Intimate Apparel Study Guide

A Study Guide for...

BY

LYNN NOTTAGE Prepared by Zia Affronti Morter, Molly Greene, Lexi Diamond and the Education Department Staff.

Trinity Rep’s Education Programs are supported by: Bank of America Charitable Foundation, The Murray Family Charitable Foundation, The Yawkey Foundation, Otto H. York Foundation, The Amgen Foundation, McAdams Charitable Foundation, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, The Hearst Foundation, Haffenreffer Family Fund, Phyllis Kimball Johnstone & H. Earl Kimball Foundation, Target JANUARY 30 – MARCH 2, 2014

trinity repertory company providence • rhode island

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Theater Audience Etiquette

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Using This Study Guide in Your Classroom

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Unit One: Background Information Lynn Nottage Timeline: America in the Early 20th Century Historical Tidbits Intimate Apparel: The Characters Intimate Apparel: The Synopsis Intimate Apparel: Important Themes

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Unit Two: Entering the Text Separate Rights and Dream-Catcher Tableaus, Love & Marriage, and Secret Letters Make Your Own Quilt and Playing with Status Monologues Scenes from the Play Hungry for More?

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Bibliography

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THEATER AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE AND DISCUSSION PLEASE READ CAREFULLY AND GO OVER WITH YOUR CLASSES BEFORE THE SHOW TEACHERS: Speaking to your students about theater etiquette is ESSENTIAL. Students should be aware that this is a live performance and that they should not talk during the show. If you do nothing else to prepare your students to see the play, please take some time to talk to them about theater etiquette in an effort to help the students better appreciate their experience. It will enhance their enjoyment of the show and allow other audience members to enjoy the experience. The questions below can help guide the discussions. Thank you for your help and enjoy the show!

ETIQUETTE: What is the role of the audience in a live performance? How is it different from seeing a film? Why can’t you chew gum or eat popcorn at a live theater performance? Why can’t you talk? What can happen in live theater that cannot happen in cinema?

Reiterate that students may not chew gum, eat, or talk during the performance. Please make sure all cell phones and pagers are turned off. Recording devices and cameras are strictly prohibited. If there is a disturbance, they will be asked to leave and the class will not be invited back to the theater. Students may not leave the building during intermission.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS BEFORE SEEING THE SHOW AT TRINITY REP: What are the differences between live theater and cinema? (Two dimensional vs. three dimensional; larger than life on the screen vs. life-size; recorded vs. live, etc.) Discuss the nature of film as mass-produced, versus the one-time only nature of live performances. Talk about original art works versus posters. Which do they feel is more valuable? Why? Observation #1 – When you get into the theater, look around. What do you see? Observe the lighting instruments around the room and on the ceiling. Look at the set. Does it look realistic or abstract? Try to guess how the set will be used during the show.

Observation #2 -- Discuss the elements that go into producing a live performance: The lights, set, props, costumes, and stage direction. All the people involved in the “behind the scenes” elements of the theater are working backstage as the play unfolds before the students’ eyes. Tell them to be aware of this as they watch the show. Observe the lighting cues. How do special effects work? How do the actors change costumes so fast?

Actors in a live performance are very attuned to the audience and are interested in the students’ reactions to the play. Ask the students to write letters to the actors about the characters they played and to ask questions of the actors. Send these letters to: Trinity Repertory Company, c/o Education, 201 Washington St., Providence, RI 02903 or email to: education@trinityrep.com.

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USING THIS STUDY GUIDE IN YOUR CLASSROOM A Letter from School Partnerships Manager Matt Tibbs Welcome to Trinity Rep and the 47th season of Project Discovery! The education staff at Trinity Rep had a lot of fun preparing this study guide, and hope that the activities included will help you incorporate the play into your academic study. It is also structured to help you to introduce performance into your classroom through the following elements: • • • • • •

Community Building in Your Classroom Inspiration and Background on the Artist Entering and Comprehending Text Creating Text for Performance Performing in Your Class Reflecting on Your Performance

Further, the Rhode Island Department of Education has recently developed Grade Span Expectations for the fine arts in content, knowledge and skills that will be used to assess all students. (Available at http://www.ride.ri.gov/instruction/gle.aspx) Trinity Rep’s Project Discovery student matinees help high school students in the following GSE areas: • • • • • • •

Analyzing and evaluating a theatrical performance for its effective use of music, dance, or visual arts (T13b) Evaluating major and minor themes and characters and their symbolic representation (i.e., cultural references) (T3-2a) Evaluating techniques for their effectiveness and craft (e.g., critiquing actor’s performance and the playwright’s dialog) (T3-2b) Evaluating a play or performances based on analysis of what is seen, heard, and known to judge its value and contribution to humanity (T4-1a) Evaluating character’s objectives and motivations based on what is seen, heard, and known to explain character’s behavior (T4-1b) Evaluating technical elements of theatrical production (T4-1c) Evaluating dramatic elements of a plot for their effectiveness and cohesiveness (T4-1d)

Enjoy the show!

