Whipping Man studyguide

October 27 - December 18

A Study and Resorce Guide

by Zach Trebino

Section I: About the Play page 1

The Arden’s Production Setting and Characters Synopsis

page 2 pages 3 - 5 page 7

About the playwright

Section II: About the Arden’s Production Designer Profiles

pages 7 - 9 page 10

Disscussion: Production Analysis

Section III: Info, Activities, & Exercises About Passover

page 11

About Lincoln’s Assasination

page 12

Glossasry

page 13

Reflections

page 14

Civil War Timeline

page 15

JEwish War Timeline

page 16

About Jewish Confederates

page 17

Playwrighting Exercise

pages 18 - 19

About the Production

written by Matthew Lopez directed by Matt Pfeiffer Set design by David P. Gordon

lighting design by Thom Weaver

costume design by Alison Roberts

sound design by Christopher Colucci

stage managed by Stephanie Cook

Assistant directed by Eric Wunsch

Featuring:

John

Cody Nickell

Johnnie Hobbs, Jr. as Caleb DeLeon as Simon

James Ijames as John

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Where:

The Ruins of a once grand home in Richmond, Virgina

When:

Between April 13, 1865 and April 15, 1865

Characters

Simon

50’s, Elder servant to and recently freed slave of the DeLeon family, Jewish

Caleb

About the Play

Setting

20’s, an injured confederate soldier returning home after war, Jewish

John

20’s, former slave of the DeLeon family and childhood companion of Caleb, Jewish

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About the Play

Synopsis A c t

I

Thunder crashes as the young Confederate soldier Caleb DeLeon staggers back, wounded from the just-ended war, to find his family home wrecked in the carnage of battle and ransacked by looters. His family has fled to safer territory, but Simon, an elder and faithful former slave of the family’s, is staying with the house until reconstruction can begin and the family returns. Simon immediately notices the week-old bullet wound festering on Caleb’s leg and insists that amputation will be necessary. Caleb diverts the conversation briefly to recapitulate what happened in Richmond while he was away at war, and Simon indulges in stories of destruction and desolation. Simon, however, promptly redirects their conversation and begins to ply Caleb with whiskey in preparation for the amputation. Because of Caleb’s refusal to be taken to a hospital, Simon begrudingly acquiesces to performing an impromptu amputation in the living room of the family home.

Simon goes to another part of the house in search of more whiskey when Caleb is startled by the presence of a shrouded man in the doorway. This man reveals himself to be John, another former slave of the DeLeon family and childhood companion of Caleb’s. John has taken to looting the abandoned houses about town and is just returning from his latest stealing rampage.

Simon re-enters with a toolbox and whiskey. Knowing that the amputation is too great a task for one man, Simon tries to employ John’s help, yet John lacks Simon’s loyalty since emancipation, arguing that it’s not their concern. Eventually, John agrees to assist, and the opening scene gruesomely concludes as John restrains the struggling, screaming Caleb while Simon takes a saw to his leg.

The next morning, John and Simon scrounge things together to assemble some kind of breakfast and monitor Caleb’s status. Simon tells John that Caleb’s father had promised he’d give them money to start their new life if they were freed.

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About the Play

Synopsis A c t

I -

c ontinued

Caleb doesn’t wake up until that evening - still drunk and feverish from the previous day’s ordeal. By now, evidence of John’s excessive looting is everywhere.

The house is full of lavish and unecessary goods. Simon prepares dinner for the trio, cooking up Caleb’s horse that died on his journey home. John informs the group that it is the Sabbath and that Passover is upon them. Simon and John notice Caleb’s unwillingness to pray, and they enter into an argument. John cites the Torah and challenges the notion of Jewish slaveholders, while Simon remains grateful and loyal to the DeLeon’s, insisting that they were all a family - slaves and masters. John ends the argument by recounting a trip to the Whipping Man where Caleb whipped John. As the tension dies down, Caleb and Simon begin to prepare for their improvised Passover seder.

The act concludes with the revelation that Caleb is an army deserter and that Simon’s wife and daughter have been sold by Caleb’s father because Caleb was in love with Simon’s daughter, Sarah, and had impregnated her.

