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2016/17 RESOURCE GUIDEElephant and Piggie's "We Are in a Play!"

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ABOUT OVERTURE CENTER

FOR THE ARTS

Overture Center for the Arts fills a city block in downtown Madison with world-class venues for the performing and visual arts. Made possible by an extraordinary gift from Madison businessman W. Jerome Frautschi, the center presents the highest-quality arts and entertainment programming in a wide variety of disciplines for diverse audiences. Offerings include performances by acclaimed classical, jazz, pop, and folk performers; touring Broadway musicals; quality children’s entertainment; and world-class ballet, modern and jazz dance. Overture Center’s extensive outreach and educational programs serve thousands of Madison-area residents annually, including youth, older adults, people with limited financial resources and people with disabilities. The center is also home to ten independent resident organizations.

RESIDENT ORGANIZATIONS

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society Children's Theater of Madison

Forward Theater Company Kanopy Dance Company

Li Chiao-Ping Dance Company Madison Ballet

Madison Opera Madison Symphony Orchestra

Wisconsin Academy’s James Watrous Gallery Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra

Internationally renowned architect Cesar Pelli designed the center to provide the best possible environment for artists and audiences, as well as to complement Madison’s urban environment. Performance spaces range from the spectacular 2,250-seat Overture Hall to the casual and intimate Rotunda Stage. The renovated Capitol Theater seats approximately 1,110, and The Playhouse seats 350. In addition, three multi-purpose spaces provide flexible performance, meeting and rehearsal facilities. Overture Center also features several art exhibit spaces. Overture Galleries I, II and III display works by Dane County artists. The Playhouse Gallery features regional artists with an emphasis on collaborations with local organizations. The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters’ Watrous Gallery displays works by Wisconsin artists, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art offers works by national and international artists.

RESOURCE GUIDE CREDITS

Executive Editor Writer/Designer

Alanna Medearis Jim Burling

Elephant & Piggie’s We are in a Play! Overture Center – OnStage 1

Dear Teachers,

In this resource guide you will find valuable information that will help you apply your academic goals to your students’ performance experience. We have included suggestions for activities which can help you prepare students to see this performance, ideas for follow-up activities, and additional resources you can access on the web. Along with these activities and resources, we’ve also included the applicable Wisconsin Academic Standards in order to help you align the experience with your curriculum requirements.

This Educator’s Resource Guide for this OnStage presentation of Elephant & Piggie’s We are in a Play! is designed to:

• Extend the scholastic impact of the performance by providingdiscussion ideas, activities and further reading which promotelearning across the curriculum;

• Promote arts literacy by expanding students’ knowledge of music,science, storytelling and theatre;

• Illustrate that the arts are a legacy reflecting the values, custom,beliefs, expressions and reflections of a culture;

• Use the arts to teach about the cultures of other people and tocelebrate students’ own heritage through self-reflection;

• Maximize students’ enjoyment and appreciation of theperformance.

We hope this performance and the suggestions in this resource guide will provide you and your students opportunities to apply art learning in your curricula, expanding it in new and enriching ways.

Enjoy the Show!

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Arts

Table of Contents

About Elephant & Piggie’s We are in a Play! .. 2

Pre and Post Show Discussion ................... 3

Mo Willems ............................................4

Focus On: Arts Integration .......................5

Activity: Animal Variety Show ...................6

Books to Read ........................................8

Academic Standards ................................9

About Live Performance ........................ 10

Social Emotional Social Studies

Language Arts

Education Categories


About Elephant & Piggie’s We are in a Play!Now, straight from the pages of six time Emmy winner Mo Willem’s award-winning children’s books and produced by the Kennedy Center, “Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are in a Play!” brings many Willem’s most memorable characters to life. Gerald and Piggie are the central characters for a rollicking adventure where they learn what it’s like to be in a play.

Gerald is an Elephant and Piggie is, naturally, a pig, and they are best, best, “bestus” (a word Gerald and Piggie

made up that means “very best”) friends. Gerald worries that something could go wrong that would end their friendship. Piggie is not worried at all. She’s even happier and more excited than usual. Piggie and Gerald are invited to a party hosted by the Squirrelles, three singing squirrels who love to party.

What follows is an adventure that will be sure to excite the very youngest of audiences, and that will be a great introduction to theater for young audiences.


