inside before en route after after | fly...be a theater critic and write your own review of fly....

20THE NEW VICTORY® THEATER / NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOL © THE NEW 42ND STREET, INC.

COMMON CORE STANDARDSWriting: 4Speaking and Listening: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6Language: 1; 2; 3; 5

NEW YORK STATE STANDARDSThe Arts: 1; 2; 3ELA: 1; 3; 4Social Studies: 1

BLUEPRINT FOR THE ARTSTheater: Theater Making; Developing Theater Literacy; Making Connection

This section is part of a full New Victory® School toolTM Resource Guide. For the complete guide, including information about the New Victory Education Department check out: NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOLS

INSIDE BEFORE EN ROUTE AFTER

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after | FLY Ready-to-implement classroom activities that offer the opportunity to reflect on and extend the experience of attending the performance.


PERFORMANCE REFLECTIONFollowing your trip to the New Victory, you may find that your students want to discuss the performance and their own opinions. Reflecting on the show and voicing an aesthetic response is an important part of the theater-going experience. Allowing your students the opportunity to articulate their own thoughts and hear the ideas of their classmates will increase the impact of the theater experience.

What was the most poignant moment for you in FLY?

How did the Tap Griot contribute to the narrative? How would the show be different without him?

Why do you think this story is relevant today?


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after | FLY

Be a theater critic and write your own review of FLY. Your review should include the following elements: An eye-catching headline, an opening that clearly states your opinion of the production and how you came to have that opinion, a brief summary of what you saw and what made this production unique. Don’t forget to think about the set, costumes, lighting, music and choreography.

HEADLINE:

WHAT I SAW:

HOW THE SHOW MADE ME FEEL (What mood were you in after the show? What about the show made you feel that way?):

MY OPINION (Consider the music, set, costumes and lighting):

WHAT SURPRISED ME:

PERFORMANCEREFLECTION®



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after | FLY ACTIVITY: MONOLOGUE TO MOVEMENTThis activity gives your students a chance to explore monologue writing and movement-based work in a historical context.

1. In FLY, actors speak directly to the audience, giving them insight into what is going on in their character’s mind. This “inner monologue” is a particular style of monologue where the actor breaks the “fourth wall,” or the imaginary wall that exists on stage between the actor and the audience. As a class, have students read Captain O’Hurley’s inner monologue from FLY as a reference point:

Captain O’Hurley: What the Hell am I doing here?! It’s…it’s like I’m a traitor…fighting for the other side. Helping the damn Nazis tear down everything that makes this country great. Baron von Richtofen, Baron von Boenigk, Viscount Glentworth, Lord Lucas, in the first war aviators were the crème de la crème, the aristocrats of the air – not their butlers and chauffeurs. When I was a kid I’d snatch the paper from my father and devour the news of the latest dogfight over France. And now, just because I didn’t kiss enough ass, they stick me here?

2. Discuss, as a full group, what made this monologue an engaging moment in the show. From this conversation, write down some components of a successful inner monologue.

3. Have your students pair up and select one figure from the “6 Figures” Creativity Page.

4. Inform them that they are going to write a one-page inner monologue of what they imagine is going on inside their figure's head while giving that speech. This should be written in the first person.

5. Once each pair has completed their inner monologue, have them devise a movement piece inspired by their written work. Remind them of how the Tap Griot uses movement to depict the emotions and internal story of the Tuskegee Airmen.

6. Have each group present!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS\

What are some challenges you faced when creating movement from text?

How did this exercise change or alter your relationship with the historical figure you explored?

Why did you and your partner select your specific figure?

CREATIVITYPAGE®

DR. ROSCOE BROWN, Tuskegee Airman and Commander of the 332nd Fighter Group“We did things that sort of defied imagination... you came close to the ground, you cut the grass, you pulled up, you did things like that. That’s why we were so confident.”

BARACK OBAMA, 44th President of the United States“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.,African American Civil Rights Movement Leader“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that of the good people.”

LORRAINE HANSBERRY, American Playwright and Writer“Children see things very well sometimes and idealists even better.”

JACOB LAWRENCE,Painter Known for his Portrayal of the African American Life“If at times my productions do not express the conventionally beautiful, there is always an effort to express the universal beauty of man’s continuous struggle to lift his social position and to add dimension to his spiritual being.”