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About the Play

Synopsis A c t

I I

Act II opens with Caleb reading a love letter to the audience that he wrote to Sarah while away at war. In it, he expresses his deep love for her and his insatiable longing to return home to her safely.

When we return to the DeLeon home, Caleb is awoken by John reading this same letter aloud. Simon returns from acquiring necessary items for the seder and informs Caleb and John that President Lincoln has been assasinated.

The seder is then celebrated, with Simon leading the proceedings. As the dinner progresses, it grows harder and harder for Caleb to resist telling Simon of his family’s fate. Finally, Caleb reveals that they’ve been sold.

Simon grows infuriated with John for not telling him this when it occurred, but John had been brought to the Whipping Man for trying to oppose the sale of Simon’s family.

Yet this time, John escaped from his bounds and whipped the whipping man, ultimately killing him. Simon rushes out of the house to search for his family, and John and Caleb are left alone in the house, forever enslaved by their own deceit.

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Playwright biography: Matthew Lopez Produced Works and Their Premieres:

The Whipping Man (Luna Stage Company, April 2006) Tio Pepe (Public Theater, Summer 2008) Missed Connections (Ars Nove, January 2010) Alien Monstrer Bowling League (Ars Nova, February 2011) Reverberation - STAGED READING (Manhattan Theater Club, February 2011) Somehwere (Old Globe, Fall 2011)

Awards:

2011 John Gassner Playwriting Award for The Whipping Man Playwright in Residence at the Old Globe (2011 - 2013)

Production History of The Whipping Man:

April 2006 - World Premiere at Luna Stage Company in Montclair, NJ February 2009 - Production at Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, MN May 2010 - West Coast Premiere at Old Globe in San Diego, CA June 2010 - New England Premiere at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, MA February 2011 - New York Premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York, NY

September 7 – October 2, 2011 - Jewish Ensemble Theatre, West Bloomfield, MI *October 27 – December 18, 2011 – Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia, PA (Philadelphia Premiere)*

Mathhew Lopez: on PLaywrighting & THE WHIPPING MAN

“I was drawn to the Civil War because it provided two calamities in one event: war and slavery.

How do you go from being a slave all your life to being free? What are the psychological mechanics of that? I wanted to write about slaves who have just recently been set free. But how does that shift work? For Caleb, the white character in the play, the question was: what do you do after four years of war and your home is destroyed? How do you rebuild not just your infrastructure, but your way of life, particularly when it was your very way of life that started the war in the first place?”

“Sadly, I think the only thing that could truly support a life in the theatre for a young playwright is a career in television. But I’m trying!”

“I’ve always been fascinated by those moments that the history books skip over: the valleys between the peaks of historical events.”

“I am at an exciting time in my career where the work I’ve done all these years is finally starting to be recognized and I am starting to be taken seriously as a writer. That feels good. If it doesn’t exactly keep me in groceries, at least it keeps me in good spirits.” http://berkshireonstage.com/2010/05/11/interview-matthew-lopez-explains-his-new-play-the-whipping-man/

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Design Profiles: Set David P. Gordon designed the set for The Whipping Man. This design marks his 26th for the Arden. He even won a Barrymore award for Outstanding Scenic Design for his design for the Arden’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

Design Factoid:

The DeLeon’s house has been partially destroyed by fire and warring conflict, so the set for the Arden’s The Whipping Man needs to be distressed (or made to look like it’s worn and broken). Unfortunately, you can’t start off by building a broken set (otherwise it wouldn’t be safe for the actors); you need to make it look like it would have before any of the destruction occurred, and through layers of paint and other nifty design techniques, create the appearance of destruction.

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Design Profiles: Costumes Alison Roberts, the Arden Theatre’s

costume supervisor, deisgned the costumes for The Whipping Man.

Simon: Johnnie Hobbs, Jr.

Design Factoid: Before costumes can be constructed, the designer creates costume renderings (seen here) that are then shown to the director, who provides input and guides the costume designer further before the costumes are made.

