Walk Two Moons, Exercises of Theatre

Download Walk Two Moons and more Exercises Theatre in PDF only on Docsity! Walk Two Moons Adapted by Tom Arvetis, based on Newbery Award-winning book by Sharon Creech Directed by Lisa Ann Goldsmith May 10 - May 19, 2013   2 Prime Stage Theatre Co. is generously funded by the following organizations. Support them when you can!   5 Summary – Walk Two Moons The book Walk Two Moons in 30 seconds… For reasons that are unclear to Salamanca Tree Hiddle, her mother left the family farm in Kentucky for Lewiston, Idaho, and did not return. Sal’s grief-stricken father rents out the farm that Sal loves and uproots her to Euclid, Ohio. Sal hates her new home and cannot accept her father’s disturbing relationship with red-haired Margaret Cadaver, a nurse who has persuaded Mr. Hiddle to move to Ohio for work. Sal refuses to believe that her mother will never return. That summer, Gram and Gramps Hiddle take her on a six-day car trip from Euclid to Lewiston, Idaho. Sal’s goal is to reach the destination on Sal’s mother’s birthday. The trio travels westward, retracing the exact route taken by Sal’s mother. Along the way, Sal tells her grandparents the story of her best friend, Phoebe Winterbottom. Phoebe is a high-strung, prim, and wildly imaginative girl. Phoebe feels certain that some sinister connection exists between Margaret Cadaver, some mysterious notes that start appearing on her family's doorstep, and a strange boy, whom Phoebe dubs “the lunatic.” Sal gradually becomes caught up in her friend's story. Sal also finds herself in a flirtation with Ben, a boy from school. By this point in Sal's tale, she and her grandparents have reached South Dakota. They stop to swim in the Missouri River, where a snake bites Gram's leg. Sal and her grandfather rush Gram to the hospital, and although Gram recovers by the next morning, her health begins to falter after this point. Phoebe's mother disappears, without a word of explanation. Phoebe feels certain she has been kidnapped and begins an obsessive investigation for clues. Sal retells the story of her own mother's disappearance. Sal had fallen from a tree and broken her leg. Her mother, who was pregnant, carried Sal home and rushed her to the hospital. That evening, Sal’s mother went into an early labor, lost the baby, and nearly lost her life. Overwhelmed with sadness, she insisted on taking a trip by herself to visit a cousin in Lewiston, Idaho. Sal and her grandparents are following the path Sal's mother took on her trip to Idaho. Phoebe's family is growing more and more upset as the days go by. Sal and Phoebe rush to the police office to offer them the meager evidence they have collected. While there, Sal finds that the lunatic, who appeared on the porch earlier, is the police sergeant's son. That same day, Sal learns that Mrs. Cadaver suffered a great loss only a few years prior, when a car accident killed her husband and blinded her mother. Sal and her grandparents take in Old Faithful, and Gram, whose breathing is troubled, revels in its splendor. When they leave Yellowstone National Park, Sal resumes her story. Sal and Phoebe determine that the sergeant's son lives at a nearby college campus, and, convinced he holds the key to the mystery, take a bus to visit him. On campus, the two girls find the lunatic and Mrs. Winterbottom sitting on a bench, holding hands. Sal runs away and finds herself at a nearby mental hospital. To her surprise, she runs into Ben and his mother, who is a patient at the hospital. The two young people giddily share a delicious first kiss. Mrs. Winterbottom returns home a few days later and explains to her family that the lunatic is actually her illegitimate son. She had always been afraid to tell her family for fear of letting them down. The Winterbottoms are shaken but are happy to be together again. Sal decides that she will make amends with Mrs. Cadaver and listen to her story. Mrs. Cadaver explains to Sal that she and Sal's mother became friends on the long bus trip from Ohio to Idaho, and that Mrs. Cadaver and Sal's father became friends because Mrs. Cadaver was the lone survivor of the accident that killed Sal's mother and was able to tell Sal's father about the last days and moments of Sal's mother's life. Sal and her grandparents have reached Coeur D'Alene in northern Idaho, but Gramps and Sal must rush