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UNIT ONE: BACKGROUND INFORMATION About the Author: Lynn Nottage Since Intimate Apparel was first produced in 2003, Lynn Nottage has been one of America’s most celebrated and popular playwrights. She’s received numerous theatrical awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a MacArthur Grant, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009 for her play Ruined. Nottage was an impressive talent from an early age; she was recruited

by Brown for her undergraduate and in 1987, she graduated from Yale with an MFA in playwriting.

In the years between leaving Yale and rising to fame after the turn of the century, Nottage worked for several years with Amnesty International, personally engaging in human rights battles that would inform her later playwriting. In an interview for Guernica Magazine, Nottage describes the relationship between the two jobs: “Human rights reports, as important as they are, are very dry…They don’t give a full portrait of a human being…

Theater can give three-dimensions to two-dimensional stories.” Nottage’s upbringing also provided her with fuel for her stories. She was raised in Brooklyn; she describes her family as “middle-class sometimes,” and growing up, she was surrounded by social, racial, and economic diversity. “You could have a lawyer going to work on Wall Street living next to someone on food stamps” she says of her home neighborhood.

This great range of diversity is very present in the worlds of Nottage’s plays. Intimate Apparel travels from the bedrooms of prostitutes to those of the upper-class housewives on Fifth Avenue.

At the center of the play are relationships that transcend race, class, and gender. At the same time as Nottage was writing Intimate, she was also working on Fabulation, which she describes as being about “the same woman, but a hundred years apart,” still facing the same boundaries set by culture and economics. Besides being an exploration of these different worlds of race and class that exist in just one city, Intimate Apparel is a personal play for Nottage; it’s based on her seamstress great-grandmother. In an article in the Chicago Tribune, she says "It made me sad because I thought `I don't know who she is ... I know nothing about her… I wrote this play to know her better and to rediscover my own history."

Ruined, the 2009 play for which Nottage won the Pulitzer Prize, is also a deeply personal story for many women. After Fabulation was complete, Nottage traveled to East Africa and spent three years interviewing women there about their personal experiences with sexual violence. “So much of how women experience war is through their bodies,” says Nottage.“One consistent thing from war to war—from Africa to the Balkans to the Middle East—is that women’s bodies become battlegrounds.” As she was writing that story, she was also working on By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, about an African American woman trying to make it in Hollywood in the

5 1930’s. While the two plays may seem drastically different, Nottage sees them as “both about people forced to make compromised choices in order to survive.”

The stories that Nottage tells in her plays are all linked by their portrayal of African or African American women trying to make it in a world that is not entirely willing to accept them as fully worthy or human. Along with writing about these struggles, Nottage sees them happening in the worlds of film, television and theatre as well. The voices of women of color“remain frightening or alien and are not invited to be part of the mainstream conversation, even though we’re a key part of shaping American culture.” However, as a woman of color herself, Nottage seems to have broken this barrier, and her work is consistently praised and, more importantly, produced at theatres around the country and around the world. Nottage’s craft as a playwright deserves to be recognized as much as the stories deserve to be told. Her exploration of human struggles, both personal and political, can be serious and thoughtful as well as light-hearted and hopeful. Her plays span history and geography, taking things we may think of as time periods, events, or concepts and giving them life as rich, fully emotional human experiences.

Mia Ellis as Esther (on bed), Angela Brazil as Mrs. Van Buren (behind bed), and Shelley Fort as Mayme (left).

Photo by Mark Turek

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TIMELINE: America in the Early 20th Century 1896 – In Plessy vs. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds a Louisiana law demanding racial segregation on railroad cars, stating that the 14th Amendment upheld political but not social equality.

1900 – Arthur Harris, a black man, fatally stabs white police officer Robert J. Thorpe in New York City. There are reports of police brutality, and rioting begins with white people seeking revenge. The riots last for 3 days several people of color are injured. Harris is arrested, and no police are found at fault.

1901 – President William McKinley is assassinated in Buffalo, NY. Theodore Roosevelt is inaugurated. Also, George Henry White leaves office. He was the last black man in the 19th century to serve in the House of Representatives (North Carolina Republican).

1902 – The New York Committee of 15 publishes The Social Evil report, suggesting regulations and improvements to living situations, health issues, and pay regarding women in order to combat prostitution.

1903 – The first silent movie debuts, and the Wright brothers take their first flight in North Carolina. The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) is founded in ManchEsther by Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst. They were a militant offshoot of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), which was founded in 1897.

