ASF Study Materials for

Because of

Winn-DixieThe Musical from the novel by Kate DiCamillo book and lyrics by Nell Benjamin; music by Duncan Sheik animal direction and training by William Berloni

Study materials written by Contact ASF at: www.asf.net Susan Willis, ASF Dramaturg 1.800.841-4273 [email protected] 1

Because of Winn-Dixie Welcome to the Musical Because of Winn-Dixie How could this much beloved young people's novel get any better? It could become a musical! Kate DeCamillo's first novel,Because Characters of Winn-Dixie, has a heart as big as Winn- Preacher Buloni, new in town Dixie's, its scruffy canine protagonist. He is a Opal, his daughter stray, but that homeless feeling is shared by Opal, a child new to the small Florida town Winn-Dixie, a stray she adopts of Naomi. She learns her loneliness is widely local families: shared and also malleable, for with some Millie and Carl Wilkinson canine inspiration it can turn into friendship and Amanda Wilkinson, their community. Thanks to Winn-Dixie and Opal's daughter, a bookworm love for him, one of the story's central images, Jeanne Dewberry, a divorcée of the turtle in its shell, aptly describes all the Dunlap Dewberry, her older son characters, who re-emerge into the world and re-engage with it. Stevie Dewberry, his brother The story's multi-layered warmth first Callie and Jiggs Thomas, he prompted Walden Media to film the novel in manages the Winn-Dixie 2005 and now has attracted the musical's Sweetie Pie Thomas, their creative team. In the talented hands of Nell daughter Benjamin (who recently worked on Legally other locals: Blonde) and Duncan Sheik (who recently won Otis, pet store manager, who several Tony Awards for his music for Spring once served a jail term Awakening) and animal trainer William Berloni Cover of Kate DiCamillo's first novel,Because Franny Block, the librarian (who trained , among many others, the original of Winn-Dixie (2000); art by Chris Sheban Sandy for Annie), the yearnings of Naomi, Gloria Dump, a partially blind Florida's inhabitants become ours, galvanized recovering alcoholic, whom by that lovable mutt. the kids call the "witch" The story is "a hymn of praise to dogs, friendship, and the South." About the Musical Adaptation: Place: Naomi, Florida (a —novelist Kate DeCamillo fictional town in central A Children's Novel, Now Theatre for All Florida) The musical has had pre-Broadway productions in 2013 and 2015 in Arkansas and Time: modern, pre-internet Delaware. Because the play is drawn from a Nell Benjamin (book and lyrics) agrees, children's book, reviewers of both productions "the thought of picking up some of the darker, hastened to point out that this musical adaptation About these Study Materials cooler themes of this book through some kind is not a typical children's play with music. The Because the SchoolFest of theatrical magic really appealed to me." For novel deals with real life problems of dogs, grade range for this show is 4-12, the music, Sheik wrote "a dynamic blend of children, and adults alike, and the music engages the materials offer general topics southern rock, rockabilly, country and blues" those elements more fully. you can tailor for the discussion along with some gospel sounds. and writing needs of your grade In developing the musical, everyone on the They wanted to avoid any sentimental level. creative team wanted to work straight from the treatment, so they sought some edge, some bite. novel; no one watched the film. Dorothy Berloni, Topics treated include: (That became Nell Benjamin's favorite joke—"A who conceived the project, wanted to showcase • Author/creator information dog show, with bite!") So it's a musical for all the bond between humans and animals and to • Considering novel and play audiences— elementary students in Delaware let the dog take the leading role, a challenge and the adaptation process sat on the edge of their seats; adults laughed her husband, fabled animal trainer Bill Berloni, • Issues and ideas in the work and cried. Like the novel and Winn-Dixie himself, could fulfill. • Information about our the musical finds its way to the heart. Winn-Dixie The first production's director, John • Activities and discussion Tartaglia, loved the story's richness and found points, in red he "couldn't stop thinking about it. It dealt with very adult subjects and some of life's hard knocks in a way that was really intelligent and Cover: Bowdie, who plays really profound." Winn-Dixie at ASF 2 Because of Winn-Dixie About Author Kate DiCamillo Kate DiCamillo is now the author of 24 her reading for her becoming a writer. She also books, among them Because of Winn-Dixie had a beloved dog, a black standard poodle, (her first novel, published in 2000, which won with which she played dress-up games. the Josette Frank and Mark Twain Awards), The novel emerged when she found herself The Tiger Rising, The Tale of Desperaux, and living in Minneapolis, MN and for the first time the Mercy Watson series. She has twice won unable to have a dog. She became homesick the Newbery Award, in 2004 and 2014, one of for the South and for canine companionship, so only six authors to be so honored. The Library she created both, and only later realized she had of Congress appointed her the U.S. National included a large chunk of herself in so doing. Ambassador for Young People's Literature for DiCamillo on Writing 2014-15. Writing is "about seeing the world. Paying As with all the best children's literature, attention," she believes. She learned that DeCamillo believes that "a book for children has was true in her first community college writing to offer hope. You have a moral responsibility to class, where, nearing the deadline for her first make things turn out well," but she also frames assignment, she wrote about a woman she had her first tale so that it speaks to adults, too, seen sitting on top of a dog food sack in front going, as she calls it, "dark and light," offering of a Winn-Dixie store playing a tambourine a real Littmus Lozenge of a tale. and asking for loose change. The store in that The context of her first novel is the world experience gave its name to the canine hero of Kate DiCamillo she knew as a child. When she was 5, her family her first novel and this play. moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Regarding the process of writing, she makes Listen to DiCamillo's 2014 Clermont, Florida, a small town where everybody herself write at least two pages a day, though she Newbery acceptance knew everybody (or acted as if they did), a move agrees with Dorothy Parker that "I hate writing. speech @ www.ala.org prompted by her chronic pneumonia. Her father, I love having written," because it is hard work. an orthodonist, never joined the family in Florida. Writing, she says, is a process of rewriting: "each Due to her health, DiCamillo read a lot, time I rewrite, the pages get a little better." Her often in her backyard tree fort, and she credits "better" is actually quite remarkable. The Musical's Creative Team: Nell Benjamin & Duncan Sheik

