Sonia Flew Curriculum Guide by Huntington Theatre Company

ÂŠ Huntington Theatre Company Boston, MA 02115 October 2004 No portion of this Teacher Curriculum Guide may be reproduced without written permission from the Huntington Theatre Companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department of Education. Inquiries should be directed to: Donna Glick, Director of Education Huntington Theatre Company 264 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115

Panchita Lopez; photo: Manuel Lopez (Playwrightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parents)

Limelight

teacher literary & curriculum guide

Sonia Flew

BY MELINDA LOPEZ DIRECTED BY NICHOLAS MARTIN A HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTION AT THE STANFORD CALDERWOOD PAVILION AT THE BCA 527 TREMONT STREET

HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY IN RESIDENCE AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY

Nicholas Martin

IN RESIDENCE AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director

Michael Maso Managing Director

Sonia Flew BY MELINDA LOPEZ DIRECTED BY NICHOLAS MARTIN

TABLE OF CONTENTS STAFF This Teacher Literary and Curriculum Guide was prepared for the Huntington Theatre Company by Marissa Jones, Education Consultant Linda Murphy Sutherland, Associate Director of Education Melinda Jaz, Education and Community Associate With contributions by Donna Glick, Director of Education

Table of Contents 3 Synopsis Sonia Flew 4

An Exciting New Theatrical Voice: Melinda Lopez

Sonia Flew at the Theatre Pavilion

Pedro Pan: The Flight of Cuba’s Children

Playwright Melinda Lopez on Playwriting, Parenting and Cuban Culture

10 A Brief History: Bahia de Cochinos and American/Cuban Relations 11 Arrival Song 12 Audience Etiquette 12 Background/Objectives 13 Preparation and Themes 14 Further Exploration

Ilana Brownstein, Literary Manager

15 Mastery Assessment

Melissa Wagner-O’Malley, Layout & Design

17 Open Response and Writing

16 Questions for After the Performance 18 Media Assessment 19 Related Works 20 Lesson Plans 22 Handout 1: Vocabulary in Sonia Flew 23 Handout 2: Playwriting - Getting Started

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Sonia Flew I

t’s December, 2002, and Sonia – a Cuban refugee who came to the U.S. as a teenager – lives in Minneapolis with her Jewish husband, Daniel, and their children. As always, a Christmas tree and dreidel are set out to greet the season. But this year is different; they won’t be traveling to spend the holidays with Sam, Daniel’s father, because Sonia has given up flying. Instead, Sam will come to them, on a Sabbath eve, in deeply uncertain times. Meanwhile Zak, Sonia and Daniel’s thoughtful college-age son, has decided to enlist in the Marines without his parents’ knowledge. Tonight he will break the news, and a crisis in the family unfolds. In the midst of it all, Sonia struggles to come to terms with her past, the responsibilities of parents and children, and her duty to America, her adopted country. A flashback, a lifetime ago: Havana, 1961. Castro and Che are leading a revolution that empowers the youth, promising a bright new future, promising freedom. Sonia is fifteen – she is wild, in love, full of life and hope. But not everything in Cuba is as it seems. Neighbors inform on neighbors, people are disappearing, and there are whispers of the termination of parental rights by the state. Pilar and Orfeo – Sonia’s parents – have seen many changes in their country over the years, but this is different. Orfeo has received a visit from Castro’s soldiers at the University, where he teaches Biology. Pilar has seen the young women being sent to provinces to teach the peasants to read. Fearful of what the future may hold, they smuggle their only daughter from Cuba to the United States, against her wishes, on the eve of the Bay of Pigs invasion. As one of the more than 14,000 refugee children sent out of Cuba after Castro’s rise to power, Sonia never understood her role in the mass migration, nor the reason why, unlike her peers, her parents never came for her. A story of love, loss, and family unfolds across the generations to illuminate hidden secrets and unspoken truths. Now Sonia must find a way to traverse the abyss – something she and her parents could never do – to reach her son. – IMB L

MELINDA LOPEZ

SYNOPSIS

Pancita Lopez; photo: Manuel Lopez (playwright’s parents)

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2004-2005

AN EXCITING NEW THEATRICAL VOICE

Melinda Lopez

elinda Lopez is one of those rare specimens in the theatre who is as skilled a writer as she is a performer. Over the years, she has accumulated an impressive resume of challenging roles on stage, coupled with powerful, well-crafted plays and one-woman shows (which she often performs herself). Even more unusual, she is a CubanAmerican who grew up in New England, and has chosen to make her professional and personal home in Boston. When asked how she has managed not to succumb to the orbital pull of New York, she says, “an artist, a creative person, should be able to make a living where you are. Not that my aspirations are just mak-

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ing a living. But you have to be able to do that. I don’t feel like there’s this magic place you need to be if you’re an actor, if you’re an artist, if you’re a writer. Do what you do where you are and things will happen, it will get done. I’ve found that to be so. I’ve managed to make strong connections here that have lasted, and I feel like that’s really valuable.” Lopez is the child of “continental” Cuban parents who married young, across socio-economic barriers, and who spent much of their time in Colombia, where her father – with his Ph. D in mathematics from the University of Chicago – worked on weather experiments, making rain. She says, “They

were back and forth to Cuba, and in ‘59 after Castro came to power, everyone was very excited, so happy. It was a time of huge promise and optimism.” However, the turning point would soon come. After a meeting with government officials, Lopez’s father had a bad feeling about the direction some of Castro’s new policies were taking. He went home to Lopez’s mother in Havana and said, “We’re leaving, get your things, we’re leaving, and I don’t think we’re coming back.” Lopez adds, “I think he had a very strong sense that things were going to go badly, and indeed they did.” After Lopez was born in Colombia, her family relocated to Massachusetts for her father’s work. “They liked cold New England,” she says, as well as the feeling of being able to reinvent themselves outside of the large Cuban-American community in Miami. (Furthermore, her mother enjoyed wearing pants, which was frowned upon in their traditional culture.) New England was quite different from their previous lives, but Lopez grew up in the Cuban culture, speaking Spanish at home. She led what she calls a sort of double life – Cuban at home, American at school and with her friends. It’s the immigrant child’s experience, and this clear-eyed parallel view on the world shows up in Lopez’s work consistently, as in Midnight Sandwich/ Medianoche, her one-woman show about being Cuban in the Northeast, and most emphatically in Sonia Flew, wherein we meet Sonia as a 15 yearold Cuban girl, and as a 55 year-old Cuban-American refugee living in Minneapolis. Lopez was always drawn to the theatre, she says, and her parents were “supportive, but so clueless” about her aspirations. After she completed her undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College, she began to pursue performing professionally. Eventually she was drawn to the Midwest. “I was in love with this man, we were both here in

Boston, and he got laid off from his job. This man is now my husband, by the way. He said, ‘I don’t think there’s any work for me in Boston.’ And I said, ‘OK. Here are five cities. You can look for work in Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, L.A., and Chicago.’ He found work in Minneapolis, and it was fabulous. It was so exciting to be there.” Not only was it an artist’s dream city, where “everyone has a bowling alley/art gallery, hair salon/poetry slam at midnight,” but it is also a mecca for playwrights and new play development. She arrived as an actor, but in no time, Lopez was writing. “It started,” she says, “as just diddling