1904 – The first New York City Subway line opens to the public, stretching from City Hall to the Bronx. Ground is broken on the Panama Canal, aiming to create a passage for ships between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Earlier attempts at digging the canal had been stopped due to high mortality rates among the diseased workers, and the project was not finished until 1914.

1905 – The year the play takes place. In the same year that Einstein published his theory of relativity and Freud his theory of sexuality, W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter began the Niagara Movement. They were a radical militant protest group who were opposed to the popular ideas of accommodation and conciliatory philosophy.

1906 – Finland becomes the first European nation to give women (and anyone of age, regardless of race or class) the right to vote.

1909 – Following the Race Riot of 1908 in Illinois, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created, joining members of the Niagara Movement with other prominent activists, including several white men. This organization still exists today and continues to work towards racial equality in America.

1920 – The 19th Amendment is ratified, giving women the right to vote in America.

Lower Manhattan Financial District 1900

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Historical Tidbits Divorce In 1905, when Intimate Apparel takes place, divorce rates had been slowly rising for a few decades, but they were still extremely low compared to what they are today. In 1906, 8% of marriages ended in divorce. Legally, abuse, adultery, or abandonment had to be proven in order to obtain a divorce, and the social stigma around the issue, especially for women, was potentially life-ruining.

Literacy Rates Like divorce rates, literacy rates were steadily on the rise from the 1800’s. In 1900, 10.7 of the total US population over 14 years old were classified as illiterate. While this statistic on its own seems low, the literacy rates across racial lines were alarming. Only 6.2 percent of white adults were illiterate, while for racial minorities, the rate was 44.5 percent. As a black woman who could not read or write, Esther Mills was not an unusual case.

Ragtime Music In Intimate Apparel, Mayme tells Esther that if she played ragtime music in her house growing up, her father would physically punish her, thinking his family too refined for African-American culture. While ragtime was more popular among African-Americans in the early 19th century, by the 20th century it was popular across racial and geographic boundaries.

Immigration

In the first decade of the 20th century, a record 9 million immigrants came to America from other parts of the world. Like Mr. Marks, 70% of immigrants coming into the country were from Eastern or Southern Europe. Often, these people came from countries with more poverty and famine and less opportunity than America. However, it was not always easy for immigrants in America to try to begin a life with no money, no family, and no connections on top of the culture shock of coming to a new country.

Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York 1908

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The Characters Esther – A single, 35 year old, African-American seamstress. She sews intimate apparel for everyone from prostitutes to high-class ladies, and although she cannot read or write, she begins an epistolary romance with George. Her dream is to begin a beauty parlor for black women.

Mrs. Dickson – The landlady of the New York rooming house where Esther lives. Older but beautiful, and a widow.

Mrs. Van Buren – A rich, white woman who lives on Fifth Avenue. She is respected in society but has an empty life and loveless marriage.

Mr. Marks – Owns the fabric store where Esther shops. An orthodox Jew, he has an arranged engagement with a woman in Romania he has never met, and is forbidden from touching any other woman. However, he and Esther share an intense mutual attraction.

Mayme – A prostitute pianist who lives in Mrs. Dickson’s rooming house. Wild and beautiful, she and Esther are friends in spite of their very different lives and characters. She plays the piano, and ends up accidentally seducing George away from Esther.

George – A handsome young man who is working on digging the Panama Canal. Begins a romance with Esther through a series of letters, and moves to New York to marry her. George isn’t the man he seemed to be, and he ends up leaving her with nothing.

Mia Ellis as Esther (left), Mauro Hantman as Mr. Marks (right).

Photo by Mark Turek

Discussion Questions 1. How does the setting of the play relate to the characters? Find specific examples and quotations from the play that reflect the characters interacting with the city.

2. Use the examples and quotations to build your own set for the play. What do you think the world looks like?

Present your design to the class and have a discussion about the different environments people have created.

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The Synopsis Intimate Apparel takes place in New York City in 1905 and focuses on the life of Esther Mills, a single, 35-year-old, African American seamstress who makes her living sewing women’s intimate apparel.

Esther begins to receive letters from a man named George Armstrong, a worker digging the Panama Canal. Their correspondence turns into a romance, even though Esther can neither read nor write. Esther’s landlady Mrs. Dickson disapproves of the romance, but two of Esther’s clients, the rich Mrs. Van Buren and the prostitute Mayme, help her to compose her responses, and eventually George asks Esther to marry him.

Meanwhile, Esther’s other flirtation is with Mr. Marks, but he is engaged to a woman he has never met in Romania. She goes to buy fabric from him often, and they share several intimate moments of bonding over fine silks and lace. Even when she agrees to marry George, it is clear that the attraction between the Esther and Mr. Marks is strong.

Act one ends with George’s arrival in New York and his wedding with Esther. Their first night together, it becomes clear that neither is exactly what they expected the other to be. As their life together continues, George gives her less and less affection and demands more and more of her money, which she had been saving to begin a beauty salon for African-American women. He begins spending more and more time away from home and still cannot find work with which he is satisfied.

