Teacher Resource Guide and Lesson Plan Activities

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This resource guide includes information about the show and ideas for follow-up lessons to use in your classroom. Each activity is designed to meet a particular

grade level, however, feel free to adapt lessons to meet the needs of your classroom.

The Company

Paula Lockhart is excited to join Commonwealth Theatre Center on tour for the first time. She received her bachelor degrees in Theatre and Communication from Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga. She is cur-rently completing her MFA in Performance at the University of Louisville. Paula is passionate about introducing children to theatre. In the past, she has directed at Macon Montessori and toured with UOfL’s Repertory Company. When she is not onstage, Paula spends her time exploring Louisville, writing, and singing. Past credits include: Rose from Fences, Abuela from Bloodline Rumba, Playwright in This Is Not The Play, Persephone/Semele from Polaroid Stories, and an member of the Ensemble in the devised piece Look Me in The Eye.Bailey Lomax is excited to be joining us in her first performance with Blue Apple Outreach. She is a recent graduate of Silver Creek High school, and a Walden Theatre alumna. You may have seen her in one of her 21 performances with the Walden Theatre Conservatory ranging from contemporary regional premieres to the plays of Shakespeare and other European classics. She also appeared as Rosalind in As You Like It with Kentucky Shakespeare’s Globe Players and as Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde with Silver Creek Theatre. She received the award for Best Actress in the state of Indiana for her performance as Bonnie.

Rita Hight is delighted to be returning to Blue Apple Outreach. Originally from Connecticut, Rita has performed professionally in regional and dinner theaters throughout the country for over 25 years. She has also appeared in numerous commercials and films, and has taught language arts, special education, theater, and music in the public schools. Favorite roles include Louise in Always Patsy Cline, the Queen of Eng-land in StageOne’s The BFG, Vida Prim in the Bunbury Theatre’s original comedy, I Bet on the Nag, Susie in Wait Until Dark at French Lick Springs Resort, and Dolly in Hello Dolly. In addition to acting, Rita has directed, choreographed, and written many arts grants.

Omicah House is so excited to be back on tour with CTC. He recently joined the staff as an Artistic As-sociate for the company, but has been seen in the previous musical tours of Three Pigs, Johnny Appleseed, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. He received a BFA from Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Per-forming Arts and has performed in Chicago, NYC, and now Louisville is where he calls home. Along with performing, Omicah is the Vice President of the Louisville Pride Foundation, which celebrates diversity and contributes to art and community organizations for youth. You may have seen him in other touring productions, performing around town, or teaching Blue Apple Outreach Programs at your school!

Tim Mathistad returns to the stage after serving as Blue Apple Players’ musical director for 20 years. His theatrical career spans 40 years of productions in Denver, New York, Minneapolis, Chicago, Phoenix, and Louisville. Previous musicals with Blue Apple include The Melting Pot, Red Riding Hood, and Santa and the Unhappy Elf as well as appearing in Blue Apple’s StoryTime Theatre productions of Molly Whuppie, Native American Myths, and Rumpelstiltskin.. Local audiences may have seen him in 14 shows at Derby Dinner Playhouse and in the role of Wilbur in Hairspray at MTL and as Gunner Johnson in A Don’t Hug Me Christmas Carol at Bunbury Theatre. Tim was also a member of the highly successful musical revue group Cabaret Sauvignon.

Ashley Raper—Stage Manager and Sound TechnicianAshley Raper is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a B.F.A in Drama with an emphasis in Technical Theatre Production. After recently moving to Louisville, she is excited to start a career in stage management in the thriving Louisville performing art scene. Her other theatre credits include work at the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company in Weston, Vermont and with Triad Stage and North Carolina Summer Rep in Greensboro.

The actors, musicians, designers, managers, and theatre technicians involved in this production are all professionals with significant experience both with Commonwealth Theatre Center and with a host of other companies. The company is grateful to be performing for you

and for thousands of other young audiences across Kentucky and Southern Indiana thanks in no small part to the value that you, your school, your community leaders, and many others

place on bringing live theatre into commounities. Together, we thank you!