Lopez had already acquired a hefty list of credits and accolades. Lopez has won Elliot Norton Awards for her plays God Smells Like a Roast Pig and Midnight Sandwich/Medianoche, both for Outstanding Solo Performance, and a Boston Globe Top 10 Pick (2001) for How Do You Spell Hope? She is the recipient of the 1999 Charlotte Woolard Award, given by the Kennedy Center to “a promising new voice in the American theatre.” Her other plays include The Lesson and What the Market Will Bear – short works from the annual Boston Theatre Marathons; The Order of Things; Scenes from a Bordello; Alexandros, which was featured

“I don’t feel like there’s this magic place you need to be if you’re an actor, if you’re an artist, if you’re a writer. Do what you do where you are and things will happen …” monologues and getting thoughts down on paper, showing it to someone, getting encouragement.” Family reasons brought them back to Boston, where Lopez entered the playwriting program at Boston University, as she puts it, “accidentally.” Kate Snodgrass (Artistic Director of Boston Playwright’s Theatre, and head of Boston University’s graduate playwriting program) had a student drop out of the program at the last minute. She had just seen Lopez stage a reading at Boston Playwrights’, “and she said, you know, we have this slot open, would you like to do this grad program? Of course, I said YES!” Lopez credits Snodgrass and the B.U. graduate program with her development as a writer. “I aspire to work with great people so that I can learn from them. I feel like I’ve been lucky in having really good teachers.” Upon receiving her MA in 2000,

in the Huntington’s Breaking Ground readings in 2001; and her play for families about the Big Bang – Girl Meets Boy: A Play About the Universe – which runs at Boston’s Museum of Science. She continues to perform, and has appeared at venues including Portland Stage, The Guthrie Theater, Shakespeare & Co., SpeakEasy Stage, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Merrimack Rep, and the Huntington Theatre Company, where she understudied Julie White in Theresa Rebeck’s one-woman show, Bad Dates, and was seen in A Month in the Country and The Rose Tattoo. In the fall of 2003, Lopez received a Calderwood Commission from the Huntington (along with fellow writers John Kuntz, Ronan Noone, and Sinan Unel) to participate in the Huntington Playwriting Fellows program – a two-year residency for local playwrights. It is from this program that Sonia Flew was born. – IMB L

Sonia Flew at the Theatre Pavilion Melinda Lopez’s Sonia Flew is a perfect example of what the new play development process in American theatres can produce. Melinda joined three other local writers – John Kuntz, Ronan Noone and Sinan Unel – in August of 2003 as Huntington Playwriting Fellows; all three are supported by commissions from the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays. Over the course of one season, Lopez began with a nascent idea, explored it through drafts of scenes and snippets of monologues, then turned to the other fellows and the Huntington’s artistic staff for useful feedback. By February, she completed a first draft; by March the play received its first professional reading in the Breaking Ground Festival. The response from the audience and other artists was overwhelming – this play simply had to be produced. Sonia Flew will christen the Virginia Wimberly Theatre in the Theatre Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, located in Boston’s South End. It is especially gratifying that the first production in the Wimberly is by a local writer of Lopez’s stature. The Huntington has made a commitment to the development and production of new plays – the opening of Sonia Flew will be a celebration not only of the theatre’s artistic mission, but of all the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead. – IMB

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2004-2005

PEDRO PAN

The Flight of Cuba’s Children W hen Castro rose to power in 1959, Cubans were ecstatic. Playwright Melinda Lopez explains, “People were fighting to have a democracy and believing in this new leader, saying ‘This is the guy who’s going to change it, it’s our own country finally. We’re free from stupid dictators, we’re really finally free to make our own decisions,’ – then they saw it evaporate in front of their eyes.” As it became clear that Castro was not going to institute democracy as promised, the revolution began to lose its luster. When rumors began to circulate that the government was going to revoke parental rights, and children – Cuba’s most valuable resource – were going to be raised by the state, parents panicked. Operation Pedro Pan (or, Peter Pan) was organized in 1960 by the Catholic Welfare Bureau and Father Bryan O. Walsh in Miami, with the assistance of James Baker, the headmaster of the American School in Havana. Originally set up at the request of Cuban parents desperate to avoid Marxist-Leninist indoctrination of their children, the movement became the only way for many families (some of whom were working underground as anti-Castro activists) to keep their children safe. Additionally, Castro had closed all private and religious schools – the children could continue their religious education in America, and though it was primarily a Catholic operation, children of all faiths (even non-believers) were rescued. It was agreed that Baker would handle the children’s exodus from Cuba, and Walsh would set up care for them upon arrival in Miami. Once there, the Pedro Pans would be sent to foster homes in keeping with the family’s religion because, after all, the primary directive of

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Children at the José Martí Airport in Havana, July 30, 1961

the movement was to retain and protect the rights of parents to raise their children – or have them raised by proxy – as the parents saw fit. The urgent plight of refugee children was brought to the attention of President Eisenhower, who allocated federal funds for the care of unaccompanied Cuban children. Officially, the Pedro Pan program began four months before the Bay of Pigs invasion, creating just seven hundred visa waivers that students, funneled through Baker’s school in Havana, would use to escape to Miami. The slow trickle out had started in 1959, and after the failure at the Bay of Pigs, the program exploded. By 1962, over 14,000 children were flown off the island and into America, using fake visas and visa waivers – supplied by the U.S. – smuggled into Cuba in diplomatic pouches,

and distributed by individuals working underground in religious groups and former schools. Even ticket agents and flight attendants helped in the effort, holding precious blocks of seats on every flight for the unaccompanied children. In 1962 the program was forced to end when the Cuban Missile Crisis ceased all commercial flights between the U.S. and Cuba, leaving behind an additional 7,000 children already granted waivers, yet unable to book a flight. It wasn’t until 1965 that small numbers of families were allowed to rejoin their refugee children. Most were reunited, but some children never saw their parents again, and made new lives for themselves in this strange new land. In the final tally, it is estimated that between the Pedro Pans, and the families that followed, nearly 150,000 Cubans made the journey to America. – IMB L