Esther confides in the rich Mrs. Van Buren while fitting her for a corset. Mrs. Van Buren also has trouble with her marriage, and her husband has just gone off to Europe, probably for several months. Upon hearing of Esther’s problems, Mrs. Van Buren kisses her on the mouth and begs her to be friends, saying she wants to show Esther true closeness. Esther is alarmed and leaves.

At the saloon, the prostitute Mayme tells Esther about one of her clients she is falling in love with. It eventually becomes clear that this man is George, and he’s been leaving Esther and using her money to drink and hire Mayme. Eventually Esther tells Mayme this, and they are both disgusted and disappointed. When George knocks on the door, they don’t answer.

At the end of the play, Esther returns back to her life before George. She visits Mr. Marks’ fabric shop, and gives him the silk dressing gown she had made for George. She moves back into the rooming house and continues to sew, but George took all the money she had been saving since she was 18. The play ends in a snapshot tableau of her captioned “Unidentified Negro seamstress.

Ca. 1905.”

Mia Ellis as Esther Photo by Mark Turek

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Important Themes Social Inequality In Intimate Apparel, Nottage gives us a character who is part of two significantly oppressed groups. As both a woman and a person of color, Esther’s opportunities in society are limited.

While racial and gender inequality are still major problems today, the disparity was even greater in 1905.

Esther faces poverty as one of the consequences of her oppression. She has marketable skills, consistent employment, and a good deal of financial sense which results in the eighteen years’ worth of savings in her quilt. Despite all this, she will never be able to attain the level of affluence of people like Mrs. Van Buren, who has likely never had a job, and has the luxury of being able to focus purely on the social aspects of life in New York.

Another way in which Esther is limited by her race is in her relationships. The two people with whom she can interact as equals in the play are Mrs. Dickson and Mayme, as they are also women of color. While Mrs. Van Buren expresses a desire to be friends (or more) with Esther, the latter asks “How we friends? When I ain’t never been through your front door.” Status separates the two women.

There is no reason for Esther not to be successful and happy except for the obstacles created for her by her assigned place in society as a woman of color. Mayme and Mrs. Dickson also suffer at the hands of this oppression, and to a lesser extent so does Mrs. Van Buren as a woman and George as a black man. For many of them, the discrimination they face does not simply make things difficult – its effects are life-ruining.

Mia Ellis as Esther, Angela Brazil as Mrs. Van Buren Photo by Mark Turek

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Dreams “Let me tell you, so many wonderful ideas been conjured in this room. They just get left right in that bed there, or on this piano bench. They are scattered all over this room.” –Mayme Esther dreams of owning a beauty parlor for black women, where people like Esther could go to be pampered and treated well. She is serious about this dream, saving up money from sewing so she can begin her business. Over the course of the play, she also develops the dream of a life with George. His letters plant a seed in her mind, and she develops an image of him and of their relationship that becomes real enough for her to accept his marriage proposal. Even at the end of the play when she discovers that he is not the man she had imagined she gives up her dream of a beauty parlor by giving all of her money to George as a last attempt to keep him in her life.

Even though Mayme teases Esther about the dreams that have come from her epistolary relationship with George, the pianist-turned-prostitute admits to having wishes of her own. She confesses to Esther that she wishes she were “a concert pianist playing recitals for audiences in Prague and I have my own means, not bad for a colored girl from Memphis…” but when Mayme sees that Esther’s dream of a beauty parlor is not just a fantasy, but a plan, she asks “Where’d you get such a damn serious face?... we just fooling that’s all. I ain’t been to Prague, ain’t never gonna go to Prague.” Mayme has given up on pursuing her goals and is resigned to the life she has.

Discussion Questions 1. How do the dreams of the characters affect the choices they make in the play and the relationships each character has to one another?

2. Are all dreams lost in the end of the play? Do you see any ray of hope for any of the characters’ dreams?

Intimacy “An old woman in the rooming house teach me to sew intimate apparel, saying folks’ll pay you good money for your discretion.” –Esther Intimate Apparel is a very evocative title – undergarments as a symbol represent secrets and vulnerability, the under-layer that is only acceptable to show to those closest to you. In Esther’s line of work, and with her quiet, likable personality, she is in the unique position to see the under-layers and inner workings of the personal lives of many of her clients and friends, all of whom have their own problems with intimacy.

Mayme and Mrs. Van Buren are two of Esther’s clients with very different lives, and very different relationships with the concept of intimacy. Mayme, as a prostitute, spends her life being physically intimate with countless men, but emotionally she does not connect to them at all – in fact, she seems to dislike them. “They really do make me sick. Always stinking of booze… All the pawing and pulling. For a dollar they think they own you,” she complains to Esther. For Mayme, the physical closeness she has with her clients is meaningless.

