The Theatre Arts Activity Guide National Children’s Giant Steps Towards Understanding Theatre

An alliance between imagination stage and The National Theatre

Explore the multi-disciplinary and creative process of bringing characters and stories to life on stage and in the classroom.

Theatre Arts Activity Guide & The Play in Process Video

Students can participate in strategically designed activities, and enjoy a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience.

Teachers will find cross-curricular connections to Common Core, Next Generation Science Standards, and DCPS curriculum focusing on subject specific 3rd-5th grade standards including Theatre Standards.

Theatre Arts Activity Guide is produced by Learning through Theatre, DC A New Partnership between The National Children’s Theatre, DC Public Schools, and DC Public Charter Schools Theatre Arts Activity Guide The BFG Giant Steps Towards Understanding A Super-sized Story of Courage, Dreams, HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE: The Fleshlumpeater & Bloodbottler and Friendship! Discover GIANT ways to spark English Language Arts p. 2-4 curiosity and integrate arts into Pre-Performance Investigation the third through fifth grade GIANT News curriculum! By engaging in arts integrated activities, you and Post-Performance Investigations your students can find unlimited GIANT Opinions ways to use the arts to explore GIANT Imaginations and express understanding in many areas of study. The Bonecruncher This activity guide is designed Math p. 5-8 to be used in the classroom Pre-Performance Investigation with minimal supply needs in GIANT Problems conjunction with The Play in Process: Pre-Production to Post-Performance Investigation Performance video, and The National Children’s Theatre’s live GIANT Measurements production of The BFG. The Meatdripper In this guide, you will discover Social Studies p. 9-10 little ways to make a GIANT Pre-Performance Investigation impact by integrating arts into the third through fifth A GIANT World grade curriculum. This guide is broken down into four Post-Performance Investigation sections represented by the GIANT Adaptations giant characters from the stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Gizzard Gulper & The Child Chewer The BFG. Science p. 11-13 Students are challenged Pre-Performance Investigation to Explore & Create in GIANT Discoveries pre-performance and post- Activity Guide performance activities from Post-Performance Investigation Grades 3-5 each content area to outsmart A GIANT Process the giants. Each investigation highlights standards for each Objectives: content area. RESOURCES p. 14-21 Through pre-performance Excerpts from The BFG Students are encouraged to and post-performance incorporate the knowledge and How to Write a Critique for a Theatrical Performance activities, teachers and skills used by theatre artists Costume Line Plot students will be able to: highlighted in the CONTEXT Glossary of Theatre Terms from • Articulate the creative FOR EXPLORATION in each The Play in Process video and collaborative section. Choose your own Theatre Etiquette & List of Funders processes involved in adventure and pick the subjects producing a dramatic and activities that you and your work. class are most interested in! • Describe connections GIANT FUN FOR EVERYONE! between the dramatic work and the curriculum for third through fifth Pre-performance sharing! grade. We at Imagination Stage would love to see your students’ work! Send any GIANT news stories (See Pre-Performance English Language Arts Investigation: GIANT News) that you would like to share to [email protected]. We may share student’s work via social media, or on our website. We may even invite a few students to come on stage to share their news stories with the audience before the show begins! The Fleshlumpeater & Bloodbottler English Language Arts Pre-Performance investigation

GIANT News English Language Arts Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and Checking Prior Knowledge: information clearly and accurately through the What are ways effective selection, organization, and analysis people communicate of content. and share ideas? CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.4 Defining the Problem: Produce clear and coherent writing in which What do actors the development, organization, and style are communicate? appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and Explore & Create: communicative tasks, demonstrating command Breaking News Stories! of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

THE GIANTS ARE COMING! In the National Children’s Theatre Standards: Theatre production of Roald Perform- Perform and participate Dahl’s The BFG, there is a GIANT in theatre improvisations and problem. At night Giants dramatizations to learn acting and roam about the world and eat scriptwriting fundamentals children! Imagine the Giants Interconnect- Apply theatrical have come to modern day concepts to construct meaning and understanding in other subject areas Washington DC, or the early American settlements, or even during the westward Context for Exploration: The Actor expansion! Challenge your students to take on The job of an actor requires more than learning and the role of someone who would be responsible delivering lines. An actor tells a story. In order to tell for sharing news of the Giants with others in the a great story, actors must create interesting characters, designated setting. Are they a news reporter on the which requires actors to interpret the story. Actors begin character work by answering five important television or radio? A settler who passes news along questions- Who? What? Where? When? Why? For by word of mouth? A journalist? Are they sending example: Who are the characters? What do they want? news via telegraph? Are they a rider on the Pony Where does the story take place? When does the story take place? Why do the characters want what they Express? Students will then use the 5 W’s (who, want? These questions are known as the five W’s of what, where, when, why) to begin to think like their character and story and are often referred to as given chosen character and write a news story to share circumstances. Actors also answer a bonus question- How? How do the characters get what they want? To with the class in character conveying important learn more about the actor’s process in The BFG watch facts. As actors, students then take on the role of The Play in Process video. ‘reporter’ as they perform their news story reading and delivering their lines in character.

Assessing Our Learning: In what ways do actors convey complex ideas and information?

We would love to see your students’ work! Send any and all GIANT news stories to [email protected].

