The Underpants Teacher Information Packet

By

Steve Martin Adapted from

Carl Sternheim Directed by

Gordon Edelstein PRODUCTION SPONSOR:

OCTOBER 16 - NOVEMBER 10

TEACHER INFORMATION PACKET

go r d o n e d e l s t e i n artistic director

H

J OSH U A BORENS T E I N managing director

PRE S ENT S

by S TEVE MA R TI N ADAPT ED F R OM CA R L S TER NH EI M Dir ect ed by G O R D O N ED EL S TEI N

OCTOBER 16 - NOVEMBER 10, 2013 CLAIRE TOW STAGE IN THE C. NEWTON SCHENCK III THEATRE

T e a c h e r I n f o r m a ti o n P a c k e t Compiled and Written by a n nie d imarti no Director of Education m a l l o r y pel legri no Education Programs Manager kristian n a s mit h Resident Teaching Artist el iza orleans Artistic Resident S h an a Cas ey Summer Education Intern

Teacher Information Packet Layout by cla ire zoghb

long wharf theatre gratefully acknowledges t h e g e n e r o s it y o f o u r e d u c a ti o n s upp o r t e r s

Elizabeth Carse Foundation Frederick A. Deluca Foundation The George A. and Grace L. Long Foundation The Seedlings Foundation wells fargo foundation The Werth Family Foundation founding supporter of long wharf theatre ’ s video study guide and supporter of the educators ’ laboratory

by S TEVE MA R TI N ADAPT ED F R OM CA R L S TER NH EI M Dir ect ed by G O R D O N ED EL S TEI N

Set Design Costume Design Lighting Design Sound Design wig and hair design FIGHT CONSULTANT Production Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Casting

Lee Savage° Jess Goldstein° Robert Wierzel° David Budries° charles lapointe Tim Acito Melissa M. Spengler* Amy Patricia Stern* kelly hardy* Calleri casting

THE UNDERPANTS is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. The World Premiere of THE UNDERPANTS

By Carl Sternheim In a new version by Steve Martin Was presented by Classic Stage Company in New York City On April 4, 2002 Barry Edelstein, Artistic Director

production sponsor * Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States ° Member of United Scenic Artists, USA-829 of the IATSE This Theatre operates under an agreement between the League Of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

contents ABO U T T HE P LAY Characters 8 Synopsis 9 About Steve Martin 12 Comedy is Hard Work 16 About Carl Sternheim 17 It is a Laughing Matter 18 Themes in The Underpants 20 Adaptation: The Art of Borrowing 22 T HE W ORLD OF T HE P LAY Caught in the Middle: Women’s Changing Role in 1910 28 Germany in Context 34 Supp l e m e n t a l M a t e r i a l s After the Show 38 A Doll’s House Connection 40 Curriculum Connections 42 For the First-Time Theatregoer 43

Look for this symbol to find discussion and writing prompts, questions and classroom activities!

ABOUT THE PLAY

“I always felt there was a deeper meaning to what I was doing than just being wild and crazy, something more philosophical. I had a view that there was something funny about trying to be funny. I needed a theory behind it in order to justify it at the time, but now I don’t. I see it for what it was. It was just fun, and it was stupid, and that’s why it was so successful.” – STEVE MARTIN 7

C H A R A CTE R S i n the underpants

theo maske Described as “a burly, muscular fireplug with a buzz cut,” Theo is a civil servant who is obsessed with being in control of his middle class life. He likes the house clean, the clock wound and maintains a cool relationship with his pretty wife, even delaying love-making until they can afford to have a child.

frank versati An elegant gentleman who is proud of being an unpublished poet,Versati declares himself passionately and permanently in love with Louise, but when given the chance to consummate their relationship, he writes a poem instead. Afterwards, he soon finds a new object for his ardor.

louise maske Very pretty and in her mid-twenties¸ Theo’s wife is a romantic dreamer who feels hurt that her husband is not intimate with her physically or emotionally. Relegated to being a wife and homemaker, she is bored and trapped like the caged bird in her apartment.

benjamin cohen Sickly, thin, 35, and asthmatic, Cohen is a barber who insists he’s not Jewish. He is also the other jealous suitor of Louise, a “prophylactic” who plans to prevent her union with Versati. Although Cohen is disrespected for his physical weakness, he is actually a voice of reason and the one person who is able to appraise himself and the other characters.

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gertrude deuter Forty-two and a busybody, Gertrude is Louise’s friend who considers herself a hopeless old maid and tries to satisfy her sexual and romantic longings by living vicariously through her young friend. She urges Louise to have an affair with Versati, promises to help her conceal the truth, and even sews Louise more alluring underpants. Her loyal friendship is tested by her own chance for an amorous liaison.

klinglehoff An elderly scientist, Klinglehoff is orderly and moralistic.

the king

S Y NO P S I S OF THE PLAY The Underpants is set in Dusseldorf, Germany in early 20th century.

The entire play takes place in the combined living room/kitchen of the flat of Theo and Louise Maske where a sign in the window reads “Room for Rent.”

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photo by t. charles erickson.

Flustered, Theo goes for a walk and Louise calls her friend Gertrude. Gertrude, “the mouth that lives upstairs”, has heard about the incident and is filled with giddy excitement. Louise expresses concern about Theo’s reaction which fuels Gertrude’s critical thoughts of Theo, whom she accuses of neglecting Louise sexually since they are still childless after about a year of marriage.

he play opens with Theo and Louise in heightened conversation about an incident that happened earlier that day: while at the King’s parade, Louise stood on tiptoe and her underpants fell down in broad daylight. Louise insists that no one noticed, but Theo is overcome with worry about how the situation will affect his reputation.

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S Y NO P S I S

continued

Gertrude leaves to get something for Louise. Frank Versati, an unpublished poet, enters and inquires about the room for rent, eventually blurting out his real reason for wanting the room: underpants – hers that morning.

Versati confesses he has just found his muse and from now on, will devote himself to her. Somewhat reluctant, Louise agrees to rent him the room.

is upset over him, kisses her dramatically and faints. As Louise rouses him,Versati enters. The two men argue over her, trading insults until Theo returns.

After dinner,Versati confides to Louise that he will take Theo out and get him drunk, and the Versati will return alone for their liaison. The three men argue at length about the nature of manhood until Versati suggests they go out for a drink. Cohen declines, and Versati exits with Theo. Alone with Cohen, Louise tricks him into taking a sleeping potion, and he goes to bed.

Confused, Louise discusses what just transpired with Gertrude who persuades Louise to have the affair. They soon hatch a plan for Louise to cheat on Theo while he is at work, and to make it exciting, Gertrude decides to make Louise more alluring underpants.

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In anticipation of Versati, Louise strips down to her undergarments and hears approaching footsteps.

To her surprise and dismay, Theo enters. Seeing her underwear, he exclaims, “What if a man came in!”

heo soon returns from his walk and brings with him Cohen, a tenant for their empty room. Theo quickly discovers that Louise already rented it for more money than he has and his thoughts turn to figuring out how to get a higher rent and keep his word to Cohen.

When Theo leaves the room, Cohen reveals to Louise his real purpose in moving in: he saw the underpants.

The next morning, Louise learns that Versati got drunk and disappeared. Deciding to go to church, Louise leaves.

Gertrude soon enters with a package containing Louise’s new underpants which excites Theo into propositioning her. As Theo goes to the bedroom, Gertrude realizes she cannot betray her friend. She exits, leaving the underwear package on the table.

When Versati arrives, Theo reveals his plan to divide the room and rent it to both men. When Theo exits with Versati, Louise demands that Cohen leave, but he has recognized Versati, sized up the situation, and threatens to tell Theo Versati’s true intent. With underpants on their minds, Cohen and Versati both agree to share the room, and Theo is thrilled to have two paying boarders.

Theo reemerges as Versati enters and excitedly reports he has met a woman who is now the object of his passion, care, and protection. He pays off the years’ rent and leaves. Shortly after Klinglehoff arrives and asks to rent the room. When Cohen learns that Versati has left, he declares he no longer wants to rent the room.

The next morning,Versati and Louise express their desire for each other, and she begs him to take her.

Instead, he rushes into his room to write a poem about it. Cohen returns from an errand, and mistaking Louise

Louise returns and discovers that Versati has found another woman. Louise assumes Klinglehoff wants to rent the room because he saw her underwear and at his refusal, she lifts her skirt to remind him, then becomes

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embarrassed as she realizes his pure intent. Theo enters and reminds Louise that it is their anniversary and, with the rental money, they can afford to procreate.

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he next morning, Cohen returns and talks with Louise. Cohen says that Versati was motivated by fantasy, Louise by romance, and he by jealousy.