12 Mrs. Van Buren is physically intimate with her husband; they are actively trying to conceive a child. However, with her inability to conceive, she feels she is disappointing her husband, and even though they are married, they are emotionally isolated. Both women, like Esther, long for someone to really connect with and feel close too, and make desperate moves to find that true intimacy. Mayme and Esther find it in George and Mrs. Van Buren finds it in Esther.

Unfortunately for all of them there are obstacles that prevent their intimate attempts from becoming realized.

Another character with whom Esther has an ambiguously intimate relationship is Mr. Marks. The two of them share a mutual interest in each other’s lives, and their conversations and chemistry are easy and natural. Their tension is heightened even more by Mr. Marks’ religious beliefs, which prevents the two from making any physical contact. Even after Esther’s marriage has fallen apart, and Mr. Marks allows Esther to touch him worlds and backgrounds separate the two.

Esther and George build their intimacy in writing, but when they finally meet they have less and less connection. George eventually becomes an entity completely out of Esther’s control; he refuses to conform to her idea of what their marriage should be, instead forcing her to compromise her own happiness and livelihood to further his personal well-being outside of their relationship (including his infidelity). Their intimacy falls apart with his selfishness, and their distance causes the relationship to come to an end, but not before Esther throws everything she has at him to make him stay. In the world of this play, intimacy seems almost impossible, and Nottage provides no answers to that problem.

Discussion Questions 1. Is a true connection enough to start a relationship in the world of this play? (Think of Esther and Mr. Marks.) Is a true connection enough to start a relationship today? What are the different barriers between then and now?

2. How far will someone go for a true connection or a taste of intimacy? What are some examples from the text?

3. How does Nottage deal with intimacy in this play? Does anyone reach true intimacy?

Exercise/Discussion Questions: Love and Marriage In Intimate Apparel Esther and Mr. Marks clearly have some kind of affection for each other, but they never allow themselves to act on it. Mr. Marks is expected to enter into an arranged marriage, however it is clear that he is attracted to Esther. They are also separated by Mr. Marks’ religion, which does not allow them to touch.

1. What are the benefits of arranged marriage? What are the draw backs?

2. Would you be willing to enter into an arranged marriage even if you felt a connection with someone else?

3. Since they cannot touch, how is the intimacy between Mr. Marks and Esther shown in the script?

Talk about the definition of intimacy and the different instances it arises in the play.

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Making it in America Most of the characters in Intimate Apparel have come from outside New York City, and they go there looking to find some sort of success. The American expectation is that industry is rewarded, and these characters each put this idea to the test in their own way.

Mrs. Van Buren and Esther both come to New York from the South, with the former looking for social success and the latter looking to make a living. Both achieve their goals, Mrs. Van Buren with a good marriage and connections, and Esther with her skill constructing undergarments, but neither finds their life fulfilling and they struggle in their personal relationships. Mayme also came from the South and finds a life of compromise in New York; she’s making a living, but not living her dream.

Mr. Marks comes to New York from much farther away: Romania. At the start of the 20th century, immigration to America was a popular way for foreign families to try to improve their fortunes. However, Mr. Marks isn’t living a terribly wealthy life; he sleeps on a bed roll in his shop, and is losing business to competitors. We never learn exactly how long Mr. Marks has been in New York, and he does have a business about which he is passionate, but he clearly has not yet been successful enough to support a family, as his fiancée is still in Romania.

Another immigrant in the play is George, who goes from Barbados to digging the Panama Canal to marrying Esther in New York. While it is easy to see George as the villain in the play, considering his status as an immigrant brings his character into a more sympathetic light. His hopes of a prosperous life in America are dashed just like all of the other characters, and upon seeing more and more doors closed to him he begins to make rasher decisions, wishing to invest in horses from a man he meets at a bar instead of finding a job like Esther wants him to. He begins chasing after a phantom life even as he represents a phantom life for Esther and Mayme.

Ultimately, in Intimate Apparel, life in New York is a struggle. The city gives the illusion of happiness and stability, when in reality it does not fully live up to the characters’ expectations. In the end, Esther continues to hope and strive for success, still reaching for the American Dream, regardless of the obstacles.

Mia Ellis as Esther Photo by Mark Turek

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UNIT TWO: ENTERING THE TEXT Exercise 1: Separate Rights Through Intimate Apparel, we see Esther limited by her social inequality. She tried to make a place for herself in the society she lives in, but because she is both a woman and a person of color she runs up against many obstacles. In this exercise students will be given the chance to understand what it is like to deal with and come up against inequality barriers.

1. Separate the class into two groups at the beginning of class by some physical characteristic like hair color or eye color.

2. During your class, clearly favor one group over the other. (ei. call on them first, give candy, let them hand in homework late, etc.)