NELL BENJAMIN—Book and Lyrics Adventures in Wonderland workshopped by In addition to her work on Because of the Royal National Theatre in London. Another Winn-Dixie, Nell Benjamin is best known for London premiere was the musical adaptation her score to the Broadway hit Legally Blonde: of American Psycho at the Almedia Theatre in The Musical and for her playwriting debut with 2013; it premieres on Broadway this year. In the 2015 hit play Explorers' Club. Other work 2013 he also wrote the music for Because of includes the lyrics for Pirates! (or Gilbert and Winn-Dixie. In 2015 he premiered Noir. Sullivan Plunder'd) and Sarah, Plain and Tall. Born in 1969 in Montclair, New Jersey, he Born in 1972, she holds degrees from also grew up in South Carolina, and the sound Harvard and Trinity College, Dublin. of the Southern rock he heard there inspired DUNCAN SHEIK—Composer much of the music in this show. Duncan Sheik leapt to fame in 1996 with the first track of his first album, "Barely Breathing," which then stayed on the Hot 100 List for 55 straight weeks. He now has 8 solo albums. Nell Benjamin More recently, in 2006 he wrote the music for the Broadway hit Spring Awakening, which garnered him several Tony awards (best original score, best orchestration, best musical) and a Grammy. His first non-album work was providing music for Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night in 2002. Subsequently, he did the music Duncan Sheik for Alice by Heart, an adaptation of Alice's 3 Because of Winn-Dixie Meet Bowdie: In the First Starring Role for a Dog in a Musical Bowdie found Bill Berloni, or vice versa, in 2014 4 chickens, 3 horses, 2 pigs, a donkey, a pony, when his original family could not keep him—and a macaw, and 25 other dogs. now he is a star. For his first professional role he When asked about the training process, played Nana in the NBC live broadcast of Peter Bowdie allowed Mr. Berloni to speak for him: Pan, a role usually played by an actor in a dog "animals don't act.… With animals, it is reality. suit. He then began training to play Winn-Dixie …What makes the animal performances so at the Delaware Theatre Company in 2015. exciting is that you are watching them in real time Since then he has been in a music video and a [unlike films, which often splice takes]. You know Rachel Ray commercial as well as an episode they are happy and must really want to do it.…" of the new HBO series HIgh Maintenance and is the new character Schnoodle in the current When a performer such as Bowdie is season of Sesame Street. cast, Berloni and another handler are at every performance, supervising the canine actor. And When not on stage or screen or in commercials, like Equity actors, animal performers have an Bowdie returns to the Berlonis' Connecticut farm, understudy. Because these are working animals, where he lives a normal dog life along with other Bowdie, who plays Winn-Dixie like service animals, they do not engage with the professional and retired Berloni animals: 3 cats, public post-show or get petted by audiences. William Berloni: Bowdie's Award-Winning Animal Trainer It can happen in the arts—someone starts Since then Berloni has trained and directed out acting but ends up a professional designer, many animals for Broadway, including for all a director—or an animal trainer. The latter, revivals of Annie and for Legally Blonde, A more unusual route to stage fame is the story Christmas Story the Musical, The Wiz, and of William Berloni, who at 19 after a year as many others, and for hundreds of productions an unpaid intern at Connecticut's Goodspeed off-Broadway and in regional theatres, as well Opera House in 1976 was unexpectedly offered as for film, televsion (a Berloni dog also played his Equity card and a small role in the untried Toto in NBC's The Wiz Live), commercials, and new musical Annie—if he found and trained print work. His professional work with animals the dog to play Sandy. The producer didn't tell includes most breeds of cats and dogs, farm him that had never been done before for stage. animals, small animals (including rats and mice), birds, reptiles, insects (spiders, butterfiles, His experience with Sandy changed his cockroaches), and exotic animals such as life—searching dog pounds, appalled by the elephants, camels, and giraffes. hideous conditions in which the dogs were kept, and finally spying a scruffy, sandy-colored Berloni actively advocates for rescue animals and since 1989 has served as Director William Berloni, who was awarded dog cowering at the back of a cage. The dog, the 2011 Tony Honor for Excellence abused and scheduled for euthanizing, finally of Animal Behavior at the Humane Society of in Theatre and the 2014 Outer came to him when he knelt and beckoned. Next New York City. He is also author of Broadway Critics Circle award for Special day Berloni adopted the dog, saving his life, Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Achievement and the rest of the story is the stuff of theatre Become Showbiz Superstars, Doga, and Sandy: dreams—but only because Berloni, who had The Autobiography "I feel like if I treat you no formal training in animal behavior, had good of a Star. like a dog, I'm treating sense and had grown up on a farm with a collie you with the ultimate named Rexie. respect." Remembering their dogs' responses to hearing his mom open the drawer where the can opener —William Berloni, was kept, he knew cues and repetitive behavior A young Berloni's animal trainer were important. He familiarized Sandy with the first trainee: a theatre and developed the animal-human bond pound rescue dog Sources: "Woof: Americans Talk who became Sandy with the actress playing Annie. As a result of the about Their Dogs," The Believer on Broadway, (online), Pam Bonsper, "Broadway's months of training and love, Sandy became a performing 8 shows Bill Berloni," Coastal Canine star, and Bill Berloni discovered his career in a week for 7 years, (online), and Berloni's website, the arts. 2,330 shows in all. www.theatricalanimals.com 4 Because of Winn-Dixie About the Novel

