Introduction

What’s Inside

Dear Educator, As you make plans for your students to attend an upcoming presentation of the Arts for Youth program at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, we invite you to prepare your students by using this guide to assure that from beginning to end-- their experience is both memorable and educationally enriching. The material in this guide is for you, the teacher, and will assist you in preparing your students before the day of the event, and extend the educational value beyond the walls of the theatre when the show is over. We provide activity and/or discussion ideas, and other resources that will help to prepare your students to better understand and enjoy what they are about to see, and to help them connect what they see on stage to their studies. We also encourage you to discuss important aspects of the artistic experience, including audience and theatre etiquette. We hope that your students find their imagination comes alive as lights shine, curtains open, and applause rings through the Lancaster Performing Arts Center. As importantly, we hope that this Curriculum Guide helps you to bring the arts alive in your classroom! Thank you for joining with us to make a difference in the lives of our Antelope Valley youth. Bobbi Keay Arts Program Specialist Lancaster Performing Arts Center, City of Lancaster

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 PRE-PERFORMANCE Overview of the California Content Standards for Public Schools .................................................................... 3 Theatre Etiquette .............................................................................................................................................. 4 About the Show……………………............................................................................................................................ 5 What’s Important to Know?............................................................................................................................... 6 POST-PERFORMANCE Activities ........................................................................................................................................................... 10 Resources ......................................................................................................................................................... 11

PRE-PERFORMANCE

Overview of the California Content Standards for Public Schools

Applicable California Content Standards Samples

LPAC’s Arts for Youth program is aligned with the California content standards for Visual and Performing Arts, History,

Literature (and more) for K-12 education.

Curriculum Connections: Literature, English Language Arts, Creative Writing, Cultural studies. History. Visual &

Performing Arts: Theatre. Creativity. Diversity and Interpersonal Relationships. Courage. Communication. Conflict

Resolution.

Applicable California Core Curriculum Content Standards samples:

History-Social Science for Grade 11

11.6 Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the New Deal fundamentally

changed the role of the federal government. 1. Describe the monetary issues of the late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries. 2. Understand the explanations of the principal causes of the Great Depression and the

steps taken by the Federal Reserve, Congress, and Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to

combat the economic crisis. 3. Discuss the human toll of the Depression, natural disasters, and unwise

agricultural practices and their effects on the depopulation of rural regions and on political movements of the

left and right, with particular attention to the Dust Bowl refugees and their social and economic impacts in

California. 4. Analyze the effects of and the controversies arising from New Deal economic policies. 5. Trace the

advances and retreats of organized labor--including the United Farm Workers

11.8 Students analyze the economic boom and social transformation of post–World War II America. 1. Trace

the growth of service sector. 5. Describe the increased powers of the presidency in response to the Great

Depression, World War II, and the Cold War.

Reading Standards for Literature for Grades 6-12

9. Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth, nineteenth, and early-twentieth-century foundational works of

American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics. 10. By

the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems.

Reading, Grades 9-10: 3.2 Compare and contrast the presentation of a similar theme or topic across genres to

explain how the selection of genre shapes the theme or topic.

Reading, Grades 11 & 12: Narrative Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text 3.2 Analyze the way in which the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support the claim. 3.3 Analyze the ways in which irony, tone, mood, the author's style, and the "sound" of language achieve specific rhetorical or aesthetic purposes or both. 3.5 Analyze recognized works of American literature representing a variety of genres and traditions: a. Trace the development of American literature from the colonial period forward. b. Contrast the major periods, themes, styles, and trends and describe how works by members of different cultures relate to one another in each period. C. Evaluate the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences of the historical period that shaped the characters, plots, and settings.

Content Standards adopted by the California State Board of Education: http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/

Theatre Etiquette

• Please arrive on time.

Plan for possible travel and parking delays; arrive a minimum of 30 minutes prior to show time.

• Students: Leave recording devices of any kind at home or in your backpack at school.

Video or audio recording and photography, including camera phones, are often prohibited by law and may

disrupt the performance. They are not permitted and are considered very rude to the performers and to

those around you.

• Teachers: Turn off or silence all personal electronics.