3. Discuss with both groups what is felt like to be included or excluded. How does this relate to the play? What were the status differences between the two groups?

Exercise 2: Dream-Catcher Every character in Intimate Apparel has a dream – or several dreams. Over the course of the play, we see dreams that people think they could never achieve, hopes that are dashed by reality, or goals that are achieved but are ultimately disappointing. This exercise has the students explore their real life dreams and understand the obstacles that might stand in their way.

1. Have students write down, in detail, a dream they hope to achieve one day.

2. On a separate piece of paper have them write down the obstacles that stand in their way of achieving this dream.

3. Discuss what would happen if these obstacles could not be overcome. What if they did not have a choice, like many of the characters in the play, and must succumb to their personal obstacles?

4. Have the students tear up the piece of paper with the obstacles written on it. How did that feel? Did Esther have that choice to take away her obstacles so effectively?

Mia Ellis as Esther (left), Joe Wilson Jr. as George (right).

Photo by Mark Turek

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Exercise 3: Tableau A few pictures can tell us the entire story. This story has many scenes with very vivid images in them. A tableau can be used to represent a specific moment or an entire scene.

1. First have students read the play.

2. Either assign a scene to each group or have the groups pick what they think is the most important moment in the play and physically create a Tableau. (Tableau: a motionless picture) 3. Have the other students guess which moment or scene each group picked.

4. Discuss each picture. Why did they pick the moment they did? How did they include in the picture or exclude.

Exercise 4: Translation Throughout the play many letters are exchanged and we come to realize later that neither Esther nor George wrote those letters. This exercise can show what can be lost and gained in translation.

1. Pair up the class. Have students take two minutes each to describe themselves to each other.

Have the other student write down the description.

2. Have the students present their partner to the class. Did they miss anything? Did they embellish any details?

3. Part 2: Pick another partner and sit across from each other. Have one person tell a short story about something that happened to them recently and have the other person listen closely. When the story is done have the listener retell the story exactly how the first person told it, including gestures. How actuate was the story? What facts did they miss and what facts did they hold on to?

Exercise 5: Secret Letters Throughout the play George and Esther communicate with letters back and forth. They have not met each other and are basically strangers to each other.

1. If you could write a letter to someone who you have never met what would you say? What kind of letter would it be?

2. Craft a letter to an imaginary person, but do not write anything that will give away your identity.

3. The teacher of the class should collect the letters and keep track of which letter belongs to which person. Hand the letters out to different students and have them respond to their new letter. Collect the letters and hand them back to the original writer. How did the other person respond? Were there any surprises?

Discussion Questions 1. How does today’s technology play into today’s dating world? How does the internet and modern communication change how people communicate and how is this different from letter writing? How is it the same?

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Exercise 6: Make Your Own Quilt Esther makes a quilt from clippings and pieces of fabric leftover from her work. It is her prized possession because it has her entire life savings in it.

1. Have students bring in some material thing of importance to them, but that they do not mind donating for the project. This thing should be something like a piece of fabric, an old shirt, or a blanket. It is always more interesting when something has a story behind it. (ei. when Mr. Marks tells the story of the Scottish wool) 2. Have students cut their piece of fabric into a square and pin the fabric together so that you make a class quilt.

3. Go around the room and have students tell why they brought in their fabric and if they have a story to go with it.

Exercise 7: Playing with Status Courtesy of Vivienne Vermes of Educational Drama Association in Romania, www.drama.ro In your classroom, discuss the difference between “high status” and “low status”. It may mean social status, but not necessarily. It’s to do with inner confidence, how you feel about yourself and your place in the world around you. People’s status can change according to the situation they find themselves in. Status is at the core of nearly all drama.

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Tell students to walk around the room with “high” status. Have them notice how they hold their head, their spine, how their clothes feel, how their feet move, how they breathe, whether they move quickly or slowly, evenly, or with jerks. Now have them walk with low status. Afterwards, discuss (briefly) what they noticed about high and low status.

Have students choose either high or low status and walk around the room. When they cross someone’s path, they should acknowledge, with a gesture or a sound, or both, the other person, according to their status. Have them repeat the exercise, reversing their status. Note: all of the examples so far should be done fairly rapidly, i.e., no more than a few minutes of walking for each status.

3. Divide students into groups of four. Give them each a status from 1 to 4, 4 being very high status and 1 low status. It is important that only each student knows his or her status.

Have them improvise a scene (give them a specific location and reason for being in the scene, and let them figure out the rest). Afterwards, have the rest of the class guess who had what status. Ask the improvisers how their experience was. Were they able to tell the difference between the statuses?

2.

Discussion Questions 1. How does status change someone’s physical appearance and attitude?

2. How does status relate to the characters in this play? Who has the highest status? Who has the lowest?

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Monologues Throughout the play a few different characters have monologues, which helps bring out the characteristics of each character.