DiCamillo's novel opens with one of Literary Elements of the Novel children's literature's perfect first sentences:"My Form: Chapter book in 26 chapters name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my Narrative point-of-view: First person—Opal daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a Buloni, reporting experiences of the box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, previous summer when she was 10 years Opal: Do you think everybody and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog." old, so a memory novel misses somebody? It propels readers into both character and action. Structure: We sense a very small town, the particularities Gloria: I believe, sometimes, 1) friendships—with Winn-Dixie, and with of a preacher's kid, a starch-heavy diet, personal his help with Franny Block, with Otis, with that the whole world has an need, and the unexpected all at one time. aching heart. Gloria Dump, and eventually with the other That initial chapter is so full of fun, action, children—plus friendships among these (dialogue from novel) and child/dog bonding that it zips by and sets 2) dealing with loss—Opal wants information the pace for the novel. It also sets the idea— about her absent mother and more Opal goes to the store alone but comes home forthrightness from her father; gets list of with a friend. We know Opal responds to need 10 things near top. Has talk about core and can solve problems—after all, she has issues with father (you give up; is she already invented a tale to save the dog. Then coming back) near end and realizes her she convinces everyone that he is, indeed, "my heart is not empty any more (comparable dog." Winn-Dixie himself needed no convincing; arcs with other families) his initial smile and tail-wag say it all. Imagery: Naomi (Book of Ruth in Bible), turtle Opal's narrative eye and voice are flawless. in shell, a Less Fortunate, Open Arms, We meet her father, the preacher, at home and at power of music to calm/unite, seeing with work, and learn ten things about the missing wife/ the heart, being out of cages, candy: mother so we gain emotional conflicts of loss sweetness plus sorrow, learning each and grief. The list gives Opal and us a glimpse other's songs of the woman we will never meet and a hole Issues: animals' needs, family love amid that seems unfillable forthose she left behind. crisis, growing up, friendship, dealing Then one by one Opal makes friends in her with loss (separation, death, mistakes), Bowdie's soulful, searching new home, as she and Winn-Dixie look beyond divisiveness of labels/stereotypes, cultural gaze, like Winn-Dixie's at first, hoping past/personal past that maybe this time… the labels and find potential everywhere. By the time we get to a description of Opal's daily Artistic touches: portrayal of Winn-Dixie and routine, it is filled with friends and purpose—go Opal's anthropomorphic interpretations of to work and enjoy Otis's music, go hear a story his responses; names (Winn-Dixie, Buloni, from Franny at the library, and visit Gloria. Dump); humor "Dear God, thank you for Like Winn-Dixie, all the town's warm summer nights and lost souls are, in life's storms, candlelight and good food. eventually calmed and, if lost, But thank you most of all pursued and found. for friends. We appreciate The Littmus Lozenge that the complicated and Winn-Dixie and Opal give their wonderful gifts you give friends opens their inner sorrows us in each other. And we and lets them be seen as full, appreciate the task you put deep individuals. Just as Winn- down before us, of loving Dixie made the first church service memorable and positive each other the best we ("let us pray for this mouse"), can, even as you love us." looking for Winn-Dixie in the (Preacher's prayer storm fuses the group and lets at party in novel) friendship spread to all ("let's sing for the dog"). Every person, like every lozenge, has sorrow as part of it, but reaching out, sharing, and accepting The church scene from the film of Because enrich them all. It's a tale that touches their of Winn-Dixie (Walden Media, 2005), starring hearts and ours. Lyco and Scott as Winn-Dixie and AnnaSophia Robb as Opal. 5

Because of Winn-Dixie Turning the Novel into a Musical Two adaptations transform the novel into Other Story Changes in the Musical the musical—one changes fiction into theatre, • Opal is 13, not 10 and the other changes prose and drama into a • Opal's mother left Christmas before last, not Activity: Where and What form that has characters burst into song. There 7 years ago when Opal was 3, so she was Would You Sing? is singing in the novel, but what is sung is never a greater presence and stronger force in • Discuss any of the Disney specified—the church congregation sings, Otis the child's life, and the loss is more recent cartoon musicals the sings to the animals, and then he plays every and raw students may know, or song anyone wants to sing at the party at the • initial meeting of Opal and dog markedly for older students add end, but we never know which particular songs different, and she cleans him up before Broadway musicals and are sung. taking him home pop songs, specifically what In a musical, the peaks of emotion and many • first storm and dog's reaction is not at home gets turned into song, what of the crucial storytelling points become songs, but from library to Gloria's moments, what emotions, and that fact can intrinsically change the story. • father makes her quit job at pet store and the range of songs— Sometimes the songs add or change detail and • role of children foregrounded early in serious, longing, comic. imagery, develop character or emotion in ways musical, whereas those are the last • Then look at the novel not portrayed in the novel, even treat moments relationships Opal develops in the novel Because of Winn-Dixie. not narrated in the novel. A musical is its own • Amanda's reading material and other books Which moments do the kind of artistic creation, akin to but sometimes change; some books are added students think would be independent of the work it adapts. • add Gloria's past but lose "let me see you good for songs, which with my heart" and learning "the most emotions would they, or important thing" Disney, or Broadway, or New Elements in the Musical's Songs/Text • there is no party at Gloria's in the musical popular music turn into • Opal needing a way to voice her feelings songs? What kind of music? • life dreams don't come true in Naomi • explicit details about Gloria's life • If the students are so inclined, Literary Elements of this Musical • Amanda's anger at God about her brother's have them write a song for Form: Musical theatre death the novel—a song for Opal Narrative point-of-view: objective live action. • Otis's "searching" song or Winn-Dixie, or for one of Songs offer point-of-view moments. • different details and focus to the list about the other characters. Structure: Opal's mother 1) feeling "stray" and homeless leads to friendships—Opal's lonely sentiments expose the feelings of many about the town but her exploration opens new insights for all into neighbors' potential 2) the past and loss—Opal wants to know about her mother; everyone is carrying a burden of loss, has a way of coping, and can re-connect in the present Imagery: dreams not coming true; turtle in shell; charity; sweetness/sorrow (lozenges); can't run; searching Issues: family love amid crisis, growing up, friendship, dealing with loss (separation, death, mistakes), divisiveness of labels/ stereotypes, cultural past/personal past Artistic touches: music/song; one-liners and repartee Loki is a young poodle/ lab mix in California who needs a home and hopes Petfinders.com can help him find one. Bowdie wishes all poodle mixes good homes! 6