Gertrude delivers a new pair of underwear with the pattern of the German flag. Klinglehoff, confused, salutes the underwear as another visitor arrives: the King. As they prostrate themselves, the King compliments Theo, promotes him, and asks to rent a room. When he leaves, Theo decides the King and Klinglehoff will share the room. He yells at Louise to ready the room. Louise says she will get to it “in her own time.”

KAISER WILHELM

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m • Who is the protagonist of this play? Why? Does he or she go through a significant change from the beginning to the end of the play? What is it?

• Who is the antagonist of this play? Defend your answer.

• What do you think Sternheim was trying to say to his audience when he wrote this play? Why did he choose to make it a comedy? Do you think the message changed when Steve Martin adapted it? Do you see modern themes in the play?

• After the show: What particular things do you remember about the show (lines, blocking, gags, etc) that make it a comedy? You may reference the Types of Comedy sheet on page 18 to help.

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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: s t e v e mar t i n

steve martin

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he multi-talented and extremely successful Steve Martin was born August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas. When he was five, Martin and his family moved to California where he grew up.

His father was a real estate salesman and an aspiring actor.

Martin developed his own taste for performing as a cheerleader at Garden Grove High School and at Disneyland, where he got his first job selling guidebooks. In his free time, he hung out at the Main Street Magic Shop where magic tricks were performed for customers. He soon learned some of the magic tricks and was hired as a magician.

After high school, Martin attended Santa Ana Junior College where he took classes in drama and English poetry. In his free time, he performed in comedies and other productions at the Bird Cage Theatre, and he joined a comedy troupe at Knott’s Berry farm.

He continued to develop comedy routines, often with friends.

by his classes, Martin considered becoming a professor instead of an actor-comedian. He said that majoring in philosophy changed his thoughts and beliefs, “Something about non-sequiturs appealed to me. In philosophy, I started studying logic, and they were talking about cause and effect, and you start to realize, ‘Hey, there is no cause and effect! There is no logic! There is no anything!’

Then it gets real easy to write this stuff, because all you have to do is twist everything hard—you twist the punch line, you twist the non sequitur so hard away from the things that set it up.”

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”

Martin next attended California State University, Long Beach, majoring in Philosophy. Inspired

Martin began to develop a psychology of humor. “What if there were no punch lines?” he asked himself. “What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax?

What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation.”

Later, Martin transferred to UCLA and switched his major to theater. While attending UCLA,

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“What is comedy?

Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.”

he appeared in an episode of The Dating Game. He began working local clubs at night, to mixed reviews, and, at twenty-one, he dropped out of college.

audience rating soared when he made guest appearances.

In the 1970s, his TV appearances led to the release of comedy albums that went platinum. His albums Let’s Get Small (1977) and A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978) both won Grammys for Best Comedy Recording. A Wild and Crazy Guy reached the No. 2 spot on the U.S. sales chart, selling over a million copies and the saying “Just a wild and crazy guy” became one of his national catch phrases.

In 1967, Martin started writing for the The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. His work grew as he wrote for many of the popular TV shows of the time, and, in 1969, he appeared on The Steve Allen Show, the first of many TV appearances to come. Of one such appearance, Martin says: “I looked grotesque. I had a hairdo like a helmet, which I blow-dried to a puffy bouffant, for reasons I no longer understand. I wore a frock coat and a silk shirt, and my delivery was mannered, slow and self-aware. I had absolutely no authority. After reviewing the show, I was depressed for a week.”

At this time, Martin had developed a huge following and was performing stand-up for sold-out stadiums, but his real ambition was film. At the height of his stand-up popularity, he transformed into this new area of performance. His first substantial film appearance was in a short titled The Absent-Minded Waiter (1977), written by and starring Martin. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Film, Live Action.

In his first substantial feature film appearance he sang The Beatles’ “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” in the musical Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 1979, Martin co-wrote and starred in the comedy The Jerk, which

Martin opened for groups such as The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and The Carpenters, doing his comedic routines, and he continued to write, winning an Emmy nomination for his work on Van Dyke and Company in 1976. In the mid-1970s, he made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Saturday Night Live (SNL), and other shows. SNL’s

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S t e v e mar t i n

grossed over $100 million, and launched his film career.

continued

play Picasso at the Lapin Agile in 1993. The first reading of the play took place at his home with Tom Hanks reading the title role.

The play opened in Chicago and went on to run successfully in Los Angeles, New York City and several other US cities. In 2002, he adapted the Carl Sternheim play The Underpants, which ran Off Broadway at Classic Stage Company. He wrote the novellas Shopgirl (2000), which was made into a feature film, and The Pleasure of My Company (2003). In 2007, he published a memoir, Born Standing Up, which Time magazine ranked as number six on the list of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007. In 2010, he published the novel An Object of Beauty.

Other notable movies Martin has appeared in include: Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid;The Man with Two Brains; All of Me; ¡Three Amigos!; Little Shop of Horrors; Planes,Trains and Automobiles; Roxanne; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Parenthood; My Blue Heaven; L.A. Story; Grand Canyon; Father of the Bride and its sequel; Housesitter;The Spanish Prisoner; Bowfinger;The-Out-ofTowners; Bringing Down the House; Cheaper By the Dozen and its sequel; Shopgirl;The Pink Panther and its sequel; Baby Mama; It’s Complicated; and The Big Year.

By 2003, Martin ranked fourth on the box office stars list, after starring in Bringing Down The House and Cheaper By The Dozen, each of which earned over $130 million at U.S. theaters. The two Pink Panther moves grossed over $230 million at the box office. In 2009, The Guardian listed Martin as one of the best actors never to receive an Oscar nomination.

Martin’s many awards include an Emmy, multiple Grammys, and A Lifetime Achievement Award from American Comedy Awards. He has also been honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, a Disney Legend Award, and the 30th Annual Kennedy Center Honors. He is listed 6th on Comedy Central’s 100 Greatest Stand Up Comics of All Time. He has also won Grammys and other accolades for his banjo playing, including the 2011 International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainer of the Year. He took up banjo playing at 17 and initially worked it into his comedy routines and songs. He has released an album and tours throughout the country with Steep Canyon Rangers and Edie Brickell.

In 1988, Martin appeared as Vladimir in a revival of Waiting for Godot at Lincoln Center with Robin Williams as Estragon. He has also hosted or co-hosted the Academy Awards three times, and, in 2005, he co-hosted Disneyland:The First 50 Magical Years.

While performing, Martin has continued to write for film, theatre, literature, and other forms. His film writing included Roxanne (an adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac which won him a Writers Guild of America, East award), LA Story and Bowfinger - all of which he also starred in – and he co-wrote and produced the spy thriller film Traitor. He wrote his first full length

When asked if there was a grand plan to his lateblooming music career, he responded, “Absolutely not. It was a total accident. My whole life is an accident!”

“Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.” from Steve Martin’s book, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life 14

“Chaos in the midst of chaos isn’t funny, but chaos in the midst of order is.”

Class Clown Makes Good Steve Martin got an early start in comedy, according to Morris Walker, his childhood friend and author of Steve Martin:The Magic Years.

Morris reminisces that the two boys were partners in “crime,” doing things like going into school before it opened to put “Closed” signs on all the bathroom doors -- a prank that was not discovered until much of the student body and faculty was writhing in discomfort.

In sixth grade, the boys were challenged -- and inspired -- by the venerable yardstick-wielding Mrs. Miller. On Columbus day the class arrived to see written on the blackboard a questions they were supposed to be prepared to answer when she returned: “WHAT HAPPENED 458 YEARS AGO TODAY?” Martin had just enough time to organize the entire class before Mrs. Miller returned. As she strode into the room, they greeted by standing and belting out, “Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday Mrs. Miller. Happy Birthday to you!”

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m Do you know who Steve Martin is?

What have you seen him in?

How would you describe his comic style?

Sources: Steve Martin: The Magic Years By Morris W. Walker Born Standing Up By Steve Martin http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/steve_martin/biography.html http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/steve-martin/biography/118 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000188/ http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/40968/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/funny-martin-200802.html##ixzz0wdmDQ0Bs http://www.believermag.com/issues/200505/?read=interview_martin http://wp.me/pGVzJ-lw http://tdn.com/lifestyles/play-review-the-underpants-is-funny-lighthearted/article_82f85bed-c60b-58eb-a580-d475a2b44888.html

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comedy is har d w o r k

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arly on Steve Martin billed himself as a “wild and crazy guy,” but his comedy was actually carefully controlled and calculated. As a teenager performing magic tricks for the Cub Scouts and Kiwanis, he kept detailed notes about each performance, including notes to himself like, “Relax. Don’t shake.” As a professional, he studied tapes of his performances and meticulously eliminated errors.

He also studied why people laughed, when they laughed, and how long they laughed. He began formulating his unique brand of comedy in college when he noticed that with conventional stand-up the audience is programmed to laugh at the punch line.

“What bothered me about this formula was the nature of the laugh it inspired, a vocal acknowledgment that a joke had been told, like automatic applause at the end of a song,” he writes.