Gram, who is gravely ill, to a hospital. Gramps will not leave her side. Knowing that Sal feels she must visit her mother's grave on her birthday, he allows Sal to drive on her own. Sal makes the perilous drive in the dead of night, and finally stops at an outlook on a steep road where her mother's bus had lost control and crashed. Sal climbs down to inspect the wrecked, abandoned bus. When she returns to the car, a sheriff stands ready to arrest her, but when he hears her story, he drives Sal to her mother's grave. Sal is able to put closure in her mother’s death and realizes that the trip to Idaho was a gift from Gramps and Gram. They were giving her a chance to walk in her mother moccasins. When Sal makes it back to Coeur D’Alene she learns that Gram has passed away. Sal and her father later return to their farm in Bybanks, Kentucky and begin trying to rebuild their lives their without her mother. Sal, who has made peace with her mother's tragic death, looks forward to each day on the farm and to the upcoming visit of all her friends from Euclid, Ohio. …or less. Thirteen-year-old Sal’s mother left over a year ago. When her friend Phoebe’s mom disappears, painful memories of Sal’s own abandonment come to the surface. Determined to find Phoebe’s mother, the girls begin seeing murderous plots and schemes around every corner. Sal shares these conspiracy theories with her Gram and Gramps during a cross-country trip to confront her mother. But it is only through the telling of her friend’s tale that Sal ultimately realizes that things—and people—are not always what they seem. 1995 Original Cover Did  you  know…         In  1995  author  Sharon  Creech  received  the  John  Newbery  Medal  for  Walk  Two  Moons.    The   John  Newberry  Medal  is  the  most  prestigious  award  for  children’s  literature  in  the  United   States.    It’s  a  pretty  big  deal!   ‘Don’t judge a man until you’ve walk two moons in his moccasins –Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons   6 Meet Sharon Creech, In her own words Sharon Creech shares about growing up in Ohio and later becoming a successful writer. I was born in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and grew up there with my noisy and rowdy family: my parents (Ann and Arvel), my sister (Sandy), and my three brothers (Dennis, Doug, and Tom). For a fictional view of what it was like growing up in my family, see Absolutely Normal Chaos. (In that book, the brothers even have the same names as my own brothers.) Our house was not only full of us Creeches, but also full of friends and visiting relatives. In the summer, we usually took a trip, all of us piled in a car and heading out to Wisconsin or Michigan or, once, to Idaho. We must have been a very noisy bunch, and I’m not sure how our parents put up with being cooped up with us in the car for those trips. The five-day trip out to Idaho when I was twelve had a powerful effect on me: what a huge and amazing country! I had no idea then that thirty- some years later, I would recreate that trip in a book called Walk Two Moons. One other place we often visited was Quincy, Kentucky, where my cousins lived (and still live) on a beautiful farm, with hills and trees and swimming hole and barn and hayloft. We were outside running in those hills all day long, and at night we’d gather on the porch where more stories would be told. I loved Quincy so much that it has found its way into many of my books—transformed into Bybanks, Kentucky. Bybanks appears in Walk Two Moons, Chasing Redbird, and Bloomability. Bybanks also makes a brief appearance (by reference, but not by name) in The Wanderer. When I was young, I wanted to be many things when I grew up: a painter, an ice skater, a singer, a teacher, and a reporter. It soon became apparent that I had little drawing talent, very limited tolerance for falling on ice, and absolutely no ability to stay on key while singing. I also soon learned that I would make a terrible reporter because when I didn’t like the facts, I changed them. It was in college, when I took literature and writing courses, that I became intrigued by story-telling. Later, I was a teacher (high school English and writing) in England and in Switzerland. While teaching great literature, I learned so much about writing: about what makes a story interesting and about techniques of plot and