Because of Winn-Dixie Considering the Songs

Singer Song List Song Lyrics to Consider

Opal, then all 1) Strays • We are strays. / I wanna go home tonight. • Dang stray … Can't have strays. Opal 2) Awooo • I loved it. The only home I knew. Awooo. Awooo. • Hey, why / am I the person things just happen to? Preacher and all 3) Who will raise his voice? • Who will raise his voice in praise?/ I will. (with dog howls) Preacher, chorus 4) O Lord of pilgrims • Please make a place / That's calm and still • We strays and strangers / Are ever searching/ We… Can't see the way Opal, adults, father 5) Summer • Someone left him alone: / That's a feeling I've known. • He can be so good / When he wants to. Well, he's good for me. • There's never enough time in a summer to spend / With a friend. Gloria 6) Bottle Tree Blues •You think you've been bad, child? / You ain't been as bad as me. • And each and every sin / I wrote down and put it in / A bottle for my tree. Otis 7) You Can't Run • You just bring with you everything— / Ev'rything you done. • When I hear my Mama say: / Where you goin', son? Franny 8) Sweet Life • The South's old gallant ways • Sugar …/ Underneath the sweetness lies the sorrow • The question is not / What you did, / But what you'll do tomorrow • Not any cause or creed / Was worth the way he'd made so many bleed. Franny 9) Littmus Lozenge Jingle • Whatever pain you got is what / A Littmus Lozenge's for! Amanda 10) No One Watching •If there were / Someone watching / Why'd He stand by and let my brother die? • I'm this angry girl they don't recognize … / I'm slipping away Jeanne, Preacher 11) I Know Lonely • If … / we sought some solace…? /… How else does lonely get solved? Opal, Amanda, all 12) ) Not True at All • If I could I'd leave this place • Why tell me I can wish /… It's not true at all. Otis 13) Searchin' • When you go searchin' for your baby, / Who knows what you're gonna find? • But I've been lost and I've been blind Preacher + Opal 14) Thirteen Things • She didn't leave one thing behind. / Not one thing. Opal: she also left you me; / I'm one thing. Otis and all 15) What I Got Is You • But I'm learning to be grateful for what I got • I always can make do / With what I got when what I got is you.

The Songs' Storytelling and Interactions learn their pasts and pain and some of The first song links the dog to Opal and the what they've learned. Jeanne and the townspeople, all of whom are "strays." Preacher confess their loneliness. Opal's next song, her only solo song, • Franny's "Littmus Lozenge Jingle," like "Awooo," is about her sense of loss and the preacher's earlier prayer, "O Lord of feeling she has no "voice" in her world, so pilgrims," both seek ways of addressing she howls. life's problems for all in Naomi. As if in response, the next song is "Who will • "Searchin'" expresses the literal action of Film's toy raise his voice?" so the music is already the end of the play when Winn-Dixie is Winn-Dixie addressing the issue, and in this song lost, but it also expresses the larger quest everyone is together and everyone, of every character. That quest finds some including Winn-Dixie, joins in song. resolution—first Opal's quest for answers "Summer" is a mood song that establishes when she and her father sing "Thirteen atmosphere and need. Things" and find what peace they can • There follows a series of solos that share about their lost wife and mother, which individual perspectives and insights from in its lyric "she left you me" sets up the Gloria, Otis, Franny, and Amanda. We show's final number, "What I Got is You," which everyone sings. 7

Because of Winn-Dixie Issues and Ideas in the Novel and Musical Biblical allusions • charity to the Less Fortunate: 1 Corinthians • Opal's father is a Baptist preacher and 13:2—"If I have the gift of prophecy several scenes are set in the church. The and understand all mysteries and all play, however, is not spiritually sectarian. knowledge, and have all faith so I could • Naomi—The Florida town is Naomi. The move mountains, but have not charity, I woman Naomi figures in The Book of am nothing." Ruth, where she and her Judean husband Opal uses this idea to ask the Preacher to "So you're looking for a and sons move to Moab during a famine. let the dog stay and quotes it again to the There her husband dies and her two sons Dewberry boys when they taunt her with home?" marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. picking up strays (which, of course, she —The preacher's When her sons also die, grieving Naomi does). Later in the play Stevie Dewberry question on meeting decides to return home now that the quotes the passage verbatim when the Winn-Dixie in the play, famine has ended. Orpah stays in Moab, adults seem reluctant to go search for the essential question but Ruth goes back to Bethlehem with Winn-Dixie in the storm. Charity/love Naomi, saying "Where you go, I will go.… ricochets throughout the play. Your people shall be my people, and your Also note that the idea of seeing another God my God." As a result, Ruth marries as "Less Fortunate" may not be a Boaz, an heir to Naomi's husband's condescension here but automatically land, and has a son who becomes the serves as a reminder of one's own grandfather of David. blessings when things seem empty. The Naomi allusion highlights the themes of loss, grief, change of home, and new life Labels/ Loneliness/ Loss and new relationships. Naomi is filled with • Open Arms Baptist Church. The shift of grief and sees no future, as is true of many occupant from the Pick-It-Quick store to in the town, but Ruth's fidelity gives Naomi the Open Arms church parallels the action a new family, as Opal and Winn-Dixie's do. of the play. The town's identification of its • Isaiah 56:8—The dialogue of the play problematic citizenry (one drunk and one opens with the preacher ex-con, and the "drunk" is also called a quoting Isaiah 56:8 as "witch") and other superficial assumptions part of his upcoming first limit and cut off any real knowledge of sermon in Naomi [not in people and any sense of community. They the novel]—"The Lord use the "pick-it-quick" or "label and forget God which gathereth the it" approach to life. For instance, even the outcasts of Israel saith, children have heard that Otis has been in Yet will I gather others jail which, they are told, means he could to him. Even them will I "snap" at any time, so he's isolated and make joyful in my house shunned. of prayer." And that is But the play slowly opens the town's hearts exactly what occurs and their arms to each other, finding the in the large arc of the individual beneath every label and every story by way of Opal stereotype and the possibilities and gifts and Winn-Dixie's initial each has. It is not the church itself that bond and their expanding does this, but putting a few basic beliefs friendships—the outcasts into practice rather than leaving them in are gathered. the book after church. In the novel, the Friendly Corners Trailer Park with all its adults-only restrictions makes a comparable point. This dog now has a home and an owner who posted his picture, but his look implies he may remember when he didn't, like Winn-Dixie and the dogs on Petfinders.com 8 Because of Winn-Dixie Issues and Ideas in the Novel and Musical/ 2