English Launguage Arts • pre-performace investigation 2

The Fleshlumpeater & Bloodbottler English Language Arts Post-Performance investigation

GIANT Opinions English Language Arts Standards: Checking Prior Knowledge: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1 What is your opinion of the National Children’s Theatre Write arguments to support claims in production of The BFG? an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and Defining the Problem: sufficient evidence. How does a theatre critic express their opinions clearly CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.4 and persuasively? Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, Explore & Create: A Review and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. Individually or in small groups, ask your students to write CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1 a review of what they saw. Each student or small group Prepare for and participate effectively in a could write one paragraph to contribute to a group or class range of conversations and collaborations critique. Guide students to use How to Write a Critique for a with diverse partners, building on others’ Theatrical Performance included in the Resources section of ideas and expressing their own clearly this guide (pg.19). and persuasively.

Encourage your students to share their experience on school’s website or in the school or class newsletter. You Theatre Standards: may also send any GIANT opinions you’d like to share to Respond- Analyze, critique, and respond [email protected], and we’ll not only to theatre and dramatic media. share your student’s work via social media and our website, Interconnect- Apply theatrical concepts but we may also select a few to submit to area critics for to construct meaning and understanding publishing on their websites! in other subject areas

Assessing Our Learning: Context for Exploration: What is the job of a theatre critic? THE THEATRE CRITIC Theatre critics attend performances to evaluate them and share their opinions with their readers. “A savory treat for“ all ages!” !” Their opinions are often based on a deep ~The Washington Post knowledge and understanding of theatre. Readers then use this information to determine whether or not they would like to see a given performance. “Enchanting... Criticism is not meant to be negative; rather it endearing!” weighs the successes with the challenges of a given performance allowing potential audience ~DC Theatre Scene members to draw their own conclusions. Guide “Magical triumph students to read reviews from DC Theatre Scene, first-rate stunning! Maryland Theatre Guide, Broadway World, DC VERY highly recommended!” Metro Theater Arts, and The Washington Post. ~Broadway World

Absolute must-see!” ~DC Metro Theater Arts

English Launguage Arts • post-performace investigation 3 The Fleshlumpeater & Bloodbottler English Language Arts Post-Performance investigation

GIANT Imaginations English Language Arts Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined Checking Prior Knowledge: experiences or events using effective What style of writing would you use to share technique, well-chosen details and well- imagined experiences such as dreams? structured event sequences. Defining the Problem: How can we incorporate sound into a narrative to Theatre Standards: help illustrate the details of events? Perform- Perform and participate in theatre improvisations and dramatizations to learn acting and scriptwriting fundamentals Explore & Create: Soundscape Create- Design and manage theatrical environments for formal and informal Begin exploring the concept of soundscape by guiding dramatizations students to choose a setting. Guide students to make Interconnect- Apply theatrical concepts to a list of all of the sounds they may hear in the given construct meaning and understanding in environment. The educator takes on the role of the other subject areas conductor assigning each student to a sound. Students will create the sounds they may hear in the setting using Context for Exploration: only their voices. Have students layer sounds one at a THE SOUND DESIGNER time. Play with the volume, tempo, and duration of Sound designers use sound, whether recorded or produced live, to help create the world of the play. sounds to create the distinct soundscape of the chosen Sound designers create soundscapes to establish the setting. setting of a play and illustrate what is happening in the story. These soundscapes can include anything from Once students understand the idea of soundscapes, real to imagined sounds and music. Sound designers may use sound effects help to establish place. Sound challenge the students to create ‘dreamscapes’. In the designers may use music to create mood. In the National Children’s Theatre production of The BFG, the BFG talks about how he can hear a “dream’s special music.” Ask the students to imagine what dreams the BFG might bring them and to write down a dream they’ve had. Then ask them to think of instrumental music or sounds that they could use to underscore their dream. Students can even be challenged to create sound from found objects. This will become a soundscape helping to immerse the listeners into the world of the imagined dream. Students can work as sound designers and record their soundscapes. Students can then work as performers exploring how the music makes them feel and move as they share their dreams with the class underscored by their chosen soundscape. National Children’s Theatre production of The BFG, Assessing Our Learning: the sound designer composed music to underscore the How did the use of sound improve the narrative? action of the play. Sound designers also manage the sound systems in theatre spaces to amplify sounds. To learn more about the sound designer’s process on The BFG watch The Play in Process video.

English Launguage Arts • post-performace investigation 4 The Bonecruncher math

Pre-Performance investigation

GIANT Problems Mathematics Standards: Mathematical Practice Checking Prior Knowledge: CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. What are the parts of a story? CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP2 Reason abstractly What strategies and properties can you use and quantitatively. to solve math problems? CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP3 Construct viable What do stories and word problems arguments and critique the reasoning of others. have in common? CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP4 Model with Defining the Problem: mathematics. How can we illustrate word problems Number and Operations in Base Ten using our bodies? CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NBT.A.2 Fluently add and subtract within 1000 Explore & Create: using strategies and algorithms based on Word Problem Tableaux place value, properties of operations, and/ or the relationship between addition and A tableau (plural: tableaux) is the physical creation of subtraction. a frozen, silent picture using the body to illustrate a CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NBT.B.4 moment in a story. Tableau is an excellent storytelling Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole device and can be used to portray a clear beginning, numbers using the standard algorithm. middle, and end. Explain that students will use their CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.B.5 bodies to illustrate different parts of a frozen picture, Fluently multiply multi-digit whole numbers adding parts of the picture one at a time. A tableau can using the standard algorithm. be based on a an illustration from a book, representing a key plot point of the story. Once given the prompt, Theatre Standards: one student will create the first piece of the picture. One Perform- Perform and participate in theatre at a time, other students will “add on” to the picture to improvisations and dramatizations to learn create a full picture. Once the tableau is created, capture acting and scriptwriting fundamentals a real or imaginary picture of the scene, freezing it in Interconnect- Apply theatrical concepts to time and space. Each participant can then be called construct meaning and understanding in upon to animate the picture with a simple, stationary other subject areas body movement and/or a single line of dialogue to bring the picture to life. Ask the students who are still in their seats: What do you see? How do you interpret what is happening? What would you like to know about what is happening? What might you change to make the picture clearer? What would you title this tableau? cont’d next page