He decided to dispense with the punch line, to head for the climax, but never deliver it. He figured the audience would finally vent their pent-up laughter when they chose to.

To test my idea, I went onstage and began: “I’d like to open up with sort of a ‘funny comedy bit.’This has really been a big one for me...it’s the one that put me where I am today. I’m sure most of you will recognize the title when I mention it; it’s the “Nose on Microphone” routine [pause for imagined applause]. And it’s always funny, no matter how many times you see it.”

I leaned in and placed my nose on the mike for a few long seconds.Then I stopped and took several bows, saying, “Thank you very much.” “That’s it?” they thought.Yes, that was it.The laugh came not then, but only after they realized I had already moved on to the next bit.

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m Gordon Edelstein, the Artistic Director of Long Wharf Theatre and the director of The Underpants, contends “that Steve Martin, even at his most ridiculous, has a seriousness to him. This unique capability to mix silly with smart has long been Martin’s key to success…He combines complete goofball, sometimes it’s even stupid, with a smartness.”

What are the serious or smart issues in The Underpants? How do you think comedy will help talk about these issues?

Sources: http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/40968/ http://www.success.com/articles/1381-steve-martin-the-method-to-his-madness

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c arl s t e r n h e im

Carl Sternheim was a German playwright and short story writer who wrote Die Hose in 1910.

Sternheim was important among the German Expressionists especially because he ridiculed the moral awareness of the emerging middle class. In 1912, he relocated with his family to Belgium, and, in 1918, they fled the fighting of World War I and temporarily moved to Switzerland. Eventually, the Nazi authorities banned Sternheim’s work not only because of his partial Jewish ethnicity but also because of his unrelenting comedic attacks on the perceived moral corruption of the German bourgeoisie. By then, he had left his homeland for good, and he died in Brussels during World War II.

The Nazi authorities banned Sternheim’s work not only because of his partial Jewish ethnicity but also because of his unrelenting comedic attacks on the perceived moral corruption of the German bourgeoisie.

Sternheim was born in Germany 1878 to a father who was a Jewish banker and a mother who was a Lutheran from a working-class family.

He attended three universities studying philosophy and psychology but never graduated. In 1900, he began working as a freelance writer.

Sternheim had multiple spouses throughout his life.

His second wife, also a writer, gave him two children and wealth brought from her rich manufacturing family. Although the couple eventually divorced, this wealth allowed Sternheim to work in the company of fellow artists such as Mechtilde Lichnowsky, Max Reinhardt, and Frank Wedekind, and assemble his own art collection. In 1908, he collaborated with Franz Blei to launch an Expressionist literary journal, which published the first eight prose works by Franz Kafka.

He also wrote for a journal that promoted literary Expressionism and stood for left-wing politics. In 1915, he presented the prize money for a writing prize to Kafka, who was not yet famous.

Sternheim’s works remain popular in Germany, but English language productions of them are rare. Die Hose premiered in 1911 and sparked quite a scandal from its vulgar and bold criticism of the German middle class, which led to a temporary ban on the play. The play was adapted into the 1927 film The Trousers (Die Hose), a German silent film. In 2002, Steve Martin adapted Die Hose into The Underpants.

Sources: Dictionary of Literary Biography

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i t i s a laughi n g ma t t e r : t yp e s a n d t o o l s o f c o m e d y Comedy is a serious form of art that has its own set of definitions and tools of the trade.

Here are some definitions you should know: Comedy is a type of drama produced mainly to interest and amuse. The characters and their situations arouse our delighted interest instead of profound concern, because we feel like nothing horrible will happen and it will end happily.

Pun is a play on words that sound alike (homonyms) or similar, but are different in meaning.

Double entendre is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is meant to be understood in either of two ways. Typically, one way is obvious and the other is more subtle and often sexually suggestive and conveying a message that would be awkward or offensive to say directly.

Double entendres often use puns to convey the second meaning.

Burlesque imitates a serious matter or literary work but in a ridiculous way. The burlesque can be just for laughs or it can be a form of satire that ridicules what it is imitating.

Wit refers to a verbal expression that is brief, deft and intentionally contrived to produce a shock of comic surprise. The surprise usually happens when the listener suddenly “gets” an unforeseen connection or distinction between words or concepts. Example: “The only sure way to double your money is to fold it and put it in your hip pocket.”

Satiric comedy attacks social customs and manners by making them and the people who uphold them appear ridiculous and repellant.

Farce is a type of comedy designed to provoke “belly laughs” from the audience. It does this by using highly exaggerated and ludicrous situations, and by using broad verbal humor and physical horseplay. Examples include the work of Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, and The Three Stooges.

Repartee is a term taken from fencing that refers to a contest of wits in which each person tries to cap the remark of the other or to turn it to serve his or her own purpose.

High comedy evokes thoughtful or intellectual laughter from the audience, but they remain emotionally detached.

Humor can refer to comic speech or behavior. It is a broader term than wit, which is always verbal and intentional. Beyond speech, we can find humor in the way a character looks, dresses and acts and in all sorts of situations.

Low comedy makes little or no intellectual appeal, but arouses laughter from jokes, gags, slapstick humor or clownish activity – so it is a component of farce.

From A Glossary of Literary Terms by M.H. Abrams

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I n t h e Cla s s r o o m Comedy in The Underpants First and foremost, The Underpants is a comedy. As Martin says, the original play was “ribald, satirical, self-referential and quirky,” and he tried to keep it that way in his adaptation. Read the following excerpts from The Underpants and discuss. Are they funny? Why or why not? Use the appropriate terms to identify what type of comedy each is and whether wordplay is used. my business.

THEO: Yes it is.

*** While her husband is away, Louise and Gertrude plan Louise’s affair with Versati.

Louise: He is above me… he looks into my eyes and says….

Enter Theo Theo: Is the sausage in the oven?

*** Cohen and Versati spar verbally: VERSATI: Who are you?

COHEN: I, sir, am your prophylactic.

VERSATI: Oh, really!

COHEN: And, you might as well know, she has no interest in you.

VERSATI: Tell it to Sappho, you nitwit.

COHEN: I’m a nitwit? You don’t have a wit to nit with!

VERSATI: Cohen, you’re mad!

COHEN: He’s here under false pretenses.

VERSATI: How can a pretense be otherwise?

COHEN: Don’t wordsmith me! (To Louise) I’ve read his poetry, it creaks.

*** Theo gives Louise strict orders as to how she will assist their boarders. Later he scolds her.

Theo:You did a sloppy job mending my suspenders. I hope you’re not servicing these men at my expense. *** Gertrude enters and addresses Louise.

Gertrude: I just came from a play by Sternheim.Very funny.

Louise: Should I see it?

Gertrude: Wait till it’s adapted.

VERSATI: Like your knees.

COHEN:You die your hair!

VERSATI: I do not!

COHEN:You do too!

VERSATI: Don’t COHEN: I dyed it.

VERSATI: Well so did Wagner!

COHEN: (Impressed) Wagner dyed your hair?

VERSATI: No, Wagner dyed his own hair.

COHEN: Never!

VERSATI: Absolutely.

COHEN: Wagner wore a wig! Oops! (He wasn’t supposed to reveal that. Cohen covers his mouth.)

*** Theo propositions Gertrude then says: Theo: I’m going to take off my pants. When you come in, I’ll have a little surprise for you.

Getrude: Little? *** Louise is stripped down to her underwear, waiting for Versati.Theo enters instead.

Theo: What if a man came in! *** KLINGLEHOFF: I suffer from constipation, but that’s

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T H E M ES I N THE UNDERPANTS Beneath sexual intrigue, puns and bathroom humor, The Underpants deals with serious themes.

Gender Roles: What is Proper?

Life Values: Hidden Desire vs. Responsibility

VERSATI: Duty? Is that all you think about? What about the softness of the serving hand? The warm cradle of the female caress? Frock with frills and polka dots?

THEO:You know what Versati? You sound like a woman. These are not manly thoughts. A man does not think of polka dots.

VERSATI: I am a man who lives on the poetic side of life.

THEO: A man wields an ax. A man hews wood. He pisses against a wall. He shoots birds from the air with pellets. He does not put on brocaded cuff links and stroll into a garden to write poetry.

VERSATI: Many men have.

THEO:Yes, I’ve seen these sensitive “men” singing their hearts out on the stage, crooning love songs, weeping over their lady loves. Why would a woman want a man who acts like a woman? Let women go off and write poetry and stand on the stage singing of their broken heart. Men, strong, vital men, should be at their desks, stamping documents, filing files and going home at five o’clock.

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.

There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

– Henry David Thoreau, Walden The main characters in The Underpants might be said to be leading “lives of quiet desperation.” They are going about their business and living responsibly until a freak incident, the random untying of a knot, unleashes a torrent of hidden desires that drives them to “do desperate things.”

