Clybourne Park (Grades 11-12)

CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

The Broad Stage and Santa Monica Rep present

Clybourne Park

By Bruce Norris

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STUDENT MATINEE FRI FEB 3, 2017 11:00 AM

Originally Produced Off-Broadway by

GRADES 11-12

Playwrights Horizons in 2010.

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Jane Deknatel Director, Performing Arts Center EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS STAFF Ilaan E. Mazzini, Director of Education & Community Programs Alisa De Los Santos, Manager of Education & Community Programs Mandy Matthews, Education & Community Programs Associate Sam Sandoval, Education & Community Programs Assistant

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Education and Community Programs at The Broad Stage is supported in part by Herb Alpert Foundation Bank of the West Johnny Carson Foundation City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission Colburn Foundation The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Leonard M. Lipman Charitable Fund Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation SMC Associates Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Dwight Stuart Youth Fund Ziering Family Foundation, a Support Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles

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EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS Phone 310.434.3560 education@thebroadstage.com thebroadstage.com/education

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Greetings from The Broad Stage!

Dear Educators, We are so excited to bring Santa Monica Rep back to The Broad Stage for their staged reading of Clybourne Park. Santa Monica Rep was founded by Eric and Jen Bloom in 2010 and utilizes the unique capabilities of theater to contribute to a more intelligent, inquisitive, and engaged community. Their staged reading of Clybourne Park is the perfect collaboration for high school teachers (like you!) with curious and capable students.

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Please take some time to work through some or all of the activities in this guide with your students. Each element of the guide has been developed by theatre artists and educators to help explain the concepts behind the performance you’ll be seeing and to engage your students both pre- and post-show. As always, the activities are support the California Common Core and the VAPA Standards. We hope that this guide proves to be helpful in preparing your students for the presentation.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions or ideas. We’ll see you at Clybourne Park!

Sincerely,

Education & Community Programs Staff

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Clybourne Park premiered off-Broadway in February 2010 at Playwrights Horizons in New York and has since premiered at major theaters across the country and overseas. During his interview with Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Artistic Producer, Rebecca Rugg, playwright Bruce Norris states that he wrote Clybourne Park because of an experience he had in 7th grade when viewing what inspired the play, A Raisin in the Sun. Clybourne Park highlights how humans interact and discuss issues such as race, class, gender, property ownership and community across time.

CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

Contents Lessons How to Use This Guide - 5 Framework Exercises - 6 Class Discussions - 7 Writing Exercises - 10

Appendix Handout 1: About Santa Monica Rep - 12 Handout 2: An Interview with the Playwright, Bruce Norris - 13

Additional Resources Character Guide - 16 Synopsis - 17 Additional Resources - 18 Standards Addressed - 19

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Theatre Exercises - 11

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How to use this Guide This study guide was created to give you a greater degree of flexibility as you prepare your students to attend Clybourne Park.

Sections – The guide is arranged by type of exercise – class discussions, writing, debate, theatre, etc. – to accommodate teachers working in multiple subjects.

“A la carte” – Choose from various types of exercises that fit your students, classroom, and time.

Explore as you go – Some exercises require students to have read up through a certain part of the script and are differentiated with a (part) note.

Appendices – Use these resources as examples, clarification and further exploration of the novel.

Objectives: • Immerse students into Clybourne Park and history of racial divisions in Chicago through collaborative and individual learning projects.

• Assist in reading comprehension at all stages of the reading process

Summary: The lessons in this guide provide differentiated instruction in teaching concepts and themes present in Clybourne Park. Students will have the opportunity to discuss the concept of community, write creatively and persuasively about the themes in Clybourne Park, and debate issues from the play as they relate to present day society.

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• Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of English Language Learners and students who thrive under different learning modalities

CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

Framework Exercises Introductory Activity: Identity Draw a circle in the center of the page and then draw four satellite circles surrounding it. Each satellite circle is connected to the circle in the center. Write your name in the middle circle and write four important aspects of your identity in the satellite circles. These are words that you feel is vital for defining you – brother, friend, Jewish, Asian, American, athlete, etc. Have students discuss what they wrote in pairs.

1. Share a story about a time you were especially proud to identify yourself with one of the descriptors that you used.

2. Share a story about a time it was painful to be identified with one of your descriptors.

3. Name a stereotype associated with one of the groups with which you identify that is not consistent with who you are by filling in the following statements:

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, but I am NOT (a/an)

.

