The Ugly Duckling TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE School Matinee Performances Teacher Resource Guide THE UGLY DUCKLING TABLE OF CONTENTS About Playhouse Square 3 Coming to the Theater 4 About the Show 5 Pre-Show Activity 7 Post-Show Activities 8 Resources 13 Curriculum Standards Index 14 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & EDUCATION The lessons and activities in this guide are driven by the page to the stage. Seeing live theater encourages Ohio Learning Standards (2017) in English Language Arts. students to read, develop critical and creative The College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards thinking skills and to be curious about the world in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language around them. define general, cross-disciplinary literacy expectations that This Teacher Resource Guide includes background must be met for students to be prepared to enter college information, questions, and activities that can stand and workforce training programs ready to succeed. alone or work as building blocks toward the creation 21st century skills of creativity, critical thinking and of a complete unit of classroom work. collaboration are embedded in the process of bringing the The Ohio Arts Council helps fund this organization with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. Playhouse Square is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. 2 playhousesquare.org/eduresources ABOUT PLAYHOUSE SQUARE Playhouse Square is an exciting field trip destination! companies: Cleveland Ballet, Cleveland Play House, As the country’s largest performing arts center outside Cleveland State University’s Department of Theatre and of New York, the not-for-profit Playhouse Square attracts Dance, DANCECleveland, Great Lakes Theater and more than one million guests to 1,000+ shows and events Tri-C JazzFest. each year. Five of Playhouse Square’s 11 performance spaces are historic theaters that first opened in the early When you visit, be sure to check out the GE Chandelier, 1920s. By the late 1960s, they had been abandoned. A the world’s largest outdoor chandelier, and the retro group of volunteers saved the theaters from being turned Playhouse Square sign with its 9-foot-tall letters! into parking lots. Now, all five historic theaters are fully restored. You’ll find Broadway, concerts, comedy, dance and family shows on Playhouse Square’s stages, along with performances by Playhouse Square’s six resident 3 playhousesquare.org/eduresources Coming to the Theater We look forward to welcoming you and your students Photography and recording of performances are not to Playhouse Square! To prepare for a successful field permitted. trip, we encourage you to spend some time discussing the differences between coming to the theater and Mobile phones and other devices that make noise or watching a television show or movie or attending a light up should be silenced and put away before the sporting event, especially if you have students who performance begins. have not yet had the opportunity to attend a live When the houselights dim, the performance is about to theater performance. Here are a few points to start begin. Please turn your attention toward the stage. the discussion: After the performance, a member of the Playhouse You and your students will be greeted and helped to Square staff will come out on stage to dismiss each your seats by members of Playhouse Square’s staff school group by bus number. Check around your seat and “RedCoat” volunteers. to make sure you have all of your personal belongings Theaters are built to magnify sound. Even the before leaving. slightest whisper can be heard throughout the theater. Remember that not only can those around you hear you, the performers can too. As you watch the performance, feel free to respond by laughing or applauding. Food, drink and gum are not permitted in the theater for school matinee performances. 4 playhousesquare.org/eduresources ABOUT THE SHOW Hans Christian Andersen’s classic The Ugly Duckling has helped generations of children understand one of About the Creators humanity’s universal struggles. Lightwire Theater brings Lightwire Theater combines theater and technology this classic story to the modern stage offering hope to to bring stories to life in complete darkness and are us all as we root for the Ugly Duckling who exemplifies internationally recognized for their signature brand of resilience and heroism along the way to becoming a electroluminescent artistry. beautiful swan. Lightwire co-creators Ian Carney and Corbin Popp met in New York City while dancing in Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out