Before she drops her underpants, Louise does her duty as a housewife, but escapes into her daydreams whenever she can. She is hurt that Theo scorns her for this, sadly recollecting, “You used to like my reveries.” Her underpants incident creates an opportunity for her to act on her romantic dreams and she decides to take it.

As Theo proudly delivers these last lines, it is clear to all but him that he woefully fails to live up to his own image of what a man should be. And yet, when Versati argues that:

Gertrude knows she is an old maid and confesses, “Oh the thought of having a lover, someone who wants me.”

Louise’s underpants incident creates an opportunity for Gertrude to experience some aspect of sexual excitement by living vicariously through her friend. She undertakes this task with enthusiasm and is surprised and tempted when she has her own chance at a verboten affair.

“A man is only what he contributes to the human race. The heroes are the thinkers, poets and the musicians. And the layperson is only important to the degree that he knows them.”

Theo counters with a surprisingly thoughtful definition of the essential act of manhood. He says, “A man, a real man, takes care of someone.”

Cohen says he has been “a solitary person, shunned almost all his life.” Being on the ground and seeing Louise when her underpants fell gave him “a new companion” – his desire for Louise. He is willing to relocate, spend his wealth and risk his health in order to be near Louise.

This moment of sensitivity is quickly overshadowed by the realization that Theo has a double standard with regard to marital fidelity. He argues that it is wrong for a woman to have an extramarital affair because it “hurts the family.” Yet he believes it okay for a man to have an affair, and somewhat shockingly, he propositions Louise’s friend Gertrude and apparently has no qualms about it.

Versati is an unpublished poet and a gentleman.Yet, one glimpse of Louise during her underpants incident inspires him to go to any length to be near her, even renting half a room in her modest home.

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Theo is the counterpoint to these characters (who also include the King himself). He is content to have descended from “a long line of government clerks” and to live a life of mediocrity claiming, “I like where I am. In the middle. I’m proud to have done no better.” He loves the regularity of his work, a clean house, a wound clock.

When Versati cries, “So eat, sleep, work. That’s your life.

And where does it all end?” Theo responds contentedly, “With a pension.” His worldview is summed up in his statement, “If everyone just did their duty and nothing else, the world would be a better place.”

Cohen decides to return home, saying “My normal life wasn’t so bad.”

Moment of Fame and the Search for Significance As those who lead lives of quiet desperation, Louise, Gertrude, Cohen and Versati yearn for significance and meaning. Their passionate involvement in the underpants incident provides a welcome distraction, but it is brief.

The thirst for unbridled passion and the sensational may be a result of the human desire to be distracted from more painful thoughts about life. Theo comments on this as the excitement about the Loch Ness monster dies down:

Yet, even Theo respects the power of hidden desire. He says, “Flesh speaks to men from under caftans, under furs, from igloos. There’s always a small voice calling: I am here.” He is annoyed by the attractiveness of his wife and the incident with her underpants, which symbolize the sexual desires that are hidden beneath the surface of human beings and threaten to make his world spiral out of control.

“The Monster in the Loch Ness has gone vanished.

The crowds come and go quickly. To move to the next sensational thing.”

For Louise, the return to normalcy leaves her feeling empty and missing her moment in the limelight. She says, “My fame is gone. I was so desired. But over nothing.”

Once again, it is Cohen who provides the wise conclusion: “You have real worth Louise. But our eyes were drawn to the dirt.”

For Theo, this hidden desire is also symbolized by the local uproar over the Loch Ness Monster. Commenting on a newspaper account, he says, “The unexplainable makes me nervous… Monsters in a lake. All is calm on the surface, but watch out for what’s underneath. That’s where the danger lies. Under. Under. Underpants!”

In the end, it seems that Theo, despite being a cad, is not all wrong.Versati, the true romantic is shown to be a buffoon. His corny poetry – “Once in place, love never breaks, it is ever fix-ed on to the fixing place” – is meaningless because he turns out to be so fickle.

In the Cla s s r o o m

When Versati’s passion amounts to nothing, Louise realizes her romantic dreams are silly. She seems to settle for fidelity to her husband and the possibility of having children. Gertrude chooses to remain loyal to her friend instead of having a sexual fling.

The Underpants is a comedy, but it is also a meditation on fame. Louise is famous for essentially nothing—she did not earn her fame with hard work or skill; she was just part of a scandalous event. What connects can you make between Louise and famous people (such as Kim Kardashian) today? What do you think Martin and Sternheim are saying about fame?

Cohen seems to have the best grasp on what has occurred when he explains to Louise: “This event, the failure of a knot in a string, catapulted us into rare air.

Our desires became disconnected from the earth.Versati motivated by fantasy, myself motivated by jealousy.Your mind clouded by romance.”

But the pleasure of this such madness cannot last.

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A D A P T A T I ON : THE ART OF BORROWING

A

daptation is common in nature but also in the world of art and literature. In that context, it occurs whenever someone re-tells a story – or part of a story – a different way. This may involve adapting the work from one genre or medium to another, such as turning a novel into a film. Or it may involve updating a story from an earlier period in history. In fact, there is no limit to the types of adaptations that are possible and to one degree or another, “all art is bred of other art,” according to essayist Linda Hutcheon.

audience is not. Martin explains: “In a sociopolitical play like Sternheim’s The Underpants, meanings change through time. What was relevant then is historical now. And what was tangential then can become central. I chose not to present the play as historic artifact. I decided to uncork the genie that Sternheim had place in the bottle – the genie that makes the play relevant to our age. In doing so, I have had to subordinate some themes in the original and emphasize others…”

In the Cla s s r o o m

Steve Martin entered into this process when he adapted The Underpants from a 1910 German comic play.

Although he tried to be true to the original version, keeping the same general plot, themes and tone, Martin says it is not easy to do so. He writes:

Discussion Questions: • In the original play, Theo beats his wife with a stick. In Martin’s adaptation, he does not, although he is verbally rude and sarcastic. Why do you think Martin chose to eliminate the physical violence?

• What do you think the audience of 1910 would think of Martin’s version of the play? What, if anything, would seem strange or upsetting to them?

“In other adaptations I have done – Cyrano de Bergerac became the film Roxanne and Silas Marner became the film A Simple Twist of Fate – I have come to understand that however true I intend to remain to the original text, the adaptation is continuously influenced, altered, and redefined by modern times.

Each time, the process has taken me through the stages of a failing marriage: fidelity, transgression, and finally separation.”

One problem is that even though the setting is the same – both versions are set in 1910 Dusseldorf – the

Di d yo u r ea d th e b o o k ?

Here are some of the most popular book-to-film adaptations: 1. To Kill a Mockingbird Director: Robert Mulligan (1962) Adapted by Horton Foote from Harper Lee’s 1960 novel

3. Blade Runner Director: Ridley Scott (1982) Adapted by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples from the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick When Dick remarked that the rough cut of Blade Runner looked exactly as he hoped it would, Scott replied that he had never actually read the book.

2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Director: Milos Forman (1975) Adapted by Bo Goldman and Lawrence Hauben from the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey By downplaying the book’s emphasis on drugs, Forman earned the author’s lifelong enmity. Kesey disowned the movie and went to his grave without ever having seen it.

4. The Godfather Director: Francis Ford Coppola (1972) Adapted by Mario Puzo from his 1969 novel

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from the novel and incorporates elements from other Ellroy novels.

5. The Remains of the Day Director: James Ivory (1993) Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the 1989 novel

by Kazuo Ishiguro

10. Brokeback Mountain Director: Ang Lee (2005) Adapted by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry from the 1997 short story by E Annie Proulx

6. Kes Director: Ken Loach (1969) Adapted by Tony Garnett from the 1968 novel A Kestrel For a Knave by Barry Hines

In the Cla s s r o o m

7. Apocalypse Now Director: Francis Ford Coppola (1979) Adapted by Coppola and John Milius from the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad A Vietnam-era update of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

• Can you think of other bookto-film adaptations? What about play-to-film or animationto-musical? Make individual lists and then compare with your classmates.

Do you think there are more adaptations or original movie scripts?

• What book or play that you have read would you like to see adapted? Why do you think it would make a good movie? What would you change? What would you keep the same?

8. The Shawshank Redemption Director: Frank Darabont (1994) Adapted by Darabont from the 1982 short story Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King 9. LA Confidential Director: Curtis Hanson (1997) Adapted by Hanson and Brian Helgeland from the 1990 novel by James Ellroy The film omits many minor characters and subplots

SOURCE: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/jun/02/filmadaptations1

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A D A P T A T I ON

continued

Sh a k e s pe are ’ s rome o and ju li et?