Mathematics • pre-performace investigation 5 The Bonecruncher math

Pre-Performance investigation

GIANT Problems cont’d

Model the role of the director in staging a familiar story. Context for Exploration: Block three tableaux, using the students to illustrate the THE DIRECTOR beginning, middle, and end of a chosen story. Draw A director provides the unifying vision for a inspiration from story illustrations to help craft the performance to communicate a clear central tableaux. The begging tableau should set up the story, message. Directors lead the collaborative process introducing the characters and setting. The middle guiding all aspects of staging a production. tableau should highlight the problem. The end tableau The director is not necessarily responsible for should show how the problem is solved. all decision making, working instead to help everyone make cohesive decisions. Directors often Once students understand how to use tableaux as a make suggestions to help clarify choices on and storytelling device, as a class or in small groups have off stage. The director’s process starts well before students create word problem stories with a clear the production with research. Before rehearsals beginning, middle, and end while also highlighting the begin directors are engaged in production problem and solution. meetings where artistic decisions are made in terms of aesthetics. Once the rehearsal process SEe word problem Tableaux examples begins, directors are primarily responsible for on next page leading the actors through the rehearsal process to encourage actors to make thoughtful choices to Select one student to act as the director to stage and illustrate each moment. Directors are responsible block three tableaus with their classmates to illustrate for blocking, or guiding actors where to stand and the word problem. Students may need to incorporate when and how to move on stage. To learn more costumes, props, or even puppets, to help demonstrate about the director’s process for The BFG watch The their story. Play in Process video.

Students present tableaux one at a time. With each tableau, ask the students who are still in their seats to share what they see before activating the frozen picture with movement and dialogue.

Before sharing the final tableau representing the solution, have the students solve the problem. Students should provide justification for their thinking.

After sharing the final tableau, have the directors evaluate the tableau and offer suggestions to help make it clearer.

Assessing Our Learning: How does using tableau help us solve word problems ?

Mathematics • pre-performace investigation 6 The Bonecruncher math

Pre-Performance investigation

GIANT Problems cont’d

word problem Tableaux examples

1) Once upon a time there was a friendly giant who caught sweet dreams to bring to children all over the world. With one swipe of his net he caught 7 golden phizzwizard dreams. With another swipe of his net he caught 9 pink dinghummer dreams. How many children will be getting sweet dreams tonight? Tableau A+ Tableau B = Tableau C

2) Once upon a time there were 5 giants looking in at 11 Swedish children asleep in their beds. Some giants are friendly and bring sweet dreams while others are nasty and steal children to gobble them up. These giants were the nasty kind. They liked the Sweden Sour taste of Swedish children best. They each reached in the window and grabbed one of the sleeping children. How many children were left to call for help? Tableau A -Tableau B = Tableau C

3) Once upon a time there was a friendly giant who ate disgusterous snozzcumbers and 5 nasty giants who ate children. The friendly giant gave each of the giants 12 snozzcumbers hoping that it would spoil their appetite for children. The nasty giants took one bite and found it so disgusterous they threw all of the snozzcumbers at the friendly giant. How many snozzcumbers were thrown? Tableau A × Tableau B = Tableau C

4) Once upon a time there was a friendly giant and his little friend Sophie. The friendly giant liked to drink frobscottle that came in giant bottles that held 128 ounces of the delicious fizzy drink! The friendly giant liked to share his frobscottle with Sophie but Sophie was so little she could only drink 1/8 of a bottle! If the friendly giant and Sophie shared an entire bottle of frobscottle, how many ounces would Sophie drink? How many ounces would the friendly giant drink? Tableau A ÷ Tableau B = Tableau C