on Broadway. An immediate connection was made Show Synopsis between the kindred spirits as they discovered their Of the five eggs in Mother Duck’s nest, one is the largest mutual love of art, theater and technology. After coming and last to hatch. Bigger and paler than the others, this across a product called, “el wire,” the lights turned on last hatchling is treated as an outsider by Mother Duck and the possibilities seemed endless. Together, with their and her ducklings. He may be the best swimmer of wives Eleanor and Whitney, they began to experiment the brood, but this alone is not enough to ensure his with shapes and designs to develop puppetry-based acceptance. Knowing only rejection, the Ugly Duckling neon creatures that quickly came to life. goes out into the wild alone. Reflecting upon his plight under the glow of a remote willow tree, he sees a wily cat Based in New Orleans, Lightwire Theater continues to creeping in the direction of Mother Duck’s nest. The Ugly create and deliver innovative theatrical experiences Duckling follows and watches as one lagging duckling is to audiences worldwide including; Hong Kon, Estonia, captured and taken back to the cat’s lair. In true heroic Canada, Belarus, China, Abu Dhabi, and as finalists fashion, the Ugly Duckling succeeds in vanquishing the on My TF1’s, The Best Le Meilleur Artiste in Paris. cat and rescuing the captured duckling. Celebrated by Additionally, Lightwire Theater has been featured as Mother Duck and her ducklings for his uniqueness, all semi-finalists on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and were realize that he may have been an ugly duckling, but he winners of Tru TV’s Fake Off. has grown into a beautiful and powerful swan. 5 playhousesquare.org/eduresources Creating the Show Then they made the puppet with a helmet and aluminum wire. First they drew what they wanted the animal to look like. Finally, they added the EL wire and a power pack, turned it on and this is what the finished cat head looks like in the dark. Then they put it on and started to rehearse. What kind of animal would you want to make a puppet of? Draw a picture of your animal here 6 playhousesquare.org/eduresources PRE-SHOW ACTIVITY LESSON: Technology Twist 1. Tell students that you’ve discovered a different puppet form that you would like to share with them. The Ohio Learning Standards listed below are addressed Show the introductory video for The Ugly Duckling at in the following Pre–Show Activity http://www.corbianarts.com. Have students watch the video with the purpose of observing the puppets in SL.K.1, SL.1.1, SL.2.1, SL.3.1, SL.4.1 action. Do not provide an explanation regarding the EL SL.K.2. SL.1.2, SL.2.2, SL.3.2, SL.4.2 wire at this time. SL.K.6, SL.1.6, SL.2.6, SL.3.6, SL.4.6 L.K.6, L.1.6, L.2.6, L.3.6, L.4.6 2. Ask students to identify the characteristics of the puppets they observed on the video, OBJECTIVE: “What did you notice?” Students will identify characteristics of EL wire puppets and discover applications of technology. 3. Using a transparency or Smartboard, display the “Creating the Show” handout found in the Resource MATERIALS: Section of the guide. Explain each step and allow Computer with Internet Access students to ask questions. Ask them if they have ever seen anything similar to EL wire. If so, where? What else “Creating the Show” handout (see the Resource do they want to know about the technology? section) Overhead or Smartboard 4. To wrap up the lesson, explain to students that they will see this form of puppetry during the performance at ADVANCE ORGANIZER: Playhouse Square! Engage students in a discussion about puppets. Ask students to identify the characteristics of a puppet. 7 playhousesquare.org/eduresources POST-SHOW ACTIVITIES The Ohio Learning Standards listed below are addressed in the following Post–Show Activities: RL.K.2, RL.1.2, RL.2.2, RL.3.2, RL.4.2 RL.K.3, RL.1.3, RL.2.3, RL.3.3, RL.4.3 RL.K.5, RL.1.5, RL.2.5, RL.3.5, RL.4.5 MY ANIMAL TALE RL.K.9, RL.1.9, RL.2.9, RL.3.9, RL.4.9 SL.K.1, SL.1.1, SL.2.1, SL.3.1, SL.4.1 L.K.6, L.1.6, L.2.6, L.3.6, L.4.6 Name___________________________________________ Fill in the blanks to write your own tale using animals other than those in The Ugly Duckling. Once upon a time, a little ____________________________________________ went (animal) for a walk. He met some mean __________________________________________who said: (different animal) “You are ugly! Go way!” Next he met a mean _____________________________________. (different animal) You are ugly! Go way,” they said. Finally he met some nice ____________________________________________. (different animal) “Don’t look at me! I am ugly,” he said.