A Study Guide for By Joseph Robinette Based on the book by E.B. White Directed by Tom Ford Presented by Idaho Theater for Youth, a program of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival Produced by special arrangement with Dramatic Publishing, Woodstock, Illinois. 2 table of contents Section one: WELCOME! Section three: AFTER THE SHOW Using this Study Guide…..………………………...…pg 4 “Terms A’hoy” - sailing vocabulary …………….....pg 11 Special Thanks………..……………………………..…pg 4 Activity: “Characters’ Character”.………………….pg 12 About the Idaho Shakespeare Festival…….….…..pg 5 Activity: Character Comparison…………………….pg 13 A Note From the Director……….……………….......pg 5 Activity: Create a character………………………….pg 14 Activity: Quote Identification………...…….....……pg 14 Activity: “Chairman of the World”…..………..……pg 15 Section two: BEFORE THE SHOW Activity: “Knowing What’s Important”..……..……pg 16 Activity: Finish the Play.………………………..……pg 17 Meet the Cast………………………………….……....pg 6 Discussion topics……………………………………...pg 17 Stuart Little Summary………………....……...…….pg 7 Activity: Think Like a Critic…………………….......pg 18 About the Author…….………...……………...……..pg 7 About the Playwright..………...……………...……..pg 7 Stuart’s World…………………………………...….…pg 8 Section four: APPENDIX Activity: Exploring New York further...………......pg 9 Suggested reading………………..………….……….pg 19 Vocabulary Words………….................................pg 9 Sources……………………………..………..……..….pg 19 Activity: Word Search………………………………...pg 10 End Quote……………………….……………………..pg 20 3 welcome! Using This Guide... Dear Teachers, Welcome to the Idaho Theater for Youth study guide for Stuart Little! These materials have been designed to expand your stu- dents’ engagement with the performance with a range of information, discussion topics, and activities that can stand on their own or serve as building blocks for a larger unit. The activities are designed to be mixed, matched, and modified to suit the needs of your students. Inside, you’ll find activities to share with your students both before the show and after the show, indicated by headings at the top of the page. These are designed to help focus your students’ engagement with the performance by giving them specific themes to watch out for, as well as to foster critical thinking and discussion following the performance. During post-show talkbacks, our actors will pull from many of the themes included here to engage your students. Each activity is designed to help meet Idaho Standards of Education to foster critical thinking and problem solving skills. We encourage you and your students to share your thoughts with us! Any of the artwork or activities your students send will be shared with the artists who created Stuart Little, and any feedback from you will not only help to improve our study guides for future audiences, but will aide in the ongoing pursuit for grants that make these plays possible! Our mailing address is lo- cated on page 18. Thank you for helping to bring our theater and the Arts to your students! A Very Special Thank You! As a part of Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s educational programming, Idaho Theater for Youth (ITY) performances have enriched the lives of well over one million students and teachers since 1981 with productions that convey the unique and impactful voice of theater arts. The magic of this art form is brought to schools across the State of Idaho each Winter/Spring semester with assistance from a generous group of underwriters: Idaho Commission on the Arts Idaho Community Foundation and the following Funds: US Bancorp Foundation -F.M., Anne G. & Beverly B. Bistline Foundation Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation -James A. Pinney Memorial Fund Idaho Power Foundation -Perc H. Shelton & Gladys A. Pospisil Shelton Foundation The Whittenberger Foundation -Gladys E. Langroise Advised Fund -John William Jackson Fund 4 welcome! About our education programs... A Note From the Director... One spring E. B. White was traveling home from Virginia on a train and fell asleep. He dreamt of a mouse who was fully dressed in dapper cloth- The Idaho Shakespeare Festival has become an integral ing with a hat and cane. E. B. White wrote it all down. Later, when one of his eighteen nieces and nephews wanted a story, E. B. White would read part of arts education throughout Idaho. The Festival’s it aloud. He named the mouse Stuart……. annual Shakespearience tour brings live theater to more - Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White by Melissa Sweet than 21,000 high-school students in more than 70 Idaho communities each year. Since it began touring in 1986, “I feel that a writer has an obligation to transmit, as best he can, his love of life, his appreciation for the world.” Shakespearience has enriched the lives of nearly 500,000 - E. B White students. “Oh, fish feathers! Size