Labels/ Loneliness/ Loss (continued) "I forgot one thing, one very important • moving/ new in town/ Tale of Two Cities: thing, that she left behind.… You. Thank Opal's isolation results from the loss of the God your mama left me you." only home she's known and the loss of The musical includes the bones of this her friends; a new, unknown place seems exchange but in a quite different way. The empty. She is lonely and full of loss, not mother's list moment is now at the end of just due to the move but also due to her the play, and in his song "Thirteen Things" mother's leaving. All the loss descends on he ends, "When she left and didn't leave / her now, just as Winn-Dixie appears. One thing behind." Opal sings in response, In the first church scene, when we see "She left her memory … / And one more Amanda reading A Tale of Two Cities, thing: she also left you me." The difference we know that is exactly what Opal is in that recognition seems important to experiencing and we get the sense that the balance of the relationship, and the many residents may not be in good musical may make the choice it does times in Naomi, but we also know Opal because the mother's absence is more has already found a turn to better times. recent and also to give Opal a role in the Best/worst links to the sweetness/sorrow song, to bring its arc into the present and Colby is a poodle mix, like Winn- pattern later. let the Preacher look ahead for Opal. Dixie. He lives in Mississippi and As Opal explores Naomi, she meets many • The Wilkinson family has lost a family needs a new home, so he is listed on individuals who have been labeled and member, too, a child, and everyone feels Petfinders.com, a website that helps excluded, who are lonely, and who have individually responsible [the song "No pets and people adopt each other. experienced losses. Acknowledging their One Watching"]. Amanda retreats into state and not leaving them alone, as they books, but needs to talk to her parents, do not leave her alone, opens more arms. while her mother feels she has no The play also notices that from the outside answers, and her own grief and her former a person's inner state may not be visible. church's unhelpful sympathy isolate her. Amanda is one example here; Opal sees Articulating these problems near the end Amanda as being snooty and having a of the play is an opening to the future. pinched up face, but she changes her • The Dewberry family has experienced yet "I don't have a mama. I perspective when she learns more of a different kind of family loss, a nasty mean I have one, I just Amanda's story. Labels or first impressions divorce; the father ran off with another don't know where she is. may need re-examination. woman, leaving his former wife with the We don't talk about that.… two boys. All are scarred individually and I kind of wish someone Parents/ Children/ Communication because it was the talk of the town, and would talk about that." (Family Love amid Crisis) the boys try to get Opal's attention by —Opal • The preacher and Opal both experience acting tough and knowledgeable, when, as the loss of her mother, but their losses Gloria tells Opal in the novel, they're just are so different—wife vs. mother—they trying to be friends in a roundabout way. cannot yet discuss it. She perceives him • In the play the Thomas couple reach out as pulling into his shell (but if she looked for advice to the Wilkinsons; they want many people are in shells in Naomi). He is something better for their child than what filled with ongoing love and with rejection they have and don't know how to get it. Dealing with Loss and emptiness while Opal holds him Each couple articulates a need for clarity, • Loss is difficult for everyone, responsible for the loss and needs to talk, and the very expression of need seems but especially for children. All which they finally do. to open them to each other and to their but one child in this play are The musical shifts a major father/daughter children, especially the Wilkinsons. missing a family member—a exchange in the novel. In the mother's parent or a sibling. What do list section of Chapter Four, the last detail they need? What can anyone is "She loved you very much," to which offer them? What can they Opal's father adds, "She packed her bags offer the others who share and left us, and she didn't leave one thing loss? behind." At the end of the novel, however, after he has to tell Opal he doesn't think her mother is ever coming back, he says, 9