Pre and Post Show DiscussionElephant and Piggie’s We are in a Play! may be the first theatrical experience for many young children. You can introduce the styles and norms of live theatre to your students by using some of the following discussion questions or activities:

Questions about Theater Basics

• What is a play? Have you ever been to a play? What was it like?

• The play we are going to see is about Elephant and Piggie. Do any of you know about those books?

• This is a live show. This means the actors are in the same room with us, acting out the show as we watch. How is this different from television or movies? Explain that television is filmed or taped before we see it. We can’t interact with the actors on TV. They can’t hear us or respond to us in any way. In a live performance, the actors can hear us laugh or clap, and that participation actually helps make the show better.

• We will be going to Overture Center on a field trip to see a play. What kinds of rules would be helpful for our class? Write the rules for a field trip on chart paper and practice reading them together.

• Discuss with the children how they will get to the theater. Explain any special rules for riding in buses or cars.

Describe the Elements of Theater

You will be going to a theater, a special place people go to watch plays (a kind of story), watch dance or listen to music. An usher will seat you. An usher is a person who works at the theater and helps the visitors find their way.

On the stage you will see background, such as rocks or trees. These things are called scenery. They help you to know where the story takes place. People, called actors, will be dressed in special clothes called costumes. The costumes will help you to know about the people. Discuss costumes the children have worn at Halloween. How did the costumes make you look like someone else?

You will also hear music, which will help tell the story. For

example, very soft and slow music might be played when someone is sleeping. Loud noisy music might be played when there is a storm in the story.

When the show is over, you can clap you hands if you liked the show. This is called applause and the actors like applause. They will bow when you applaud.

After the Show

After seeing the play you can follow up with some discussion about both the play and the some of the concepts the play explores.

Questions about Theater Basics

• Allow your students time to share their favorite parts of the production. They may like to draw their favorite part to take home and share with their families.

• Ask them to describe the kinds of things they saw during the performance. What was the music like? Was there background or scenery? What was the scenery like? Was it the same as they thought it would be or different? How was the performance different from the book?

• Ask them: What did you find surprising about the show? Funny? Interesting? Were things as you expected them to be or were they different? What kinds of things were different?


Mo Willems On Writing Books

Author Mo Willems describes how he got started writing, and how he thinks of characters for new stories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXwk670WnKw

Mo Willemsvia http://mowillemsfaq.blogspot.com

#1 New York Times Bestseller Mo Willems began his career as a writer and animator for PBS’ Sesame Street, where he garnered 6 Emmy Awards for his writing. During his nine seasons at Sesame Street, Mo also served as a weekly commentator for BBC Radio and created two animated series, Nickelodeon’s The Off-Beats and Cartoon Network’s Sheep in the Big City.

While serving as head writer for Cartoon Network’s #1 rated show, Codename: Kids Next Door, Mo began writing and drawing books for children. His debut effort, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! became a New York Times Bestseller and was awarded a Caldecott Honor in 2004. The following year Knuffle Bunny: a Cautionary Tale was awarded a Caldecott Honor. The sequel, Knuffle Bunny Too: a Case of Mistaken Identity garnered Mo his third Caldecott Honor in 2008.

In addition to picture books, Mo created the Elephant and Piggie books, a series of “Easy Readers”, which were awarded the Theodor Suess Geisel Medal in 2008 and 2009 and Geisel Honors in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. For older audiences he has published an illustrated memoir of his year-long trip around the world in 1990-91 entitled You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons and Don’t Pigeonhole Me!, a collection of 20 years of his annual sketchbooks. His books have been translated into over 20 languages.

Mo’s drawings, wire sculptures, and sculpture have exhibited in numerous galleries and museums across the nation, including major retrospectives at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA, the High Museum in Atlanta, GA, The New-York Historical Society, and the Seongnam Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea. His graphic story about his family experiences during 9-11 for DC comics resides in the Library of Congress’ permanent collection.

Mo has been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered, where he briefly served as the broadcast’s ‘Radio Cartoonist’. Mo voices and produces animated cartoons based on his books with Weston Woods studios which have been screened at festivals around the world and won Best Film during the New York International Children’s Film Festival and 3 Carnegie Medals from the American Library Association.