SHIRLEY CHISOLM,American Politician and First African American Woman Electedto US Congress“In the end, anti-black, anti-female, and all forms of discrimination are equivalent to the same thing—anti-humanism.”

6 FIGURES Everyone on this page made history with their ideas and activism. Review the quotes next to each photograph and write on a separate sheet of paper what you think each quote means and how it applies to you.

HANDOUT®

TUSKEGEE AIRMEN HISTORIC SITEAND U.S. CHAPTERS

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

Located in Tuskegee, Alabama, where the training began, this historical site is dedicated to the African American military pilots who flew in World War II. The site features videos, exhibits and more, taking you on a journey through Black American military history! Check out the museum’s website at: www.nps.gov/tuai/index.htm

Tuskegee Chapters

There are 60 chapters of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. (TAI), whose missionis to:

• Honor the accomplishments and commemorate history of African Americans who participated in air crew, ground crew and operations support training in the Army Air Corps during WWII.

• Introduce young people across the nation to the world of aviation and science through local and national programs such as Young Eagles and TAI youth programs and activities.

• Provide educational assistance to students, and awards to deserving individuals, groups and corporations whose deeds lend support to TAI’s goals. TAI also supports the Tuskegee Airmen Award, presented to deserving cadets in the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Program.

Learn more about TAI here: tuskegeeairmen.org

HANDOUT®

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: TUSKEGEE AIRMEN“They have a saying that excellence is the antidote to prejudice; so, once you show you can do it, some of the barriers will come down.” - Dr. Roscoe Brown

“Back then, nobody realized the significance of what we were doing. Now, they seem to think we could walk on water.”-Grant Williams

“The privileges of being an American belong to those brave enough to fight for them.” - Benjamin O. Davis

“...In the Congress of the United States, there was a letter written about a study on black men by the War Department of the United States of America. Their conclusion was, in that letter, that the black man wasn’t mentally capable of fighting, that he didn’t have the spine, the determination, the whatever it took to be taught how to fly a plane and operate in an airfield. Here is this letter in Congress. Here is this smoke coming down from Mount Vesuvius. And here we are in the middle of all of this. And our determination in the back of our head was, ‘We will fight. We will fight.’” - Dabney N. Montgomery


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sources | FLY

THE NEW VICTORY® THEATER / NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOLS © THE NEW 42ND STREET, INC.

HTTP://WWW.HISTORY.COM/TOPICS/WORLD-WAR-II/TUSKEGEE-AIRMEN

HTTP://WWW.CI.PASADENA.CA.US/ABOUT/

HTTP://WWW.TOURNAMENTOFROSES.COM/ROSE-BOWL

HTTP://WWW.VENGAVALEVAMOS.COM/2015/05/LONG-LONG-WAY-PASADENA-FUN-FACTS-HOMETOWN/

HTTP://WWW.CITYTOWNINFO.COM/PLACES/NEW-JERSEY/NEW-BRUNSWICK

HTTP://MISTUPID.COM/FACTS/PAGE068.HTM

HTTP://WWW.SCARLETKNIGHTS.COM/SPORTS/M-FOOTBL/ARCHIVE/FIRST-GAME.HTML

HTTP://WWW.ROSEBOWLSTADIUM.COM/ABOUT/HISTORY

HTTP://WWW.REDTAIL.ORG/THE-AIRMEN-A-BRIEF-HISTORY/

HTTP://WWW.HISTORY.COM/TOPICS/WORLD-WAR-II/TUSKEGEE-AIRMEN

HTTP://WWW.TUSKEGEEMUSEUM.ORG/WHO-WERE-THEY/

HTTP://WWW.NATIONALWW2MUSEUM.ORG/LEARN/EDUCATION/FOR-STUDENTS/WW2-HIS-TORY/AT-A-GLANCE/TUSKEGEE-AIRMEN.HTML?REFERRER=HTTPS://WWW.GOOGLE.COM/

HTTP://WWW.NPS.GOV/SAGA/LEARN/EDUCATION/UPLOAD/AFRICAN%20AMERICAN%20HISTORY%20TIMELINE.PDF

HTTP://WWW.HISTORY.COM/TOPICS/BLACK-HISTORY/BLACK-HISTORY-MILESTONES

HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/1987/11/29/MAGAZINE/JESSE-JACKSON-AIMS-FOR-THE-MAIN-STREAM.HTML

HTTP://WWW.BIOGRAPHY.COM/PEOPLE/THURGOOD-MARSHALL-9400241

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