Beeps, clicks, tones, buzzes and light pollution emanated by personal electronics such as watches, Bluetooth

devices, cell phones, etc. interrupt the performance and spoil the theatre experience.

•Observe the instructions of the ushers.

The ushers are present to offer assistance, ensure rules are observed and provide guidance in the case of an

emergency. Please show them consideration. You will be asked to exit to the right of the theatre at the end

of the performance.

•Be Respectful.

While entering and exiting the theatre: Please enter quietly. Once seated: Do not talk. Keep your feet on the

ground and put your hands in your lap or fold your arms.

•Abstain from eating or drinking inside the theatre.

Crackling wrappers and beverage containers in the auditorium are unwelcome. Food, candy, gum and drinks

should never be brought inside the theatre.

•Avoid talking, waving and shouting during the performance.

Laughing and applauding are encouraged at appropriate times. Shouting to actors/friends is disrespectful to

others. Save personal conversation for after the show. If you must speak, please whisper very quietly.

•Please avoid exiting the auditorium during the performance.

Teachers, please arrive early enough to escort students to the restroom prior to the start of the show.

If you must leave during the show, please wait for an appropriate break in the performance.

•Do not get onto the stage or place items on the edge of the stage.

To ensure the safety and security of performers and audiences, this behavior is strictly prohibited unless

expressly permitted by a performer or staff member.

•Dispose of garbage in proper receptacles.

Help preserve a pleasant environment by depositing all debris in appropriate receptacles.

•Extend common courtesy and respect to your fellow audience members.

Civility creates a comfortable and welcoming theatre experience for all.

•Bring very small children only to age-appropriate performances.

Small children easily become restless at programs intended for older children, and may cause distractions.

About the Show

Of Mice and Men

The best laid plans of mice and men…

Presented by The Acting Company of New York (of which Kevin Kline was a founding member), Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winner John Steinbeck’s tale of two drifters is one of the most widely read stories in America. Written as both a novella and a script for a play, Of Mice and Men tells the tragic story of two California migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression. George and Lennie have delusions of making enough money to buy their own place. Lennie, a man-child, is a little boy in the body of a man. George is ever cautious of his gentle giant friend, dangerously powerful yet in need of constant reassurance. Although Steinbeck emphasizes dreams throughout this work, his characters are often powerless, due to intellectual, economic and social realities. Fate is felt most heavily as George is left to face the question of how to deal with Lennie who, although in great danger, dreams only of their future, of their farm—as the sound of destiny bounces off the mountains.

What’s Important to Know?

About The Acting Company

"The Acting Company endures as the major touring classical theatre in the United States." —The New York Times

During the 2012-2013 season, The Acting Company is touring two productions - Shakespeare's "As You Like It" and John Steinbeck's "Of Mice And Men". History - The legendary John Houseman and current Producing Artistic Director Margot Harley founded The Acting Company in 1972 - with the first graduating class of The Juilliard School's Drama Division - to develop classically trained American actors and a national audience for the theater. The Acting Company has gone to win Obie, Audelco, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards and a TONY. Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Rainn Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Frances Conroy, Harriet Harris, Jesse L. Martin, David Schramm, Henry Stram, Tom Hewitt, David Ogden Stiers and Hamish Linklater are just a few of the hundreds of actors whose careers began on tour with The Acting Company, which has performed 136 productions for millions of people in the United States, London, Australia, Russia and Eastern Europe. Its Education Programs - including master classes, student matinees and weeklong artistic residencies - have reached tens of thousands of students. The Acting Company promotes theater and literacy by bringing a touring repertory of classical productions, talented young actors and teaching artists into communities across America, particularly those where live performance and theater arts education is limited or non-existent. They perform each year in over 50 cities to audiences of 70,000 and reaching more than 25,000 students with its arts education programs.

The Acting Company has garnered critical acclaim on a national scale with these 136 productions and 39 seasons of classic,

contemporary, and new plays. Recipient of a TONY Award for Excellence in Theater, the Company has won numerous awards

for performance and education including Obies, Audelcos and the Los Angeles Critics Circle Award.

