected] 2 3 THE PLOT OF ANTIGONE By Teaching Artist Sindy Castro Antigone begins with a scene between Antigone Ancient Greece on the Steppenwolf stage? That’s right, Steppenwolf for Young Adults’ upcoming production and her sister Ismene. After hearing that King of The Burials is loosely inspired by the play Antigone, one of the most well-known surviving Greek tragedies. Creon has ordered her brother Polyneices’ body Both The Burials and Antigone explore how laws don’t always reflect what is “right,” and that sometimes, it to remain on the battlefield, Antigone tells her takes fighting for what you believe to be “right” to enact meaningful change. Written by Sophocles sometime sister that she will give her brother the proper around 441 BCE, Antigone follows the story of the titular character who disobeys the laws of the state in burial that the gods demand. order to follow what she believes to be right. Antigone defies the order by King Creon to leave the body of her brother, Polyneices (who defied Creon before death), on the battlefield because she believes she must give him the funeral rites the gods demand. The chorus enters as the elders of Thebes. They sing a song about how glorious Thebes is and Antigone may have been written thousands of years ago, but don’t be nervous, Greek tragedies (and our how wrong Polyneices was in his actions. production of The Burials) follow a pretty reliable, easy to understand format. Check out the typical structure of a Greek tragedy below, and then see the opposite page for a plot breakdown of Antigone. Antigone contains five episodes and five odes. After Creon learns that Antigone has defied his COMMON ELEMENTS OF GREEK TRAGEDY orders and buried her brother, she is brought before the King to atone for her actions. The chorus sings of humankind’s hubris (excessive pride in defiance of the gods) and laments about the curse that has befallen Antigone’s family due to the actions of her father, Oedipus, the former ruler of Thebes. After Creon sentences Antigone The prologue is a speech by a character or to be buried alive, his son, and Antigone’s love a scene that sums up everything that has interest, Haemon, begs his father to reconsider happened before the start of the play. Greek to no avail. Antigone makes one final speech In the parados, the chorus (a group that acts like tragedies start in media res, which means that to the public before being sent away. Teiresias, a type of narrator) enters and is introduced in the Although the play is titled Antigone, the the story begins in the middle of an active a blind prophet, warns Creon that Thebes will play. They explain what has happened leading up tragic hero here is King Creon and we follow moment that kicks off the events in the play. suffer if Polyneices is not buried. Creon refuses, to this point. his change in fortune. When Creon changes his and the Chorus prays to the gods to mind about Antigone, it is too late. His actions protect Thebes. have already laid out a domino effect of tragic events: Creon’s son Haemon dies and Eurydice, Creon’s wife, unable to take the pain of losing her son, kills herself. The episodes and odes are the main part of the play featuring scenes (episodes) that occur between the characters and the chorus, followed by commentary and reflection (odes) sung by the chorus directly to the audience. The play ends with King Creon and the chorus: Creon prays for death, the guards lead him back into the palace, and the chorus sings their final song. The catastrophe is the turning point of the play. This is when the tragic hero’s (a character who makes an error in judgment that leads to their The exodus is the final song after the last destruction) status changes due to their tragic episode of the play where the moral of the Flip to the next page to learn about how flaw (something in a protagonist’s personality tragedy is discussed. The audience experiences The Burials is inspired by the structure that brings their downfall.) catharsis, a symbolic emotional release. of Greek tragedies. 4 5 10. Mrs. Souder shares with Sophie her memory 11. At the Martin home, Ryan confronts Sophie By Education Assistant Jared Bellot of the day and how helpless she felt/still feels and about her tweet. Sophie stands up to her father, charges younger generations to act where her attacking his position on guns and the way he The Burials is loosely inspired by Sophocles’ Antigone, and even though it is written in a contemporary voice, it follows generation has failed. Inspired by Mrs. Souder’s handled Ben’s involvement in the shooting. the typical structure of many ancient Greek tragedies (see page 4 for more information about the structure of Greek words, Sophie picks up her phone and tweets out The argument is heated, but eventually, Sophie tragedies and how the different parts come together to tell an epic story). Follow the red path for a synopsis of her opposition to her father’s pro-gun stance. cracks, apologizing to her father. After Ryan storms The Burials and check out the headers listed throughout to learn how this play mirrors the structure of Greek tragedy. The tweet quickly becomes viral and begins to away, Sophie and Chloe share a moment where spread across the online community. the two girls hug and sit together in silence, signifying the first time they have been brought together in the wake of this tragedy. 1. Sophie Martin and her friends, Janette and Jayden, stand outside of Anderson High School, having just voted in the local primary elections. Sophie tries to craft the perfect tweet to show her support for her father, Ryan Martin, who is running for Senate. Meanwhile, Sophie’s younger brother, Ben, records a cell phone video outside of the 9. Sophie is in the gym with Janette and Jayden 12. Sophie visits Brianna, who is still in recovery same school, speaking to the camera. As the students head into the building and the school day begins, chaos sharing their memories of the shooting when Greg at the hospital. Brianna and Sophie bond over the erupts as gunshots fill the hallways. enters and gets into a fight with Sophie. The two ways in which their lives have been affected by are brought to the principal’s office by being at the center of this event.