Because of Winn-Dixie Issues and Ideas in the Novel and Musical/ 3 Labels/ Mistakes/ Choices and Loss Cultural Past/ Personal Past • Accidents and divorce happen; as Opal • Franny Block, now an elderly lady, still says early in the play, they are things works in her library, a childhood birthday that can seem "to happen to" one. For present from her wealthy father. As she Otis and Gloria, the issue seems to be does, both Opal and Amanda rely on mistakes or choices of the moment that books as companions before they develop proved climactic or destructive and that any other kind. In the novel, Opal calls have now respectively labeled them in Franny her first friend in Naomi. the community, at least to the children, as Franny's family perspective goes back "retarded" and "a witch." The novel leaves farther than the other families', back to her "You just pick up the their respective backgrounds imprecise; great-grandfather Littmus W. Block, who— we meet the individuals as Opal does and in the musical— had lived on a sugar strays, don't you, respond to them accordingly. plantation (a detail apparently generated Preacher's kid?" The play, however, also invents and explains by his later desire for something sweet) —Dunlap their backgrounds in detail in their songs. It and who fought in the Civil War. heeds the Dewberry taunt and makes Otis As it does with Otis and Gloria, the musical a victim of lead poisoning (the start of the adds detail to Littmus's story, details of first stanza of "You Can't Run"—"I can still slavery and specific Civil War battles— smell the lead: / First day of school. / Slow neither of which the novel mentions—until in the head") and then the lyrics expand he decides it's not worth the bleeding and that characterization: "Not quick at pickin' death, ending with the lyric, "The question up the rules/ I guess that makes me dumb" is not / What you did, / But what you'll do and "I act a fool nearly ev'ry day." Whether tomorrow." that detail invites understanding or By making candy, Franny says in the labeling compared to the novel's approach musical, Littmus "got rich again, without deserves consideration. slavery and misery." And in the musical, • A comparable or perhaps even more the factory brought riches to the town for intense specification occurs with Gloria's a time. Now there is no factory and, it character. In the novel when she finally seems, no fortune left. And Franny seems shows Opal the bottle tree, which is well still to expect Gloria to use the back door. into their friendship, she Again we need to assess the effect of the says the bottles are there detail in the song on the moment and the "to keep the ghosts away characterizations. What does the cultural … of all the things I done perspective add to the story? wrong." It acknowledges The novel makes a subtler point when Opal her alcoholism and lets decides to read Gone With the Wind to Opal relate because her Gloria and asks if she knows about the mother also drank, but Civil War. Gloria simply replies, "I have that is the extent of the heard it mentioned a time or two," as she discussion. sucks a Littmus Lozenge of sweetness In the play, though, and sorrow. Gloria sings "Bottle Tree Blues," which lists a litany of problems, including a child, house fire, and thefts all invented in the music. William Berloni with Taran, an Irish wolfhound who played Winn-Dixie Compare the way these two characters are in the 2013 Arkansas premiere of presented in novel and musical. Does the the musical invented detail in the songs in any way alter our view of Otis and Gloria? Do we understand them better? 10 Because of Winn-Dixie Issues and Ideas in the Novel and Musical/ 4 Growing Up based on experience carve a path others • The children, especially Opal and Amanda can and do follow. Opal is not disobedient; who comment early in the musical that in fact, she heeds her father's words fairy tales are not true, find a lack of about charity and the Less Fortunate fun and future in Naomi, and all but and extends them to animals as well as Opal spend their days repeating the to those around her whom others have labels they've learned from others and excluded. Otis, too, is sensitive to the encouraging each other to follow the rules plight of animals in a pet store. and the "rules"—don't go there, don't talk The grownups have both wistful and bitter to him/her, that's a bad word. But they are views of adulthood; they feel caught in a as hungry for companionship as everyone dead end emotionally and socially—until else in town, as eager for communication the one-two punch of Opal and Winn-Dixie about their life questions, as zealously hits Naomi. yearning for an opportunity. • Is growing up an absolute—one day, presto, Winn-Dixie and Opal are our bellwethers in you're grown up—or is it a process and an the action; their openness and acceptance ongoing activity? Are there stages—not old enough to / old enough to? If so, what stages describe the characters in the play?

The Littmus Lozenge Image: Sweetness and Sorrow

Several names are commented on in the It works like a truth serum in the novel and course of the novel—for instance, Opal says that in the play. Franny keeps drawers of the no- because her last name is Buloni she used to be longer-made lozenges; Opal takes a pocketful Is Franny just hysterical called "Lunch Meat" in her old home town. When and shares them with her friends, thus revealing when she believes Winn-Dixie is she mentions her own last name, Gloria Dump as nothing else could what bothers Amanda. In a bear as he stands up to see Opal usually says of hers, "Ain't that a terrible last the musical we see the effect of each lozenge through the library window? Well, name?" Names are funny sometimes, especially offered, and the result is usually a song. The some dogs stand tall. Imagine the to kids, as DiCamillo recognizes. lozenges open up deep feelings, and in a musical dog above as a shadowy figure But Franny's great-grandfather's first name deep feelings become lyrics and melody. at your window. Frank Brendan, is also of interest, because Littmus suggests DiCamillo's novel fully admits that life is the owner here shown, is 6'1" the litmus test. Litmus is actually a dye made both sweet and sorrowful. The life situations tall, and his Irish wolfhound is from lichens which in alkalines turns blue and in she presents—an absent spouse and mother, several inches taller. (This dog is acids turns red, so it is used as a pH indicator. divorce, a dead child, alcoholism, incarceration— not photoshopped to be large; it The idea that it has both potentials and depends are actually surprisingly close to the ingredients is a large dog, the tallest breed.) on the solution it contacts makes it relevant to of Grimms' fairy tales, with children getting DiCamillo's use of the idea in the story. devoured or youths caught in brambles or We get Littmus's story at length in the novel poisoned by an apple, stepsisters having their and in song in the musical. He grew up fast eyes pecked out, a man enchanted into a beast, during the Civil War, learning that "glory" can or a stepmother dancing to death in red-hot iron be agony, losing both his family and home by shoes. Despite the glossy idea of fairy tales in the conflict's end. All his life and that of many the musical's "Not True at All," the real folk/fairy others now seems to be sorrow, and in order to tales can be grim and honest in their imagery: you put a little sweetness back into life, he decides learn or you lose. DiCamillo is more charitable to make candy—with a secret ingredient. Given in her story; you lose and you learn. In different the circumstances, we might expect that life = amounts life is sorrow and sweetness, and given sorrow but candy = sweet, but not Littmus's some friends, anywhere can become a special candy. His secret ingredient is like a litmus test, place in which to live and grow. a little bit of sorrow that people can taste. 11 Because of Winn-Dixie Activities about, with, and for Dogs and Other Animals