Marisol; photo: Andrew Moore

PLAYWRIGHT MELINDA LOPEZ

On Playwriting,Parenting, and Cuban Culture Over the course of last year, Melinda Lopez, with assistance from Literary Manager Ilana Brownstein, has shepherded Sonia Flew through its development process – from the first seed of an idea, through various drafts, to its first professional reading, and now, production. Melinda sat down with Ilana and shared her thoughts on Pedro Pans, her title character, her family’s journey to New England, and Boston’s Cuban-American community. IB: You’ve taken the Pedro Pan movement of

the early 1960s as a starting point for the title character in Sonia Flew. I sense that awareness in the Cuban-American community about the movement has only begun to surface in the last decade or so. Have you found that to be true? Are many Pedro Pan children still unaware that they were a part of the movement? ML: Well, I think when it was happening, as a participant, it was imperative to keep it quiet. The parents didn’t walk around saying they were doing this thing. The majority had to get fake visa waivers that mostly came through the church. They would go to their clergy,

or sometimes to the schools. It was this completely clandestine operation that had two parts. The first was getting the kids out, which was Operation Pedro Pan, and then the second was about caring for the children once they were in the U.S. That was largely spearheaded by the Catholic Church, although there were Protestant and Jewish organizations involved as well. The point was that they wanted to keep the kids in line with their religious education as it had been in Cuba. And, of course, as a child, maybe you came out with your brother or your sister, or maybe there were other kids on the plane, or maybe

you were initially in Miami with this large group, but eventually the kids were separated and sent to foster families, or reunited with their parents. So I don’t think even while they were going through it there was ever this sense of, “we’re all in this together.” And because it was over several years, the numbers – well, you never would have thought there were so many. So, then these kids become adults and start to reflect on their childhood, and maybe start talking about what happened to them. Grassroots organizations have sprung up in recent years, sending out messages like, “if you were one of these kids, get in touch with me.” As a result, more statistics are accruing about what happened to them, what their experiences were, where they ended up, what they think about it, and would they do it if they had been in their parents’ Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2004-2005

shoes. It’s exciting, because this information has just come out in the last ten years. Now there are conferences, and newsletters, and books being written.

It’s interesting that in the introduction of one of the books you and I have both been reading – Operation Pedro Pan by Yvonne Conde – she talks about how it was only recently that she first came across a reference to this exodus… She read it in Joan Didion’s book, Miami, I remember… Right, Didion offers a staggering statistic: 14,156 children were sent alone by their parents from Cuba in the early 1960s. Conde had left around the same time – was she part of that? She didn’t know. Through her research, she contacted all these people, asking them about their memories and experiences. While trying to make sense of what had happened to her, she wrote one of the definitive books on the topic. It’s very much like my own experience, now that I’ve started talking about it with my family. We refer to my cousin, Maria Elena, as a Pedro Pan child, and it’s because she has named herself that, she’s claimed it. Talking to my parents just the other day, they said, “Oh, you know what? Your cousin Miguelín is the same thing.” It had never been mentioned before. Even the aunts and uncles of the children who went over don’t think of their relatives as having participated in this. But you look at it, and you see that they sent him alone, he arrived in Miami, he was cared for at this place, he went to this foster home – yes, he was one of those children. So even the self-identification is not always there, the truth is that there are many people who didn’t know they were a part of the movement, and are just beginning to see how their experiences fit in to the larger picture. Suddenly they find themselves having been part of this big, clandestine operation. I think that must be really weird. 8

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“This condition of feeling like you’re alone, I think that’s very much part of what the Pedro Pan kids went through, and part of the healing that’s taking place now, as adults.” We see that in Sonia, too, her not being able to name her condition. She knows she was sent away, but doesn’t know why; she’s never had a culmination of the experience in a way she can process it. Right. She doesn’t have anyone else who understands, to talk about it with, who lived it. She hasn’t gotten to that place yet where she’s found these other people. This condition of feeling like you’re alone, I think that’s very much part of what the Pedro Pan kids went through, and part of the healing that’s taking place now, as adults. I’d become interested in the subject and read Conde’s book. She does a series of interviews with Pedro Pans, and one woman talked about how she’s a mother of an 11year-old girl. Her daughter was going to camp or something, I can’t remember, and mom takes her daughter to the airport. As she’s saying goodbye, she suffers this tremendous nervous breakdown: she faints, she’s hysterical, she can’t breathe, and has to be sedated. Suddenly, she remembers the thing that she had not remembered since

it happened to her: being put on an airplane, by her mother, at that age. It comes back to her because now she’s doing the same with her daughter, even though it’s a completely safe situation, completely benign, but she’s in a kind of post-traumatic stress. I thought, there’s a play there.

You talked about your extended family’s involvement in the Pedro Pan movement, but I know that it didn’t touch your immediate family. What was the experience of your mother and father around the time of Castro’s rise to power? How did they end up in New England? My parents met at fifteen and sixteen, married at nineteen and twenty, in a small town. My mother was from a not -very-well-off family, they farmed, they had a shop, and my father was from a very well-off family. Their story is very romantic. My mother talks about when she would go to visit my father at the house and she had to borrow shoes from her sister because they didn’t have enough shoes for all the girls. My mother has green eyes, and so my father’s family thought she was very special. My father did not want to go into his father’s business, he wanted to go to school and he wanted to study math, which no one had ever even heard of – his father thought that was the dumbest thing. But he persevered, and so he eventually studied, got his Ph. D in mathematics in Chicago, and went to work for a company that was based in Colombia. My father is so interesting! They were making rain, doing weather experiments. My parents already had a rather continental lifestyle – they had been in the United States for a while, they were back and forth to Colombia, and to Cuba. They had their home there, but they were also abroad. In 1959, after Castro came to power, everyone was very excited, so happy; it was a time of huge promise and optimism. And my father talks about actually making a presentation

to the new government, seeing if they were interested in joining in the kind of work he was doing in Colombia, and also possibly working with the Americans. The way my father tells it – and in hindsight, who knows? – he says that at the meeting, the government officials were very interested in the project, but very adamant that they didn’t want to have anything to do with the United States. My father says he went home to my mother in Havana and said, “we’re leaving, get your things, we’re leaving, and I don’t think we’re coming back.” I think he had a very strong sense that things were going to go badly, and indeed they did. My parents were able to leave at that point unencumbered.

How was it for the other members of the family? My father’s brothers were eventually working underground in the counterrevolution, and one of them was in

prison for some time, while the other one managed to evade capture. My grandfather finally located my uncle in the prison system. He suggested to the bureaucrats that he might donate his factory to the revolution if they could let my uncle go. It was agreed, and basically he just swapped his factory for his son. Some family members went to the Dominican Republic, some went to Mexico. My parents were in Colombia for several years, and eventually they came to Massachusetts. They liked cold New England. My mother talks about when she went to visit my father in Chicago, a short time after they were married. She flew into Miami – this was in the early 1950s – to take a train from Miami to Chicago, never having left Cuba before, never having been to this country. Her mother said, “it’s very cold,” and she made my mother put sweaters on top of sweaters. She said, “Don’t take these sweaters off.” They bought her this big handbag, and my

A visa waiver used by a Pedro Pan child

mother says she spent three days on this train, just sweating and sweating and sweating, because she was waiting for it to get cold. Of course, it was August, and it never did.