Mathematics • pre-performace investigation 7 The Bonecruncher math

Post-Performance investigation

GIANT measurements Mathematics Standards: Measurement and Data CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.B.4 Checking Prior Knowledge: Generate measurement data by measuring How is length measured? lengths using rulers marked with halves and What makes the most accurate fourths of an inch. Show the data by making a measurements? line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked What is a line plot used for? off in appropriate units—whole numbers, halves, or quarters. Defining the Problem: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.B.4 How might a costume designer use measurements and a line plot Make a line plot to display a data set of to create costumes? measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information Explore & Create: Costumes presented in line plots. CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.B.2 Using the National Children’s Theatre production of The Make a line plot to display a data set of BFG as inspiration, guide students to imagine a re-telling of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, the story. Guide students to create a sketch for a costume 1/4, 1/8). Use operations on fractions for this for a new character. In small groups, students will take grade to solve problems involving information measurements of each other to help determine how presented in line plots. many of each size garment must be shopped or pulled. Theatre Standards: Students can create tape measures from long strips, Create- Apply theatrical concepts to construct approximately five feet long, cut from a roll of paper. meaning and understanding in other subject Using a ruler, students can mark inches, half inches, and areas quarter inches. Students should measure each other from Interconnect- Apply theatrical concepts to the top of their head to the floor. Students can plot these construct meaning and understanding in other measurements the line plot provided in the Resources subject areas section of this guide (p.20) to determine how many of Context for Exploration: each size needs to be shopped or pulled. THE costume DESIGNER Costumes include anything that is worn by an actor Extension Activity: Guide students to pick what types of such as clothing and accessories to help tell us who fabric they would need to create a costume and find out how the characters are. Costume designers are artists who much fabric they will need in order to construct a costume for create costumes. They collaborate with other members each member of the group. For a shirt, measurement is taken of the production design team in addition to the hair from the top of the shoulder to the waist. For pants or a skirt, stylist, wig master, and make-up artist for a given measurement is taken on the out-seam, or outside of the leg production. Costume designers must also understand from the waist to the floor or the desired length of the garment. costume construction including patterning, draping, For a dress or body suit, measure from the top of the shoulder different kinds of textiles or fabric, and fashion history. to the floor or the desired length of the garment. To determine Costumers engage in a design process including analysis the amount of fabric needed to construct each garment, the of the text to form the foundations of an artistic vision, length should be doubled. Students can then add the amounts collaboration with the production design team, research, together to figure out how many feet or yards of fabric they need preliminary sketches, choosing a color palate, and in total. final sketches. Once the design process is complete,

costumes must be shopped (bought), pulled from storage, or constructed and built. Costume construction Assessing Our Learning: includes taking measurements of all the actors in order How does creating costumes help us better to create patterns and procuring enough fabric. understand measurements and line plots?

Mathematics • pre-performace investigation 8 The Meatdripper social studies

Pre-Performance investigation

A GIANT world Social Studies Standards: 3.1: Students use cardinal directions, map scales, legends, and titles to locate places Checking Prior Knowledge: on contemporary maps of Washington, What clues might you see on stage to tell you where D.C., and the local community. and when the story takes place? 4.2: Students describe the legacy Defining the Problem: and cultures of the major indigenous settlements, including the cliff dwellers How can we use our knowledge of geography and history to help create the world of a play? and pueblo people of the desert Southwest, the triple alliance empire Explore & Create: Scenery and Props of the Yucatan Peninsula, the nomadic nations of the Great Plains, and the woodland peoples east of the Mississippi. Individually or in small groups, challenge students to 5.12: Use geographic tools to locate and adapt familiar stories to geographical areas that are being analyze information about people, places, studied in class in order to conceive and design scenery and environments in the United States. and props for a staged version of their chosen story. Perhaps Little Red Riding Hood visits her Grandmother in DC, or The Billy Goats Gruff cross the bridge to the Theatre Standards: Create- Design and manage theatrical Great Plains, or The Three Little Pigs build their houses environments for forma l and informal in different geographical dramatizations regions in the United Interconnect- Apply theatrical concepts States. Guide students to to construct meaning and understanding create a concept board by in other subject areas finding images to represent the scenery and props for Context for Exploration: their story. These images THE SCENIC DESIGNER can be collected and AND THE PROPS MASTER displayed on a poster or The Scenic Designer and the Props Master work in a journal. Ask students “behind the scenes” to help create the world or to create renderings for scenery and props by sketching environment of a play that we see represented on stage. Scenery and theatrical properties help an their designs. Provide opportunities for students to share audience understand the setting (where a story takes their concepts and designs with the class, explaining place) of a play or musical. Scenery includes curtains, and providing justification for their choices related to the backdrops, flats, and platforms that are built and chosen environment and geography for their story. Ask painted to represent the landscape and shelter in an environment. Sometimes digital images and video are student to compare and contrast their concepts. projected onto the stage to create the environment. Theatrical properties or “props” include portable items Assessing Our Learning: that characters use on stage and are appropriate for a given environment. How does using what you know about history and geography help you make decisions about appropriate scenery and props?

Extension Activity: Once students have established a clear concept, allow students to create a scale model of their set, or a scale blueprint for a given performance space. Map out a stage area in your classroom using tape to define the performance space on the floor. From this defined stage space, students can use graph paper to create scale ground plans of their scenic designs.

social Studies • pre-performace investigation 9 The Meatdripper social studies

Post-Performance investigation

GIANT adaptations Social Studies Standards: 3.2: Students understand the basic structure of the Washington, D.C. Checking Prior Knowledge: government. Where and when did the National Children’s Theatre 4.8: Students explain the causes of the production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG take place? American Revolution. What clues were there? 5.5: Students summarize the causes and Defining the Problem: consequences of the Civil War. How does adapting a play to a new setting help communicate information specific to a given place and time? Theatre Standards: Perform- Perform and participate Explore & Create: in theatre improvisations and A Giant Adaptation dramatizations to learn acting and scriptwriting fundamentals First have students read the excerpts Interconnect- Apply theatrical concepts from the National Children’s Theatre to construct meaning and understanding production of The BFG included in the in other subject areas Resources section of this guide (pg. 14-18). Using the excerpts from The BFG as inspiration, challenge Context for Exploration: the students to adapt the scene. THE Playwright Students should choose the setting for their adaptation based on what they are studying Playwrights are writers who specifically write works that are to be performed by actors. Playwrights in Social Studies. As a class, guide students to make may write original works where they must imagine a list of possible characters. Does the Queen become a unique setting, characters, and problem that Barack Obama? Perhaps the Queen becomes George communicate a central message or they can adapt familiar stories for the stage. Playwrights decide Washington during the American Revolution or what the central message of a play will be and even Lincoln during the Civil provide details in the text from which the actors War. Students could even be draw inspiration. The National Children’s Theatre challenged to reimagine the production of The BFG is a new adaptation by a playwright from the original story by Roald Dahl. scene at The National Theatre Adaptations require playwrights to translate the in DC, incorporating the history central message and key details from the original of the theatre. In small groups, story in a way that will work best on stage. help students create, write, and then present their adapted scene highlighting the area of study.