characterization and point of view. I started out writing novels for adults: The Recital and Nickel Malley were both written and published while I was living in England (these books were published in England only and are now out of print). But the next book was Absolutely Normal Chaos, and ever since that book I have written mainly about young people. Walk Two Moons was the first of my books to be published in America. When it received the Newbery Medal, no one was more surprised than I was. I’m still a little bit in shock. In addition to Walk Two Moons, I wrote Absolutely Normal Chaos, Pleasing the Ghost, Chasing Redbird, Bloomability, The Wanderer, Love That Dog, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, A Fine, Fine School, Fishing in the Air, Heartbeat, Who’s That Baby?, Replay, The Castle Corona, Hate That Cat, The Unfinished Angel, and The Great Unexpected. I hope to be writing stories for a long, long time. I am married to Lyle Rigg, and we live in western New York State on a lake. We have two grown children, Rob and Karin, and being with my family is what I enjoy most. The next-best thing is writing stories. Sharon Creech’s website www.sharoncreech.com/meet-sharon- creech “A person isn’t a bird. You can’t cage a person.” –Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons Volume 4, Issue 3 Absolutely Normal Chaos Scholastic Book Cover Author of Walk Two Moons   7 More from Sharon Creech! PST: What were some rewarding moments you had as a writer while creating the journey of Sal, Phoebe, and this story? Sharon: I loved the way that Sal’s story and Phoebe’s story took on parallels I had not expected, so that each day I was eager to take that journey with the characters, eager to see what might happen. PST: Your characters connect closely with adolescents. As an adult writer, how do you get into and capture the hearts, souls, and emotions of these incredible characters? Sharon: I simply try to immerse myself in the character, young or old, and see what that person sees and feel what they feel. What we feel when we are young is not so very different from what we feel when we are older. PST: Storytelling is a major part of Walk Two Moons. What was the inspiration for this approach and how did it evolve as you wrote the story? Sharon: I think the storytelling element derives in part from family tradition: relatives sitting around on a porch or at a kitchen table telling tales. You could explain things better if you set the scene and acted out the action and dialogue. So that was in my blood. But also, I’d been teaching Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in which a group of pilgrims tell stories to better pass the time along their journey to Canterbury, and that structure probably influenced me as well. PST: What are some responses you receive from young and adult readers of Walk Two Moons? Sharon: The book has been translated into over twenty languages and I’ve received beautiful letters from all over the world. Most readers share their favorite characters (Sal, Phoebe, Gram & Gramps) or scenes, and many, many readers want to know ‘What happens next?’ They want to know if Sal & Ben get married; if Sal’s father and Mrs. Cadaver get married; what what happens with Phoebe’s new brother, etc. Although I don’t know what-happens- next, I love that the characters have become that ‘real’ to the readers—real enough so that their lives must surely go on. PST: What was different about the process of bringing your story to life for Prime Stage than when it premiered at Adventure Stage in Chicago? Sharon: Tom Arvetis did most of the work! The first time, he tackled the huge task of taming a long, complicated story with several time frames and sub-stories into a dramatic piece for the Chicago stage. For Prime Stage, Tom refined that first version, having the benefit of having seen it performed live in Chicago. We collaborated on a few small points, but the script is very much Tom’s. PST: What are your thoughts about seeing the photo of the set being used for Prime Stage and some pictures of the actors? Sharon: Tremendously exciting! To see my story being transformed by others into a tangible, visible, physical, live event is astonishing. The set looks fabulous. The actors: I can’t wait to see them in action. Sharon Creech with PST artistic director, Wayne Brinda  This  story  began  as  a   follow-­‐up  to  Absolutely   Normal  Chaos.  