What brought them to Massachusetts? My father’s work. But, it’s interesting because, they’re funny. They could have gone to live in Miami – my grandparents are there, and they have siblings. They never wanted to be in a large Cuban community. Isn’t that weird? I think they really liked being able to reinvent themselves, and be somewhere where no one knew them, where they weren’t tied to what their families said they should do, and where, frankly, no one knew what “Cuban” meant – they could be whatever they wanted to be. I think they liked being a little exotic, a little different, and maybe that’s rubbed off on me. We’d go visit Miami every year, but they were always very happy to come home. I think my mother, especially, was always very uncomfortable about what was allowed, and what was not allowed – you know, how women should act, how they shouldn’t wear pants, etc. She had more freedom here. What can you tell a person who knows nothing about the Cuban community in New England, and in Boston particularly? My impression, and I’m not an authority: it’s not huge, but there are more than you would think. They are highly educated, powerful, ambitious, beautiful, moderate politically, and they don’t vote as a block. We tend to think of Cubans as really Republican, but that hasn’t been my experience here. I’m not saying they’re not out there. My father is a Republican. Many do not support the embargo. Many of them do not support the policies of isolationism. Many go to Cuba regularly. They are very involved in charity work. There is a real strong social consciousness and awareness. They’re also incredibly funny. L Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2004-2005

A BRIEF HISTORY

Bahía de Cochinos and American/Cuban Relations I n 1934, Fulgencio Batista came to power in Cuba by coup, and he would wield that power over the next decade through puppet-presidents, and eventually as president himself. The island had been sovereign only since 1901, and, while it was a democratic state, corruption was everywhere. After Batista’s rise, times were rocky, with economic hardship and governmental unscrupulousness as the status quo – vote purchasing, police oppression, and embezzlement (among other crimes) were common. Batista was ousted in 1944, only to return to power eight years later in a second coup. This time, he ruled as a dictator. Despite all this, and fearful of communist ideologies spreading worldwide, the U.S. backed the capitalist-friendly Batista. This endorsement, however, didn’t do much for Batista’s reputation in his own country. In 1955, a charismatic and handsome rebel named Fidel Castro began a social revolution that would, by 1959, overthrow Batista’s regime and initiate a devastating strain on U.S.-Cuban relations. At first, the U.S. loved Castro, and when he visited America, he was treated like a rock-star. However, in time, the U.S. was alerted to, and alarmed by, his Marxist leanings. While Castro’s pronouncements did not begin as overtly communist, his actions told a different story: he swiftly began taking control of private businesses, especially those owned by foreign interests. Surreptitiously, American support began to trickle down to former Batista supporters and anti-revolution right-wing activists. With munitions and propaganda, anti-Castro rebels – mostly

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Fidel Castro

middle and upper class activists with the most to lose to communism – were secretly fortified, in direct opposition to the policies of the United Nations. For the U.S., the threat of a communist regime in its own hemisphere was too much to bear without intervention. Beginning in May of 1960, over 1,300 Cuban exiles living in the U.S. – many from Batista’s own army – began their CIA training at a secret camp in Guatemala. The plan was simple: these Cubans would invade, equipped with American

weapons, and planes made to look like hijacked Cuban ones. This relatively small militia, posing as rebellious Cuban citizens and employing all the signatures of civil insurrection, hoped to incite a larger counter-revolution against Castro and his impressive army. It was imperative that the U.S. appear innocent, since invading a small communist country unprovoked would be reason enough for unfavorable worldwide – particularly Soviet – reaction. President Kennedy went to great lengths to ensure Senator Robert

Kennedy’s plan for an invasion of Cuba’s Bahia de Cochinos, or Bay of Pigs, would go undetected. The subterfuge, however, wouldn’t be secret for long. The invasion began in the early morning hours of April 17, 1961, and the Soviets responded as soon as news broke. At 12:15 pm, Kennedy received a letter from Nikita Khrushchev that read, in part, “It is a secret to no one that the armed bands invading [Cuba] were trained, equipped, and armed in the United States of America. The planes which are bombing Cuban cities belong to the United States of America; the bombs they are dropping are being sup-

At first, the U.S. loved Castro, and when he visited America, he was treated like a rock star. plied by the American government. …As far as the Soviet Union is concerned, there should be no mistake about our position: We will render the Cuban people and their government all necessary help to repel an armed attack on Cuba.” Meanwhile, Castro’s military, having responded almost immediately to the 3 a.m. landing, was easily winning the battle. The locale had been chosen by the U.S. with the mistaken belief it would provide a tactical advantage – what they didn’t know is that Castro was incredibly familiar with the terrain; he had trained there years before. The immediate negative international response prevented the U.S. from sending in additional forces to assist the outnumbered rebels. The inva-

sion was abandoned mid-stride by the Americans, and the rebels were left to their fates: over one hundred insurgents were dead, over a thousand captured. Castro couldn’t have planned it better himself – the speedy defeat of an American-funded invasion was perfect grist for Castro’s anti-capitalist propaganda machine. Embarrassed and licking its wounds, the U.S. still needed to show its fortitude against the growing communist threat. President Eisenhower had initiated a limited trade embargo against Cuba in 1960. By early 1962, Kennedy expanded the embargo to include the import of all goods made from, or containing Cuban materials (even if made in other countries) in the hope that the economic hardship would induce Cubans to become disillusioned with their leader and demand regime change. Early in 1962, the U.S. staged a mock invasion of a Carribbean island with a mission to overthrow a fictitious dictator named “Ortsac.” It was a less-than-subtle hint that the U.S. was serious about using force to oust the Cuban leader, and sensing an opportunity to gain a strategic foothold, Khrushchev stepped in with an offer of trade opportunities and protection against American hostilities. A standoff between the Soviets and the Americans – with Cuba in the crosshairs – was inevitable, and the Bay of Pigs debacle clearly laid the groundwork for the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. Though the Missile Crisis was a stunning example of seat-of-the-pants diplomacy barely averting disaster, allowing the two nuclear superpowers to escape unscathed, Cuba again bore the brunt of international brinksmanship. By 1963, Kennedy had expanded America’s anti-Castro policies to include prohibitions against travel to the island nation, and financial or commercial transactions with Cuba were made illegal for U.S. citizens. The embargo continues to this day. – KMR & IMB L

Havana skyline; photo: Andrew Moore

Arrival Song The following is the translation of a song sung by Candy Sosa, a Pedro Pan child, upon her arrival in Miami, sometime between 1960 and 1962. You can find a video of Sosa’s heartfelt performance at www.pedropan.org. I dream of my homeland, my Cuba Of happier days in her valleys and her hills, Before the clouds of war darkened her blue skies. The skies of my country are like a nest Where the hopes of my people are waiting For Cuba to be born again And advance on the role of Martí My song is the humble expression of a Cuban, Only a child who asks nothing more than love. My Cuba, my Cuban flag, are to me the purest of gold. I ask no other treasure than to praise in my daily work My county’s flag, and the Cuba that I adore.

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BU Theatre by T. Charles Erickson

Audience Etiquette Because many students have not had the opportunity to view live theatre, we are including an audience etiquette section with each literary/curriculum guide. Teachers, please spend time on this subject since it will greatly enhance your students’ experience at the theatre. 1. How does one respond to a live performance of a play, as opposed to when seeing a film at a local cinema? What is the best way to approach viewing a live performance of a play? What things should you look and listen for? 2. What is the audience’s role during a live performance? How do you think audience behavior can affect an actor’s performance? 3. What do you know about the theatrical rehearsal process? Have you ever participated in one as an actor, singer, director, or technical person? 4. How do costumes, set, lights, sound and props enhance a theatre production?