Assessing Our Learning: How did adapting the scene from The BFG help you better understand what you are studying in Social Studies?

social Studies • pre-performace investigation 10 The Gizzard Gulper & The Child Chewer Science Pre-Performance investigation

GIANT Discoveries Science Standards: 3-PS2-4. Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas Checking Prior Knowledge: about magnets. 3rd Grade- How do magnets work? 4-PS3-2. Make observations to provide 4th Grade- What are some clues that help us know evidence that energy can be transferred from that energy is transferring from place to place? place to place by sound, light, heat, and 5th Grade-Why are some stars brighter than others? electric currents. 5-ESS1-1. Support an argument that Defining the Problem: differences in the apparent brightness of the 3rd Grade- How could you incorporate magnets sun compared to other stars is due to their into a puppet design? relative distances from the Earth. 4th Grade- What evidence can you see on stage of energy traveling from place to place? Theatre Standards: 5th Grade- How might a Create- Design and manage theatrical lighting designer create environments for formal and informal constellations on stage? dramatizations. Interconnect- Apply theatrical concepts to Explore & Create: construct meaning and understanding in other subject areas. Puppets & Stage lighting Context for Exploration: Grade 3: Provide students with THE LIGHTING DESIGNER & THE PUPPETEER materials to create puppets, weather Initially stage lighting was used to increase visibility sock puppets, stick puppets, paper bag puppets, finger on stage so that audiences could better see the actors. puppets, string puppets, or even shadow puppets. Candles, chandeliers, and even gas-lamps were used before electricity was discovered. Modern stage Challenge students to incorporate the use of magnets to lighting makes use of different types of stage lighting help improve the puppet design. How could a puppet instruments or fixtures. The intensity of the light is make use of a magnet to pick something up, or eat determined by the number of fixtures, lamp power, the distance from the stage, the size of the light beam, the something, or make something move away? Could power level (changed with dimmers), and color. Light magnets be used to connect different pieces of the puppet? color is changed by adding color gels to the instrument in the path of the light. Lighting designers work with Grade 4: Guide students to experiment with light other members of the production design team to help sources and electrical currents in order to help create an create and define the setting as well as mood. environment or mood for a chosen story. Puppets are often used to represent characters on Grade 5: Have students imagine a story that includes stage. Puppeteers bring puppets to life using their a star-filled sky. Encourage students to act as lighting hands, strings, wires, rods, light, and even robotics and electronics. Sometimes multiple puppeteers designers to bring the night sky to life on stage. Guide work together to operate a single puppet. Puppet- students to experiment with light sources makers engage in the design process in to re-create a star filled sky or specific order to determine how best to create constellations paying specific attention to puppet characters to serve the needs of a live-stage production. Puppets are the relative distance of the light source. used in the National Children’s Theatre Production of The BFG to solve a problem Assessing Our Learning: that is unique to adapting this story to the stage. How do you bring Giants to How did exploring puppetry and life on stage? lighting help us make discoveries about magnets, energy, or stars?

Science, Technology, and Engineering • pre-performace investigation 11 The Gizzard Gulper & The Child Chewer Science Post-Performance investigation

A GIANT Process Science Standards: 3-ESS3-1. Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the Checking Prior Knowledge: impacts of a (weather-related) hazard. What are some inventions that reduce the impact of 4-LS1-2. Use a model to describe weather related hazards? that animals receive different types of How do animals receive, process, and respond to information through their senses, process information? the information in their brain, and How does matter move through an ecosystem? respond to the information in different ways. Defining the Problem: 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe How can we use movement to illustrate science the movement of matter among concepts? plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. Explore & Create: Choreography Theatre Standards: Create- Design and manage theatrical environments for formal and informal Get the students moving! Begin by freely walking about dramatizations the space. You may even want to play some music. Slowly Interconnect- Apply theatrical concepts begin to introduce different ways of moving, and guide to construct meaning and understanding students to respond using their bodies. in other subject areas.

Explore different ways of movement:

Run Jump Rise Bend Roll Walk Leap Fall Push Crawl TipToe Twist March Shake Wiggle Gallop Kick Lunge Stretch Prance Skip Spin Float Swing Strut Hop Sway Balance Fly Reach

Context for Exploration: THE Choreographer Choreographers are responsible for creating of movement on stage from dance to stage combat. They are responsible for helping performers shape the physical actions of a performance. Choreographers look at the quality of movement in terms of size, level, direction, pathway, speed, weight, and energy helping to illustrate space, shape, time, emotion, and story.

Science, Technology, and Engineering • pre-performace investigation 12 The Gizzard Gulper & The Child Chewer Science Post-Performance investigation

A GIANT Process cont’d

Once students have explored different ways of moving, have them explore different qualities of movement.