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The Company (con’t)

Mera Kathryn Corlett—Director/ChoreographerMera Kathryn began her work at Blue Players as a member of the touring company in 2011. Currently, she serves as an Artistic Associate where her focus has primarily been on early childhood and elementary program-ming. She has directed Pinocchio, The Fighting Frogs vs. Victoria Vanderbilt and the last four Storytime Theatre tours. Moreover, Mera Kathryn has written four original plays for young audiences; Fables: Anything But Aesop, SkyHigh Tales, Rumpelstiltskin, and On the Trail of Daniel Boone. Prior to Blue Apple, she worked for Kentucky Shakespeare as a touring actor, workshop facilitator, and lead teacher for Camp Shakespeare. Upon graduating Cum Laude from Hanover College with degrees in theatre and theology, she received the Henry C. Long Cita-tion for Scholarship and General Excellence, the most distinguished award a female graduate can receive.

Erin Fitzgerald— Guitar, banjo, washboard, and percussionErin is a community arts enthusiast and writer of stories, songs, and snapshots. She plays music solo (as “A Girl Named Earl”) and in numerous groups, in styles ranging from traditional to rockabilly to punk. Erin has written and/or performed music for Commonwealth Theatre Center and for other local theatre companies, including Pandora Productions and Looking for Lilith Theatre Company. Erin is very involved in the regional writing community, and is particularly passionate about arts access for kids.

Geraldine Anne Snyder— Playwright, Composer, and LyricistGeraldine is a co-founder of Blue Apple Players. She has penned over 37 original musicals for the company and, prior to the merger, Geraldine has performed in every show’s tour except for one when she was recovering from a surgery. In addition to writing and performing in nearly forty Blue Apple Players productions, Geraldine is an internationally known designer. Her work has been displayed in Newsweek, Craft Horizons, the European publication Decorative Art in Modern Interiors, Creating Modern Furniture, and Contemporary Crafts of the Americas. Geraldine has received many honors in the community includ-ing the Presentation Academy Tower Award for Women Leaders in Arts and Communication and as a Kentucky Colonel.

Gerald Kean - Set Designeris a freelance light and set designer. Recently, he has designed for such groups as Bunbury Theatre, Smoked Apple Theatre, Faith Works Productions, Sacred Heart Schools, Providence High School, and the Miss Kentucky Pageants. He lives in Louisville with his wife and two daughters and is thrilled to have joined the Commonwealth Theatre Center team on several productions again this season.

Bob Ramsey—Music DirectorBob Ramsey has been working as a composer of commercial, industrial, documentary, TV, film, and special events since 1986. In 1994 Bob started his own company, Ram*Z Music, giving him the flexibility to take on original projects in addition to servicing his commercial clients. He has served as the music director of the “Barnstable/Brown” Derby Eve Party Band for 20 years and, in that capacity, has performed with, Graham Nash, Michael McDonald, Smokey Robinson, Josh Groban, Chaka Khan, Travis Tritt, Kid Rock, Slash, Bryan McNight, RUN DMC, Meatloaf, Macy Gray, Eddie Money, Lorrie Morgan, Crystal Gayle, Paul Shaffer, John Michael Montgomery, Brooks and Dunn, Montgomery Gentry, Boyz II Men, Nick Lachey, Joey Fatone, and the Jacksons. Bob just completed his 27th year as organist and sound tech for the Louisville Baseball Club, starting with The Redbirds, then The RiverBats and for the last 18 years with The Bats at downtown Slugger Field.

Clay Marshall - Technical DirectorClay Marshall joined the company full time in 2015 after years of production design and technical work. He is a Walden The-atre alumnus and holds a degree in Community Entrepreneurship from University of Louisville. He’s appeared in close to 30 productions and worked backstage on ten seasons of shows. In addition to building shows, Clay teaches educational outreach, conservatory classes and ballroom.

