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TWO TRAINS RUNNING RESOURCE GUIDE 2018-2019 Season 1 INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Educator Resource Guide for Triad Stage’S Production of Two Trains Running

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TWO TRAINS RUNNING RESOURCE GUIDE 2018-2019 Season 1 INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Educator Resource Guide for Triad Stage’S Production of Two Trains Running TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE TWO TRAINS RUNNING RESOURCE GUIDE 2018-2019 Season 1 INTRODUCTION Welcome to the educator resource guide for Triad Stage’s production of Two Trains Running. We are excited to share this transformative piece with students during our student matinee performances. Our goals for this guide include: • Noting historical and artistic context about the show that you can share with your students. • Providing practical instructional activities that you can use in your classroom that make connections between the production and curricular standards in areas including English/Language Arts and Drama/Theatre. • Offering opportunities for students to make personal connections between the production and their own experiences, as well as sparking dialogue about the play’s central themes and big ideas. In the guide, you will find dramaturgical (background) information about the show and Triad Stage’s production of the play, as well as a number of links to additional resources and information. There is also a section of classroom activities that are aligned with secondary English/Language Arts standards, are designed to meet curricular goals, and seek to support students’ exploration of the play’s themes. Standards are pulled from a variety of grade levels, and all activities are adaptable across middle and high school grade ranges. If you have any questions about the guide or how to use it, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Learning Director Lauren Smith at [email protected]. 2 TWO TRAINS RUNNING RESOURCE GUIDE ABOUT THE STORY: PLOT OVERVIEW Two Trains Running takes place entirely in a diner in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1969. This diner is owned by Memphis, a businessman whose establishment is caught up in a wave of urban development that is hitting the Hill District hard. The city has required Memphis to sell the diner, but they only want to pay him $12,000 instead of the $25,000 he believes is a fairer price. Meanwhile, West, a wealthy owner of a funeral home near the diner, offers to buy the diner for more than the city is offering but less than Memphis’s price; Memphis refuses this offer. Director Keith Arthur Bolden said of the play that “every character has a leading role.” Other characters essential to the story include Risa, who works as a waitress at the diner, Wolf, who plays the Pennsylvania illegal Lottery (“the numbers”), and Sterling, a man who has just been released from prison and is looking for a fresh start. They are joined by Hambone, who, while he can say only a few words, is relentless in his pursuit of fair compensation from a man who short-changed him on a job he performed years before. Additionally, we meet Holloway, a retired man who has spent his life opposing injustice in its many forms. He frequents the diner and encourages both Memphis and Sterling to go see Aunt Ester who, while unseen, offers spiritual guidance about a range of issues. Two Trains Running explores what it takes to pursue justice in the face of gentrification and racism. TWO TRAINS RUNNING RESOURCE GUIDE 3 MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT: AUGUST WILSON “I wanted to place this culture on stage in all its richness and fullness and to demonstrate its ability to sustain us in all areas of human life and endeavor and through profound movements of our history in which the larger society has thought less of us than we have thought of ourselves.” - August Wilson 1 • Born on April 27th, 1945 in Pittsburgh, PA, August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel. He was one of seven children. • When he was 15, a teacher accused him of plagiarism on a paper that was entirely his own. After this incident, he dropped out of high school and spent most of his time at the Carnegie Library, where he continued his education on his own.2 • He co-founded the Black Horizons Theatre in his hometown of Pittsburgh.3 • He wrote The Century Cycle, which is a collection of ten plays, each of which explore a different decade of the Black experience in America during the 1900s. • He passed away in October 2005. The Virginia Theatre on Broadway was later renamed the August Wilson Theatre to honor his legacy. 4 • Based on what you know about August Wilson, what are some of the themes you think he might address in his writing? • How does the time period in which an author is alive inform their writing? 