Structure of the Play Clybourne Park takes place during two time periods: September 1959 and September 2009. Each act is an hour long with an hour long conversation between the characters. After reading the play, discuss what did/did not change within the 50 year span. What is the playwright, Bruce Norris, trying to communicate?

After reading Clybourne Park, review the character list and discuss the relationships between the characters as a class. How are the characters from Act 1 similar to their counterpart character in Act 2? Do they have common values? Does this support Bruce Norris’ message?

History of Chicago Neighborhoods Have students read the article, “City of Neighborhoods: A History of Racial Division in Chicago”

by Zachary Moull. While reading, ask students to highlight key points in history where race, discrimination, and community had a factor. Have students answer these questions after reading the article.

• What happened between the years of 1959 and 2009? Did attitudes of race or discrimination alter between 50 years?

• How did neighborhoods “turn over” throughout Chicago’s history, especially during the 1930’s-1970’s?

• What did you learn about gentrification? How was gentrification represented in Chicago during the 90’s to present?

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I am (a/an)

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Class Discussions Community As a class, discuss and brainstorm the elements within a community. Write the students’ suggestions on the board as they say them. Ask your students: How do you identify as part of a community? Have students draw and color the element in their community that they most identify with. Ask students to tape their drawings to a larger piece of paper in the front of the classroom, making a larger community or neighborhood. What elements in the community are similar or different? How was the larger community created? Does this community reflect the community in which you currently live in? Is a sense of community important?

Look closer and read the character’s discussion about community on page 29 of the script.

Discuss the following questions as a class.

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How do we define a neighborhood? Who is welcome in a neighborhood and who is not?

What responsibilities do we have to our community? What responsibilities do we have to surrounding communities?

In what ways can communities cause division and isolation?

Who is responsible for defining the perimeters of the community? Should they be responsible, why or why not?

Race and Discrimination Many forms of bigotry and prejudice come to light in Clybourne Park. The primary form of discrimination examined by the play is based on race. However, characters also make assumptions and judgements based on gender, class and ability; in fact, the many forms of discrimination rarely happen in isolation and an integrated approach to discussing multiple forms of discrimination might be most productive. Before launching into a class discussion specific to the show, it is important for students to have a firm understanding of different forms of discrimination and how they are interconnected. Begin with the following definitions.

• • • • •

Racism: 1. The prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races. 2. Discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race.

Classism: A biased or discriminatory attitude based on distinctions made between social or economic classes.

Sexism: 1. Attitudes or behavior based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles; 2.

Discrimination or devaluation based on a person’s sex.

Ableism: Discrimination against disabled people.

Xenophobia: A fear of foreigners or strangers.

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Class Discussions After reading Clybourne Park, discuss the different ways in which various forms of bigotry and discrimination came into play. How were some of these prejudices interconnected? Which characters exhibited bigoted behavior and in what ways? Who were the victims of prejudice and how were they affected? Who perpetrated prejudice and in what ways? Were there characters that were both victims and perpetrators of prejudice?

What are the similarities or differences between attitudes of race and discrimination in Act I and Act II? How did the characters express their prejudices in both acts?

The Power of Words Throughout Clybourne Park, the character’s use powerful words in order to offend others or control of the conversation. This is most apparent on pages 74-77 of Act 2.

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How and why do words affect us? Consider the historical significance of words and their etymology.

Discuss the ways in which words can divide people. How is that evident in pages 74-77 or in other areas in Clybourne Park?

While often used to divide, words also have great power to unite people. What are some recent examples of words being used to unite people behind a cause, movement, or nation? What are some non-political examples?

At the end of Act 2, playwright Bruce Norris uses humor to explore serious issues of race, class, and gender. What do you think he was trying to achieve by using offensive humor? Did he achieve it, why or why not? What was the effect of the humor on pages 74-77? Does humor minimize the severity of the subject? If so, is that okay?

Gentrification Review Google’s definition of gentrification: “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste.”Based on this definition, what is “improved” in the play? Read the discussion on pages 60-61 in Act 2 of Clybourne Park. What does progress mean to Lindsey and Steve? What does progress mean to Lena?