Todd Hildreth—Piano and AccordionTodd enrolled at Bellarmine university in 1985 with the intention of becoming an English teacher, but quickly fell in love with the sounds of jazz he heard emanating from the practice rooms. He graduated with a degree both in Jazz studies and English. He quickly became one of the most sought after keyboardist in the region. He is on the jazz faculty at Bellarmine University and at Jamey Aebersold’s summer Jazz work-shops. He is the director of music at Ascension Lutheran Church, and the bandleader for the Crusade for Children’s annual telethon. He has performed with Aretha Franklin, Norah Jones, Bob from Sesame Street and Stephanie Courtney (best known as “Flo” from the Progressive commercials). Locally, he’s involved in several musical groups, including the Java men, Squeeze-bot, V-groove and the Todd Hildreth trio.

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The Brothers GrimmJacob and Wilhelm Grimm

History is filled with many siblings who, by working together, made great contributions. One set of brothers, often referred to as The Brothers Grimm, collected oral traditions that came in the form of fairytales and legends. They were not the first to compile such works, however, Jacob and Wilhelm were committed to keeping stories true to form instead of adding flowery expositions and insulting the commoners from whom their stories came. Their first publication came across too violent and had other adult themes so the Grimms had to explain the stories were not written for children. Later, realizing the market for children’s literature, the Grimms rewrote the stories to appeal to younger audiences.

Their work caused them to be beloved in their homeland, Germany, and to be renowned storytellers for generations to come. Many other stories, films, and series have been based on Grimms’ fairy tales so modern-day readers and audiences continue to benefit from the genius & hard work of the brothers.

Geraldine Ann SnyderGeraldine is a Kentucky

playwright who has penned over thirty-seven original plays for young audiences. She and her husband, Paul Lenzi, first met in 1972 at the old Galt House of Louisville, Kentucky, and a dynamic partnership in children’s theatre was formed. Prior to founding the Blue Apple Players, the two worked together in Miami doing improvisational theatre and performed a show every Sunday at Biscayne Bay. It was during this time they began taking traditional tales and twisting them to teach important lessons for children. This would continue to be a major feature in all of Geraldine’s future plays. In 1976, a year after they were married, Paul and Geraldine formed The Blue Apple Players. The company’s first show was A Traditional Italian Folktale: Palmiero and the Ogre, which they performed for the students at St. Martha’s Catholic School. Since that time, their company has become a nationally acclaimed non-profit theatre organization that tours to schools today.

For plays created in the early years of the company, Geraldine and other actors would “work from a tight scenario of the show” and then fill in the rest with improvisation. The music, however, was written before any dialogue. In Geraldine’s shows, the music is always the center. She commonly says, “I can put something in a song that would take ten pages of dialogue.” The larger concepts are expressed with catchy tunes and sometimes a dance or two for good measure. While her plays have ranged from addressing social issues, to historical events, to classic tales with a twist, every show achieves the goal of captivating children with joy and teaching important life lessons.

Parts of a MusicalScript — Called “the book” for musicals, the script is the literary text written by a playwright. It includes the lines spoken, descriptions of settings and characters, and physical directions for actors.

Score — In musicals, the score is separate from the script and includes the musical notation for all the songs in a production. There are two individuals who create the score a composer, who creates the music, and a lyricist, who creates the words of the songs. Sometimes these individuals are one and the same.

Choreography — Choreography is the composition or arrangement of dances. It is created by a choreographer.

Set — A set is the scenery and other large items on the stage used to identify the location (i.e. backdrop, chairs, doors, etc)

Props — Short for properties, props are any items held by actors in a play (i.e. pencils, cups, etc.)

Costumes — Any items of clothing worn in a performance are costume pieces. The costume should help an audience understand the time, place, and character in a show (i.e. a dress, a sheriff ’s badge, a bonnet).

Discuss the parts of a musical prior to the show and have your students watch for how they are used in Red Riding Hood. After, you may have them create an opinion piece analyzing the play.

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That Vaudeville Style!

Piano— a musical instrument consisting of a large frame holding steel wire strings that sound when struck by felt-covered hammers. Each string corresponds to a key tunes to produce a note.

Tenor Banjo—A musical instrument with a round body like a drum, a long fretted neck, and four strings.

