Creative Process of the Artist or Culture: After seeing Stinking Badges, Josefina, a student at the Los Angeles High School for the Arts, was given an assignment to write a scene focusing on a relationship. She wrote about her experiences with her father, and five months later, she had a 100-page play called Simply Maria, or the American Dream. Her fifth draft was eventually produced by San Diego’s Young Playwrights Project. Ms. López attended rehearsals and continued to rewrite during the production process. She combines her anger and humor to spark her writing. When she would reach an impasse working on the original version of Simply Maria, she would interview herself as a way to explore her feelings about being a woman. For Josefina, writing is therapeutic and has led her toward selfdiscovery.
About the Artwork: Simply Maria, or the American Dream is a one-act play that explores the cultural and familial expectations for young Chicana women in making choices between pursuing college ambitions, getting married, or securing “Anger is what we often call ‘passion.’ It can be used to make something positive.”
OceanPacific THEATREMUSIC MEXICO TRANSFORMATION THE POWER OF NATURE FREEDOM OPPRESSION&ENDURINGVALUES THE HUMAN FAMILY ARTISTIC PROCESSES 1. CREATING (Cr) 2. PERFORMING, PRESENTING, PRODUCING (Pr) 3. RESPONDING 4.CONNECTING(Re)(Cn) rtsource ® The Music Center’s Study Guide to the Performing Arts A MULTI-MEDIAEXPERIMENTALCONTEMPORARYCLASSICALTRADITIONAL
Josefina
employment.LópezThe main character, Maria, finds herself living in dual cultures - the Mexican ways of her former homeland and the newfound liberty of the USA. Ms. López weaves her tale between dream sequences and realistic confrontations with a range of characters from the familiar to the symbolic. Simply Maria gives a unique perspective on the universal journey of adolescence with a powerful and inspirational voice.
Title of Work: Simply Maria, or the American Dream Creators: Producer: Playwrights Project Playwright: Josefina López, b. 1969 U.S.A. Gulf Mexicoof
Background Information: Josefina López, born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, moved to the East Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights with her family when she was five. For almost 13 years they lived undocumented until they obtained “Amnesty.” Real Women Have Curves is Lopez’s most recognized work, though it is only one of many literary and artistic works she has created since her career began at 17. As a teen Ms. Lopez was a member of the Young Playwrights Lab at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, where she wrote the Emmy-award-winning and PBS Gold Award-winning play Simply Maria, or the American Dream. Josefina obtained her MFA in Screenwriting from the UCLA and a BA from Columbia College. She is also the founder of the “Casa 0101” theatre arts space in Boyle Heights, where she teaches playwriting, screenwriting and digital filmmaking with Latino youth. Her accomplishments have been recognized by the LA Mayor, Gloria Molina, Barbara Boxer, as well as Latina Magazine. Ms. Lopez, married and raising two children, recently wrote her first novel Hungry Woman in Paris for Warner Books, released in Spring 2009.
Multidisciplinar y Options:
• Discuss theme as it pertains to a play. Hold a brainstorming session on themes that would be important or interesting to explore through playwriting.
• What does Maria’s mother mean when she says, “You’re a Mexican woman, you’re different from other women, try to accept that.”?
• Select a social studies unit to dramatize. Choose characters of historical interest to portray in events which helped shape a nation. Research the country and time period to lend an authentic flavor to your characterizations. Students may write and present a short portrait of a favorite person or they may work in groups to improvise specific scenes. For example, if the American Revolution was selected, historical characters could be John and Abigail Adams, Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson. Scenes which could be enacted might include the Boston Tea Party or the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Costumes and props of the appropriate era and culture would add visual interest to your presentation.
Additional References:
• Hold a write-a-round to create a scene in a dramatic •format.Practice transcribing a two-person conversation as an example of a dialogue exchange.
LEVEL III
Sample Experiences:
LEVEL I
• Are women you know expected to fulfill traditional or cultural roles?
• Dramatists Guild, 1501 Broadway, Suite 701, New York, NY 10036. www.dramatistsguild.org
Audio-Visual Materials:
• Write a monologue for an original character expressing a personal point of view. * Indicates sample lessons
• What does Maria want for herself?
• How does Josefina López use the convention of the standard wedding vows to target the themes of her play?
• Compose a list of actions and write them as stage directions, in parentheses.
Discussion Questions: After the video has been viewed:
• How does the production use symbolism to convey ideas?
• Playwrights Project, 2590 Truxtun Rd., Suite 202 San Diego, CA 92106
LEVEL II • Write a character study by answering questions about his/her physical traits and psychological make-up.
• Use pictures of different settings to make up stories that could only happen in those locales.
* * 2
• How is satire used to bring a point across?
• Artsource® video excerpt: Simply Maria, courtesy of KPBS-TV San Diego and Playwrights Project. (San Diego, CA). *
• Can you identify with any of Maria’s problems or •dilemmas?Haveyou ever felt that you needed to free yourself from a gender or cultural stereotype?