John: James Ijames

Caleb: Cody Nickell

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Design Profiles: Costumes The costume designer then takes those renderings and creates the actual costume pieces (according to the actors’ physical measurements. Here are the finished products:

Johhnie Hobbs, Jr. as Simon

James Ijames as John

Cody Nickell as Caleb

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Reflections: Production Analysis Now that you’ve seen the Arden Theatre Company’s production of The Whipping Man, use these questions to facilitate your personal reflection on and inter-personal discussion of the production.

1) On walking into the theater, how did the set make you feel?

Do these feelings support the world of the play and its events?

2) What was the moment in the play that affected you the most?

Why? 3) Who did you sympathize with in the play’s conclusion? How does the play position the audience to come to this sentiment?

4) Are any or all of these characters morally or ethically compromised by their actions? Can their unethical actions be justified? How? 5) Which design element (costumes, set, lights, or sound) was the most effective in creating and conveying the reality of the world of the play? What about the play’s emotional temperature? Its themes?

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Passover (or Pesach):

Ritual and Tradition in The Whipping Man

What is Passover?

Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which is in spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and is celebrated for seven or eight days.

It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays. Traditionally, families gather for dinner on the first night of passover, a meal which is called a seder.

What’s in a name?

Pesach may be derived from the verb pasach, meaning He

passed over, in reference to God passing over the homes of the Jews during the final of the ten plagues of Egypt. Pesach may also refer to the lamb of goat designated as the Passover sacrifice in days of yore.

What Happens during a Seder?

The story of the Exodus from Egypt is retold during this meal using a special text called the Haggadah.

Seder means “order,” and the ritual is, indeed, quite structured. The dinner consists of 15 steps, each with important significance for the commemoration of the end of the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt. Some of the steps featured in The Whipping Man include:

- The eating of Karpas (parsley or celery) which are dipped in salt

water.

- The salt water symbolizes the tears shed by Jews while

enslaved in Egypt.

- The eating of Matzo (unleavened bread).

*We see Simon substitute military issued hardtack for

matzo in their seder ceremony in The Whipping Man*

- The eating of Maror (bitter herbs) - like horseradish or endive.

Karpas

MATZO

MAror

Discussion Questions

1) What do you think the Maror symbolizes?

2) If you had to assemble a seder from the things in your lunch bag, what would you use for each item (Karpas, Matzo, and Maror)? Why? 3) Can you think of any other meal-rituals that you and your family participate in? Like what? What do the things and events of those meals symbolize?

4) Tradition and remembrance are two major aspects of the passover ritual. How do you define tradition? Do you think tradition is important? Why or why not?

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President Lincoln’s Assasination On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assasinated while watching a production of Our American Cousin at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D. C. This was the first assasination of an American president. This happened to be during Passover and was also on Good Friday (the Friday before Easter in the Christian religions).

He was shot by a well known actor, John Wilkes Booth.

Booth’s assination was the only successful part of a conspiracy aimed at impelling the remaining confederate soldiers to take up arms despite Robert E. Lee’s surrender on April 9th. The plot included plans to simultaneously assasinate the Secretary of State, William H. Seward, and the vice-president, Andrew Johnson, but Seward was merely wounded and Johnson’s would-be assassin abandoned the plan.

After sneaking into the Presidential box, Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head, right behind the left ear. Major Henry Rathbone, who was attending the play with the president and his wife, attempted to prevent Booth from escaping and suffered two stab wounds at his hands. Booth jumped from the box to the stage, breaking his leg, and shouted, “Sic semper tyrannis!” which is Latin for “Thus always to tyrants!” The president survived until the next morning, but his wound was certainly mortal. He died around 7:20 am on April 15th.

Booth and one of his conspirators fled to Maryland. They remained in hiding at a local farm until the Union soldiers on a manhunt for the presidential assassin arrived. They surrounded the barn in which Booth and his cohort were hiding. When Booth refused to come out, the soldiers set fire to barn. Booth scrambled out of the barn. A soldier named Boston Corbett was behind Booth and shot him in the back of the neck, severing his spinal cord. He died two hours later. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/alrintr.html

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Glossary of Names and Terms Translation of Prayers: “Baruch atah adonai elohenu melach haolam mechaye hametim”

Who ressurects the dead “Baruch atah adonai elohenu melach haolam shelakel nehaye biduaro”