Guitar—A very popular stringed instrument that is present in multiple music styles; typically with 6 strings that is played by strumming or plucking

Drum-Kit—A collection of drums and other percussion instruments designed during Vaudeville to be played by one person. Often used for foley*.

What You May Hear

Accordion—A musical in-strument that has a keyboard and a bellows and that pro-duces tones when air is forced past metal reeds

Washboard—Originally used for washing clothes, the washboard became an instru-ment used for percussion by scratching it with a spoon or other device.

*Foley are sound effects created by instruments (i.e. a bass drum used for door knocks)

Starting in the 1870’s and continuing until 1930, Vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment. The word Vaude-ville was synonymous to “variety”. The very first use of the word in print was for a performance billed as Sargent’s Great Vaudeville Company. The show took place on February 23rd, 1971 at Wiesiger Hall. The following year the Louisville Public Library bought the property on 4th Street and is now where the Library’s Central Branch is located.

There could have been as many as 25,000 Vaudeville per-formers on stages across the country. The shows featured stand-up comedians, singers, dancers, actors, trained animals, plate-spinners, ventriloquists, musicians, jugglers, magicians, actors, acrobats, and any individual with a sketch that could hold an audience’s attention for the length of an act (about 3 minutes). During this time many immigrants moved into the country

bringing talents from their foreign lands. As a result, Vaudeville reflected the diversity of America in a way that no other theatre styles did.

Still, the main focus was always comedy. Some of the best comedians of all time made their start on the Vaudeville stage. Comedic duos such as Abbott and Costello, Burns and Al-len, and the Duncan Sisters began in Vaudeville. Perhaps the most popular stars of the Vaudeville stage were children. Even though there was a law that children could not appear until after they turned 7, children as young a three years old brought huge audiences. During its heyday, Vaudeville performing was very lucrative. However, as a result of the invention of moving-pictures, by the 1920’s —when Red Riding Hood is set—Vaudeville performers were no longer wanted.

The following instruments will be used in the production of Red Riding Hood or were staples of any Vaudeville show.

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Green, Yellow, Red LightDesigned for PreK, Kindergarten, and 1st Grade Classes

Suggested Lesson Plan Activities

Questions to Accompany the Play:RECALL: Gather Facts

What were the instructions Red’s mother gave her?

INTERPRET: Find MeaningWhy didn’t Red follow her mothers instructions?

EVALUATE: Make JudgmentsWhat do you think Red should have done? Why?

EXTEND: Connect IdeasImagine you were creating a new play for your school that teaches an important safety lesson. What lesson would it teach?

Looking for ways to connect to the Common Core and other standards? Watch for this symbol throughout the resource guide for activities that meet the national standards.

Standards for Health Education: Safety 5.1: Students use skills such as analyzing, prioritizing, categorizing, evaluating and comparing to solve a variety of problems in real-life situations; 5.4 Students use a decision-making process to make informed decisions among-options.

Discuss the meaning of the colors of a traffic light. Remind children that green means safe to cross, yellow means to be cautious, and red means STOP or a serious situation. Provide each child with three popsicle sticks-one with a green dot, one with yellow dot, and one with a red dot. Tell them you are going to read off things that can happen and for them to hold up the correct color. Green means the time is safe. Yellow means to be careful (it is a time to think about & talk with a grown-up). Red means to STOP and report what has happened to a trusted adult.

•A person you do not know offers you sweets, gifts or money

•A person you recognize but do not know well wants to give you a hug

•A vehicle pulls over and someone asks the direction to the mall

•A grownup, teenager or friend your age asks to see or touch the parts of your body under your clothes

•The school crossing guard grabs you to stop you from stepping into the street

•Your doctor asks to examine you with your parent or adult guardian present

•Someone is putting up signs for a lost pet & asks you to go with them to look

•Your coach wants to give you a “high-five” after you scored points

After each scenario, make note of answers given by children. Discuss each scenario and what would be good answers. Allow the children to put down their original answer if it was not the best an-swer and choose a better one. Feel free to add scenarios and even allow children to come up with scenarios of their own. Do not proceed until the children are satisfied with their answers and understanding of each situation.