One of the most adapted pieces of literature of all time is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In fact, Shakespeare himself adapted his play from a poem by Arthur Brooks called Romeus and Juliet.

style film, classical Hollywood film, and short film. Some examples: • 1908: Romeo and Juliet, a silent film made by Vitagraph Studios and directed by J. Stuart Blackton. In 1912, Vitagraph released another silent film directed by Lawrence Trimble called Indian Romeo and Juliet, a Western.

So it is fitting that the story has been reborn across many media and genres, sometimes with the same basic story outline or sometimes just sharing more subtle underlying themes. Here is a small sample:

• 1936: Romeo and Juliet, produced by Irving Thalberg and directed by George Cukor. Received a number of Academy Awards even though Norma Shearer as Juliet and Leslie Howard as Romeo were older adults, not teenagers.

Musicals: West Side Story; Moulin Rouge Films loosely based on R&J: Grease; High School Musical Opera: Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod (1867); Butterfly Lovers (Chinese)

• 1961: West Side Story was adapted from the musical and directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. It was set in a 1960s New York City gang culture and was loosely based on the story of Romeo and Juliet, with the Montagues becoming the Anglo Jets and the Capulets the Puerto Rican Sharks. The film attacked racism and won 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Ballet: Romeo and Juliet (Op. 64) Prokofiev Games: The Sims 2 features Veronaville, where Romeo Monty and Juliette Capp fall in love.

Literary Adaptations: Ann-Marie MacDonald’s awardwinning play Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (1990); Loretta Chase, The Devil’s Delilah; Georgette Heyer, Sprig Muslin; Edith Layton, False Angel; Elizabeth Mansfield, Matched Pairs; Joan Smith, Lover’s Vows; Margaret Summerville, The Improper Playwright; and Marlene Suson, The Fair Imposter; Gideon Sims’s late 70s novella The Punk:The First Romeo and Juliet with Safety Pins

• 1968: Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

Filmed in Italy, it won Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Costume design, and was nominated for Best Director and Best Picture.

• 1996: Romeo + Juliet, directed by Baz Luhrmann, filmed in Mexico, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the title roles. Edgy updating of the story that includes a new ending.

Film: There have been over forty movie versions of Romeo and Juliet in a number of different languages. The range of adaptations includes silent film, pulp film, MTV-

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• 1996: Love Is All There Is, starring Angelina Jolie and Lannie Kazan, is a comic and lighthearted take on Romeo and Juliet that takes place in the Bronx, New York and involves two Italian immigrant families who own opposing restaurants.

In the Cla s s r o o m

• 1996: Tromeo and Juliet, directed by Lloyd Kaufman.

Set in Manhattan with Tromeo as a cyber-porn addict and Juliet as a vegetarian whose father keeps her locked away most of the time to molest her. The rest of the Capulet family consists of pierced and tattooed hellraisers, hardcore punk rockers, nymphomaniacs, and outrageous authority figures.

• Select a scene from Romeo & Juliet for a class reading. Have students re-write the scene, setting it in another time, place or culture. Students can work alone or in groups and they can act out the scenes when done.

• Have students compare a book they read to the film version. What is the same? What is different? How do these differences affect each work?

• 2000: Romeo Must Die, directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, with Jet Li as Han Ling (the Romeo of the story) who is out to avenge his brother’s murder. He meets and eventually falls in love with Trish O’Day (the Juliet of the story, played by Aaliyah) who is the daughter of a rival American mob boss. That is the extent of the plot connection to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

• 2005: West Bank Story, set in the contemporary West Bank, is a musical comedy parody based on West Side Story.West Bank Story won the 2006 best Live Action Short at the Academy Awards (Oscars). Set in the fastfood world of competing falafel stands in the West Bank, the movie tells the story of David, an Israeli soldier who falls in love with Fatima, the beautiful Palestinian cashier, despite the animosity between their families’ dueling restaurants.

SOURCES: http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/ http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0705/01-hutcheon.php

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WORLD OF THE PLAY

“Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way.”

– STEVE MARTIN

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c augh t i n t h e mi d d l e : w o m e n ’ s c ha n gi n g r o l e i n 1 9 1 0 men are also defined, stifled and confused by society’s expectations for them. As a woman in 1910 German society, Louise Maske was caught in the clash of two opposing ideals about women. From the mid-1800s, Victorian ideals had defined the lives of women in the U.S. and Europe. But by the turn of the century, these ideals were giving way to more progressive views of women. As demonstrated in The Underpants, many women in 1910 – and the men they lived with – were caught in the middle.

Women’s roles in The Underpants Using humor, exaggeration – and deep emotion – The Underpants tackles the theme of gender roles. In 1910 Germany, as the Victorian ideal of womanhood was giving way to modern notions of a woman’s role. Louise Maske is portrayed as a woman miserably trapped in the tedious role of being a dutiful wife in a loveless marriage.

She cooks and cleans, but it is never enough for her demanding husband who treats her in a businesslike way.

He is critical and sarcastic, and, except for their wedding night, he refuses to have sex with her until he thinks they can afford to have a child. When that day finally arrives, his announcement of this “joyful” news highlights his total disregard for her as a person with feelings and the dreariness of Louise’s role: THEO: I send you a kiss in celebration. We can start in a few minutes. It shouldn’t take long. Every evening before supper until the job is done. Oh and by the way, I want the pork chop rare! Put butter on it.

(He paces about the room.)

The dishes need washing. The clock needs winding.

The floor needs cleaning.You should see the priest every Sunday and midweek, too, for a while. Whoa, I’ve got gas.

Louise yearns for something different. Like the caged bird in her apartment, she often sits looking wistfully out the window. She resents being called a “little housewife” and lets Theo and the other men know it. When the opportunity for romance unexpectedly enters her life, she reaches for it.Yet she discovers painfully that she cannot find fulfillment in a relationship with a man. And as the play ends, we have hope that she has begun to redefine her role.

The Victorian Woman “Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations.” – Queen Victoria • T he Victorian Era was named for the reign of Britain’s Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901.Victorian ideals influenced all of western society, including Europe and the U.S. • Increasing industrialization and urbanization meant that the home and workplace were more separate than before. The man’s sphere of activity and influence was seen to be in the public spheres of business, politics and sociability. The woman’s was considered to be in the home as a wife and mother. Over time, this expanded to include charitable service.

THEO: Louise, go and get ready the King’s room!

(She turns to him but doesn’t move.)

Louise, I said get the King’s room ready!

(She stands, walks to her room.)

LOUISE: (In control.)

In my own good time.

(She strolls to the bedroom.Theo stands shocked.

Gertrude smiles. Blackout.)

If Louise is trapped in a stereotypical role, The Underpants demonstrates, in comic terms, that the

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• T his didn’t mean the ideal woman led a life of leisure.

She was expected to be pious, respectable and busy caring for her home and family and devoted to her husband. She was not the weak, passive creature of romantic fiction but a busy, able and upright figure who drew strength from her moral superiority and whose virtue was manifested in the service of others.

• The home was a haven from the outside world and for those who could afford it, the home was decorated with plush fabrics, heavy curtains and ornate furnishings that created a sheltered cocoon-like environment. Middle class families often had a servant, as well as comfortable furnishings and clothing.

• Women’s clothing reflected the idea of a woman’s separation from the world of work and her physical identity as a woman. The hips, buttocks and breasts were exaggerated with crinolines, hoopskirts and corsets that nipped in the waist and thrust out the breasts. It was difficult to move freely wearing corsets that made it hard to breathe and heavy fabrics that encumbered the legs.

• There was much social pressure for women to be good wives and household managers. Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, first published in 1861 and a bestseller for over 50 years, contained advice on how to become the perfect housewife and how to create a domestic interior that provided a welcoming haven for the man of the house. In 1890 The Christian Miscellany and Family Visitor (a religious magazine) wrote in its “Hints for Home Life” column: “She [the housewife] is the architect of home, and it depends on her skill, her foresight, her soft arranging touches whether it shall be the ‘lodestar to all hearts’, or whether it shall be a house from which husband and children are glad to escape either to the street, the theatre, or the tavern.”

• Maintaining a middle-class household required hard physical labor, mostly carried out by the woman of the house, sometimes helped by a female servant.

Tasks included fetching and boiling water, washing and ironing clothes, washing and scrubbing floors, and preparing food. Although ready-made clothing became available, underclothes were still made by hand. Few families had flushing toilets.

• In working class families, women often had to include in their duties paid work that they could do at home.

• Motherhood was idealized and seen as a “sweet

vocation,” a woman’s highest achievement and greatest form of fulfillment. Middle class women spent time with their children, breast-feeding them, playing with them, and educating them. Childless women were pitied.

• Motherhood also came to be seen as a social responsibility. For working class women who lived in conditions that led to high infant mortality rates, this often meant that they were blamed if their children got sick or died.

• Middle-class women left their homes to help the poor and teach them how to manage their own homes. They got involved in charity for poor women and children, promoted temperance and taught Sunday school.