Who keeps His word

Shabbat (sabbath): 7th day of the Jewish week and the day of rest in Judaism Charoset: a dish made from apples, nuts, and cinnamon that is eaten during the seder and symbolizes the mortar made by enslaved Jews in Egypt

Rabbi: In Judaism, Rabbis are teachers of Torah and leaders of Judaic congregations Minyan: A group of ten Jewish adults required for special religious obligations “Next year in Jerusalem”: a statement made at the end of every Seder to commemorate the freed Jews aspirations to return to their holy city in Israel

Siege of Petersburg: Months of strategic trench warfare that led to the Confederate surrender

General Robert E. Lee: Commander of the Confederate Army. He

turned down Lincoln’s offer to be commanding general of the Union army in 1861 because his home state was Virginia.

General Ulysses S. Grant: Union commander responsible for many important

victories during the war, including Vicksburg and the Battle of Shiloh.

“Stonewall” Jackson: Infamous Confederate general, excelled in the battles of Bull Run and Antietam

William T. Sherman: a Union General (declared by historians to be the first

‘modern’ general). He embraced a “total war” ideology and has been both lauded and criticized for the”scorched earth” of Georgia and the Carolinas as a result of his campaigns.

Nat Turner: An American slave who led a slave rebellion in Virginia in August 1831 Gangrene: A life-threatening condition that arises when a mass of body tissue dies as a result of injury or infection

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Reflections:

JEWISH EXODUS AND EMANCIPATION OF AMERICAN SLAVES “In researching the end of the war and the very eventful month of April 1865, I came across a reference to the fact that Passover began that year on April 10, the day immediately following Lee‘s surrender at Appomattox. This meant that as Jews across the nation were celebrating this sacred ritual commemorating their ancestors’ freedom from bondage in Egypt, a new kind of exodus was occurring all around them. The result, I hope, is an inexorable link between the African- American and Jewish imperatives of reminding successive generations about their people‘s past. There has always been a conversation between Black and Jewish histories in the United States. It is a conversation based, I believe, on a similar history. In The Whipping Man, that similar history becomes a shared one.”

Matthew Lopez, author of The Whipping Man

Discussion Questions 1) What are some similarities and differences between the enslavement of Jews and the enslavement of Africans in America?

2) What are some of the ironic implications of Jewish slaveholders?

3) What is gained from the irony inherent in the simultaneity of the emancipation of American slaves and the celebration of Passover between former slaves and their owner?

How does this force us, as an audience, to reflect differently on these events?

4) How does linking African American history and Jewish history affect the relationships within the play?

5) How do you think the play wants us to feel about Jewish slaveholders? About slavery in general?

6) Why might a play like The Whipping Man be important and relevant for contemporary society? What current issues in politics, ethics, and international relations are paralleled or echoed by events and themes in The Whipping Man? On the other hand, how is this play ill-suited for the present moment?

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Civil War Timeline

JANUARY 1861 The south secedes April 1861 The attack on Fort Sumter marks the start of the Civil War January 1862 President Lincoln declares war on the Confederacy September 1862 Antitam: The bloodiest battle of the war.

Confederacy yielded to Union forces July 1863 The Battle of Gettysburg is fought.

August 1864 Union General Sherman takes control of Atlanta April 1865* Richmond, VA falls to Union forces.

April 14, 1865* President Lincoln is assasinated at Ford’s theater in Washington, D.C.

March 1861 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated July 1861 The First Battle of Bull Run May 1862 “Stonewall” Jackson defeats Union forces at Shenandoah January 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation declares all slaves free in the eyes of the federal government.

June 1864 - April 1865* The Siege on Petersburg.

(It is in this battle that The Whipping Man’s CALEB gets injured).

November 1864 Lincoln is re-elected.

April 9, 1865* General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse

* Indicates that these events occur during or around the time in which THE WHIPPING MAN occurs.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/tl1865.html

Above are photos of Richmond (where The Whipping Man takes place) in the aftermath of Grant’s siege. Just like the DeLeon’s house was decimated from the battle, so too was much of Richmond and much of the South left in ruins.