Explore different qualities of movement: SIZE SPEED big, medium, small fast, medium, slow

LEVEL WEIGHT high, middle, low heavy, light

DIRECTION ENERGY forward, backward, up, down sharp, smooth, shaky, swingy

PATHWAY curved, straight, zig zag

After students have had time to explore movement, have the students work in small groups to create a movement piece to illustrate a concept they are studying in Science class. Explain that students will use their bodies to create a solution to a weather hazard, demonstrate how animals receive, process, and respond to information, or illustrate the movement of matter in an ecosystem. They may even choose to incorporate music into their choreographed piece to further illustrate the concept.

Assessing Our Learning: How did using movement help you better understand science concepts?

Science, Technology, and Engineering • pre-performace investigation 13 resources EXCERPTs The National Children’s Theatre Production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG

ACT 2 Scene 1 In The Bedroom of the Queen of England

SOPHIE: Carefully holding Sophie, the BFG crept along the wall of the Palace, peering into the upstairs bedroom windows. Suddenly, through a crack in the curtains, they saw, in the moonlight, a sleeping face, a female face that Sophie had seen on stamps and coins and in the newspapers all her life. With great care, the BFG raised the Queen’s bedroom window, and then… (THE BFG THEN TAKES THE TRUMPET AND BLOWS THE DREAM INTO THE WINDOW.)

SOPHIE: Then the BFG placed Sophie inside the window, behind the curtains… closed the window, and, waving goodbye and good luck to Sophie, strode into the garden and hid among the trees.

QUEEN: (TALKING IN HER SLEEP) Oh no! No! Don’t! Someone stop them! Don’t let them do it! It’s horrible! Please stop them! It’s ghastly! No! No! No! (SHE DRIFTS BACK TO SLEEP.)

MARY: (ENTERING) Good morning, your Majesty. Your early morning tea.

QUEEN: Oh Mary! I’ve just had the most frightful dream! It was awful!

MARY: Oh, I am sorry, ma’am. But don’t be distressed. You’re awake now.

QUEEN: I dreamt, Mary, that girls and boys were being snatched out of their beds at boarding-school and were being eaten by the most ghastly giants! The giants were putting their arms in through the dormitory windows and plucking the children out with their fingers. It was all so… so vivid, Mary. So real. Mary! What is it? (SUDDENLY MARY DROPS THE TRAY WITH A CLATTER.) Mary!

MARY: Sorry, your Majesty…

QUEEN: I think you’d better sit down at once. You’re as white as a sheet. You mustn’t take it so hard, Mary, just because I’ve had an awful dream.

MARY: That … that isn’t the reason, ma’am … (SHE REACHES FOR THE NEWSPAPER.) Look ma’am! Look at the front page! The headlines!

QUEEN: (UNFOLDING THE NEWSPAPER) Great Scott! (SHE READS.) ‘Children vanish mysteriously from boarding- school beds. Bones found underneath dormitory windows!’ Oh how ghastly! It’s absolutely frightful! Those poor children!

MARY: But ma’am … don’t you see, ma’am …

QUEEN: See what, Mary?

MARY: Those children were taken away almost exactly as you dreamt it, ma’am.

QUEEN: Not by giants, Mary.

MARY: No ma’am. But the rest of it. You dreamt it and… and… and it’s happened. For real! Ooh, it’s spooky, ma’am. That’s why I came over all queer.

QUEEN: I’m coming over a bit queer myself, Mary.

MARY: It gives me the shakes, ma’am, when something like this happens, it really does.

QUEEN: I did dream about those children, Mary. It was clear as crystal.

MARY: I’m sure you did, ma’am.

QUEEN: I don’t know how giants got into it. That was rubbish.

MARY: Shall I draw the curtains, ma’am? Then we shall all feel better. It’s a lovely day.

QUEEN: Please do. continued on next page

resource 14 resources EXCERPTs The National Children’s Theatre Production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG

MARY: (MARY CROSSES TO THE WINDOW AND DRAWS THE CURTAINS. SOPHIE IS REVEALED.) Aaaaaaaah!

SOPHIE: Please, I…

QUEEN: I don’t believe it. I simply don’t believe it.

MARY: I’ll take her out, ma’am, at once.

QUEEN: (SHARPLY) No, Mary, don’t do that. Tell me, is there really a little girl in a nightie by the window, or am I still dreaming?

MARY: You’re wide awake, ma’am, and there’s a little girl in a nightie by the window, though heaven only knows how she got there.

QUEEN: (REMEMBERING) But I know how she got there. I dreamt that as well. A giant put her there.. Little girl, am I right?

SOPHIE: Yes, your Majesty.

MARY: Well, I’ll be jiggered. It can’t be true!

QUEEN: And your name is … (SOPHIE GOES TO SPEAK.) Don’t say it! Mary, come here. (MARY GOES TO THE QUEEN AND LEANS IN TO HEAR HER.) Her name is … (SHE WHISPERS IN MARY’S EAR)

MARY: Impossible, ma’am, how could you know that? (CROSSING TO SOPHIE) What’s your name, girl?

SOPHIE: My name is Sophie.

MARY: Aaaaaaah!

QUEEN: Told you. Come here, Sophie. Sit down, dear. Are you real?

SOPHIE: Yes, your Majesty.

QUEEN: And did a giant really bring you here?

SOPHIE: Oh yes, your Majesty. He’s out there in the garden now.

QUEEN: Is he indeed? In the garden?

SOPHIE: He’s a good giant, your Majesty. The Big Friendly Giant. You needn’t be frightened of him.

QUEEN: I’m delighted to hear it.