As women organized and ran various philanthropic organizations, many began to realize that they had little power to promote real improvements in society. Over time, many of these women began to demand better education and employment opportunities for middleclass women, better working conditions and wages for working-class women, and the right to vote. They wanted to have some influence over their fate.

• For many women in Victorian England, the ideal of the happy home was not reality. It was only in 1891 that women were told that they could not be forced to live with a man if they did not want to. But because nearly all women were reliant on their husbands for a source of money, many women did live in miserable marriages. Many wives could not leave their husbands even if they wanted to, simply because they did not have the financial independence that was needed to survive at the time. Also a divorced woman was shunned by society and treated as an outcast. With these obstacles, many women were forced to stay in unhappy marriages.

The Modern Woman Emerges • T he status of women in Europe and the U.S. was changing rapidly by the early 1900s. The reform movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries questioned many societal rules including the traditionally accepted role of the woman as a Victorian wife. Rebellious women fought for the right to vote, and create a “new” or “modern” image for females; however, for the most part, middle-class white married women still did not work outside the home.

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C A U G H T I N T H E M I DD L E

• W omen workers were primarily young and single, or widows, divorcees, poor married women, and/or women of color. In addition, most women continued to work in agriculture, in factories, and as domestic servants. African American women, in particular, worked as domestic servants in large numbers. But new jobs for women in department stores and for middle class women, clerical jobs (typists, clerks and telephone operators) also became available.

• As more middle and upper class women graduated from college, some entered white-collar professions.

Although some of women became lawyers, doctors,

continued

journalists, and scientists, many professional women remained single.

• By 1900, women were wearing at-home gowns with minimal corseting and a long, slim shape. In 1908, a French designer began designing women’s clothes for an uncorseted figure. Between 1908 and the end of the 1920s, the tubular silhouette, which emphasized slimness and the body’s natural motions, was fashionable. The clothes were softer in line and followed a woman’s body rather than forcing the body to conform to clothing as previous designers had done.

About Women’s Underpants

D

uring the 19th century, drawers (underpants) developed from the long full length undergarment that could be seen at the hem of the dress into a knee length loose knicker-like undergarment, closed at the center back or at both the front and back of the waist.

They came in both open girth and closed girth variety, with the open considered more convenient and sanitary. These were usually cotton or linen with trimmings found at the hems in lace, tucks and white work. They went out of fashion as skirts slimmed down in the 1900s and the voluminous underwear of the Victorian age metamorphosed into the slim bra, panties and slips of the 1920s.

Amelia Jenks Bloomer championed the wear of Turkish inspired blouson pants. She designed the larger loose fitting drawers named bloomers. Bloomer was a famed women’s suffragist and a social trendsetter, and some sources attribute the invention of the bloomer to her, but most mention that she popularized and /or inspired them and her invention is mere social lore. In any case, the style caught on, and Gibson girls liked the bloomers for their free style when bicycling and playing tennis. These bloomers were intended as outerwear, not as undergarments. http://vintagefashionguild.org/lingerie-guide/panties/

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“ A really good housekeeper is almost always unhappy.While she does so much for the comfort of others, she nearly ruins her own health and life. It is because she cannot be easy and comfortable when there is the least disorder or dirt to be seen.” The Household, January 1884

The Path of the Women’s Rights Movement in the U.S. founded, the first organization in the US to advocate women’s suffrage.

1848 The world’s first women’s rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, NY, July 19-20. A Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions is debated and signed by 68 women and 32 men, setting the agenda for the women’s rights movement that followed.

1868 The National Labor Union supports equal pay for equal work.

1868 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan Anthony begin publishing The Revolution, an important women’s movement periodical.

1849 Elizabeth Smith Miller appears on the streets of Seneca Falls, NY, in “turkish trousers,” soon to be known as “bloomers.”

1870 For the first time in the history of jurisprudence, women serve on juries in the Wyoming Territory.

1849 Amelia Jenks Bloomer publishes and edits Lily, the first prominent women’s rights newspaper.

1870 Iowa is the first state to admit a woman to the bar: Arabella Mansfield.

1850 Quaker physicians establish the Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, PA to give women a chance to learn medicine. The first women graduated under police guard.

1870 The 15th Amendment receives final ratification.

By its text, women are not specifically excluded from the vote. During the next two years, approximately 150 women will attempt to vote in almost a dozen different jurisdictions from Delaware to California.

1855 Lucy Stone becomes first woman on record to keep her own name after marriage, setting a trend among women who are consequently known as “Lucy Stoners.”

1872 Through the efforts of lawyer Belva Lockwood, Congress passes a law to give women federal employees equal pay for equal work.

1872 Charlotte E. Ray, Howard University law school graduate, becomes first African-American woman admitted to the US bar.

1855 The University of Iowa becomes the first state school to admit women.

1855 In Missouri v. Celia, a Black slave is declared property without right to defense against a master’s act of rape.

1873 Bradwell v. Illinois: Supreme Court affirms that states can restrict women from the practice of any profession to uphold the law of the Creator.

1859 American Medical Association announces opposition to abortion. In 1860, Connecticut is the first state to prohibit all abortions, both before and after quickening.

1873 Congress passes the Comstock Law, defining contraceptive information as “obscene material.”

1877 Helen Magill is the first woman to receive a Ph.D. at a US school, a doctorate in Greek from Boston University.

1859 The birth rate continues its downward spiral as reliable condoms become available. By the late 1900s, women will raise an average of only two or three children.

1878 The Susan B. Anthony Amendment, to grant women the vote, is first introduced in the US Congress.

1860 Of 2,225,086 Black women, 1,971,135 are held in slavery. In San Francisco, about 85% of Chinese women are essentially enslaved as prostitutes.

1884 Belva Lockwood, presidential candidate of the National Equal Rights Party, is the first woman to receive votes in a presidential election (appx. 4,000 in six states).

1866 14th Amendment is passed by Congress (ratified by the states in 1868), the first time “citizens” and “voters” are defined as “male” in the Constitution.

1887 For the first and only time in this century, the US Senate votes on woman suffrage. It loses, 34 to 16.

1866 The American Equal Rights Association is

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continued

Congressional Union, which later becomes the National Women’s Party. Members picket the White House and engage in other forms of civil disobedience, drawing public attention to the suffrage cause.

Twenty-five Senators do not bother to participate.

1899 National Consumers League is formed with Florence Kelley as its president. The League organizes women to use their power as consumers to push for better working conditions and protective laws for women workers.

1914 Margaret Sanger calls for legalization of contraceptives in her new, feminist publication, The Woman Rebel, which the Post Office bans from the mails.

1900 Two-thirds of divorce cases are initiated by the wife; a century earlier, most women lacked the right to sue and were hopelessly locked into bad marriages.

1917 During WWI, women move into many jobs working in heavy industry in mining, chemical manufacturing, automobile and railway plants. They also run street cars, conduct trains, direct traffic, and deliver mail.

1909 Women garment workers strike in New York for better wages and working conditions in the Uprising of the 20,000. Over 300 shops eventually sign union contracts.

1917 Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first woman elected to the US Congress.

1912 Juliette Gordon Low founds first American group of Girl Guides, in Atlanta, Georgia. Later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA, the organization brings girls into the outdoors, encourages their selfreliance and resourcefulness, and prepares them for varied roles as adult women.

1919 The House of Representatives passes the women’s suffrage amendment, 304 to 89; the Senate passes it with just two votes to spare, 56 to 25.

1921 Margaret Sanger organizes the American Birth Control League, which becomes Federation of Planned Parenthood in 1942.

1913 Alice Paul and Lucy Burns organize the

I n t h e Cla s s r o o m • B rainstorm, as a class, labels that are used for women today. Discuss the role of women in today’s society. Compare and contrast this to the role of Louise Maske in The Underpants. Was Louise happy? Would she have been happier as a woman in today’s society? Why or why not? Would Theo have been happier as a man in today’s society? Why or why not?

• B rainstorm, as a class, a list of characteristics of today’s woman. Have each student assess the characteristics of a woman close to him or her and compare to the class-generated characteristics of today’s woman.

• H ave student research the role and status of women from either a historical perspective (such as the Middle Ages) or contemporary perspective but from another country. For example, you could divide students into groups and assign each group a different country.

Each group researches the role and status of women in that country. Groups meet to report and compare findings.