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Jewish history Timeline

1813 BCE Abraham is born.

1429 BCE Egyptian enslavement begins.

1314 BCE Moses sees the burning bush.

1272 BCE Yehoshua (Joshua) leads the Jews into Israel 832 BCE First Temple of Jerusalem is constructed.

516 BCE SecondTemple of Jerusalem is built.

70 CE Second Temple is destroyed.

1492 CE Jews have been expelled from most Western Europen countries at this point.

1791 CE French National Assembly grants full civil rights to Jews.

1948 CE State of Israel is declared.

http://www.akhlah.com/history_tradition/torah_timeline.php

1677 BCE Isaac is prepared as a sacrifice to God. 1393 BCE Moses is born.

1313 BCE Exodus begins: Moses leads the Jews out of Egypt. He also experiences the revelation at Mt. Sinai and brings down 2nd set of tablets.

877 BCE David becomes king of Israel.

492 BCE First temple is destroyed by Babylonians.

1 CE Jesus Christ is born.

500 CE Babylonian Talmud is compiled and recorded.

1654 CE First Jewish settlement established in North America (New Amsterdam).

1920 CE England receives Mandate over Palestine.

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Jews in the Confederacy

Jewish soldiers pose for a photo at base camp in 1864.

Although we rarely hear this and it certainly isn’t in most of our history books, the largest ethnic group to serve the Confederacy was made up of first-, second- and third-generation Jewish lads. Old Jewish families had settled in the South generations before the war. Jews had lived in Charleston, S.C. since 1695. By 1800, the largest Jewish community in America lived in Charleston, where America’s oldest synagogue - K.K. Beth Elohim - was founded. By 1861, a third of all the Jews in America lived in Louisiana.

In the end, more than 10,000 people of Jewish faith fought for the Confederacy. As Rabbi Korn of Charleston related, “Nowhere else in America - certainly not in the Antebellum North - had Jews been accorded such an opportunity to be complete equals as in the old South.” For example, General Robert E. Lee allowed his Jewish soldiers to observe all holy days, while Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman issued anti-Jewish orders.

Many Southern Jews became world-renowned during this period. Moses Jacob Ezekiel from Richmond fought at New Market with his fellow cadets from the Virginia Military Institute and became a noted sculptor. His mother, Catherine Ezekiel, said she would not tolerate a son who declined to fight for the Confederacy. Some of the more notable among the officer corps also included Abraham Myers, a West Point graduate and a classmate of Lee’s in the class of 1832. Myers served as quartermaster general and, before the war, fought the Indians in Florida. The city of Fort Myers was named after him.

Abraham Myers

Abraham Myers wrote in his memoirs, “We were not fighting for the perpetuation of slavery, but for the principle of States Rights and Free Trade, and in defense of our homes which were being ruthlessly invaded.”

The Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia has an assigned plot known as the Soldier‘s Section. It contains the graves of 30 Jewish Confederate soldiers who died in or near Richmond. It is the only Jewish military cemetery outside of the State of Israel. http://www.jewishmag.com/112mag/confederates/confederates.htm

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Playwrighting Exercise

Just like Matthew Lopez used real events in novel ways to construct the characters and events of The Whipping Man, so too can you pull from your knowledge of history and your own experiences to create exciting and dramatic scenes. Through his research, Matthew Lopez discovered that the end of the civil war, the freeing of the slaves, and the assasination of President Lincoln coincided with Passover in 1865.

You can discover such interesting coincidences too!

Answer the prompts below to begin to construct a scene rooted in reality.

1) State a shocking or revolutionary event from history (or your own experiences).

Include the date if you can.

2) What other things occur around that time of year? (If it’s winter, maybe Christmas or Valentine’s Day. Or if it’s summer, maybe the 4th of July.)

3) What do these two occurrences have in common? (Think in terms of themes and events)

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4) Name 2 people who might, in some way, be involved in both of these events at the same time.

5) What do these people look like? (Short, Tall, Skinny, Hairy, etc.)

6) How do they move? (Slowly, Rapidly, Aggresively, Weakly, etc.)

7) How do they speak? (Stuttering, Yelling, Whispering, Lisping, etc.)

8) Now, on a separate piece of paper, begin writing dialogue by having one character ask the other a question about this shocking event. Keeping in mind the things you discovered through your thinking and writing above, let your two characters have a conversation and see where it takes you!

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