Mo has written the script and lyrics for Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical and Elephant and Piggie’s WE ARE IN A PLAY! Both plays commissioned by and debuted at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and consistently run in productions around the nation. He is currently working on a rock opera.

Vaudeville - a Style in the Play!

Vaudeville is a style of theatrical entertainment using variety acts, including (but not limited to!) acting, mime, clown, magic, and acrobatics. Originating in the variety and circus acts of the late 19th century, vaudeville became one of the preeminent forms of theatrical entertainment in the US prior to the advent of film. Once an act worked, performers repeated it in front of audience after audience. Many performers became known simply by their signature act.

Vaudeville’s attraction was more than simply a series of entertaining sketches. It was symbolic of the cultural diversity of early twentieth century America. Vaudeville was a fusion of centuries-old cultural traditions, including the English Music Hall, minstrel shows of antebellum America, and Yiddish theater. Though certainly not free from the prejudice of the times, vaudeville was the earliest entertainment form to cross racial and class boundaries. For many, vaudeville was the first exposure to the cultures (and the stereotypes of cultures) of people living right down the street.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXwk670WnKw


Focus On: Arts IntegrationAs you know, the experience of attending an arts performance can have a lasting impact on your students. This guide is designed to help you extend the scholastic aspect of the performance before and after in your classroom. Additionally, live performances like the one your students will be attending provide great opportunities for deep, interdisciplinary lessons using an arts integration approach.

About Arts Integration

Across the nation there has been a growing interest in arts integration as an approach to teaching in which the arts leverage learning in other subject areas such as science, language arts, mathematics, and social studies.

At Overture Center, we are excited by the possibilities arts integration can bring to a school to:

• Motivate students to engage more fully with the related subject area, encouraging joyful, active learning.

• Extend how learners process and retain information by combining several learning modalities (visual, aural, and kinesthetic) and thus, reaching a wider range of students.

• Make content more accessible and allow for personal connections to content.

• Help students understand and express abstract concepts.

Through this model, the arts become the approach to teaching and the vehicle for learning. Students meet dual learning objectives when they engage in the creative process to explore connections between an art form and another subject area to gain greater understanding in both. For example, in a social studies classroom, students can meet objectives in both theater and social studies by dramatizing a historical event. By mutually reinforcing objectives in both theater and social studies, students gain a deeper understanding of the content and are able to demonstrate their learning in an authentic context.

Arts Integration Resources and Activities:

Overture Center offers a variety of Professional Development Workshops for Teachers in Arts Integration each year. To find out about our next workshops and other resources for your teaching, visit overture.org/residencies. For more information on Arts Integration, please visit ArtsEdge, The Kennedy Center’s online resources (https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/how-to/series/arts-integration/arts-integration).

The following sample activity was developed to give you a taste of an arts integration lesson and to encourage arts integration in your classroom.

The Kennedy Center’s Definition for Arts Integration

Arts Integration is an APPROACH to TEACHING

in which studentsconstruct and demonstrate

UNDERSTANDINGthrough an ART FORM.

Students engage in aCREATIVE PROCESS

which CONNECTSan art form and another subject area

and meets EVOLVING OBJECTIVES

in both.


Activity: Animal Variety ShowAges 4-6, 20-25 min

Purpose: To prepare students to see a play and interpret actors performing as animal, and to practice putting on an imaginary vaudeville-style variety act.

Objectives:

Theater: Students learn about and demonstrate their understanding of imagination, movement, concentration, and simple characterization as it relates to theater and acting.

History: Students will become familiar with what a variety show is, and how variety shows function as a collection of short “acts.” Students will discuss how this might relate to their own lives.

Materials:

• Pretend You’re a Cat, by Jean Marzollo (optional, other books may do)

• A large enough space to move around, and to split into a “stage” and an “audience.”

Procedure:

1. Explain to your students that in this game, they will have to use their imagination and concentration. They will pretend to be things they are not, and move around the room safely at the same time. Introduce the idea that this is what actors do all the time.

2. Explain that actors are people who pretend to be someone else. In Elephant and Piggie, people called actors will pretend to be different animals, but they will do this without masks, or costumes that look exactly like. How might you pretend to be a mouse? A fox? An owl? A dancing snake?

3. Read the Book Pretend You’re a Cat, by Jean Marzollo. Encourage children to pretend to be the animals in the story. Can you sit up and beg like a dog? Can you eat grain like a horse? Can you lie in the mud like a pig?