Ask students to research the different neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Are there examples of gentrification in Los Angeles today? What is the effect of gentrification in that community? How is the community reacting to gentrification? Where do the displaced people go?

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Debate Prompts 1. On page 29 Karl says, “Now, some would say change is inevitable. And I can support that, if it’s change for the better. But I’ll tell you what I can’t support, and that’s disregarding the needs of the people who live in a community.” The conversation continues and at the bottom of page 29 Karl asks, “Well, do the boundaries of the neighborhood extend indefinitely? Who shall we invite next, the Red Chinese?” Have students argue in favor of Karl’s point and in opposition to his point.

3. Start a class debate about Lindsay’s ownership of the Clybourne Park house. Does Lindsay’s ownership of the physical house give her permission to alter the sights historical significance? Whose claim of ownership has greater validity, Lindsay’s monetary clarim or Lena’s historical claim?

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2. Read pages 70-71 and build a class debate around Lena’s statement, “It happens one house at a time.” Divide the class in half making one half Pro-Lena and the other half Pro-Lindsay.

Ask the students to argue in favor of the character they were assigned. Start the debate by asking, does the changes to one house affect the face of the neighborhood?

CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

Writing Exercises Creative Writing Choose a character from Clybourne Park that you agree or disagree with. Write a backstory for this character that helps to explain how they developed their worldview and the way they are.

• •

What circumstances may have led to this character’s particular worldview?

What people were influential in the character forming this worldview?

Persuasive Writing Ask students to write a persuasive essay about one of the three debates from class. Have students clearly state what character they most align with in the argument, and provide examples to explain why. Encourage students to use quotes from the script.

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Writing Prompts 1. In Act 1, Karl states that he believes Clybourne Park is a progressive community because the local Grocery store hired a “disabled” boy. How would you define a progressive community? What are some examples?

2. Read this line from Act 1 of the play, “And fitting into a community is really what it all comes down to” (Karl, Act 1, p. 29). Do you feel like you fit in with your community? How are you connected or disconnected?

3. As depicted in this play, how do race relations change between 1959 and 2009? How are the conversations in the first act and second act similar? How are they different?

4. Reflect on your experience viewing Clybourne Park. What was powerful in the presentation of the play? How did it make you feel to be in the audience? Did you feel differently watching the first act versus the second act? If so, why?

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Have students write a persuasive paper explaining the relevance of Clybourne Park to Los Angeles in today’s society. Have attitudes of race and discrimination changed within the past 50 years in Los Angeles? Provide concrete examples from research and experience.

CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

Theater Exercises An Interview with the Playwright, Bruce Norris Before reading Handout 2: Interview with the playwright, Bruce Norris, ask students to make predictions for playwright, Bruce Norris’s motivation for writing the play. At whom do you think the play was directed? Distribute and read Handout 2: Interview with the playwright, Bruce Norris.

Divide into small groups and have students discuss their thoughts about Bruce Norris’s interview.

• Bruce Norris says, “It’s about the white response to race, about being the power elite, about being the people who have power in the race argument, and what that makes us in the present day.” After reading Clybourne Park, what message is Bruce Norris sending to in the present day?

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• Bruce Norris says that he prefers to write stories that demonstrate human behavior and interaction. Do you watch or read stories to learn about human behavior, or to be swept away in an imagined world, or both? Provide examples of your favorite books, plays, films, or shows.

Create a Scene Partner students and ask them to choose one of the debate questions from Page 9 of the study guide. Together, have the partners craft a two minute scene in which two fictional characters debate the issue they have chosen. Be sure that we understand each point clearly and why the character feels that way.

Perform a Scene: 1959 vs. 2009 In Clybourne Park, actors play two characters from 1959 and 2009. What distinguishes the two characters from each other? As an actor, how would you protray a character from 1959 versus a character from 2009? Divide students into groups of three and have them perform a scene from Act 1 on pages 7-8 and from Act 2 on pages 43-44. Have students explore how they would perform the two scenes to make it clear that they are set in two different time periods.

Design From a design standpoint, how would you create costumes for Albert and Francine vs. Kevin and Lena? What do the change in costumes say about their status in society?

Use the stage directions on pg. 7 and pg. 43 to create a stage picture for the top of each act.