Plaza del Vapor, Havana

BACKGROUND

& Objectives F

or nearly half a century, thousands of refugees whose parents sent them away as children from Castro’s Cuba have been living in America as a dispersed generation, barely conscious of their shared history and shared identity. Melinda Lopez brings the struggles – and the resilience – of this generation into the light through the story of Sonia, one of the “Pedro Pans” who flew, without her family, to America. As a teenager in Cuba, Sonia had hoped to pursue social justice with a like-minded young man as a grassroots worker for Castro’s government. But her fearful parents made a different decision, smuggling their daughter to America against her wishes on a student visa. Sonia vowed at the time that she would never forgive them. Now Sonia is the parent, and her son Zak is the young idealist hoping to contribute to the cause of social justice as an American soldier in the Middle East. With her role reversed, Sonia must confront again the impossible tradeoff between family and freedom – and must consider the possibility that she needs not only to forgive, but also to be forgiven.

Objectives Students will: 1. Identify key issues in Sonia Flew including: • going to war: responsibility or rebellion? • trauma of war: coping and healing • personal costs of war: forgiveness and family 2. Relate themes and issues in Sonia Flew to their own lives. 3. Analyze the themes and issues within the geographical, historical, and social context of the play. 4. Participate in hands-on activities that enhance understanding of the production. 5. Evaluate the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of Sonia Flew.

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PREPARATION FOR

Sonia Flew ROCKING THE BOAT: THE TURBULENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE U.S. AND CUBA As an overview, read aloud “A Brief History: Bahia de Cochinos and American/ Cuban Relations” (P. 10) In groups, instruct students to research, in greater depth, key historical events mentioned in the article. As students present their work, create a timeline and list of themes emerging from their presentations. Topics may include but are not limited to: 1. Fulgencio Batista: his rise and fall from power 2. Fidel Castro’s social revolution 3. Bay of Pigs disaster 4. The Cuban Missile Crisis 5. Kennedy’s travel and trade embargo against Cuba The strained relationship between the United States and Cuba is the result of many factors, including the culture of paranoia surrounding communism in the United States during the time of Castro’s revolution. Why was Castro first “treated like a rock star (P. 10)” but later despised by Americans? As a class, discuss the political climate in America during the 1950s, and speculate as to why Batista was an acceptable dictator but Castro was not. While the relationship between the United States and Cuba continues to be damaged, the United States freely trades with other communist countries. Ask students if they think the U.S. embargo against Cuba is a fair practice. How might relations between the United States and Cuba be repaired, and what benefits might both countries receive from a renewed association? What do students think they know about life in Cuba, and why do they think Cubans each year risk

their lives to settle in America? What truth might there be to these perceptions? Which speculations are likely false?

KEY ISSUES Going to War: Responsibility or Rebellion? Both Sonia and her son, Zak, come of age during turbulent political times. For Sonia, the turbulence hits close to home in the form of a Communist revolution. For Zak, the war is halfway around the world from his comfortable home in Minnesota. But the two respond in strikingly similar ways. Despite their youth – or perhaps because of it – Sonia and Zak feel compelled to contribute to the wartime efforts. “I’m old enough to help, “ Sonia says. “I want to help.” Zak, too, has a desire to “give something back” as repayment for what he calls “this privileged life.” The misfortune of war seems to open their eyes to how fortunate their own childhoods have been, prompting a rapid transition into an adulthood of sacrifice and responsibility. Although they are aware that their parents disapprove of their plans and fear for their safety, Young Sonia and Zak are determined to go forward with their plans. Why do you think these young people were so desperate to commit themselves to service for their country? Is it an act of personal sacrifice for others or a direct rebellion against their family and the lives they currently lead? Are they being true to themselves or reckless in the face of loving guidance from their families? Make a case for Young Sonia and Zak that they are acting out of both responsibility and rebellion. Ask students if they have ever made decisions that they feel are “right,” but nonetheless in direct defiance of their parents’ wishes.

Courtyard in Havana

Trauma of War: Coping and Healing Like many real-life Pedro Pans, Sonia struggles to make sense of her painful and confusing memories of leaving Cuba against her will. Although Sonia’s plight is shared by thousands, she lacks a channel through which to communicate with them. As Brownstein suggests in her interview with Lopez, Sonia has “never had a culmination of the experience in a way that she can process” (P. 7) At first, Sonia copes with her traumatic memories by simply ignoring them. “I don’t see what good can possibly come from stirring all that up again, “ she says. “[I]t doesn’t have any relevance in my life anymore.” Sonia hopes to forget what she cannot forgive or understand. But memory ultimately proves too powerful to be forgotten, and too relevant to be dismissed. At the end of the play, when Sonia Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2004-2005

begs for Zak’s forgiveness, she harnesses her remembrance of things past in order to explain why she “broke [her] life in two.” What causes Sonia to make this transition from coping to healing? Consider the events of September 11. How does the fear and memory of that day influence people’s day-to-day lives? Zak’s reasons for joining the military include his mother’s new fear of flying and travel. How does Zak help her to begin the healing process, not only from September 11, but from her childhood experiences as well?

Personal Costs of War: Forgiveness and Family In one of the most disturbing scenes of the play, Young Sonia takes her family heirloom – the gold ring that was passed down to her by her mother – and angrily flushes it down the toilet of the airplane taking her to America. As Sonia watches the ring wash away, she says: “I will never forgive you. You have broken my heart.” As a parent faced with losing her son, Sonia expresses a similar sentiment: “Some things cannot be forgiven. Even when you love the person.” Throughout the play, Sonia battles with her family members as they repeatedly defy her wishes. Her inability to forgive poses problems not only for her family, but also for herself. In an effort to simply forget and not forgive, she makes it impossible to mend her relationships or to come to terms with what she has lost or fears losing. But the ability to forgive and move forward, as opposed to forgetting and breaking ties, is sometimes the only way for families to stay intact during difficult times. If you were Sonia, do you think you would be able to forgive yourself for destroying a precious family heirloom out of anger? Do you agree with Sonia’s claim that “some things cannot be forgiven.” Are there circumstances in your own life for which you refuse to forgive others? How might the ability to forgive even when you cannot understand be a valuable asset in your personal life? 14

