Monday Matinée Study Guide
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Zoellner Arts Center 420 East Packer Avenue Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA 2016-17 Season Monday Matinée Study Guide Alice in Wonderland Tout à Trac Monday, March 20, 2017 at 10 a.m. Baker Hall, Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh University 420 E Packer Ave, Bethlehem, PA 18015 12/27/16 Study Guide: Tout à Trac Alice in Wonderland, page 1 Using This Study Guide On Monday, March 20 your class will attend a performance of Alice in Wonderland at Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center in Baker Hall. You can use this study guide to engage your students and enrich their Zoellner Arts Center field trip. Materials in this guide include information about the performance, what you need to know about coming to a show at Zoellner Arts Center and interesting and engaging activities to use in your class room prior to, as well as after the performance. These activities are designed to connect with disciplines in addition to arts including: Physical activities Communication (verbal and non-verbal) Leadership Architecture Trust building Physics Teamwork Physical Sciences Before attending the performance, we encourage you to: • Review with your students the Know Before You Go items on page 4. • Discuss with your students the information on pages 5-8: About the Story and About the Company. • Check out the definitions & explanations in Elements of Stagecraft on page 9. • Engage your class in two or more activities on pages 10-16. At the Performance • Encourage your students to stay focused on the performance. • Encourage the students to remember what they know or learned about the story. • Remember the different Elements of Stagecraft. • Observe how the various show components like set, costumes, lights, and sound impact the performance. After the show Look through this study guide for activities, resources and integrated projects to use in your classroom. This information is provided to enhance the experience; it is not necessary to cover it or complete the guide to enjoy the show. We look forward to seeing you! The engagement and residency of Tout à Trac is supported by: With additional support from 12/27/16 Study Guide: Tout à Trac Alice in Wonderland, page 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION TITLE PAGE 1 KNOW BEFORE YOU GO 4 2 ABOUT THE STORY 5 3 ABOUT THE COMPANY 7 4 ELEMENTS OF STAGECRAFT 9 5 CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES – Fun Things To Do 10 6 MORE FUN IN WONDERLAND 16 NEXT SCHOOL SHOW 17 12/27/16 Study Guide: Tout à Trac Alice in Wonderland, page 3 1. KNOW BEFORE YOU GO Be prepared and arrive early. Ideally you should arrive at the Zoellner Arts Center 20- 30 minutes before the show. Allow for travel time and bus unloading or parking and plan to be in your seats at least 15 minutes before the performance begins. Be aware and remain quiet. The theater is a “live” space. You can hear the performers easily, but they can also hear you, and you can hear other audience members, too! Even the smallest sounds like rustling papers and whispering can be heard throughout the theater, so it’s best to stay quiet so that everyone can enjoy the performance without distractions. The international sign for “Quiet Please” is to silently raise your index finger to your lips. Show appreciation by applauding. Applause is the best way to show your enthusiasm and appreciation. Performers return their appreciation for your attention by bowing to the audience at the end of the show. It is always appropriate to applaud at the end of a performance, and it is customary to continue clapping until the curtain comes down or the house lights come up. Participate by responding to the action onstage. Sometimes during a performance, you may respond by laughing, crying or sighing. By all means, feel free to do so! Appreciation can be shown in many different ways, depending on the art form. For instance, an audience attending a string quartet performance will sit very still while the audience at a popular music concert may be inspired to participate by clapping and shouting. Concentrate to help the performers. These artists use concentration to focus their energy while on stage. If the audience is focused while watching the performance, the artists feel supported and are able to do their best work. They can feel that you are with them! Please note: Backpacks and lunches are not permitted in the theater. There is absolutely no food or drink permitted in the seating areas. Recording devices of any kind, including cameras, cannot be used during the performances. Please remember to silence your cell phone and all other mobile devices. 