Important Note for Adults: When teaching safety with strangers, a good thing to remember is to “be wary, not scary.” It is very important to remember how sensitive children are. Do not emphasize the ter-rible things that can happen to children. When dealing with stranger danger, it is important to focus on the skills and resources they need and can use in such situations.

A fairytale is a story with roots in the oral storytelling tradition that usually takes place in the past and involves magic or magical creatures.

Have students listen to or read other Grimm’s fairy tales for children. Suggestions are Rapunzel, Snow White and Rose Red and Rumpelstiltskin. You may even want to incorporate fairytales from other cultures such as The Irish Cinderlad, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast. Next, use the headers below and list elements students heard or found in the selected fairy tales.

Characteristics of a FairytaleDesigned for 2nd & 3rd Grade Classes

Has good characters and bad characters.

People, animals, or objects have magic. The magic can

be good or bad.

Elements in the story present in threes. Also known as

“The Rule of Threes”

Usually has a happy ending, i.e. “...they

lived happily ever after.”

Teaches a lesson or demonstrates values

important to the culture.

Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy: RL.2: Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain through key details in the text; RL9: Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (eg. mysteries and adventure stories) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.

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1. To get to Grandma’s house, what direction will Red have to travel? _________

2. If she skips in a straight line, how many feet will Red need to travel from her front porch to Grandma’s porch? _________

3. How far had Red traveled when she met Wolfie and Moley? _________

4. If Red had continued on her direct path instead of taking a detour, how many feet should it have taken to get to Grandma’s house? _________

5. How many feet did Red end up traveling? _________

How Far To Grandma’s House?Designed for 2nd and 3rd Grade Classes

Each child needs only: Central Park Map (see below), a ruler, and a pencil

Red Riding Hood has to make it from one end of Louisville’s Central Park to her Grandmother’s house on the other end. For a fun activity using math you will find a handout for students on page 8. The map is from taken from the 1901 plans for Central Park. Students may recognize that the park looks different today. Discuss the parts of a map: title, scale, compass and key. Next introduce the ruler as a tool for measurement. Explain that the scale will give all the clue they will need to answer the questions on the handout. You may chose to have them work individually or in groups.

Standards for Math: MD.A.1: Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools such as rulers,

yardsticks, meter sticks, and measuring tapes; MD.A.3: Estimate lengths using units of inches, feet, centimeters, and meters; MD.B.5: Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems involving lengths that are given in the same units, e.g., by using drawings (such as drawings of rulers) and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

CENTRAL PARKLouisville, KY Year: 1901

WOLFIE AND MOLEY’S DETOUR TREE

NORTH

SCALE: 1 INCH = 100 FEET

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Exploring AdaptationDesigned for 4th & 5th Grade Classes

Blue Apple Players has created 42 educational plays since they first started in 1976. Some of these plays were original stories, but many came from adapting an already known story into a play. Red Riding Hood: A Vaudeville Romp is one of the plays that has been adapted from a story. The story is typically told as a narrative, written or orally told in the third person. However, plays must be written in only dialogue—which is simply the words the actors say. To make the story into a play, the narrative had to be adapted into a dialogue.

Have your students explore adapting their own stories. Break the class up into teams of 5-6. Hand each group a fairy tale book. Suggestions from the Grimms Fairy Tales are Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White and Rose Red, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel. Other fairy tales that could be interesting to introduce are The Irish Cinderlad, How Meat Loves Salt, The Three Spinners, The Snow Queen, and Tatterhood. After each group has a story book, give the teams the following instructions.

Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy: SL1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly; SL.4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace; RL.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing

inferences from the text.; RL.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. National Standards for the Arts: Standard 1: Script writing planning and recording improvisations based on literature; Standard 2: Acting by assuming roles and interacting in improvisation; Standard 4: Directing by planning classroom dramatizations; Standard 5: Researching by finding information to support classroom dramatizations.

1 Act it out. After reading the story with some classmates, try acting it out. Decide who should play what part. Stand up on your feet

and try acting itout. No need for a script, just make it up as you go along. What do you think the characters would say? How would they feel? After you’re finished acting it out, you can write down some of the things you heard.