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FOR FURTHER

Exploration 1. Operation Pedro Pan is a movement that has only recently been explored, with many Pedro Pan adults only now realizing their own participation in the movement. As a starting point, instruct students to read “Pedro Pan: The Flight of Cuba’s Children” (P. 6) Ask students: What are the freedoms inherent to a life in America? What tests must both the children and their families have faced before and after their separation? Where might the Pedro Pan adults be now? (Mel Martinez, candidate for U.S. Senator of Florida, is leading a highly publicized political life and is known as a Pedro Pan – How might being a CubanAmerican in Florida influence his candidacy?) 2. Sonia is certainly not alone in her immigrant experience. Immigrants from all countries were and continue to be faced with the same challenges: learning a new language and new customs while preserving traditions important to their own cultures. Ask students to interview family members in order to discover how, when and why their relative(s) journeyed to this country. For students who do not have this information available to them, have them interview neighbors or friends who were not born in this country. Students should create a family tree or write a short essay based on their research and the information they have gathered. If students are immigrants themselves, encourage them to share their stories. 3. The dramaturg serves as a resource for directors, actors and the company pro-

ducing a play. The dramaturg provides important background information and other details about the play, which are useful to the artists interpreting the story, be they designers or understudies. If you were assigned to be the dramaturg for a production of Sonia Flew, what research and visual stimulation would you provide for the director and actors at the first rehearsal? 4. On Thanksgiving Day of 1999, Elian Gonzalez was rescued from a sinking boat on its doomed journey to the United States. Elian was one of only three survivors, and his own mother was one of ten who perished during the trip. Seven months later, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case that may have granted him asylum, the only way he could have remained in America. Instead he was returned to his father in June 2000. Elian’s family in the United States was devastated by the Supreme Court’s decision, but Elian’s friends and family in Cuba were greatly relieved. Do you think that Elian should have been returned to Cuba, and for what reasons do you agree or disagree with the Court’s decision? Many have argued that Elian’s mother risked and lost her life in an effort to give her son the opportunity to grow up in a free country and that her sacrifice was in vain. Others have said that Elian’s father, as his only living parent, should be given the authority to raise his child as he sees fit. Which decision would you have supported and why?

16. What has happened to Marta’s husband? Because of his troubles, what hope does Marta offer Pilar and her family?

MASTERY

Assessment ACT ONE 1. What do we learn about Pilar in her opening monologue? What final does decision she make? 2. Describe Sonia’s relationship with her children, Jen and Zak. What secret are they keeping from her? 3. A new character arrives in time for the holiday dinner. How is this person related to Sonia, and what effect does he have on the meal-time conversation? 4. How does Zak reason that his decision to join the military is a good one? How does each family member feel about his choice? Use lines from the text to support your answer. 5. What reason does Sonia have for disliking planes? Is it simply, as Zak suggests, because of the events of September 11? Speculate as to what has happened to Sonia, based on this scene, to create her morbid fear of air travel. 6. The house has become a place of great tension and instability. What concern does Jen express, and what promise does Daniel make to her?

ACT TWO: 10. Where is the setting of scene one? What event is this family celebrating, and what preparations are Marta and Pilar making? 11. What is Pilar teaching Marta to do? What do they both learn during this short lesson? 12. What does Pilar mean by, “The walls. Are thin … My neighbor. Listens”? What is she asking of Marta? 13. Who is Tito, and what threat does he pose to the family? His entrance leads to an altercation between Pilar and Orfeo. What are they arguing about? Marta sees Pilar after the fight and refers to the marks on Pilar as a “heat rash.” What does Marta truly think has happened and how does she come to this conclusion? 14. What ideas do Marta and Pilar have about America? What basis do they have for these thoughts? 15. Describe the relationship between Marta and Pilar. What connection does Marta have to Pilar’s family?

17. What does Sonia’s innocent story about the ice cream party at school reveal about the changes in her country? What is Sonia’s reaction – is she alarmed or nonchalant about the event? 18. Who is Jose and what is his relationship to Sonia? What plan do these two young people make? 19. To what arrangement does Tito agree so that Sonia may leave for America? Tito says, “I want to be on the right side. I’m just not sure which side that is.” What does this statement reveal about his loyalty to Castro and the revolutionary movement? 20. Who filed the report that Daniel owns a radio? How might this act affect Sonia’s relationship with this person? 21. Where is the final scene of the play set? Why are Sonia and her family there? What has happened to Zak? What does he ask of Sonia? 22. “I did what they asked me to do … And it was right … But I didn’t do what I wanted … Maybe I could have, if I had stayed, made a difference” How does Sonia’s statement relate to one of the key themes of this play?

7. For what reason is Zak leaving, and where is he going? Is Sonia being fairly blamed for his departure? 8. Zak faces many dangers in the desert. How would you characterize his relationship with Nina? What terrifying situation do they encounter together? 9. What has led to Sonia’s request for forgiveness? What is it that she wants to tell her son?

El Almendron, Logia Masonica, Centro Habana (detail), 1998; photo by Andrew Moore

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2004-2005

Car parked in front of El Almendron, Logia Masonica, Centro Habana (detail), 1998; photo by Andrew Moore

QUESTIONS FOR AFTER

Attending the Performance Note to teachers: After viewing the play, ask the following questions:

C. Were the motivations of the characters clear?

1. About the Play and Production A. What was your overall reaction? Were you surprised? Intrigued? Amused? Explain your reactions. How was the play structured? Did it build to a single climax? Was it episodic? Did this structure help or hinder your understanding of the play? Was the dialogue interesting? Appropriate? Poetic? Were you aware of the imagery and symbolism during the course of the play? Would you have been aware of these devices without previous preparation?

D. What qualities were revealed by the actions and speech of the characters?

B. Was the pace and tempo of the production effective and appropriate?

E. Did the characters change/develop/ undergo transformation during the course of the play? F. In what ways did the characters reveal the themes of the play?

3. About the Set A. Was the set usable and workable? B. Was the set compatible with the production as a whole? Were there any features of the set that distracted from the action of the play? C. Did the design reflect the themes, type and style of play?

2. About the Characters A. Did the characters touch you personally in some ways? Did you care about them?

D. Were the artistic qualities of unity, balance, line, texture, mass and color used effectively?

B. Were the characters three-dimensional and believable?

E. Did the set provide appropriate environment and atmosphere?

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F. Was the set used to present any symbolic images or did it simply represent the space in which the action of the play occurred? Did it contain elements of both a “realistic” and a “symbolic” approach?

4. About Lighting and Sound A. Did the lighting establish mood and atmosphere? Was the illumination sufficient? Did the lighting harmonize with, and contribute toward, the unity of the production? B. Did the sound used in the play enhance your overall experience?

5. About Costumes/Makeup/ Hairstyles A. Were all of these elements correct in terms of the period fashion? Were they suitable in terms of character and storytelling for the production? B. Did the costumes and make-up use of color/ design serve to illuminate the themes, type and style of the play, or any particular choices of interpretations in this production?

make the same decision he made? Write a letter to the President expressing your approval or disapproval of the U.S. occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

OPEN RESPONSE

and Writing

3. Operation Pedro Pan plays a key role in the unfolding of Sonia’s story. Explain the significance of this movement’s name – in what ways are the stories of the young Cuban refugees like that of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys? Does America represent Neverland? 4. A large portion of Sonia’s life is not explored in Sonia Flew. Write an additional scene at some point in time between when her plane arrived in America and the holiday dinner at which Zak announces his decision to join the military. Despacho de Portuondo; photo by Andrew Moore

5. Use one of the following lines from Sonia Flew as a topic for a short essay:

Instructions for students: Please answer the following as thoroughly as possible. Remember to use topic sentences and examples from the text.

the greatest change in her personality and character? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

ZAK: “It’s time for someone to look around at what we have, and go, this is worth sacrificing for.”

