By Samantha Olivas
Before the Show Exercises:
Exercise 1: Choose your scene
Exercise Directions: Choose a portion of dialogue that you think is an important part of the play. With a partner (or two depending on how many characters), read the portion aloud to your fellow classmates. Be sure to include gestures and movements around your “stage,” as well as making sure to speak in the voice you think your character would.
To think about:
- Why do you think this dialogue is important to the overall meaning of the play?
- Do you think the actors in the play will make the same choices you did in voice/movements? Why or why not?
* Make sure to advise students to be on the lookout for this scene in the actual production, there will be a compare and contrast exercise later.
Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA- LITERACY. SL. 4.2.
Exercise 2: Imagining the Set
*Note: For this exercise to be as successful as possible, they need to have read the book by Dr. Seuss.
Exercise Directions: In the background text of the play, Who-Ville is described as the following:
“The sun rises quickly on the Who-Ville town-square. JP WHO
comes on pushing a wheelbarrow filled with wrapped
Christmas presents and LITTLE CINDY-LOU WHO. She holds
a mistletoe wreath twice her size, tied with a red ribbon as big
as the wreath.”
“Three strong WHOS carry on the town square Christmas tree.
Suddenly the town is filled with WHOS OF ALL SIZES AND
SHAPES, busily erecting the tree in the center of the square.”
Taking these descriptions in mind, as well as what you’ve seen from Dr. Seuss’s book, create your own Who-Ville town square, including the decoration of the Christmas tree and the Who’s of all shapes and sizes. Collaborate with your fellow students. This could be 3-D (off the paper), or drawn.
Next, show the students the clip (start at 2:05) so they can see how the movie version portrayed Who-Ville. Compare what they did with that, and discuss as a group how the play might do it.
Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mGmEE20CR0
Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA- LITERACY. SL. 4.5.
During the Show Exercise:
Exercise 3: Experience the Magic!
Exercise Directions: Prepare the students prior to the performance. Once all of the students are at the theater point out the different facets of the theater itself. Here are some suggestions:
- The box office
- The house manager
- The ushers
- The theater’s shop
- The stagehands
- The stage
- The lighting
- The seating arrangement
- The set design
Have each student pick one of these different aspects of the theater and have them keep it in mind during the entire performance, as well as during the intermission. Have them ask themselves the following questions:
- How does the aspect they are focusing on effect the production as a whole?
- Why is a house manager important? A: To get all the seats filled.
- Why is the theater’s shop important? A: To fundraise for the theater.
- How does it keep the production working like a well-oiled machine?
- Why is the stagehand important? A: The set would not change without them.
At your next class ask them each to discuss (in groups of people who picked the same aspect to focus on) why their aspect is the most important.
* Be sure to tie in how these are all jobs in the theatre industry, and ask them to further express their opinions on whether or not they could see themselves doing these jobs when they grow up.
After the Show Exercises:
Exercise #4: Comparing and Contrasting
Exercise Directions: Now that you have seen the play, you can compare and contrast the student’s secondhand account of a certain scene (see exercise #1) with the firsthand account of what they saw. What was different? The same? Did the actors use the same choices in regards to movement/voice? Why do you think they did or did not? Make sure they work in the same groups that they performed the scene with.
Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA- LITERACY. RI. 4.6.
Exercise #5: Describing the Characters
Exercise Directions: Pick one of the main characters of the play and describe who the core of that character is, based on their thoughts, actions, and what they say throughout the play. Be sure to describe them based on what you saw in the play and what was portrayed in the book. The main focus should be on the play however, because that has clearly more dialogue and character development than the book. Make sure to talk about them at the beginning of the play and at the end of the play, because multiple characters go through a transformation.
Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA- LITERACY. RL. 4.3.
Exercise #6: Act it Out
Exercise Directions: In teams of 4-5 (depending on the scene chosen), have them recreate their favorite scene. It would be best if the teacher had 4-5 different scenes available, and 1-2 copies of each. Each scene should be no more than 5 lines per child, and when they act them out they should be recreated in the order that they fall in the play itself. Now that they have seen the play, have them act it out as close to the original production they saw live as possible.
Post Show Discussion Questions:
By Allison Tester
1. Ask about “the moral of the story”: What was the outcome of the play and why did it matter? Why were The Who’s so affected by the stealing of their things? Was Christmas all about material stuff for them? How did that change by the end of the play?
2. For a more opinion based question: Did you enjoy the production? Use specific examples from the performance such as acting, costumes, the set, the music ect. Was it unenjoyable? Again, use specific examples.
3. The young girl, Cindy Lou, played an important role in changing the outcome of the story. Even when it was said that she was just a little kid who did not know what she was doing, she still fought for what she believed in. What would you have done if you were Cindy Lou? Do you think you could have made a difference?
4. If you could change one thing about the show, whether it be in the story itself or the performance, what would it be and why? Again, the more specific you can be the better.
5. If you were going to be involved in a musical theater production, what part would you want? Would you be a technician, a director, an actor or a stage manager? Describe what work you would want and why.
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