1. Let the students pick or assign one or half of one of the monologues to a group of students.

2. Have one person dramatically read the monologue to the rest of the group.

3. Let the groups discuss what they think is the tone of the piece. (ei. scared, anxious, excited, worried) 4. Now have a different a different person in the group read the monologue with a different tone. (ei. If the original tone was scared then a different tone would be excited.)

5. Repeat with each member of the group and a different tone.

6. Have the groups present their monologue to the class with their two favorite tones. One should be what they originally thought the tone of the monologue to be and the other something opposite or very different.

GEORGE: 1. Dear Miss Mills, My name is George Armstrong. I work in Panama alongside Carson Wynn, your deacon’s son. We digging a big hole across the land, they say one day ships will pass from one ocean to the next. It is important work, we told. If importance be measured by how many men die, then this be real important work. One man drops for every twenty feet of canal dug, like so many flies. Carson say if we eat a can of sardines, they’ll protect us against the mosquitoes and fever. I say, not as long as we be digging. Lord knows our minds deserve a bit of shade. But ain’t such a thing to be had, not here at least. Don’t think me too forward, but I thought it would be nice to have someone to think about, someone not covered from head to toe in mud, someone to ward off this awful boredom. Carson speaks so highly of his church that I find comfort in his recollections. I ask if I may write you? And if you so please, I’d welcome your words.

Sincerely, George Armstrong 2. Dear Esther, Thank you for your sweet words. Your pricked finger delivered the most unexpected lift.

It quiet now. The only motion is the rain. The only sound is the rain. It is the white season, and the work all but stop. The rum shop be the onliest business that do prosper. I

18 seen months of hard work lost in an evening and good men befriend the devil overnight.

And if I told you it’s been months since I’ve seen a decent woman it wouldn’t be a lie.

There are caravans of sweet-faced Indian girls offering up their childhood for a half-day’s wage. Yes, many men leave here with less than they come. I shan’t be one. It isn’t appropriate, but I will say it. I crave a gentlewoman’s touch, even if only be to turn down my collar or brush away the dirt in the evenings. Indeed, I’d like to meet you as a gentleman. I think much about the suit I will wear, and the colors that your eyes find pleasing. I imagine your cobble stone roads and the splendid carriages on the avenues, and a dry place to sit. I think of you running silk thread between your fingers and find a bit of holy relief, for your letters arrive just in time to ward off temptation.

Yours Affectionately, George

MRS. DICKSON: I suppose. He give me some laughs. But you see, my mother wanted me to marry up. She was a washerwoman, and my father was the very married minister of our mission. He couldn’t even look out at her there in the church pews, but she’d sit there proudly every Sunday, determined to gain God’s favor. Marry good. She didn’t ever want me to be embarrassed of my fingers the way she was of hers.

I’d watch her put witch hazel and hot oil on her delicate hands, but they remained raw and chapped and she kept them hidden inside gray wool gloves. In the winter they’d bleed so bad sometimes, but she’d plunge her hands into the hot water without flinching, knead and scrub the clothing clean.

Fold and press for hours and hours, the linen, the bedding, the stockings and the britches, sometimes wearing the frayed gloves so as not to leave bloodstains on her precious laundry. She wouldn’t even let me help her, she didn’t want my hands to show the markings of labor. I was going to marry up.

MARKS: You wanted Scottish wool, yes? Well, yes. You see how soft it is. I bought it from a gentleman who said it came from his village. He had a wonderful story about his mother caring for the sheep like small children. He said every night she’d tell them a fairy tale, and each morning give the creatures a kiss and a sprinkle of salt.

The neighbors would watch and laugh. Watch and laugh. But come time to shear the animals, what wonderful wool they produced for his mother. Like no other.

He could have been a thief for all I know, but the color is a lovely coffee, very subtle.

Don’t you think? So I pay too much, but not enough for the quality. Ah!

Discussion Questions 1. How do the different readings change the meanings of the monologues?

2. Discuss how these different readings could change a person’s interpretation of each character?

19

Scenes from the Play: Scene 1, 2 people: Esther is fitting Mrs. Van Buren for a new corset.

ESTHER You look lovely, Mrs. Van Buren.

MRS. VAN BUREN Ha! I feel like a tart from the Tenderloin. Granted I’ve never been, but I’m told. Are you sure this is what you made for that… singer?

ESTHER It is identical to the stitching.

(Mrs. Van Buren examines herself in the mirror, at first with disgust, which gradually gives way to curiosity.)

MRS. VAN BUREN And you say the French women are wearing these?

ESTHER So I’m told.

MRS. VAN BUREN I don’t believe it. It hardly seems decent. But I suppose the French aren’t known for their modesty.

(She strikes a provocative, though slightly self-conscious pose.)