4 TWO TRAINS RUNNING RESOURCE GUIDE THE CENTURY CYCLE The Century Cycle is a collection of ten plays, each of which explore a different decade of Black stories of the 20th century. Below, you will find the plays of The Century Cycle, listed in the order of the decade in which they are set. Loosely, The Century Cycle begins with the abolition of slavery and follows Black stories through the end of the 1900s, ending with plays that raise questions of how urban development and gentrification affect Black Americans. The cycle takes place in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, PA where Wilson grew up. The cycle does not follow a single narrative or group of characters, but rather shares diverse experiences and challenges of the community of the Hill District as their neighborhood evolved over time. In Two Trains Running, for example, Memphis struggles to sell the diner he owns for the price he believes is reasonable, rather than what the city wants to pay him.5 Gem of the Ocean (set 1900-1910, written 2003) Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (set 1910’s, written 1988) Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (set 1920’s, written 1984) The Piano Lesson (set 1930’s, written 1990) Seven Guitars (set 1940’s, written 1995) Fences (Set 1950’s, written 1987) Two Trains Running (set 1960’s, written 1991) Jitney (Set 1970’s, Written 1982) King Hedley II (set 1980’s, written 1999) 6 Radio Golf (set 1990’s, written 2005) • Why might August Wilson choose to write a number of stories about a particular neighborhood over the course of a whole century? • How does a specific place (like a neighborhood, city, or state) spark specific stories? How are stories about North Carolina, for example, different from stories about other parts of the US or the world? • What’s a place that’s important to you? If you were writing a story or play, how might you incorporate parts of that place into your writing? TWO TRAINS RUNNING RESOURCE GUIDE 5 PITTSBURGH & THE HILL DISTRICT IN THE 1960’S: THE SETTING OF TWO TRAINS RUNNING August Wilson grew up in the Hill District, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, PA that is the setting for all but one of the 10 plays in The Century Cycle. In the early 1800s, the Hill District housed many immigrant families who came to work in the steel mills during the Industrial Revolution. After slavery ended, many African Americans also moved to the Hill District. By the early 1900s, the Hill had become a diverse and vibrant community, rich in culture. Then, starting with its infrastructure, the neighborhood began to decline. Many of the inhabitants of the Hill moved on to other parts of the city, leaving primarily African American residents behind. In the mid-1900s the Hill District included many Black-owned shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. In 1955, however, the federal government approved a redevelopment plan which cleared out 95 acres of homes and business in the area, forcing out more than 8,000 residents. Meanwhile, the federal government built federally-funded public housing in the same area, causing the Hill District to host more public housing than any other neighborhood in Pittsburgh. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Pittsburgh steel industry collapsed, causing rampant unemployment. The crime rates in the Hill District rose and buildings deteriorated from lack of upkeep. A 1998 photograph by Dick Bernard of Eddie’s Restaurant, an establishment that Wilson frequented that some believe inspired Two Trains Running. • How do you feel that August Wilson’s experience living in the Hill District might have inspired Two Trains Running? • How did urban development change The Hill District? How does urban development affect the characters of Two Trains Running? • Where else do we see urban development? What does that look like? How does it affect people who live in the communities where it takes place? 6 TWO TRAINS RUNNING RESOURCE GUIDE HISTORY: WHAT WAS HAPPENING DURING THE TIME PERIOD OF TWO TRAINS RUNNING? Two Trains Running takes place during the American Civil Rights movement, and events from this period are mentioned throughout the play. Some key events from the movement are noted below:8 December 1st, 1955 Rosa Parks wouldn’t give up her seat to a White man on a bus in Montgomery, AL, sparking the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott. September 4th, 1957 In Little Rock, AK, the “Little Rock Nine” became the first Black students to integrate into an all-White school. September 9th, 1957 President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. February 1st, 1960 The sit-in movement began at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC (the site of which is now the International Civil Rights Museum). September 15th, 1963 Bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL. February 2nd, 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. February 21st, 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated. March 7th, 1965 Protesters marched the 54 miles from Selma, AL to the state capital of Montgomery, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. August 6th, 1965 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.
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