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“...some one said that woman’s best work is that which is unseen by mortal eye...that this work is the steady uplifting and upholding of a higher standard of living; it is the reaching forward and upward, both for ourselves and others,towards a loftier life...Yes, it is hard. But, sisters, it is work that belongs to us. It is work that, if not done by us,will never be done at all. For man cannot do it - as far as the family is concerned...For as a rule, and it is a rule that has few exceptions,woman creates the atmosphere of the home.” Mrs. Julia C.R. Dorr, The Household,Vol.V, 1872

An online quiz about Women’s Rights during Victorian Era: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/launch_gms_womens_rights.shtml References: http://www.pbs.org/wned/elbert-hubbard/edu-victorian-wife-modern-woman.php http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Victorian-Womanhood-in-All-Its-Guises.html http://www.connerprairie.org/learn-and-do/indiana-history/america-1860-1900/lives-of-women.aspx http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/progress/suffrage/ http://www.ibiblio.org/prism/mar98/path.html http://tirocchi.stg.brown.edu/514/story/fashion_teens.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/trail/victorian_britain/women_home/ideals_womanhood_01.shtml http://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/statuswomenprogressive.html http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/gender-ideology-and-separate-spheres-19th-century/ http://vintagefashionguild.org/lingerie-guide/panties/ http://www.pbs.org/wned/elbert-hubbard/edu-victorian-wife-modern-woman.php http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Victorian-Womanhood-in-All-Its-Guises.html Online Resources Biographies: Female Rulers and Heroes. Women in World History, n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2010 http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine.html Get to Know Women Who’ve Changed the World. Gale, n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2010. http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/whm/ The Good Wife’s Guide. J-Walk & Associates, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2010. http://www.j-walk.com/other/goodwife/index.htm Places Where Women Made History. National Park Service, n.d. Web. 8 Jan 2010. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/pwwmh/ Women’s History. Biography Channel, n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2010. http://www.biography.com/womens-history/ Women’s Rights Quiz. BBC, n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/launch_gms_womens_rights.shtml Supplemental Materials: Characteristics of a Modern Woman. Celebration of Woman Writers, n.d. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/eagle/congress/shermanck.html Cult of True Womanhood. Pinzler.com, n.d. 9 Jan. 2010. http://www.pinzler.com/ushistory/cultwo.html

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G E R M A N Y I N CONTE X T

(Berlin, 1920s)

(dusseldorf, 1920s)

Excerpt from: Germany - The Rise Of The “Bourgeois Family”: The German Family in the Early Twentieth Century

After World War I, the breadwinner-homeowner model of the bourgeois family was adopted by an increasing part of the population and became dominant among the working classes. Female labor force participation was low and the family ideal of the majority was a patriarchal, authoritarian type of family (Sieder 1987). Social policy and housing programs improved the living conditions of the urban working class and familialized this part of the population. The Great Depression, however, brought severe hardships for a large part of the population and led to high unemployment. That was the situation when the National Socialists (Nazis) took over in 1933.

In preindustrial Germany, family formation (through marriage) happened late in the lives of men and women, in line with the European marriage pattern (Hajnal 1983).

The new model of the bourgeois family emerged, with the family as a married couple with children characterized by private, intimate parent-child relationships, and by a strict gender-specific role segregation of men and women. The man, as the sole breadwinner, worked outside the family, whereas his wife was responsible for rearing children, for domestic work, and for the recreation of the family members.

As a way out of a perceived national crisis they reemphasized the traditional family, also intending to promote population growth and dominance of what they called the Nordic (Aryan) race. Women were removed from the labor market, and state propaganda made them heroines of procreation. Pro-natalistic and racist policies supported marriage (e.g., by offering special loans to young married couples), large families (by means of child allowances, presents and moral incentives), and the male breadwinner model. The mastering of the economic crisis of the early 1930s gave many families, particularly in the lower classes, stable employment (for men) and confidence in their future.

The traditional family model dominated and marriage and birth rates grew.

In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century an increasing portion of the population—the of the middle classes and civil servants— were able to live according to this ideal of the bourgeois family, whereas in rural areas the pre-modern pattern persisted.

In the same time, the number of children declined, in urban areas. German women born in 1865 had an average of five live births in their lifetimes, whereas those born in 1900 only had two (Marschalck 1984).

This decline of fertility began in the wealthy and educated upper and middle classes. As soon as the economic situation and residential standards improved after World War I the working classes began to reduce the number of their children.

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However, the war effort (World War II) needed women as workers in factories and in other positions previously taken by men. Nazi propaganda consequently shifted its focus, and now praised women as mothers and heroines of industrial and agricultural

production, doing their part in the fight against the numerous enemies of the Reich. Thus, Nazi propaganda paradoxically (and unintentionally) supported a modernization of gender roles.

http://family.jrank.org/pages/698/Germany-Rise-Bourgeois-Family-German-Family-in-Early-Twentieth-Century.html

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G E R M A N Y I N CONTE X T

continued

Excerpt from: “Paper Money” by Adam Smith.

Before World War I, Germany was a prosperous country, with a gold-backed currency, expanding industry, and world leadership in optics, chemicals, and machinery. The German Mark, the British shilling, the French franc, and the Italian lira all had about equal value, and all were exchanged four or five to the dollar. That was in 1914. In 1923, at the most fevered moment of the German hyperinflation, the exchange rate between the dollar and the Mark was one trillion Marks to one dollar, and a wheelbarrow full of money would not even buy a newspaper. Most Germans were taken by surprise by the financial tornado.

abandoned the gold backing of its currency in 1914. The war was expected to be short, so it was financed by government borrowing, not by savings and taxation. In Germany, prices doubled between 1914 and 1919.

“My father was a lawyer,” says Walter Levy, an internationally known German-born oil consultant in New York, “and he had taken out an insurance policy in 1903, and every month he had made the payments faithfully. It was a 20-year policy, and when it came due, he cashed it in and bought a single loaf of bread.”

After four disastrous years, Germany had lost the war.

The Weimar Republic was politically fragile, but the bourgeois habits were very strong. Ordinary citizens worked at their jobs, sent their children to school and worried about their grades, maneuvered for promotions and rejoiced when they got them, and generally expected things to get better. But the prices that had doubled from 1914 to 1919 doubled again during just five months in 1922. Milk went from 7 Marks per liter to 16; beer from 5.6 to 18. There were complaints about the high cost of living. Professors and civil servants complained of getting squeezed. Factory workers pressed for wage increases. An underground economy developed, aided by a desire to beat the tax collector.

In retrospect, you can trace the steps to hyperinflation, but some of the reasons remain cloudy. Germany

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/ ess_germanhyperinflation.html

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S U P P L E M ENT A L M A TE R I A L S

“If you’re studying geology, which is all facts, as soon as you get out of school you forget it all, but philosophy you remember just enough to screw you up for the rest of your life.”

– STEVE MARTIN

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af t e r t h e s h o w Character Analysis

Example of Central Character Analysis using Cinderella

Using ours as model, pick a character from the play other than Louise and create a character analysis for him or her. Use the GOTE.

Cinderella has the largest change.

She marries a prince and becomes a princess.

Cinderella, the obedient servant girl, transforms into a loving leader.

Goal: What does this character want?

Obstacle: What is standing in the way of this character?

Tactics: What tactics or actions does the character use to achieve what he/she wants?

Expectations: What is the expectation of the character to achieve their goal? Will it happen quickly without much effort? Will it happen over a period of time? Is their goal manageable or difficult to achieve? Why?

1) She is brave and asks to go to the ball.

2) She speaks with the Prince when she is at the ball 3) She asks that she can try on the glass slipper instead of hiding from the prince The story of Cinderella proves that who a person is on the inside is more important than what they appear to be on the outside. Cinderella demonstrates that by falling in love and marrying the prince, even though she isn’t a princess.

Deeper Understanding: Finding the Central Character ADAPTING THE SCRIPT

The central character a story is the one character that changes the most during the course of the story.

While multiple characters might change, the central character has the largest arch, turning from one thing into another.

• • • • •

“In a sociopolitical play like Sternheim’s The Underpants, meanings change through time. What was relevant then is historical now. And what was tangential then can become central.”

– Steve Martin

Who do you think changed the most in the play?

How did they change?

Can you create a sentence that embodies that change?

Name 3 things you saw that helped guide or create the change in this character How does this character’s journey embody the theme of the play?

What about this play do you think appealed to both audiences of 1910 and to audiences today?

Was there anything about the play you felt didn’t speak to a modern audience? Why or why not?

Write a synopsis of how you would adapt The Underpants for film. What would you change about the characters, the settings, the themes? Would you add or delete scenes?

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CHARACTER ANALYSIS for LOUISE Goal: What does this character want?

•

Louise wants excitement and romance in her life.

•

More specifically, after meeting Versati and talking with Gertrude, Louise wants to have an affair.

Obstacle: What is standing in the way of this character?

•

Theo, her husband, stands in her way in two different ways: one, by not giving her the attention that she craves and two, by constantly (though unwittingly) interrupting her attempts at being with other men.

•

Cohen stands in Louise’s way, refusing to allow her to be Versati.

•

Versati’s poetry gets in the way of expressing the physical act of his love for Louise.

•

Society stands in Louise’s way, dictating what is and is not proper for a woman to do in the early 1900s.

Tactics: What tactics or actions does the character use to achieve what he/she wants?