How would you make the inside of the Clybourne house look different in 1959 vs. 2009? What do you think happened to the house within those 50 years?

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• After watching A Raising in the Sun, Bruce Norris felt that he was the character Karl Linder in his everyday life. Which character in Clybourne Park do you think are most like? Which character in Clybourne Park do you want to be more like?

CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

Handout 1: About Santa Monica Rep

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Their inaugural production of The Tempest was awarded the Annenberg Beach House Summer residency in 2011 and took place steps from the beach at the historic Marion Davies Guest house. Since 2010, they have partnered with the Santa Monica Library to present free stagedreadings to the community. To date, Santa Monica Rep has read over 20 plays to over 2000 community members, and engaged hundreds more in riveting and probing post-show discussions, often with panelists or community members with expertise in a field related to the themes of the particular play. Their recent partnership with The Broad Stage has provided access to free staged-readings to Santa Monica and greater Los Angeles-area students.

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Santa Monica Rep is a professional ensemble dedicated to presenting classic and contemporary plays with relevant themes. Since 2010, the company has produced and presented six main stage productions (The Tempest, Proof, How I Learned to Drive, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare abridged, The Memorandum, A Xmas Carol), two themed and curated gala theatrical experiences (Brecht-cerpts, a Brecht-inspired evening of theater at the historic Santa Monica house of the former playwright and director; and Le Salon du Santa Monica Rep, a Moliere-themed night of costumes and wigs, with a staged-reading of The Learned Ladies), a new play festival (Wave Fest at the historic Church in Ocean Park), and dozens of readings, salons, and special events at venues throughout the city of Santa Monica (including the Miles Playhouse, the Promenade Playhouse, and now, The Edye Second Space at The Broad Stage).

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Handout 2: Interview with the Playwright Bruce Norris Interview by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company Artistic Producer Rebecca Rugg From Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Backstage Archive 2011-2012 Volume 1 RACE, PULITZERS AND PUNCHLINES (Excerpted from Reimagining A Raisin in the Sun: Former New Plays, forthcoming from NU Press) Rebecca Rugg: The Royal Court production of Clybourne Park moved to the West End and won the Olivier for Best New Play. And then it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Congratulations.

Bruce Norris: On the West End, I felt like I was sitting outside of myself watching this whole thing happen, feeling like it was happening to someone not me.

BN: I have a very complicated relationship to the entire notion of commercial productions at all.

Almost in kind of an adolescent way, I have an attitude that if someone likes what I do then that means by definition it is not good. If I do my job correctly I should outrage people and have rotten vegetables thrown at me, that that would be the only proof that I had done something successfully. Like I said, it’s completely adolescent but that’s the instinct that I have. So when people like something that I’ve done and they pay for it, it’s very confusing to me. I don’t understand why they would be paying for it if I wrote it to upset them.

RR: How is life different post-Pulitzer?

BN: The most important change is that now I have a very attractive glass paperweight with the profile of Joseph Pulitzer etched into it, so my papers remain securely in place on my desktop.

RR: Clybourne Park is a very complex play about race, among other topics. The experience of watching it, and I’ll speak here as a white person, is quite complicated.

BN: Well, I think the most interesting question that has been put to me about it was the one you put to me last time we talked, which was “did you write this play for white people?” Remember?

RR: Yeah, and you said yes.

BN: And I said yes.

RR: And I was totally shocked. I was sure you were going to say no.

BN: No, I think it is a play for white people. It’s a play about white people. It’s about the white response to race, about being the power elite, about being the people who have power in the race argument, and what that makes us in the present day – the contortions that makes us go through. Because on the Left we really, really like to deny the power that we have. We don’t want to seem like we’re powerful and have the largest army in the world. We want to pretend that we don’t. So, while the play is about white people, it’s even better if there are black people in the audience because it makes white people even more uncomfortable.

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RR: Is that because of anxiety?

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Handout 2: Interview Cont.

RR: I’ve heard you say elsewhere, that Clybourne Park is inspired by Karl Linder, who, before he was yours, was Lorraine Hansberry’s character in A Raisin in the Sun. BN: I saw A Raisin in the Sun as a film in probably 7th grade. Interestingly our Social Studies teacher was showing it to a class of all white students who lived in an independent school district the boundaries of which had been formed specifically to prevent being our being integrated into the Houston school district and being bussed to other schools with black students.