2 After reading through the story, sit down with pen and paper. Think about what the characters might say. Try writing it down like

the dialogue of a play. After each group is finished, invite students to perform the plays for the class.

Imagine Vaudeville Performer Life ActivityDesigned for 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Grade Classes

Common Core Standards for English Lan-guage Arts and Literacy: RI.2: Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; sum-

marize the text; RI.3: Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text; RI.5: In-tegrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledge-ably; W.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descrip-tive details, and clear event sequences; W.7: Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic; W.8: Recall relevant information from experi-ences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources; SL.4: Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.Kentucky Social Studies Standards: 5.G.U.4: Students will understand that the history of the United States can be analyzed by examining significant eras (Colo-nization and Settlement, Revolution and a New Na-tion, Expansion and Conflict, Industrialization and Immigration and the Twentieth Century) to develop a chronological understanding and recognize cause and effect relationships and multiple causation, tying past to present.

When the playwright adapted the Grimm’s classic into a play, she chose Vaudeville as her muse. The style lends itself nicely to young audiences with its fast-pace, broad movement and comedy. Have your students use the informational text about Vaudeville’s history on page 9. You may decide to have them read it individually or in groups. Have them underline or highlight the main ideas in the text.

Because silent pictures were created during the later years of Vaudeville, many acts were captured and can be found with a simple search of YouTube. Spend time as a class watching media of old Vaudevillians. A beloved act that is always well-received is Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s On First”. If your class has seen the play you may mention the character’s of Wolfie and Moley are an homage the famous duo. Other great Vaudeville acts that can be found online are Lowe, Hite, & Stanley, Fanny Brice, Buster Keaton, and The Nicholas Brothers.

Be sure to screen videos before watching in class. While Vaudeville was created for family audiences, burlesque and minstrel-shows were popular around the same time and people can group the styles together.

Next, have your students imagine what life could be like during the Vaudeville era. Explain that as a class you are going invent a Vaudeville Theatre name and each student is going to create a specific character that has a connection to theatre. They can be a per-former, an audience member, a musician, a theatre owner and beyond. They must research what life might be life for their character. Questions they should ask might be: What is my name? Where do I live? How do I make money? Where do I come from? What are the biggest problems I face? What is my vocabulary?

Have students write one or more journal entry documenting their character’s daily life. You may decide to host a day when students dressed in character to read their journals aloud to the class.

8Find an example of a scripted scene on page 9 from Rumpelstiltskin by Mera Kathryn Corlett.

Exerpt from:

RUMPELSTILTSKIN

by Mera Kathryn Corlett(used by special permission of the playwright)

SCENE 2 A chamber full of straw. The King enters and stands just right of the backdrop.

He speaks as if he is giving a tour of the castle.

KING Yes. That, that is the third ballroom. But we only use it on the rare occurrence that the other two are being redecorated. This way. This way to your chamber.

The KING continues further in and the MILLER’S Daughter enters.

MILLER’S DAUGHTER Heiliger Stroh—! (This is short for “Heiliger Strohsack” which means “holy cow” but literally translates to “holy straw bag!”)

KING I know! Can you believe how much straw we fit in here?

MILLER’S DAUGHTER (looking up) It reaches to the ceiling!

KING (playful) Annnnnnnd a spinning wheel. (He spins the wheel) So, do your magic.

MILLER’S DAUGHTER No. I couldn’t.

KING No really. Try it.

MILLER’S DAUGHTER I shouldn’t take up more of your time.

KING (harsh) I insist. After what your parents said, I want to see this for myself. Unless they were in fact lying, which means I must have them killed.

MILLER’S DAUGHTER No! Oh no, Your Majesty. I can spin straw into gold. It’s just that it only works when I am completely alone. That is the only way the… uh… the straw can feel safe to turn into its magical gold state. Otherwise it gets shy.

KING Shy straw you say.

MILLER’S DAUGHTER Like that old saying, “Shy as a bail of straw.”

KING Oh, I think I’ve heard that before. I will leave you alone with the straw.