Our Animal Companions Rescue Animals and Humane Shelters • Find out how long dogs and cats have been • In the Montgomery area, there are three domesticated and part of human life. What humane shelters for animals, all of which do they offer us and what do we offer actively seek volunteers to walk dogs and them? How have they affected us and how help the shelter as well as supplies to care have we affected them? What is the value for the animals. of domesticated animals in our lives? If you are seeing the show or reading the • If you have a pet or know a pet, imagine a book, make it a class or school project to day in that animal's life and narrate it. Find contact the shelter nearest you and find out what makes a dog or cat or fish or out about their animals and their needs. gerbil "tick" and apply your knowledge to Collect supplies for a shelter, and perhaps the diary of this particular pet. even volunteer with your family. There's a Winn-Dixie or two there who needs your • What is your favorite dog or cat in literature care. or film/cartoon? What is your favorite dog or cat story? Why? Justify your claim in —Montgomery Humane Society discussion or writing. What makes a good 1150 John Overton Drive dog or cat story? Is Because of Winn- Montgomery, AL 409-0622 Dixie such a story? • Tell your own animal story—any animal, —Autauga County Humane Society any plot, any setting. Can your animal think like a real animal or does it think like 1009 Reuben Rd a human, like you? Can you think of an Prattville, AL 358-2882 example of a story in which the animals do each? —Humane Society of Elmore County • Have a debate on dogs vs. cats as pets. For 255 Central Plank Road decades there were more dogs owners than cat owners in America, but recently Wetumpka, AL 567-3377 the statistics have flipped. Why might that be? • Older students may want to research • Illustrate a the developments in animal care since moment from Berloni's first pound experience in Because of Winn- 1976, looking at the no-kill movement Dixie (novel or in animal sheltering and rescue and the musical) that best many organizations that help abused expresses what a animals or animals at pet mills. Are there dog is and how a such organizations near by? Have such dog behaves. incidents occurred in your area? Check • Write your own newspaper files online or interview dog howl song— someone and write an article for the like Opal's "Awoo, school newspaper. awoo." Why • If you know a rescue animal or have adopted would you howl one, discuss the before and after of the and what would animal's and your own experience. How you say with a do animals make a difference in our lives? howl? How many How can we make a difference in an kinds of moods animal's life?' and tones do dog • Research the role and use of service howls have? animals in society; how do they help and Bowdie, star of Because of Winn- who do they help? Dixie, as the dog who makes the difference in everyone's life 12

Because of Winn-Dixie Activities for Students Who Read or Know the Novel

Thinking about the Novel and the Story Page to Stage • The basics: where are we? what kind of • Consider/compare the way fiction and place is it? what are its values? drama work. Who are the characters? What is their In fiction, a story works with scenes and situation? What are their relationships? narration, and the narrator can know What are their values? What do they want everything (omniscient/third person) (possible, not possible)? How do they go or just give one person's perspective about getting it? Do they find anything they (first person), and the narrator can don't expect? be trustworthy (reliable) or not, with Opal: "I never had a friend What is the conflict in the story? Is there variations beyond those basics. The who wrote music." more than one conflict? scenes stop and follow specific action How does the author tell the story? What in detail, while the narration can move Otis: "I never had a friend." is the narrative point-of-view? What is faster, shifting elements, time, and place, the time span of the story? How do these giving background, setting up scenes, or influence or affect our sense of the story? commenting on action. What imagery does the author use? What In drama there are always scenes. What actions or situations take on the power of scenes do you most want to see? How images? easy are those to put on stage? What issues does the author engage or On stage, there is not always, in fact, not address through the action? usually a narrator. The musical here does not have a narrator, whereas the novel • Opal and her father are the core family, and does—Opal is a first-person narrator. What Opal the core human character, in the difference does that make in the way we story. At the start, they have had a double get the story on stage? change in their lives—a recent move to a new environment and a longer, deeper • Character: Kate DiCamillo creates rich loss, her absent mother, yet their first characters. Explore them: action is to take on a new family member, 1) Divide the class into groups and have Winn-Dixie. What do we learn from that? each group describe what we know about What kind of people are they? a specific character from what Opal learns, Is that first action the core action of the what others say about the person, and work? Does it repeat? Is Winn-Dixie the what the person says. Make a list of ten cause or the catalyst of the change? What things! difference does Winn-Dixie make? In the 2) Discuss what this character's role is in the novel, Opal says that she's still lonely even novel­—given the major issues, how does after she has Winn-Dixie. What does she this character fit in? want or need? Does she get or find it? 3) Then discuss/ discover what aspects the characters share with one or more of the • How important an element is change for all others and how that shapes the novel. the characters in this story? How likely is 4) Watch how the characters are portrayed change at the opening? Why does it occur on stage. How many aspects from the now? Are all the circumstances of isolation novel are present? Are there any new or Harley is a poodle/golden retriever and change the same? Consider each different elements? If so, what effect do mix who is listed on Petfinders.com character—do DiCamillo and Benjamin they have? as needing a new home. Poodle offer us clones or individuals? 5) Are the songs an important part of who intelligence and retriever spirit are the characters are and how we see them a great mix; let's hope he finds that • Imagery: What specifics seem to offer welcoming home. in the play? Why do they sing when they larger suggestive value in the story? Otis's sing? What do they sing about? How do music? Storm? Bottles? How might these we respond? elements feed into larger issues and values? What other elements might do the same?