has nothing to do with it. It’s temperament and In 1999, the Festival assumed the operations of Idaho ability that count and knowing what’s important. How many of you know Theater for Youth. This alliance has more than doubled what’s important?” the Festival’s annual educational programming, resulting - Stuart Little And what is important? in the Festival becoming the largest provider of profes- sional, performing arts outreach in the state of Idaho. In Stuart Little, the first of E. B. White’s three classic novels for chil- addition to the statewide Idaho Theater for Youth school dren (the others being Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the tour, which brings professional productions to nearly Swan) is a classic coming of age story about a young boy who looks like and is the size of… a mouse. The story asks us to follow 30,000 students in grades K-6 across Idaho, the Festival along as Stuart begins his life and starts to determine for himself oversees year-round School of Theater programs. This se- the things and people that will matter to him. ries of classes in acting, playwriting and production, for students of all ages, enrolls over 300 Treasure Valley I was drawn to this piece for Idaho Theater for Youth because I think it is first and foremost a fun and funny tale of adventure. But students each year, and includes our one-of-a-kind Ap- underneath the simple story, we find, at its heart, that Stuart Little prentice Company. Look for upcoming student produc- is about embracing whatever might be different about you and tions throughout the summer, fall and spring. making that your strength. For more information on any of the Festival’s educational Both the novel and the play we will present in your school ends on activities, please contact the Education Manager at the a question mark. What becomes of Stuart? Will he find his way in Festival offices or by email at the world? Will he return home? Will he ever see Margalo again? [email protected]. E. B. White leads you to a place in Stuart Little where you have to decide for yourself what to make of your unique place in this world. Enjoy the show! -Tom Ford, Director 5 meet the artists! Stuart Little Cast Davey Collins III as Stuart Little Dakotah Brown Amanda Baschnagel as Margalo as Mr. Little, et al Director: Tom Ford Assistant Director: Jennifer Caster Sound Design: Patrick Kiernan Set Design: Will Ledbetter Scenic Painter: Angi Grow Costume Design: Darrin Pufall Costume Build: Keri Fitch Luke Massengill Special thanks to: Caitlin Susen as Snowbell BSU Theater Department Costume Shop as Mrs. Little, et al 6 before the show Stuart Little Summary Stuart Little, “the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick C. Little of New York City,” is a mouse. His family is full-sized and human, but the differences between them don’t stop them from having a happy, and fairly normal, life. In fact, many of Stuart’s “differences” turn out to be uniquely helpful to his family and friends. It’s his special capabilities as a mouse that help him in his journey to save his best friend Margalo, a beautiful and wise bird. The adventure wouldn’t be complete without challenges, all of which challenge Stuart and help him grow. In this production, we don’t know what adventures yet lay ahead of him on his search for Margalo—it’s up to the viewer to imagine the ending for themselves! About the Author: E.B. White About the Playwright: Joseph Robinette E.B. White (1899-1985) was a New Joseph Robinette is a Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award York journalist, author, and poet. After nominee for the libretto of the acclaimed A Christmas Story, The Musi- many years working for The New cal. He is the author or co-author of 55 published plays and musicals. Yorker publishing his own column and His works have been produced at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, The various other works, White published Theater at Madison Square Garden and Lincoln Center for the Per- Stuart Little in 1945. “Many years forming Arts in New York City, the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, the ago,” E.B. White would say, “I went to Goodman Theatre in Chicago, the BBC in Britain, in all 50 states and bed one night in a railway sleeping in 21 foreign countries. Robinette collaborated with E.B. White on the car, and during the night I dreamed authorized stage version of Charlotte's Web, and he wrote the musical about a tiny boy who acted rather like version with Charles Strouse a mouse. That's how the story of Stu- (Annie and Bye, Bye, Birdie). Other art Little got started.” dramatizations include The Lion, the Best known for his children’s litera- Witch and the Wardrobe, Anne of Green ture, White also penned Charlotte’s Gables and Debbie Macomber's A Gift to Web and The Trumpet of the Swan. Last and The Inn at Rose Harbor.