For years I thought I wanted to play Karl Linder but then as time went on I thought it’s really an interesting story to think about the conversation that was going on in the white community about the Younger family moving into Clybourne Park. It percolated for many years and that’s how I ended up writing this play.

RR: Can we talk about theatrical realism? Is Clybourne Park part of a theatrical genealogy that you can trace?

BN: Well, I tend to write in the “realistic” form because it limits what’s possible and that gives a play a rigidity, a structure. A more freeform approach to writing a play feels loose and a little bit flimsy to me. I like the firm structure that’s imposed by realism, not just realistic behavior, but realistic furniture and facts. If you want to demonstrate something about the way we behave and interact with each other, then it’s really useful to have a concrete world there to interact with.

I think when people want to write about dreams and magic onstage, they often don’t have much they want to say about behavior. They want to talk about ideas and not behavior.

RR: I had the opportunity to teach this play to students at Northwestern recently, and the subject of the jokes arose. Students wanted to know why the black woman is spared being the punch line of a joke, from a playwright who doesn’t spare anyone.

BN: It’s not as though everyone in the room has to be the butt of a joke, one by one. It’s a conversation, not a formula. But also, the black woman IS the person who everyone in that room would be most afraid of offending, the one person who would be off limits. All she has to do is say she’s uncomfortable and everyone gets worried.

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So I don’t know whether our teacher was just obtuse or crafty and subversive but she was showing us a movie that basically in the end -- because Karl doesn’t come in until the second act -- is really pointing a finger at us and saying we are those people. So I watch it at twelve years old and I could realize even then that I’m Karl Linder. To see that when you’re a kid and to realize that you’re the villain has an impact.

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Handout 2: Interview Cont.

RR: With those same students we had a long conversation about the presence of the deaf woman in the first act. I wonder if you can talk about that character and the choice to include her.

BN: Well the first thing I’ll say is that deaf is funny. And I defy anyone who tells me differently. But it’s not that the deaf woman herself is funny, or her deafness that’s funny, it’s everyone around her and how they treat her and act towards her that’s funny. And it makes it clear how awful everyone is around race, that there is this false CARE taken towards her deafness. It shines a light on race, by contrast.

RR: Why isn’t there a disabled person in the contemporary scenes?

BN: Well, there wouldn’t be. She’s deaf, and I wanted to make the point that nobody who could HEAR Karl Lindner would marry him. Who else would marry him?

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Clybourne Park Character Guide Act One (1959) Russ (white, late 40’s) Bev (married to Russ; white, 40’s) Francine (black, 30’s) Jim (white, late 20’s) Albert (married to Francine; black, 30’s) Karl (white, 30’s) Betsy (married to Karl, late 20’s)

Tom (played by the actor who played Jim) Lindsey (played by the actor who played Betsy) Kathy (played by the actor who played Bev) Steve (married to Lindsey; played by the actor who played Karl) Lena (played by the actor who played Francine) Kevin (married to Lena; played by the actor who played Albert) Dan (played by the actor who played Russ) Kenneth (played by the actor who played Jim)

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Act Two (2009)

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Clybourne Park Synopsis Russ Stoller sits reading while his wife, Bev, and their African American housemaid, Francine, pack some final items: in two days, Russ and Bev are moving to Glen Meadow (a suburb outside of the city), and in a week Russ will begin work at his new office. Since the death of their son, Kenneth, a Korean War veteran, two and a half years ago, the home (and the neighborhood as a whole) has been a source of pain for the couple. Bev hopes the move will be a fresh start. Jim, Bev’s minister, arrives to counsel Russ, whose anger and nihilism are worrying his wife. Russ, however, is uncomfortable discussing his private feelings about the loss of his son, and he tells the cleric to leave him alone. Before Jim can leave, Albert, Francine’s husband, arrives to collect her. He volunteers to help her bring a trunk containing Kenneth’s belongings downstairs.