12/27/16 Study Guide: Tout à Trac Alice in Wonderland, page 4 2. ABOUT THE STORY The story’s main character, Alice, refuses to do her homework. Preferring to play and day-dream, she hides in her father’s study. Out of nowhere comes a curious looking rabbit, eater of novels. Wanting to keep the hare from devouring all the books, Alice chases the rabbit through his borough and discovers a wonderland. It is an appointment with the Queen of Hearts that causes the White Rabbit to leave Alice in a hurry; but, in the rush, he forgets his gloves. He must wear these gloves in the sovereign’s presence otherwise: “Off with his head!” The Queen is prone to issue extreme orders at the least offense. Eager to save the Rabbit’s life, Alice dashes to his rescue and encounters strange and fascinating characters such as Humpty Dumpty the egg, a philosophizing Caterpillar, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Snark Hunter, in this intriguing universe where rabbits are late and quarrels make good friends. Faithful to the madness and the lively humour of the original piece, this revisitation, this production, of the famous Lewis Caroll classic tale has a unique twist: the setting is no longer a garden but a library full of pop-up books! Each book is then a discovery and a door to the next adventure. A book, once opened, may transform into a 3D table overflowing with tea cups for the Mad Hatter. A book about insects will present the Caterpillar. Others will morph into a talking door or an origami boat ready to face the stormy seas. As much as it is a praise of reading, Alice in Wonderland is also a gateway to the imagination… Will you follow the White Rabbit? 12/27/16 Study Guide: Tout à Trac Alice in Wonderland, page 5 The characters of the story are… Alice - a young girl The White Rabbit - a herbivore who is always late The Caterpillar - a smoking insect with a persistent cough Humpty Dumpty - an “egg-xacting” and “wise-cracking” character The Door - a very important prop in the play – an important “a-door-n-ment” Tweedledum & Tweedledee - two poetry-loving twins who are easily rattled The Cheshire Cat - a smiling puppet of a cat who can deconstruct itself Sam, the Snark Hunter - a hunter of Snarks who’s lost at sea The Mad Hatter - a notorious drinker of black tea The Doormouse - an anxious rodent The Ace of Clubs - the Ace of aces The Two of Spades - his sidekick The Jack of Diamonds - the Queen’s valet The Queen of Hearts - best known for chopping off heads ABOUT THE AUTHOR: LEWIS CARROLL Lewis Carroll was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson on January 27, 1832. Growing up, Charles enjoyed creating new games and directing puppet shows for his brothers and sisters, but was also greatly intrigued by logic and mathematics. At 17, he was admitted to Oxford, where he earned a degree in mathematics. In 1857, Charles was hired as a teacher at Christ Church College in Oxford where he became a Deacon of the Church in England. When he was not teaching, he wrote poems and short stories, using his now famous pen name, Lewis Carroll. His relationship with the Liddell family became the inspiration for one of his most well-known works, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was created in 1865. A decade earlier, in 1856, Dean Henry Liddell arrived at Christ Church, bringing with him his young family. Carroll became close friends with their children, particularly the three sisters Lorina, Edith and Alice Liddel. It is greatly assumed that his “Alice” was inspired by Alice Liddell. Carroll wrote the sequel, Through the Looking Glass, in 1872 and published The Hunting of the Snark in 1876. Lewis Carroll is well known for his writing. However, few realize he was also a mathematician. At first it may seem odd that a creator of such nonsensical writings would have such an interest in this area, yet many feel that there's a great deal of mathematical logic in Alice in Wonderland. Many verses that may feel like nonsense, are in fact written to generate discussion and make the reader pay closer attention and break words down to decode a message. For example, in the caterpillar scene, Alice’s height fluctuates between 9 feet and 2 inches. Alice, bound by conventional arithmetic where a quantity such as size should be constant, finds this troubling. At the end of this scene, the Caterpillar’s warning is perhaps one of the most revealing. “Keep your temper,” he announces. Alice presumes he’s telling her not to get angry but the word “temper” has another meaning of “the proportion in which qualities are mingled.” So the Caterpillar could well be telling Alice to keep her body in proportion – no matter what her size. 12/27/16 Study Guide: Tout à Trac Alice in Wonderland, page 6 3.