Open Response Assessment 1. What do you feel is the main message Lopez is trying convey through Sonia Flew? Is the message relevant to the lives of young people today?

7. In what ways does Zak defy stereotypes of an Ivy League student with “Fullbright” potential?

SONIA: “Some things are not forgivable … Even when you love the person.”

8. Sonia says of her experience in Cuba: “We didn’t have anything. It doesn’t matter that we lost it.” Can you make an argument that both these statements are untrue?

SAM: “Home is a circle beginning and ending at the mother.”

2. How do Sonia’s familial relationships evolve and transform? Trace Sonia’s changing role in her family from the beginning to the end of the play. 3. Why do you think Lopez titled this play Sonia Flew? What is the significance? 4. What role, if any, does religion play in the key moments of the play? 5. Sonia is a passionate and deeply feeling character. In what ways are her actions reasonable and in what moments are they not? 6. Who do you believe is the most influential person in Sonia’s life, creating

Writing Assignments 1. The Peter Pan metaphor is used repeatedly throughout Sonia Flew. Craft an essay in which you examine why a parent or any individual who has lost a loved one might choose to “close the window.” What purpose might “closing the window” serve in the lives of the lost one’s family? 2. Sonia Flew is set in partially presentday America. Consider Zak’s position on the war – do you think you would

6. Consider one of the supporting characters in Sonia Flew. All characters in this play are presumably affected by the decisions of the principal characters and by the social and political circumstances in which they live. Write a journal entry from the point of view of one of these characters, expanding on what we already know about them. 7. Write a critical review of the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of Sonia Flew and submit it for publication in your school newspaper. Be sure to send the Huntington a copy! Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2004-2005

MEDIA

Assessment change in the tone of voice can turn a serious moment into a humorous one? Margarita, El Vedado, La Habana (detail) 1999; photo by Andrew Moore

These questions and hands-on exercises are interactive challenges in Drama, Music, Dance, Visual Arts and Design that inspire further consideration or understanding of the play.

ACTING Have each of your students choose a character from Sonia Flew to portray. As if they were preparing for the role in rehearsal, have them answer the following questions about their characters: Creating a Character a. What does my character want in the play? What is his/her overall objective? b. What stands in the way of what s/he wants? What or who are the obstacles in the way of achieving this objective? Does what my character wants change throughout the course of the play? How? c. Does my character change during the course of the play? What is my character’s journey or plot transformation? d. What are the contradictions inherent in my character?

Role Play and Improvisation a. Ask students to improvise an important moment from Sonia Flew. Students should test the effects of changing something about the performance – tone of voice, character trait, or how an important line is spoken. How does such a change affect the selected moment? How does the pacing or posturing of an actor affect the comic timing of the piece? Is it possible that a 18

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b. Ask students to improvise a scene after the conclusion of the play. What happens to Sonia and her family? This exercise will help students to understand that creating a work always involves an interrupted process or a decision to stop what could be endlessly revised. Do students agree with the playwright, Melinda Lopez, in her decision to conclude the story with Zak’s return home? c. Divide the students into three groups and assign each group to represent one act in the play. Students should create a tableau or stage picture that represents the characters during that act of the play. (You may choose to divide the play according to scenes or in some other way appropriate to the size of your class.)

Performing a Scene Ask students to act out a scene from Sonia Flew. They should use props and costume pieces if possible to enhance the experience. Students should carefully consider their placement on stage, blocking (who moves where and when), gestures, vocal tone, and the intended emotional impact of the scene. If there is time, ask students to memorize the scene in which they will perform. VISUAL ART Ask students to create a poster design for the Huntington Theatre Company’s production of Sonia Flew using the media with which they feel most comfortable (photography, paints, collage, etc.). Encourage students to consider texture and color when making decisions about

how best to represent this play. Suggest to students that this poster will be used to advertise the production in and around the Boston area. How might you catch a prospective audience member’s eye? What images or pictures would be appropriate to use in this advertising campaign, symbols that reflect the story and the message of Sonia Flew? After students have completed their design, ask them to share their work with the class. Hold a contest and send the winning poster to be displayed at the Huntington Theatre Company!

MUSIC/DANCE Ask each student to choose one word to describe the play and write it on a piece of paper. Have all students share their words. Then ask students to create a gesture/pose that would represent this word for them. Once all the students have their gesture, link them to create a simple dance. As a final step, add music and have students rework their routine accordingly. DESIGN Students should research clothing styles from 1950s Cuba and present-day America and create costume designs which are appropriate for a production of Sonia Flew. Encourage students to gather magazine and newspaper clippings from the different time periods, and to choose colors, textures and materials, which reflect the dissimilar trends and styles. Would Sonia’s dress today be influenced by her Cuban roots or is she completely immersed in American culture and fashion? Students should be able to defend their choices and explain how each design reflects the social, economic and political context of the production.

RELATED WORKS AND TEACHER RESOURCES Your next unit might explore other works by Melinda Lopez with similar themes, issues and conflicts, such as: Midnight Sandwich/Medianoche God Smells Like a Roast Pig How Do You Spell Hope? The Order of Things Scenes from a Bordello Alexandros You may also explore the following books, plays, websites and films as supplements to this literary and curriculum guide.

Typical rural town interior of Cuba

BOOKS Barrios, Flor Fernandez. Blessed by Thunder: Memoir of a Cuban Girlhood. Pub Group West, 1998.

Conde, Yvonne M. Operation Pedro Pan: The Untold Exodus of 14,048 Cuban Children. Routledge, 2000. Eire, Carlos. Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy. Free Press, 2004. Filipovic, Zlata. Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo. Viking, 1994. Gay, Kathlyn. Leaving Cuba: Operation Pedro Pan. Millbrook Press, 2000. Sherrow, Victoria. Cuba. 21st Century, 2001 (brief history of Cuba for younger readers). Torres, Maria De Los Angeles. The Lost Apple: Operation Pedro Pan, Cuban Children in the U.S., and the Promise of a Better Future. Beacon Press, 2003. PLAYS Goodrich, Albert Hackett and Frances. The Diary of Anne Frank. Dramatists Play Service Inc., 1984. WEBSITES www.pedropan.org Operation Pedro Pan: Then and Now, at www.eyelandpub.com/eylandpub/pedropan/index.htm (stories, letters, and poetry from Cuban-American refugees). Films Peter Pan (2003) directed by P.J. Hogan. Universal Studios. Memorias del subdesarrollo aka Inconsolable Memories (1968) directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea Strawberry and Chocolate (1995) directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea & Juan Carlos Tabio

Limelight Literary & Curriculum Guide 2004-2005

www.ameriquelatine.com

Lesson Plans Teachers’ note: Choose activities that are appropriate for your classroom period. All assignments are suggestions. Only a teacher knows his or her class well enough to determine the level and depth to which any piece of literature may be examined.