Karl Lindner, a representative of the neighborhood community association, arrives with his wife, Betsy, who is eight months pregnant and deaf. He has come to express his concern that the Stollers have sold their house to an African American couple. Because the transaction was handled by a realtor, Russ and Bev were unaware that the purchasers were not white. A heated discussion ensues. Jim brings Francine into the conversation, asking her whether or not a black couple would be happy moving into a white neighborhood, but Russ declares the conversation over: the sale of the house is final. Despite Karl’s arguments, Russ refuses to budge. Claiming he has a responsibility to protect the community, Karl threatens to scare the buyers away by telling them why they’re getting such a good deal on the property—because Kenneth committed suicide upstairs. Russ thunders that he doesn’t care about the community, which turned its back on Kenneth when he returned from war a broken man and treated the family like “the plague” after their son’s suicide. The situation turns violent, and everyone leaves. Russ tells Bev that he will bury the trunk in the backyard.

Act II: September 2009 Steve; his pregnant wife, Lindsey; their lawyer, Kathy (the daughter of Betsy and Karl, who, we learn, moved away from the neighborhood when Kathy was born); Kevin and his wife, Lena (the great-niece of Lena “Mama” Younger from Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun); and Tom from the neighborhood property owners association (the son of the realtor who sold the Stollers’ home in Act i) have gathered to discuss a petition that protests (but cannot legally block) Steve and Lindsey’s proposed renovation of the house. Steve and Lindsey, who are moving into Clybourne Park from Glen Meadow, are planning to build a much bigger house on the property. The property owners association—contacted by a concerned Lena and Kevin (both African American)—want to ensure that the new home is consistent with the “historically significant” neighborhood’s aesthetic. While the group attempts to wade through the legalese, they are interrupted by cell phone calls and by Dan, a handyman who is working on digging up a dead crepe myrtle tree in the backyard. Lena finally loses her patience, feeling that she is the only one taking the matter at hand seriously: she takes great pride in Clybourne Park’s history of African American struggle. This house in particular has personal resonance for her, as her greataunt lived here and was the first person of color to move into the neighborhood. A heated argument about racism, reverse racism, gentrification, sexism, and marginalization ensues, during which Dan enters dragging a trunk he has unearthed beneath the tree. The squabble succeeds in offending everyone, and everyone leaves. Dan manages to get the trunk open. He finds a letter written by Kenneth to his parents. As Dan reads the letter, 2009 dissolves into the day that Kenneth committed suicide. Kenneth is writing the letter to his parents as Francine arrives to start the housework; his mother, who overslept, comesdown from bed to reassure her son that the world is going to change for the better.

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Act I: September 1959

CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

Additional Resources Articles on Clybourne Park: http://www.act-sf.org/content/dam/act/education_department/words_on_plays/Clybourne%20Park%20Words%20on%20Plays%20(2011).pdf Documentary on Gentrification in Chicago: http://ronitfilms.com/films/voicesofcabrini.html

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CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

California Common Core Standards Addressed

Speaking and Listening Grades 9-12 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on- one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas. b. Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision-making, set clear goals and deadlines, and establish individual roles as needed.

5. Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Reading Standards for Literature Grades 9-12 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

3. Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Reading Standards for Literacy in History/ Social Studies Grades 9-12 2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.

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Writing Grades 9-12 2. Write Informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. b. Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.

3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

CLYBOURNE PARK STUDY GUIDE

VAPA Standards Addressed Theater Grades 9-12 1.0 Artistic Perception Development of the Vocabulary of Theatre 1.1 Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as acting values, style, genre, and theme, to describe theatrical experiences.

Comprehension and Analysis of the Elements of Theatre 1.2 Document observations and perceptions of production elements, noting mood, pacing, and use of space through class discussion and reflective writing.

3.0 Historical and Cultural Context Role and Cultural Significance of Theatre 3.2 Describe the ways in which playwrights reflect and influence their culture in such works as Raisin in the Sun, Antigone, and the Mahabarata.

4.0 Aesthetic Valuing Derivation of Meaning from Works of Theatre 4.2 Report on how a specific actor used drama to convey meaning in his or her performances.

5.0 Connections, Relationships, Applications Connections and Applications Across Disciplines 5.1 Describe how skills acquired in theatre may be applied to other content areas and careers.

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2.0 Creative Expression Development of Theatrical Skills 2.1 Make acting choices, using script analysis, character research, reflection, through the rehearsal process.

Creation/Invention in Theatre 2.3 Design, produce, or perform scenes or plays from a variety of theatrical periods and styles, including Shakespearen and contemporary realism.