SOPHIE: He is my best friend.

QUEEN: How nice.

SOPHIE: Shall I call him for you?

QUEEN: (AFTER A PAUSE) Very well.

(SOPHIE JUMPS OUT OF BED AND RUNS TO THE WINDOW. MARY CROSSES TO THE QUEEN.)

MARY: Is this wise, ma’am?

QUEEN: Slippers, Mary. (MARY GOES TO FETCH THE SLIPPERS AND NIGHTGOWN, AS THE QUEEN GETS OUT OF BED. MARY THEN HELPS THE QUEEN GET DRESSED.)

SOPHIE: (CALLING FROM THE WINDOW) BFG! Her Majesty the Queen would like to see you. (PAUSE. MARY AND THE continued from previous page

resource 15 resources EXCERPTs The National Children’s Theatre Production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG

QUEEN LOOK AT EACH OTHER, NOT REALLY EXPECTING ANYTHING TO HAPPEN.)

QUEEN: I don’t see any giant.

SOPHIE: Please wait. (STILL NOTHING HAPPENS.)

MARY: Shall I take the girl away now, ma’am? (SUDDENLEY, A VOICE IS HEARD. IT IS THE BFG.)

BFG: (OFF) Your Majester, I is your humbug servant. (THE BFG APPEARS IN THE WINDOW. MARY FAINTS, UNSEEN BY THE QUEEN.)

QUEEN: (TAKING THINGS IN HER STRIDE) We are very pleased to meet you. Mary, ask Mr. Tibbs to prepare breakfast for our two visitors. In the ballroom, I fancy. (PAUSE) Mary? (SHE TURNS TO SEE MARY, FLAT OUT ON THE FLOOR) Oh.

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resource 16 resources EXCERPTs The National Children’s Theatre Production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG

ACT 2 Scene 2 In the Ballroom of the Palace. Breakfast is Served.

BFG: By goggles, your Majester, this stuff is making snozzcumbers taste like swatchwallop.

QUEEN: I beg your pardon?

SOPHIE: He has never eaten anything except snozzcumbers before, your Majesty. They taste revolting.

QUEEN: They don’t seem to have stunted his growth!

BFG: Where is the frobscottle, Majester?

QUEEN: The what?

BFG: Delumptious fizzy frobscottle! Everyone must be drinking it. Then we can all be whizzpopping happily together!

QUEEN: What does he mean? What is whizzpopping?

SOPHIE: Excuse me your Majesty. BFG, there is no frobscottle here and whizzpopping is strictly forbidden.

BFG: What? No whizzpopping? No glumptious music?

SOPHIE: Absolutely not.

QUEEN: If he wants to make music, please don’t stop him

SOPHIE: It’s not exactly music…

BFG: Listen, I can whizzpop perfectly well without frobscottle if I is trying hard enough.

SOPHIE: No! Don’t! Please!

QUEEN: When I’m up in Scotland, they play the bagpipes outside my window while I’m eating. (TO THE BFG) Do play something.

BFG: I has her Majester’s permission! (AFTER A MOMENT’S CONCENTRATION, HE LETS OUT A LARGE WHIZPOP. EVERYONE IN THE ROOM REACTS, UNSURE OF WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED.) Whoopee! How’s that, Majester?

QUEEN: I think I prefer the bagpipes! Now, to business. Sophie, you have told me of your visit to Giant Country and of the Giants’ ghastly night-time children-eating raids. But before we decide what is to be done, I must confirm the facts. Big Friendly Giant, last night your … er … colleagues raised England. Where did they go the night before?

BFG: I think, Majester, they was galloping off to Sweden. They is liking the Sweden sour taste.

QUEEN: Right. Mr. Tibbs, the telephone (MR. TIBBS BRINGS THE PHONE TO THE QUEEN. )Thank you. (SHE PRESSES THE DIALING BUTTONS AND WAITS.)

QUEEN OF SWEDEN: Hallo, Queen of Sweden here.

QUEEN: Good morning, it’s the Queen of England. Is everything all right in Sweden?

QUEEN OF SWEDEN: Everything is terrible! Two nights ago, twenty-six of my loyal subjects disappeared. My whole country is in a panic.

QUEEN: They were eaten by giants. Apparently they like the sweet and sour taste of Swedes. So says the BFG.

QUEEN OF SWEDEN: I don’t know what you are talking about. It’s hardly a joking matter when one’s loyal subjects are being eaten like popcorn.

QUEEN: They’ve eaten mine as well. continued from previous page

resource 17 resources EXCERPTs The National Children’s Theatre Production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG

QUEEN OF SWEDEN: Who’s they, for heaven’s sake?

QUEEN: It’s been a rough morning. First I had a horrid nightmare, then the maid dropped my early morning tea and now I’ve a giant on the piano.

QUEEN OF SWEDEN: You need a doctor quick!

QUEEN: I’ll be all right. I must go now. Thanks for your help. That proves it. Mr. Tibbs, summon the Head of the Army and the Head of the Air Force immediately. (MR. TIBBS BOWS AND CROSSES UPSTAGE TO THE PLATFORM. IMMEDIATELY, THE HEADS OF THE ARMY AND AIR FORCE, IN FULL MILITARY UNIFORM, ENTER, NOT SEEING THE BFG.)

QUEEN: Good morning, gentlemen.

HEAD OF THE ARMY: What ho, your Majesty!

HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: Toodle pip, your Majesty!