What’s Important to Know?, continued

Summary of the original novella

Written by Nobel-Prize winning author John Steinbeck, Published in 1937

Of Mice and Men is a novella set in the 1930s during the Great Depression in the migratory fields of California. During

this time, it was common for men to move from farm to farm, from work camp to work camp, laboring under extremely

harsh conditions to harvest vegetables or grain in order to eat and live.

The story begins with the two main characters, George Milton and Lennie Small, on the move to a new farm in search of

work. Lennie is a very large and strong man, however, he has some sort of mental disability, although the exact nature of

his problem is not described. He keeps a dead mouse in his pocket because he loves to touch its soft fur.

The men have a genuine friendship. They travel and work together. George serves as Lennie’s guardian. Lennie is given a

puppy, but his obsession with soft things causes him to pet it too much, and he accidentally kills it. While lamenting the

death of his new puppy, the farmer’s wife visits Lennie in the barn. She teases and encourages him to touch her soft hair.

Lennie, unable to control himself, holds her too tightly and she starts to scream. This makes Lennie hold on even tighter,

and he accidentally breaks the woman’s neck.

Led by the dead woman’s husband, the rest of the farmhands proceed to hunt down Lennie to torture and kill him.

George, unable to stop the men, sends the men in the wrong direction so that he can find Lennie first. Lennie knows that

he’s in big trouble, but George calms Lennie down with soothing words. Then, George shoots Lennie in the back of the

head, killing him in cold blood before the mob can reach him.

Controversy regarding Steinbeck’s classic

Required reading in many US and UK schools, perhaps due to its historical value, it is short (only six chapters), and its

themes continue to be considered relevant to 21st Century society; Of Mice and Men has been a frequent target of

censors for vulgarity and what some consider offensive and racist language. Consequently, it appears on the American

Library Association's list of the Most Challenged Books (www.ala.org), specifically for “offensive language, racism, and

violence”. The book contains several swear or derogatory words. These words are used throughout the story in

conversations between the men; and there are aspects of the plots and characterizations (such as animal rights,

feminism, civil rights, disability, and violence) that many consider controversial.

Susan Van Kirk, author of the Cliff Notes Revision Guide for Of Mice and Men, commenting on the issues the

novella deals with: "Thousands of books are written and printed every year, but very few stand the test of

time and speak of enduring human values. Of Mice and Men has universal themes that can be read in any

culture and time. John Steinbeck wrote of lessons of the heart, lessons that teach children what it is to be a

human being with compassion for his fellow humans and a social conscience." Van Kirk believes the theme

of bullying is of great relevance to teaching children in society today. "Currently in Western culture, there is

much discussion about school bullying. This book is certainly a bullying antidote. Teenagers often feel lonely

and powerless and they can identify with many of the characters in this novel."

What’s Important to Know?, continued

Literary Analysis

John Steinbeck’s enduring popularity is largely the result of his ability to weave a complicated fictional reality from

simple elements – simple language, simple characters, simple techniques. One of the techniques he uses

consistently is the juxtaposition of the human and the natural worlds. He often – as in The Grapes of Wrath –

alternates short natural vignettes with the parallel struggles of humankind. Of Mice and Men, as is clear from the

title alone, features this parallelism as well. It is a novel about the natural world – “of mice” – and the social world –

“and men.” The relationship between these two worlds is not one of conflict but of comparison; he invites us to

witness the similarities between the human and animal worlds.

The title, Of Mice and Men, comes from an eighteenth-century poem by Robert Burns entitled “To a Mouse.” This

poem features a couplet that has become widely known and quoted: “The best laid schemes of mice and men /

Gang oft aglay.” That last phrase, written in Scottish dialect, translates as “often go wrong.” As will become clear,

the quotation relates directly to our two protagonists, who do indeed have a “scheme” to get out of the cycle of

poverty and alienation that is the migrant worker’s lot: they plan to purchase a farm of their own and work on it

themselves. Lennie visualizes this future possibility as near to heaven – he can imagine nothing better than life with

“the rabbits.” Their action in the novel is largely motivated by a desire to achieve the independence of this farm life.