ONE-DAY LESSON PLAN introduces students to the context and major themes of the production. DAY ONE - Introducing the Play 1. Distribute Mastery Assessment (P. 15) for Sonia Flew for students to read before, and to review again after attending the performance. 1. Optional: Distribute Vocabulary Handout and ask students to define each word. A vocabulary test could be administered after viewing the play. 2. Read the “Synopsis” (P. 3) of Sonia Flew. Discuss other works students have studied with similar themes and issues. 3. Copy and distribute “An Exciting New Theatrical Voice: Melinda Lopez” in the literary guide (P. 4) In groups or individually, ask students to underline key information about the playwright and share their ideas with the class. 1. Optional: To save time, narrate highlights for students. 4. If time allows, discuss further pages from the literary guide, including the interview with Melinda Lopez.

FOUR-DAY LESSON PLAN introduces students to the production and then, after viewing the performance, asks them to think more critically about what they have seen. Includes time for class discussion and individual assessment. DAY ONE - Introducing the Production Same as Day One above; completed before seeing the production. DAY TWO - The Production Attend the performance Homework: Students should answer selected Mastery Assessment questions.

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DAY THREE - Follow-up Discussion Discuss Mastery Assessment answers in class. DAY FOUR - Test Individual Assessment: Choose either several questions from the Open Response Assessment or one question from Writing Assignments(P. 17) for students to answer in one class period. Optional: Students may choose one of the For Further Exploration (P. 14) or Media Assessment (P. 18) tasks to complete for extra credit

SEVEN-DAY LESSON PLAN completely integrates Sonia Flew into your schedule. Within seven school days, you can introduce the play, assign reading and vocabulary, and assess your students on both a group and individual level. Students will ideally view the play after completing all assigned work. DAY ONE - Introducing the Play Same as Day One left Optional: Distribute Vocabulary Handout due on Day Four. Homework: Read Act One of Sonia Flew and answer corresponding Mastery Assessment questions. DAY TWO - Act One Discuss Act One and answers to Mastery Assessment questions. Homework: Read Act Two and answer corresponding Mastery Assessment questions. DAY THREE - Act Two Discuss Act Two and the answers to the Mastery Assessment questions. DAY FOUR - Attend Performance DAY FIVE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Group Work Divide students into groups. Students should select a key issue from Preparation for Sonia Flew (P. 13) and prepare an original project based on that theme. Schedule library time if necessary. DAY SIX: Presentations Group Assessment: Students present their work to the class. Homework: Compile sample questions from Open Response Assessment or Writing Assignments in preparation for the test. DAY SEVEN: Test Individual Assessment: Choose either several questions from the Open Response or one question from the Writing Assignments for students to answer in one class period. Optional: Students may choose to complete one of the For Further Exploration or Media Assessment tasks for extra credit.

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Name:_______________________________________________________

Date:_____________________

Handout 1

VOCABULARY IN SONIA FLEW Define the following terms.

MILITARY TERMS

inferno________________________________________________

canteen ________________________________________________

lagoon ________________________________________________

consulate ______________________________________________

organic________________________________________________

flak jacket ______________________________________________ Geneva Convention______________________________________

parched________________________________________________ pension________________________________________________

military industrial complex______________________________________________

pioneer ________________________________________________

mobilized ______________________________________________

pious__________________________________________________

NATO________________________________________________

pulchritude ____________________________________________

Peace Corps____________________________________________

sycophant______________________________________________ torrential ______________________________________________

GENERAL TERMS antiquarian ____________________________________________

SPANISH TERMS apoplexy______________________________________________ compañera ____________________________________________ blighting ______________________________________________ corrojo ________________________________________________ coercion ______________________________________________ commodity ____________________________________________ decadent ______________________________________________

dulcinella ______________________________________________ mojitos ________________________________________________

deluge ________________________________________________

pastels de guyava ________________________________________

elemental ______________________________________________

paredõn ________________________________________________

Name:_______________________________________________________

Date:_____________________

Handout 2

PLAYWRITING - GETTING STARTED Writing a play is not a simple task – Sonia Flew is the result of a playwright’s idea and a theatre company’s determination to turn a rough draft into a full-scale production. In this handout you will be presented with some thoughts on how to begin writing a play, with a structure or format to follow. It may also be helpful to use Sonia Flew as an example illustrating the points in this exercise.

THE STORY: You should begin by deciding what story you want to tell. Will you adapt a fairytale into play form or share a personal experience through your work? Perhaps you have a completely original piece of science fiction or fantasy in mind that would be perfect for your friends to perform. Brainstorming and coming up with the idea is often the greatest challenge facing the playwright. In the space below, write 4-5 sentences describing the basic storyline or plot for your play. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *According to the literary and curriculum guide, where did Melinda Lopez get the idea to write Sonia Flew?

THE MESSAGE: When your audience finishes reading or viewing your play, what is the message that you hope they take away from your story? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Consider Sonia Flew and the themes that emerge from this story – What is Lopez trying to communicate to her audience?

THE CONFLICT: A story is not much of a story without a problem that needs to be resolved. What is the major issue or conflict in your play that propels the action of the play forward? What does your main character want and what is standing in her way? Jot down your ideas for the main conflict in the space below. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Based on your research of Sonia Flew, what is the major conflict for the character of Sonia?

THE RISING ACTION: As the characters in the play work their way through the conflict(s) and struggles in front of them, key moments in the plot unfold, leading to the resolution of the conflict. Write down at least three major plot points that will contribute to the rising action of the play. 1 ._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2 ._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *What moments in Sonia Flew could be considered the rising action of the story?

THE CRISIS: The moment of greatest tension in the play requires the main character to take action – at this point the main character must make a decision about what will happen next, leading directly to the climax of the story. What will be the highest moment of tension or the crisis for the characters in your play? Where in the play will this occur?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *What is the greatest moment of tension for Sonia, and what choice does she make in order to relieve it? THE CLIMAX: At this point in the play the main characters reach the height of the conflict and are faced with the consequences of their actions. The conflict comes to a head and the main question of the story is answered. What will the moment of climax look like for the characters in your play? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *After having read or seen Sonia Flew, what do you think is the climax of this story? Do you think there are moments of climax in both Act One and Act Two? THE CONCLUSION: The playwright must find a way to end the story for her characters. How will you wrap up the story without the ending being “too neat” or unrealistic (like the sitcom-style television program in which every problem can be solved in 30 minutes or less)? Write down your ideas about the closing moments of your play. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *As a reader or audience member, did you feel satisfied at the end of Sonia Flew? Do you agree with Lopez’s decision to end the play at that particular moment in time? THE CHARACTERS: Consider the vessels through which you will tell your story. What characteristics of these people help to define and shape their personalities? How will these traits contribute to the conflict and resolution of your story? Be careful not to stereotype or generalize your characters – if you do, they will seem two-dimensional, lacking in depth and believability. In the space below, write brief descriptions of your principal characters. Playwrights often include the name, age, and relationship to other characters before the beginning of their play. Character One: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Character Two:____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Character Three:___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Character Four:____________________________________________________________________________________________________

You are off to a great start! Having the key components in place will help you to focus your efforts during the first draft of your work. Remember, playwrights spend countless hours editing and revising their pieces – but it all begins with the idea and a story.

Resources for this worksheet include: Korty, Carol. Writing Your Own Plays. Players Press, 2000 (2nd edition).