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Clifford Odets Melia Bensussen STIRRING AMERICAN CLASSIC BY CLIFFORD ODETS DIRECTED BY AWAKE MELIA BENSUSSEN AND SING! CURRICULUM GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS Standards 3 Guidelines for Attending the Theatre 4 Artists 5 Themes for Writing & Discussion 7 Mastery Assessment 13 For Further Exploration 14 Suggested Activities 21 © Huntington Theatre Company Boston, MA 02115 October 2014 No portion of this curriculum guide may be reproduced without written permission from the Huntington Theatre Company’s Department of Education & Community Programs Inquiries should be directed to: Donna Glick | Director of Education [email protected] This curriculum guide was prepared for the Huntington Theatre Company by: Alexandra Truppi I Manager for Curriculum & Instruction with contributions by: Donna Glick | Director of Education Charles Haugland | Artistic Programs and Dramaturgy Lisa Timmel | Director of New Work Marian Eiben | Education Intern COMMON CORE STANDARDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS: Student Matinee performances and pre-show workshops provide unique opportunities for experiential learning and support various combinations of the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts. They may also support standards in other subject areas such as Social Studies and History, depending on the individual play’s subject matter. Activities are also included in this Curriculum Guide and in our pre-show workshops that support several of the Massachusetts state standards in theatre. Other arts areas may also be addressed depending on the individual play’s subject matter. Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 3 Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 6 • Grades 8: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents • Grades 8: Analyze how differences in the points of view in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created character, or provoke a decision. through dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor. • Grades 9-10: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of • Grades 9-10: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the develop the themes. United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature. • Grades 11-12: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices • Grades 11-12: Analyze a case in which grasping point of regarding how to develop related elements of a story or view required distinguishing what is directly stated in a drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, how the characters are introduced and developed). or understatement). Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 5 Reading Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7 • Grades 8: Compare and contrast the structure of two or more • Grades 8: Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs contributes to its meaning and style. from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors. • Grades 9-10: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), • Grades 9-12: Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks), create such drama, or poem (e.g. recorded or live production of a play effects as mystery, tension, or surprise. or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text (Include at least one play by • Grades 11-12: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist). how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact. AWAKE AND SING! CURRICULUM GUIDE 3 TECHNICAL THEATRE MASSACHUSETTS • 4.6 — Draw renderings, floor plans, and/or build models of sets for a dramatic work and explain choices in using visual elements (line, shape/form, texture, color, space) and visual principals (unity, STANDARDS IN SOCIAL variety, harmony, balance, rhythm) (By the end of Grade 8). • 4.13 — Conduct research to inform the design of sets, costumes, STUDIES/HISTORY sound, and lighting for a dramatic production (Grades 9-12). CONNECTIONS • Strand 6: Purposes and Meanings in the Arts — Students will AND THEATRE describe the purposes for which works of dance, music, theatre, visual arts, and architecture were and are created, and, when US HISTORY — GRADES 8-12 appropriate, interpret their meanings (Grades PreK-12). • USII.11 — Describe the various causes and consequences of the • Strand 10: Interdisciplinary Connections — Students will apply global depression of the 1930s, and analyze how Americans their knowledge of the arts to the study of English language arts, responded to the Great Depression. foreign languages, health, history and social science, mathematics, and science and technology/engineering (Grades PreK-12). A. Restrictive monetary policies B. Unemployment C. Support for political and economic reform • USII.13 — Explain how the Great Depression and the New Deal affected American society. A. The increased importance of the federal government in AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE establishing economic and social policies. Attending live theatre is a unique experience with many B. The emergence of a “New Deal coalition” consisting of African valuable educational and social benefits. To ensure that Americans, blue-collar workers, poor farmers, Jews, and all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, Catholics. please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience ACTING etiquette topics with your students before you come to the Huntington Theatre Company. • 1.7 — Create and sustain a believable character throughout a scripted or improvised scene (By the end of Grade 8). • How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not • 1.12 — Describe and analyze, in written and oral form, characters’ appropriate when seeing a play? Why? wants, needs, objectives, and personality characteristics (By the end of Grade 8). • Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience’s behavior and reactions will affect the actors’ • 1.13 — In rehearsal and performance situations, perform as a performances. No two audiences are exactly the same, and productive and responsible member of an acting ensemble therefore no two performances are exactly the same — this (i.e., demonstrate personal responsibility and commitment to is part of what makes theatre so special! Students’ behavior a collaborative process) . (By the end of Grade 8) should reflect the level of performance they wish to see. • 1.14 — Create complex and believable characters through the • Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. integration of physical, vocal, and emotional choices (Grades 9-12). It is absolutely all right to applaud when appropriate and • 1.15 — Demonstrate an understanding of a dramatic work by laugh at the funny moments. Talking and calling out during developing a character analysis (Grades 9-12). the performance, however, are not allowed. Why might • 1.17 — Demonstrate increased ability to work effectively alone and this be? Be sure to mention that not only would the people collaboratively with a partner or in an ensemble (Grades 9-12). seated around them be able to hear their conversation, but the actors on stage could hear them, too. Theatres are READING AND WRITING SCRIPTS constructed to carry sound efficiently! • 2.7 — Read plays and stories from a variety of cultures and • Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind historical periods and identify the characters, setting, plot, theme, students to make sure their cell phones are turned off (or and conflict (By the end of Grade 8). better yet, left at home or at school!). Texting, photography, • 2.8 — Improvise characters, dialogue, and actions that focus on and video recording are prohibited. Food, gum, and drinks the development and resolution of dramatic conflicts (By the end should not be brought into the theatre. of Grade 8). • Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front • 2.11 — Read plays from a variety of genres and styles; compare of House staff and should not leave their seats once the and contrast the structure of plays to the structures of other forms performance has begun. of literature (Grades 9-12). 4 AWAKE AND SING! CURRICULUM GUIDE ARTISTS CRAMPED QUARTERS: wrote about a young kid violinist who didn’t have his violin because THE EARLY YEARS the hotel owner had appropriated it for unpaid bills. He looked OF PLAYWRIGHT back and remembered his mother and his hard-working sister, and although I was not that kid and didn’t have that kind of mother or CLIFFORD ODETS sister, I did fill the skin and the outline with my own personal feeling, “[Odets had] an appetite and for the first time I realized what creative writing was.” for the broken and run-down, together with a bursting love A natural product of his time spent as an actor, Odets transitioned for the beauty immanent in into plays, and in 1935, premiered four different works back-to- people, a burning belief in the back that would launch his career. First, his famous agit-prop piece day when this beauty would Waiting for Lefty dramatizes the unionization of a group of taxi actually shape the external drivers and famously ends on the cry of “Strike! Strike! Strike!” world. These two apparently Waiting for Lefty subsequently played on a double bill with Till the contradictory impulses kept Day I Die.
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