QUEEN: We have a job for you.

HEAD OF THE ARMY: Jolly good show, your Majesty!

HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: Whizzo prang, your Majesty!

QUEEN: Now, you’ve read about the disappearing children?

HEAD OF THE ARMY: Jolly bad show, your Majesty!

HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: Bally disgrace, your Majesty!

QUEEN: (SHE STANDS. SOPHIE COPIES HER) They were eaten.

HEAD OF THE ARMY & HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: (SCANDALIZED) Eaten?

QUEEN: By giants. PAUSE.

HEAD OF THE ARMY: Hold fire, your Majesty!

HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: Giants?

HEAD OF THE ARMY: No such fellas, your Majesty!

HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: Except in fairy tales.

HEAD OF THE ARMY: Except in fairy tales.

HEAD OF THE ARMY & HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: (TOGETHER) Ha, ha, ha, ha ha!

HEAD OF THE ARMY: Jolly good joke, your Majesty!

HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: Not April the First, is it?

HEAD OF THE ARMY & HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: (TOGETHER) Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

QUEEN: Gentlemen, allow me to present the Big Friendly Giant. (SHE INDICATES BEHIND THEM).

HEAD OF THE ARMY & HEAD OF THE AIR FORCE: (TOGETHER) Big Friendly Giant! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! (THEY TURN IN A CIRCLE AND SEE THE BFG) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

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resource 18 Remember to: How to Write a Critique for 1. Write about what you observed or noticed & a Theatrical Performance back up all your opinions with valid reasons. 2. Be objective, fair, and sincere. A critique is an evaluation of a performance or show. It should 3. Evaluate the entire production. contain five paragraphs. Each student or small group could write 4. Be constructive. Indicate good points along one paragraph to contribute to a class critique. Students may jot with those you felt needed improvement. their notes in the boxes provided on this page.

Paragraph 1—The Basics Include the answers to the five Ws:

Who: the playwright, director(s), and actors W What: the title of the play W Where: the name of the theatre When: when did you see it? W Why: the basic theme of the show W W

Paragraph 2—The Plot Briefly summarize the plot of the show:

How well did the story work? Was it interesting, entertaining?

Reactions to the performers playing the characters in the play: Paragraph 3—The Acting

Use their real names and character names. Were they believable? Did they stay true to the character?

Paragraph 4—The Design Lights: Lights: Did they convey appropriate mood, emphasis, and brightness? Sound: Sound: How did the sound effects and music contribute to the show’s mood?

Costumes Costumes and Makeup: Did they & Makeup: accurately reflect the characters’ traits?

Set: Did it establish a definite mood and time period for the play? Set: Could you tell where the play took place immediately, or did it take a bit of time?

What is the play’s effect on the audience? Paragraph 5—The Reaction

What is the play’s effect on the audience? Was the audience interested? What was your opinion of the show as a whole?

Send your students’ critiques to [email protected]. resource 19 resources costume line plot

resource 20 resources Glossary The National Children’s Theatre Production of Roald Dahl’s The BFG

GLOSSARY of THEATRE TERMS from The Play in Process video

Dialect- A particular form of a language that is peculiar to a specific region or social group.

Pre-Production- Work done on a production before the rehearsal process begins.

Rehearsal- The practice of a play before performances begin.

Blocking- The precise staging of actors in order to facilitate the performance of a play. Where actors stand on stage and when and where they move on stage.

Text Work- Gathering information from the text about characters and the world of the play and making decisions about what characters do and say.

Tech (Technical) Rehearsal- Incorporates the technical elements of a production including scenery, lighting, sound, costumes, and props into the rehearsal process in preparation for a live audience.

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resource 21 Theatre Etiquette Funders

Etiquette: Rules of good behavior, decorum, propriety, manners… We appreciate the generous support of inaugural contribu- A field trip is a great chance for your students to learn how to be tors. “conscientious audience members!” Please review these rules of theatre etiquette with your class before coming to see the play. Washington Post (In-Kind) Anonymous • Please be on time! Plan to arrive 15 to 20 minutes before the start DCCAH - Innovate Grant of the play. JBG/Jacobs Family • Don’t forget to use the restroom and have a drink of water before PEPCO entering the theatre. National Theatre Group • Please remember to turn off your cell phone or any other devices Exelon that might make noise during the show. Mara Strock • Please be seated when you see the lights dim before the show— FedEx that is a signal that the show is about to start! Les Crooks and Jackie Heitman • Please remember that the seats in the theatre are for sitting; try to refrain from kicking, bouncing, standing, or putting feet on Prince Charitable Trust the seats. Bernstein Companies • Please do not stand or sit in the aisles—many times actors will make entrances through the audience and cannot get to the stage if you are blocking the way. It is also a fire hazard. Special Thanks • Please remember that absolutely no food or beverages are allowed in the theatre. • Please remember that live performances may not be recorded: cameras and video equipment are not permitted in the theatre.

Most importantly, please remember that the actors on the stage (unlike in the movies or on TV) know that you are in the audience and they can hear you!

• Please do not talk during the show—even in a whisper. It is distracting to the actors and other audience members. The DC Collaborative, in • Please save questions and comments for the end of the show. partnership with its • Please DO laugh when you find something funny—then the members, advances access actors know they are doing their job. to learning opportunities in the arts and humanities • Please DO applaud at the end—actors enjoy knowing you had a for all DC public and public good time at the performance. charter school students.

The BFG Photo credits: Margot Schulman

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