4. Ask the children to use their imaginations to pretend to be different animals. Some ideas:

Arts Integration Activity


• Pretend you are a tiny kitten. How big would you be? How would you move? Can you chase a piece of yarn?

• Pretend you are a crocodile, swimming in the water.

• Pretend you are an elephant. Can you show me your big trunk?

• Pretend you are a kangaroo. How high can you hop?

• Pretend you are a big, old turtle. Show me how slowly you move.

5. Explain to your students that now that you’ve practiced pretending to be animals, you’re going to put on a variety show. A variety show is a performance that has a lot of different kinds of “acts,” similar to a circus - skills, music, pretend and more! Have your students pretend to do some of the following (or invent your own):

• Juggling, and then juggling while on a bicycle

• Taming a lion

• Singing their favorite song. Everybody pick their own!

• Walking a tightrope

• Tap dancing

• Playing the drums

6. Explain to your students that in Elephant and Piggie, many of the animals are putting on a performance of their own. To prepare, tell your students that now they will combine both activities: pretending to be an animal, AND doing an “act.” For example, using their imagination, how would it look if a crocodile was juggling? Give them a few suggestions, or take suggestions from them. Ask your students: how does the act change if you are a particular kind of animal? What about animals that can swim, or fly?

7. Depending on your students interest and attention, if you have time and their enthusiasm you can conclude by putting on a variety act. Split your students into two groups, and have one be an audience, and one the performers. Some students may prefer not to be the center of attention, so you can have the performers go all as a group, and ask if anyone wants to show their particular act individually. Then switch the groups so the audience becomes the performers and vice versa.

8. If the activity is still holding their interest, you can add one final dimension. Explain to your students that variety shows used to travel from town to town, and while the acts stayed the same, sometimes they had to adjust to fit the new place. You can have all the students perform together, but add imaginative settings to complicate their performance. So if they’re an alligator walking a tightrope, how does this change if they’re on top of a tall building? Or underwater?

Reflection:

Discuss with your students: in the past, variety shows often were made up of whole families and long-term friends who worked together for years. What do you think your friends or family would be like if they made their living traveling around and performing? Where would you go if you could perform anywhere?


Books to ReadMarzollo, Jean, and Jerry Pinkney. Pretend You’re a Cat. New York: Dial for Young Readers, 1990. Ages 3-7

“Can you hiss? / Can you scat? / Can you purr / like a cat?” Rhymed verses using patterned language pose questions to children about the various actions and noises they can make to imitate 13 familiar animals. Full-color pencil and watercolor paintings show preschoolers from diverse racial backgrounds engaged in lively imaginative play next to boxed insets containing realistic drawings of the animals they’re pretending to be. Large, clear illustrations, an appealing topic and the inviting format make this a perfect book for group sharing. Honor Book, 1990 CCBC Coretta Scott King Discussion of Illustration. via the Cooperative Children’s Book Center

Klassen, Jon. I Want My Hat Back. Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2011. Ages 3-8

“My hat is gone. I want it back.” A bear’s quest for his missing hat has him asking one animal after another. “Have you seen my hat?” The fox hasn’t seen it. The frog hasn’t seen it. Turtle, snake, possum—no one has seen his hat. And then, there’s the rabbit. “I haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen any hats anywhere. I would not steal a hat. Don’t ask me any more questions.” It’s obvious to readers and listeners, even if it isn’t to the bear, that the rabbit is wearing his hat. But the realization hits bear a few pages later and he races back to find the rabbit. An accusation on one page spread is followed by a wordless face-off on the next. One more turn of the page reveals the bear happily wearing in his hat. Enter a squirrel: “Excuse me. Have you seen a rabbit wearing a hat?” The bear’s response suggests the rabbit did not fare well in this comical picture book perfect for teaching inference. Jon Klassen’s muted palette and elegantly simple, distinctive illustrations are a perfect match for his offbeat story.

Willems, Mo. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. New York: Hyperion for Children, 2003. Ages 3-6

When a bus driver takes a break from his route, a very unlikely volunteer springs up to take his place —- a pigeon! But you’ve never met one like this before. As he pleads, wheedles, and begs his way through the book, children will love being able to answer back and decide his fate. In his hilarious picture book debut, popular cartoonist Mo Willems perfectly captures a preschooler’s temper tantrum.