•

Louise uses her allure to get what she wants. After the underpants incident, she has power over the men who desire her, and she uses it to try to get what she wants (to humorous outcomes).

•

She tricks Cohen twice: one by making him think that she wants him, and not Versati, so he will leave and two, by making him believe he is seriously ill, so he will take the sleeping potion so she can be alone with Versati.

Expectations: What is the expectation of the character to achieve their goal? Will it happen quickly without much effort? Will it happen over a period of time? Is their goal manageable or difficult to achieve? Why? •

After talking with Gertrude, Louise believes that she can have an affair with Versati fairly easily (her husband is gone all the time and Gertrude will help her)….until other men start showing up raving about her underpants. This goal has a measureable end, but she never achieves it.

•

The underpants incident did bring excitement and romance into her life, but when her fame left, Louise was left with nothing again. Her fame was fleeting and temporary.

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A doll’s house by h e n ri k ib s e n After seeing The Underpants, have students read the synopsis of A Doll’s House (or read the entire play!).

still refusing to reveal the name of her lender. Nora again tries to convince Torvald not to fire Krogstad, but he again refuses and instead has the maid send Krogstad a dismissal letter.

As A Doll’s House opens, it is Christmas Eve, and Nora Helmer has just returned home from a last-minute shopping trip. She is met by her husband, Torvald, a bank manager, whose first act is to reprimand her for her excessive spending and lack of financial responsibility. As Torvald goes to his study to meet with family friend, Dr. Peter Rand, Nora receives an unexpected visitor. Her school friend, Christine Linde, has been recently widowed and arrives to ask Nora’s help in securing a job at Torvald’s bank. During the course of their conversation, Nora confides to Christine that she is guilty of borrowing a large sum of money without Torvald’s knowledge and that she has been secretly paying off the debt.

In the meantime, Dr. Rank has arrived to tell Nora that he is close to death, losing the battle with the illness he has had for some time. Nora tries to comfort him but is shocked when he reveals his love for her. She sends him to talk to Torvald, as the maid announces a visitor, Krogstad.

Krogstad again demands that Nora get him rehired and at a higher level. When she again refuses, he leaves a letter outlining the details of her debt and forgery.

Nora, in a panic, confesses everything to Christine, who advises her to keep Torvald from the mail while she attempts to intervene with Krogstad. Nora distracts Torvald by showing him the dance she will perform at the party, and even though he is displeased with her show, he agrees to ignore the mail until after the party.

As Nora and Christine renew their friendship, Nils Krogstad, a clerk at the bank, arrives to speak with Torvald. After their brief meeting, Torvald dismisses Krogstad, and having been introduced to Christine, offers her a job. Krogstad appears to leave the house with Christine, Torvald and Dr. Rank, but reenters, scaring the children who have been playing with Nora.

She sends them to their room so that she may speak privately with Krogstad.

While Nora and Torvald are at the party, Christine meets with Krogstad. It is revealed that they have had a past relationship and now that Christine is a widow, she is free and willing to be with him again. Krogstad is so happy that he offers to take his letter to Torvald back but Christine feels that it will benefit both Nora and Torvald if the truth is finally out in the open.

Krogstad has come to ask Nora’s help in keeping his job at the bank. When Nora refuses, he reminds her that it was he who lent her the money and that he has figured out that Nora forged her father’s signature on the loan documents. He threatens to reveal her secret if she does not help him. When Torvald returns, Nora does try to advocate for Krogstad but Torvald refuses and advises Nora to have nothing to do with him.

The party over, Torvald and Nora return home and Torvald praises Nora for her attractiveness as she danced at the party. Dr. Rank also comes by and leaves two cards in the mailbox, each with a black mark.

Nora tells Torvald that this is the doctor’s way of letting them know that he will die soon.

The next day, Christine returns to help Nora with a costume for a party she and Torvald are to attend.

Christine guesses that it is Dr. Rank who lent Nora the money she borrowed but Nora dismisses this thought,

Nora also insists that Torvald read Krogstad’s letter.

He does and is enraged, calling Nora a hypocrite

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him that she believes that they truly do not know one another despite the length of their relationship. She feels that he has treated her like a “doll” to be played with and shown off to the world. She leaves him and walks out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

and a liar, and tells her that he wants her to have no further involvement in raising the children. Another letter is brought in, and Torvald opens it to find that Krogstad has returned the contract containing Nora’s forgery. Torvald attempts reconciliation but his harsh words have awakened something in Nora. She informs

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS: What similarities do you see between Theo and Torvald?

What role do children play in The Underpants and A Doll’s House?

Compare and Contrast the symbolism between Nora and a doll house and Louise and a bird cage.

Compare and contrast the endings of the play.

Compare and contrast the style of the plays (drama vs. comedy). Which is more effective?

Why? Louise decides to stay with her husband, while Nora decides to leave her family. Which of these women do you think has more freedom by the end of the play?

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c urri c ulum connections We believe that theatre can support and work in tandem with everyday classroom activities and scholastic goals. Below are some suggested activities that can be done for each production, with a focus on vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and writing.

V OCAB U LARY

FL U ENCY

• Highlight words in the script that are unfamiliar.

• Read the script aloud in a large circle.

• Pair up and read scenes aloud together.

• Write definitions in the margins of the script.

• Pick a character and focus on reading his/her lines with accuracy and expression.

• Find synonyms for new vocabulary words.

• Find antonyms for new vocabulary words.

• Study the new vocabulary words for spelling tests.

• Switch roles so that the students have a chance to experiment with different vocal expressions for different characters (tone, tempo, and volume).

COM P REHENS I ON

W R I T I NG

• Create a story map for the play.

• Write journal entries or monologues using vocabulary words.

• Create a biography for one of the characters.

• Write a journal entry or monologue from the perspective of one of the characters.

• Map out the relationships in the play.

• Write a scene depicting part of the story that we hear about in the play, but is not in the stage action.

• Summarize the play.

• Summarize each individual scene.

• Write a review of the production.

• Summarize the play from the perspective of one of the characters.

• Write a letter to one of the cast members, designers, director, playwright, or staff members sharing your impression and questions regarding the show.

• Answer the essay and text-related questions.

• Discuss the play’s themes.

• Write a letter from one character to another.

• Discuss the current events that correlate with the themes of the play.

• Write a new ending to the play.

• Cut out articles from magazines and newspapers that discuss some of the issues and topics brought up in the play.

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F O R T H E F I R ST - T I M E T H E A T R E G OE R In theatre etiquette, the major consideration to keep in mind is that your actions can be distracting not only to the rest of the audience, but to the actors on stage as well. Behavior that is acceptable in other public settings, like movie theatres, ballgames, or concerts, is out of place when attending the theatre.

The following tips should help you get acquainted with some DOs and DON’Ts for first-time theatregoers.

DO arrive early. Make considerations for traffic, parking, waiting in line, having your ticket taken, and finding your seat. If you need to pick up your tickets from the box office, it is a good idea to arrive at least twenty minutes early. Generally, you can take your seat when “the house is open,” about half an hour before the show begins.

Late seating is always distracting and usually not allowed until intermission or a transition between scenes, if it is allowed at all. Follow the old actors’ mantra: To be EARLY is to be ON TIME. To be ON TIME is to be LATE. To be LATE is UNFORGIVABLE. DO dress appropriately. Going to the theatre is a special event for many people, and your clothing should reflect your respect. The dress code is casual, but not sloppy: hats, bandannas, and revealing clothes are a bad idea. Nice jeans are okay, but those with holes are not.

DO turn off your cell phone. Phones and any other noise-making devices should be switched off before you even enter the theatre: you won’t be allowed to use them anyway. Texting during a performance is also rude. The intermission is a good time to use your phone, but remember to turn it off again before the next act begins.

DON’T leave your garbage in the theatre. Food and drinks are usually not permitted in the theatre at all, with the exception of bottled water. If it is allowed, be sure to throw out your trash in a garbage can or recycling bin in the lobby; don’t leave it for the house manager or ushers at the end of a show.

DO watch your step. Aisles can be narrow, so please be considerate when finding your seat. Avoid getting up during the performance whenever possible, since it can be very distracting. You can use the restroom before the show and during intermission. Also, be careful not to cross in front of the stage, as it will break the illusion of the show. Don’t step on or over seats, and never walk on the stage itself.

DON’T talk during the performance. Chatting is extremely rude to the actors and the audience around you.

Everyone is trying to pay attention to the play and those nearby will be able to hear, so please be quiet and considerate.

DO get into it! Actors feed off of the audience, just as the audience feeds off of the actors. Don’t be afraid to laugh, clap, or cry if you are so moved. However, there is a line that can be crossed. Please be respectful, and don’t distract from the work of the professionals on stage. After all, people paid good money to watch the show, not you. Just enjoy the experience and let yourself have an honest response.

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