• Make a list of all the roles we play in life. Choose one role and write a brief paragraph describing a problem you might face in that role.
• Read a play for young audiences.
• Visualize a character and write a letter from him/her to another selected character.
• What do Maria’s parents want for her?
• Improvise two-person situations to develop character relationships, i.e., parent/child, brother/sister, teacher/student, etc.
TRANSFORMATION IN THIS PICTURE IS A STORY LEVEL I Sample Lesson
Groups may use simple pantomime and narrative techniques to dramatize the completed stories.
PROGRESSION:
EXTENSIONS:
INTRODUCTION:
MATERIALS:
• Pictures from travel or nature magazines or picture postcards.
Students will be able to:
THEATRE
A scene from Simply Maria, or the American Dream
OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes)
• Create a dramatic plotline or story based on a specific setting-time and place. (Creating) • Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting)
• Draw a setting using most of the blackboard and ask the groups to create stories that could happen there.
All scene photographs courtesy of Playwrights Project 3
For example, if you drew a picture of a deserted island with palm trees, the groups might develop stories of shipwrecks, diving expeditions, exotic vacations, etc. Then, if you drew giant footprints in the sand, an entirely different stor y might unfold. Have the class share the stories. Did the same setting suggest different stories?
Pictures can inspire original stories by suggesting the setting in which a particular scenario takes place.
• Collect a group of pictures of scenic beauty and urban and rural settings without people in them. Travel magazines and nature magazines are good sources, as well as picture postcards. Divide the class into groups of three or four and let each select a picture from which to work . Each group should talk about their picture and agree on the time and place it suggests. Next they should devise a story specific to their picture, with events that could only happen there. How did the settings determine the actions of the scenes? Give each group 20 minutes to plan and tell their stories before sharing them with the class.
DISCUSS: Discuss how you selected the ideas for your story.
• Settings that may be helpful: a circus, beach, restaurant, hospital, library, forest, church, train, ship, mountain top, courtroom, zoo, spaceship, etc.
ANALYZE: Think of the events in your stor y and determine whether they could only happen in the time and place suggested by your picture. Talk about why or why not the story could only happen there.
VOCABULARY: setting, scenario, plotline
CONNECT: Discuss how you could take a different picture and make up a new story. Why is the time and place important in telling a stor y?
Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; TSpeakingOESTABLISH
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ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting)
CRITERIA FOR THIS TASK AND CREATE A RUBRIC: See the Artsource® Theatre Glossary (http://www.musiccenter.org/Documents/TheatreGlossaryAssessment.pdf).
DESCRIBE: Describe the setting you created with as much detail as possible.
• Incorporate this exercise with an art lesson. Ask your students to draw, color or paint a setting from their imaginations. When they have completed their pictures, have them exchange with a classmate and perform a solo pantomime based on that artwork.
WRITE-A-ROUND TRANSFORMATION
LEVEL II Sample Lesson
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• Have each student write their names on a piece of paper and copy the two lines of dialogue. Then, have ever yone write a line for the first character (BOB).
• Next, ask for a line of dialogue for each one, setting up a conflict.
PROGRESSION:
OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes) Students will be able to:
MARY: “You wouldn’t believe what happened to me...”
• Learn and write dialogue and action for a short scene according to suggested assignments. (Creating)
NTRODUCTION: A “write-a-round” is a collaborative scene writing exercise following a dramatic format.
• Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting)
• Ask the class for a suggestion of a setting and two characters and write them on the board. Example: settingcharactersrestaurant-Boband Mary
MATERIALS: Paper, pencils or pens.
• When everyone has finished, have them pass their papers to the person on their left. Each student should read the three lines of dialogue and then add a fourth line (for MARY). Pass the paper to the left. A scene from Simply Maria, or The American Dream
Example: BOB: “Well, you finally made it! Only a half-hour late, not bad.”
THEATRE
• Add the fifth line of dialogue (for BOB). Pass the papers to the left.
CRITERIA FOR THIS TASK AND CREATE A RUBRIC: See the Artsource® Theatre Glossary (http://www.musiccenter.org/Documents/TheatreGlossaryAssessment.pdf). 6
• Select one of the characters from a write-a-round scene and write a short monologue based on what that character might say to himself/herself while looking in the mirror.
• Write in an offstage sound and a line of dialogue responding to it (either character). Pass the papers to the left.
Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; TSpeakingOESTABLISH
• How were the class’s scenes alike or different? Did they discover a range of dramatic possibilities in the various situations?
• Pass the papers to the left.
• Bring in a third character and write a line of dialogue for him/her. Pass the papers to the left.
Example: (MARY abruptly stands up and heads for the door.)
VOCABULARY: characters, dialogue, conflict, action, stage directions, offstage, exit
ANALYZE: Discuss what you felt worked well in your scene and what you would change and why.
ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting)
DISCUSS: Discuss the dialogue created for the scene by your group.
• Introduce an object in the scene and write a line of dialogue incorporating it (either character). Pass the papers to the left.
CONNECT: Discuss what was similar and what was different about the various scenes.
• End the scene, writing the necessary lines for all the characters and have one character exit. Return the papers to the original writers and have them read their completed write-a-round scenes.
EXTENSIONS:
DESCRIBE:Describe the Write-A-Round process you went through.
• Now, introduce an action and write it parenthetically as a stage direction.
• Perform selected write-a-round scenes for the class.
(Set description, character description, description of action.)
1. NAME OF CHARACTER: (Instruction on how to read line) Dialogue.
FORMAT SUGGESTIONS
JOHN:Example:(Angrily)
I’m sick of this fighting and I’m getting out of here! (John storms out of the room, bumping into HELEN JOHNSON, who is coming into the room. Helen is about 35, attractive, and wears a large hat.)
I’m sick of this fighting and I’m getting out of here! (John storms out of the room, bumping into HELEN JOHNSON, who is coming into the room. Helen is 35, attractive, and wears a large hat.)
2. This method is also used for screenplayNAMEformat.OF CHARACTER (Instruction on how to read line)
7
There are several different playwriting formats, but the two most often used are:
Line of dialogue can stretch from one end of the page to the other and continue underneath. (Description of action, description of character)
TITLE PAGE: TITLE OF PLAY © (must be centered) Your name Your address Your phone number © YYYY (copyright symbol and year play completed) All rights reser ved
Example:JOHN(Angrily)
MATERIALS: • None. PROGRESSION:
Students will be able to:
• Create dialogue and develop character relationships by improvising two person situations around a common conflict. (Creating & Performing)
LEVEL III Sample Lesson
• Describe, discuss, analyze and connect information and experiences based on this lesson. Refer to Assessment at the end of this lesson. (Responding & Connecting)
• Ask students to pair off and find a place in the room where they can improvise freely. Next have each duo decide who is A and who is B. Present the following situation to be acted out: A and B are in a place together. A wants to leave. B is trying to prevent A from leaving.
A scene from Simply Maria, or the American Dream
THEATRE TRANSFORMATION
INTRODUCTION: Improvisation is a way to make up dialogue on the spur of the moment. These improvisation prompts are not acting exercises, but “playwriting on your feet.”
PLAYWRITING ON YOUR FEET
OBJECTIVES: (Student Outcomes)
• Before improvising, the students should discuss and agree on three things: 1) the setting, or where they are. 2) their relationship, or who they are. 3) where and why A is going.
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ANALYZE: Discuss what really worked and what might be strengthened, changed or refined if you had the chance to do it again.
DESCRIBE: Describe what happened between you and your partner during your improvisation.
Emphasis on: Common Core - CA State Standards for Language - Reading; Writing; Listening; TOSpeakingESTABLISH
Example: “Don’t ever do that again!”
CRITERIA FOR THIS TASK AND CREATE A RUBRIC: See the Artsource® Theatre Glossary (http://www.musiccenter.org/Documents/TheatreGlossaryAssessment.pdf).
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EXTENSIONS:
CONNECT: How are situations in ordinary life similar to improvisations? How are they different?
VOCABULARY: dialogue, improvisation, playwriting ASSESSMENT: (Responding & Connecting)
• Assign specific physical positions for the start - or end - of a scene. Students should proceed to improvise accordingly.Example:
When the scene starts, A is standing on a chair and B is under a desk. When the scene ends, A and B are standing back to back.
• Improvise scenes where each pair of students has been given the same first line of dialogue to begin the scene.
• Plan only the beginning of the improvisation, for the end will develop as you work. Take five minutes for the pre-planning, and then get into character and improvise. When everyone has had a chance to role play, ask willing student pairs to recreate their improvisations for the group.
DISCUSS: Discuss what decisions you and your partner made about the setting, who the characters were, their relationship and where and why A was going.
Photo: courtesy of The Playwrights Project
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The mission of Playwrights Project is to advance literacy, creativity, and communication by empowering individuals to vocie their stories through playwriting programs and theatre productions. An annual Young Playwrights Contest for Californians under age 19 leads to professional stage and television productions of selected scripts. The minds and imaginations of senior writers are engaged through playwriting sessions in senior centers and writing partnerships between senior storytellers and young dramatists. The Playwrights Project co-produced the teleplay of Josefina López’s Simply Maria, or the American Dream with KPBS-TV San Diego. The program, with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, won both an Emmy in the Entertainment Programming category from the San Diego/Southwestern Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the highest program honor in public television, the 1990 Gold Award for Excellence in Children’s Programming from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Simply Maria was selected from 374 entries in 10 categories nationwide. www.playwrightsproject.org
The Playwrights Project
Young playwright writes her scene
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