13

Because of Winn-Dixie Activities for Students Who Read or Know the Novel/ 2

Pre-Show/ Thinking Theatrically Responding to the Play In drama a set, lighting, sound, costumes, • What does the world of Naomi, Florida, and characters are all visible on stage; we look like and feel like when you read the see and hear the detail, and the director novel? How does the play embody that and designers choose particular details, world? What details worked to establish such as how realistic or suggestive to place? Do you recognize Naomi? Did you "No! Listen. Because of make that stage environment. What see enough on stage to get the sense of Winn-Dixie, I've got a job, choices would you make about putting "place"? and I've got friends, and Naomi and the characters on stage for an I'm even invited to a party! audience? How many places do we need • How well does Kate DiCamillo convey The theme is pink!" to see? How much of each? How do we Winn-Dixie's character in the novel? Opal do that on stage? What do the characters always narrates what she thinks the dog —Opal wear? How old are they? is thinking, but what difference does it • Draw the settings for one or more scenes make when we see an actual dog on stage as if you were the set designer. Do you without Opal's narration? need a photographic sense of place or a minimalist sense with only one or two • What difference does it make to see the key elements? What is the effect of each action without Opal's voice narrating it? choice? (Try one of each for one scene!) Is the effect the same in the play as in Your Own "13 Things" List Make a list of times of day and interior/ the novel? If so, how? If not, how do they • Write a song or poem or exterior scenes for the lighting designer— differ? Is that just the medium (page vs. paragraph including the list remembering that the audience needs to stage)? of 10 or 13 (or whatever be able to see the action on stage. number matches your age) Make a list of the sounds the action or place • Write a review of the musical. That means things about yourself—that needs (such as the storm) for the sound you decide and state what the play was number of things others designer. When does the storm start? about, describe the way it chose to tell know about you, or that What do we hear? How does it change? the story, and assess how well it did it number of things you know How long does it go on? Do we still need with characterization, design, music, and about yourself, or a mixture. to hear the characters' dialogue on stage? action/pace. (A review is somewhere What do the characters wear in each scene? between a report card and a consumer How do you use costume to create or report.) reveal character? Draw or collage some costumes. If you did the group character Naomi, Florida, Moving, and Your Home Town analysis described above, costume your • How big does Naomi, Florida seem to be character. in the novel? Why? How much of it do we actually see and move in? Do we cover the entire town? How much of your town do you cover in an average week? Can different people live in different "towns" all in the same town? Describe your particular view of your home town. Cosmo, another poodle mix, needed a new home, and Petfinders.com says he has now been adopted—just like Winn- Dixie! Way to go, Cosmo; you'll make some family very happy. (Note: all the local humane socieities now use Petfinders.com to list their available animals.) 14

Because of Winn-Dixie Universal Activities (knowledge of novel not necessary)

Identifying the Givens of the Play Fairy Tales/Expectations Protagonist • Identify and consider the basic elements or • Opal and Amanda sing "Not True at All," • In the novel Opal is 10 years "givens" of the play: registering the difference between the old and her mother has —the major action and its arc beginning to fairy tales (and perhaps Disney films) they been gone for 7 years. end experienced as younger children and their In the musical Opal is 13 —the major characters and their arcs current reality and apparent expectations. and her mother has been (what do they want; do they What is the view of actual fairy tales? What gone for a year and a half. change?); what are the relationships is the Disney view? Are they the same? What effect, if any, do those between the characters? What are Opal and Amanda reacting to? Do changes make for the —the setting(s): what is this particular they think life makes us promises that then musical? world? what are its values? how get broken? Is that true? Does it end up • Older Students: Assess the does it affect the characters? how do being true for them in the play? Is this part psychological and social they affect it? of growing up? difference between having a —what are the conflicts in the action? if The adults join them in this song and 10-year-old protagonist and they are resolved, how? why? response to life. Is this view true for a 13-year-old protagonist in —what is the imagery in the play? what working adults with families and/or senior this play. Are the issues and elements have suggestive import for citizens? Do the adult characters end with mindset the same? the whole piece? this view? —compare the opening to the ending Imagery Animals/ Animal Companions/ Pets • To one famous Southern Issues/Ideas • Winn-Dixie is the animal protagonist of the protagonist, life is just a box • What issues do the action and characters musical. He even gets to participate in a of chocolates. Here life is a address, experience, or embody? song. What is the role of Winn-Dixie in the Littmus Lozenge. Compare/ —what is Opal's situation? what issues are play? contrast these images and associated with that situation? what they suggest about —what is her father's situation? what • Does Opal "own" Winn-Dixie? Discussions life. How does the Lozenge issues are associated with of human relationships with domestic work with the story? that situation? what issues does he animals distinguishes between "pets" and share with Opal? "animal companions" on the basis of the —what are the situations of the town's idea of ownership. Is that significant? Does inhabitants? what issues do they the musical engage the issue of ownership share? what issues are individual? at all? are they isolated or unified? Naomi, Florida, Moving, and Your Home Town The Music • Compare Naomi to your home town or • What does the music add to the story? To school. Does a place have to be small for what extent is the music the story? people to feel alone when new, isolated or labeled? Does that happen anywhere? • What styles of music are used? Are the Does it happen to children and to adults? styles appropriate to character and setting? Does a big place mean you automatically How and why? fit in?

• Which song do you think best expresses • Because Opal and her father have just Bowdie rehearsing with Bill Berloni character? Why and how? Which song moved to Naomi, everything is new to her. do you think best expresses mood? Do Have you ever moved to a new place? • Consider the following images: the songs move the action, or are they What is the difference between moving —Open Arms Baptist Church moments/islands of character and emotion during the school year or during summer —music [effect of music on amid the action? vacation as Opal does? How easy is it to pets in the pet store/on make new friends? How do you deal with people/why & what they sing] missing your old friends? How easy is it to —book titles keep those friendships going when you're —bottles not there? —storm/reaction to storm —lost and found (being lost/ being found) Because of Winn-Dixie 2016-2017 SchoolFest Sponsors

Supported generously by the Roberts and Mildred Blount Foundation

PRESENTING SPONSOR Alabama Department of Education

SPONSORS Alabama Power Foundation Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama Hill Crest Foundation Shakespeare for a New Generation

CO-SPONSOR Robert R. Meyer Foundation

PARTNERS Senator Dick Brewbaker GKN Aerospace Gannett Foundation Mike and Gillian Goodrich Foundation Honda Manufacturing of Alabama International Paper Company Foundation Photo: Alamy The Laclede Group Foundation

Photo: Haynes