MILLER’S DAUGHTER Danke, Your Majesty.

KING (sweetly) You have all night to spin every piece of straw in this chamber into gold. And one more thing, (sternly) if you fail you shall surely die.

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The Vaudeville Stage

WORD BANKSYNONYMOUS (adjective)—

having the same meaning.

VENTRILOQUIST (noun)—a person with the skill of speaking, with little or no lip movement, in such a way that the voice does not appear to come from the speaker but from another source, such as a puppet.

ACROBAT (noun)—a performer who can do amazing stunts by jumping, balancing, tumbling, or stretching their body.

SKETCH (noun)—a short performance

IMMIGRANT (noun)—a person who moves from another country

HEYDAY (noun)—the time of greatest popularity

LUCRATIVE (adjective)—able to produce a lot of money

MOVING-PICTURES (noun)—original name for movies

Starting in the 1870’s and continuing until 1930, Vaudeville was America’s most popular form of en-tertainment. The word Vaudeville was synonymous with“variety”. The very first use of the word in print was in Louisville, Kentucky for a performance billed as Sargent’s Great Vaudeville Company. The show took place on February 23rd, 1871 at Weisiger Hall which is today the site of the Louisville Public Li-brary’ on 4th Street.

There could have been as many as 25,000 Vaude-ville performers on stages across the country. The shows featured stand-up comedians, singers, dancers, actors, trained animals, plate-spinners, ventriloquists, musicians, jugglers, magicians, actors, acrobats, and any individual with a sketch that could hold an au-dience’s attention for the length of an act (about 3 minutes). During this time many immigrants moved

into the country bringing talents from their foreign lands. As a result, Vaudeville reflected the diversity of America in a way that no other theatre styles could.

Still, the main focus was always comedy. Some of the best comedians of all time made their start on the Vaudeville stage. Comedic duos such as Ab-bott and Costello, Burns and Allen, and the Duncan Sisters began in Vaudeville. Perhaps the most popu-lar stars of the Vaudeville stage were children. Even though there was a law that children could not appear until after they turned 7, children as young a three years old brought huge audiences. During its heyday, Vaudeville performing was very lucrative. In other words, performers could make a lot of money. How-ever, as a result of the invention of moving-pictures, by the 1920’s —when Red Riding Hood is set—Vaudeville performers were no longer wanted.

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Supplemental Reading Suggestions:

Original Versions of Little Red Riding Hood Little Red Riding Hood by Paul Galdone; adapted from the retelling by the Brothers Grimm.Little Red Riding Hood by Bernette G. FordThe story of Little Red Riding Hood the Brothers Grimm; illustrated by Christopher Bing

Red Riding Hood from other Cultures Lon Po Po : a Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed YoungPretty Salma: a Little Red Riding Hood story from Africa by Niki Daly

Adaptations of Red Riding Hood Little Red Riding Hood : A Newfangled Prairie Tale by Lisa Campbell ErnstLittle Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T SmithLittle Red’s Riding ‘hood by Peter Stein; pictures by Chris GallVery Little Red Riding Hood by Teresa Heapy

Other Suggested Fairy Tales The Irish Cinderlad by Shirley ClimoRapunzel by Paul O. ZelinskyRumpelstiltskin by Paul O. ZelinskyTatterhood and The Hobgoblins : A Norwegian Folktale by Lauren A. Mills

VaudevilleSong and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman; illustrated by Stephen GammellThe Legendary Miss Lena Horne by Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrated by Elizabeth ZunonVaudeville: the Birth of Show Business by Judy Alter

Sources:Collins, Lewis, and Richard H. Collins. “Annals of Kentucky.” History of Kentucky, Higginson Book Co., 1999, p. 224.Horton, William Ellis. “A Glance At Vaudeville .” Driftwood of the Stage, Winn & Hammond, 1904, pp. 34–35.“Kids in Vaudeville.” Mary Miley’s Roaring Twenties, marymiley.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/kids-in-vaudeville/.“Vaudeville.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/vaudeville-about-vaudeville/721/.

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Thank you to all everyone who made this production possible:

LOUISVILLE METRO COUNCIL