Poverty, in Burns’ work as well as Steinbeck, draws the human and the natural worlds closer together. During the

Great Depression, in which the novel is set, workers were thrust from relative comfort to fend for themselves in a

cruel and uncaring world. They face the original challenges of nature – to feed themselves, to fight for their stake.

Poverty has reduced them to animals – Lennie a ponderous, powerful, imbecilic bear; George a quiet, scheming,

scrappy rodent of a man. Notice how frequently the two men, particularly Lennie, are described in animal similes:

Lennie drags his feet “the way a bear drags his paws” and drinks from the pool “like a horse”. Lennie even fantasizes

about living in a cave like a bear.

Of course, Lennie’s vision of nature is hardly realistic; he thinks of nature as full of fluffy and cute playthings. He has

no notion of the darkness in the natural world, the competition and the cruelty. He wouldn’t have the faintest

notion how to feed himself without George. In this too the men balance each other: George sees the world through

suspicious eyes. He sees only the darkness where Lennie sees only the light. George may complain about how

burdensome it is to care for Lennie, but this complaint seems to ring hollow: in truth, George needs Lennie’s

innocence as much as Lennie needs George’s experience. They complement each other, complete each other.

Together, they are more than the solitary and miserable nobodies making their migrant wages during the

Depression. Together, they have hope and solidarity.

George’s complaint – “Life would be so easy without Lennie” – and Lennie’s counter-complaint – “I could just live in

a cave and leave George alone” – are not really sincere. They are staged, hollow threats, like the threats of parents

and children (“I’ll pull this car over right now, mister!”). Similarly, George’s story about how “things are going to be,”

What’s Important to Know?, continued

(Analysis, continued)

with rabbits and a vegetable garden and the fat of the land, also has a formulaic quality, like a child’s bedtime

story. Children (like Lennie) love to hear the same tale repeated countless times; even when they have the story

memorized, they love to talk along, anticipating the major turns in the story and correcting their parents if they

leave out any details. “The rabbits” is Lennie’s bedtime story, and while George isn’t exactly a parent to Lennie, he

is nevertheless parental. George is Lennie’s guardian – and in guarding Lennie, George is in effect guarding

innocence itself.

POST-PERFORMANCE

Activities

Study the following terms and definitions and their use in the play and original novella. Discuss their

literary relevance to the story and how they affected the piece, characterization, themes, and plot.

Novella: (also called a short novel or novelette) a written tale or short story; a fictional prose narrative that is

longer and more complex than a short story or novelette, but shorter than a novel; a short novel.

Juxtaposition: a common writing technique; an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially

for comparison or contrast; the state of being close together or side by side.

Couplet: a pair of successive lines of verse, especially a pair that rhymes and is of the same length.

Protagonists: the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work; a proponent for or

advocate of a political cause, social program, etc.; the leader or principal person in a movement, cause, etc.

Read and discuss the following:

To a Mouse: Read the poem by Robert Burns entitled “To a Mouse.” This poem features a couplet, and was the

inspiration for Steinbeck’s novella.

The Great Depression: The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade

preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started

in 1930 after the passage of the United States' Smoot-Hawley Tariff bill (June 17), and lasted until the late 1930s or

middle 1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century.

In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the world's economy can

decline. The depression originated in the U.S., after the fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929

and became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday).

The Great Depression had devastating effects in countries rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and

prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, due in large part to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.

Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and in some countries rose as high as 33%.

Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually

halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by approximately 60%. Facing

plummeting demand with few alternate sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as cash

cropping, mining and logging suffered the most.

Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s. In many countries, the negative effects of the Great

Depression lasted until the end of World War II.

Study guide created by:

Lancaster Performing Arts Center Staff

Other Resources:

Contents of the internet are constantly changing. We advise that you proof each link for appropriatness before sharing with your students.

theactingcompany.org

cami.com/?webid=2014

helium.com

en.wikipedia.org

dictionary.com

bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12829392

gradesaver.com/of-mice-and-

men/study-guide/section1/

classkc.org/review.php?book=Of_Mi

ce_and_Men

theactingcompany.org/plays/of-

mice-and-men-2-2012-13/