ESTHER Well, it the rage. Some ladies ain’t even wearing corsets in private.

MRS. VAN BUREN Is that true?

ESTHER Most gals don’t like ‘em, even fine ladies like yourself. Truth is I ain’t known a man to court pain for a woman’s glance.

MRS. VAN BUREN You’re not one of those suffragettes, are you?

ESTHER Oh God no, Mrs. Van Buren.

MRS. VAN BUREN Indeed. I’d just as soon not tamper in men’s business.

20 Scene 2, 2 people: Esther goes to Mr. Marks’ fabric shop.

ESTHER Mr. Marks? Am I too early?

MARKS No, not at all. Come in. Come in. I’ve a number of new things to show you.

ESTHER Good— MARKS Ah. Let me get.

(He unrolls an extraordinary length of silk.)

Feel this one. Japanese silk, your special order for the lady on Fifth Avenue. It took me nearly one month to find this very piece. I had to go everywhere. Lovely. Yes? ESTHER Lovely. Look at how finely embroidered. Beautiful. I neverMARKS I have two extra yards left, I give to you for next to nothing. If you’d like.

ESTHER Next to nothing is too much for me. You know my answer. What will I do with it?

MARKS Make something lovely for yourself.

ESTHER It will be wasted on me.

MARKS You’ll never see this again. I guarantee. I’ll let our Fifth Avenue lady cover the difference. How about that? I see how much you like. I promise it is the very best quality. She don’t know what she has, she don’t come down here to feel the fabric herself, to feel the difference, the texture, she don’t know how remarkable a weave.

ESTHER I could make a shawl.

MARKS (Fishing.)

Or a smoking jacket for your gentleman, perhaps.

ESTHER (Bashfully.)

My gentleman? Oh no.

21 Scene 3, 2 people: Esther tells Mayme that George has proposed.

MAYME We gonna toast to one less spinster in New York.

ESTHER Oh God, I hope I ain’t making a mistake.

MAYME You’ll be fine. You’re about the most sensible gal I know. Enjoy this, honey. It’s a splendid feeling. Yes, indeed. I was engaged once. You won’t tell nobody. A mortician’s apprentice who hated music. Need I say more.

ESTHER Do you regret not marrying him?

MAYME Some days. No, some evenings, honey.

(Mayme thrusts her glass into the air.)

But here’s to Esther, you will be a beautiful bride, and may happiness follow.

(They toast and drink. Mayme sits at the piano.)

My dear, you’re gonna go to socials and other ridiculous functions that married folk attend.

Drink lots of lemonade, God forbid, and become an awful gossip. And you know, it won’t be appropriate to visit a place like this.

ESTHER Who say?

MAYME (Snaps) I say.

(A moment.)

ESTHER We friends, ain’t no Panama man gonna change that.

MAYME Well, I hope he is wonderful.

22

Hungry for More?

Opportunities for further reading: Other works by Lynn Nottage: -

Crumbs from the Table of Joy (1995) "The 1950s was such a moment in American history in which I felt so much change...everything I had seen was in black and white. And I wanted to make it colorful. So I started writing Crumbs from the Table of Joy to try to understand that era." –Lynn Nottage (Production Notes at Center Stage, 2006)

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Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine (2004) Fabulation follows a successful African-American publicist living in New York, and what happens to her after her husband takes all of her money.

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Ruined (2007) The play is based on interviews of woman in Uganda that Nottage conducted. It follows the struggle of a few women during the Civil War of the Dominican Republic of Congo. Ruined won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Other works: -

Sport of the Gods By Dunbar This book was published 1902 and explores the life of a black family moving to New York City.

Ruined: World Premiere at the Goodman 2008 Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Salima) and Condola Phyleia Rashad (Sophie)

23

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Jones, Audrey M. “Historical Divorce Rate Statistics”. LoveToKnow.com. Web. Accessed January 2014. http://divorce.lovetoknow.com/Historical_Divorce_Rate_Statistics Rosenberg, Jennifer. “1900s Timeline”. About.com. Web. Accessed January 2014. http://history1900s.about.com/od/timelines/tp/1900timeline.htm

Sarna, Jonathon D. and Jonathon Golden. “The American Jewish Experience in the Twentieth Century: Antisemitism and Assimilation”. National Humanities Center. October 2013.

Teacher Serve. Web. Accessed January 2014. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/jewishexp.htm

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24 Language in the United States: November 1979. Table prepared September 1992. Web. National Assessment of Adult Literacy. Accessed January 2014. http://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp Whorisky, Kate (director). Production photos from Ruined by Lynn Nottage. Goodman Theater, January 2012. Web. Accessed January 2014. http://www.goodmantheatre.org/watchlisten/?pageid=588&mediaguid=45d9b706-2be3-41fe-a532-ef42954164d2