Willems, Mo. Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale. NY, NY: Hyperion for Children, 2004. Ages 3-7

Trixie, Daddy, and Knuffle Bunny take a trip to the neighborhood Laundromat. But the exciting adventure takes a dramatic turn when Trixie realizes somebunny was left behind . . . Using a combination of muted black-and-white photographs and expressive illustrations, this stunning book tells a brilliantly true-to-life tale about what happens when Daddy’s in charge and things go terribly, hilariously wrong.


Art and Design Education

E.8.5 Use the visual arts to express ideas that can’t beexpressed by words alone

F.8.5 Understand the effects of production techniques onviewers’ perceptions

G.8.4 Create works of art that have meanings

K.4.3 Use what they are learning about life, nature, the physical world and people to create art

English Language Arts

A.4.1 Discern how written texts and accompanying illustrations connect to convey meaning

A.4.4 Read to acquire information

C.4.3 Participate effectively in discussion

D.4.1 Develop their vocabulary of words, phrases, and idioms as a means of improving communication

Social Studies

C.4.3 Explain how families, schools, and other groups develop, enforce, and change rules of behavior, and explain how various behaviors promote or hinder cooperation.

Music

C.4.5 Echo simple rhythmic and melodic patterns

F.4.2 Identify simple music forms upon listening to a given example

Theatre:

A.4.1 Attend a live theatre performance and discuss the experience

• explain what happened in the play

• identify and describe the characters

• say what they liked and didn’t like

• describe the scenery, lighting and/or costumes

D4.1 Explain strengths and weakness of their own work and that of others

D.4.2 Identify strengths (what worked) and weaknesses (what didn’t work) in character work and scenes presented in class

D.4.3 Identify what they need to do to make their character or scene more believable and/or understandable

D.4.4 Share their comments constructively and supportively within the group

Academic Standards


About Live PerformanceTheater, unlike movies or television, is a LIVE performance. This means that the action unfolds right in front of an audience, and the performance is constantly evolving. The artists respond to the audience’s laughter, clapping, gasps and general reactions. Therefore, the audience is a critical part of the theater experience. In fact, without you in the audience, the artists would still be in rehearsal!

Remember, you are sharing this performance space with the artists and other audience members. Your considerate behavior allows everyone to enjoy a positive theater experience.

Prepare: Be sure to use the restroom before the show begins!

Find Your Seat: When the performance is about to begin, the lights will dim. This is a signal for the artists and the audience to put aside conversations. Settle into your seat and get ready to enjoy the show!

Look and Listen: There is so much to hear (dialogue, music, sound effects) and so much to see (costumes, props, set design, lighting) in this performance. Pay close attention to the artists onstage. Unlike videos, you cannot rewind if you miss something.

Energy and Focus: Artists use concentration to focus their energy during a performance. The audience gives energy to the artist, who uses that energy to give life to the performance. Help the artists focus that energy. They can feel that you are with them!

Talking to neighbors (even whispering) can easily distract the artists onstage. They approach their audiences with respect, and expect the same from you in return. Help the artists concentrate with your attention.

Laugh Out Loud: If something is funny, it’s good to laugh. If you like something a lot, applaud. Artists are thrilled when the audience is engaged and responsive. They want you to laugh, cheer, clap and really enjoy your time at the theater.

Discover New Worlds: Attending a live performance is a time to sit back and look inward, and question what is being presented to you. Be curious about new worlds, experience new ideas, and discover people and lives previously unknown to you. Your open mind, curiosity, and respect will allow a whole other world to unfold right before your eyes!

Please, don’t feed the audience: Food is not allowed in the theater. Soda and snacks are noisy and distracting to both the artists and audience.

Unplug: Please turn off all cell phones and other electronics before the performance. Photographs and recording devices are prohibited.

Help make arts experiences real for hundreds of thousands of people at overturecenter .org/ sup port

SPONSORS

Sponsored by American Girl's Fund for Children. Additional funding provided by the DeAtley Family Foundation, Kuehn Family Foundation, A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, Promega Corporation, Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, Green Bay Packaging/George F. Kress Foundation, Nancy E. Barklage & Teresa J. Welch, and by contributions to Overture Center for the Arts.

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