In  that  book,   Mary  Lou  Finney  writes  a   summer  journal,  and  as  I   began  Walk  Two  Moons,  I  was  merely  speculating  about  what  might  happen  when  she  turned  in  that   summer  journal  to  her  English  teacher.  A  few  drafts  later,  Phoebe  Winterbottom  and  her  wild  imagination   leaped  into  the  story,  and  she  took  over  with  tales  of  a  disappearing  mother  and  a  lunatic.  And  then,   shortly  after  rediscovering  a  fortune  cookie  message  in  the  bottom  of  my  purse  (the  message  was  "Don't   judge  a  man  until  you've  walked  two  moons  in  his  moccasins"),  I  began  a  new  draft  with  a  new  character:   Salamanca  Tree  Hiddle.  The  fortune  cookie  message  inspired  a  journey  (walking  "two  moons")  and  a   character  who  is  a  very  small  part  Native  American  (the  moccasins).   When  I  began  Sal's  story,  all  I  knew  was  that  she  was  a  country  girl  and  she  was  going  on  a  trip.  The  rest  of   her  story  came  out  a  little  bit  each  day,  as  I  sat  down  to  write.  I  was  too  stubborn  to  throw  away  the  earlier   drafts  with  Mary  Lou  Finney  and  Phoebe  Winterbottom,  so  they   found  their  way  into  this  new  draft,  along  with  Ben,  the  lunatic,  Mr.   Birkway,  Margaret  Cadaver,  and  Mrs.  Partridge.               -­‐Sharon  Creech   Did  you  know…         Walk  Two  Moons  was  originally  based  on  her  first  young  adult  book,   Absolutely  Normal  Chaos.    On  her  website,  Sharon  Creech  tells  us  her  initial   inspiration  for  Walk  Two  Moon!   At  Prime  Stage  Theatre  we  love  to  have  relationships  with  authors  and   playwrights!    We  are  excited  to  welcome  Sharon  Creech  to  our  opening  night   performance  of  Walk  Two  Moons  and  are  grateful  that  she  was  willing  to   take  the  time  to  answer  a  few  questions  about  her  work.     10 Characters Tom Arvetis’s stage adaptation of Walk Two Moons includes only twenty-one characters. Look at the descriptions on the page and think about how you might choose a cast to portray these characters. *What physical characteristic would you look for in the actor playing each character? Why? *What vocal quality would you expect each character to have? Would they speak slowly, quickly, gravelly, squeaky? *Which roles might be shared by one actor? How would you make each character unique? Gramps and Gram Hiddle: Sal's father's parents. They drive Sal across the country to visit her mother's final resting place in Idaho. Gramps and Gram married and lived in an unwavering spirit of love and joyfulness, despite the fact that Sal's father is their only son, of four, who lived to adulthood. Though her grandparents' unpredictability worries her, Sal looks to them for support, love, and adventure. Sal (Salamanca): The narrator of Walk Two Moons. Sal is a high-spirited country girl troubled by the loss of her mother. Much of Sal’s experiences center on trees, rivers, wild berries, and mountains. Although she is rebellious and often skeptical of adults, she is open- minded and deeply compassionate. Sal tells her story with verve and humor, peppering her sentences with colorful comparisons and exaggerations. Phoebe Winterbottom: Sal's best friend in Euclid, Ohio. Phoebe is high-strung, imaginative and often makes dramatic assumptions. Phoebe uses her propensity for melodrama, Sal theorizes, as a way to avoid dealing with bigger fears. Despite her stiff exterior, Phoebe desperately needs the love and security her family provides for her. John (Sal’s Father): A loving, gentle man. Sal's father takes Sal to Euclid, Ohio shortly after his wife's death because he is overwhelmed by grief for her at the farm. Sal's father, struggling with his own sense of loss, deals compassionately with Sal's anger and confusion. When they move to Euclid, he allows Sal to spend her time as she likes, often away from him. Ironically, his sweetness and gentleness often saddened Sal's mother, making her feel thoughtless and selfish in comparison.     Mrs. Winterbottom: Phoebe's mother. She works diligently as a housewife and mother, but becomes increasingly saddened by her family's disregard of her. She one day disappears to reconcile her past and find her true self. Sugar (Sal's mother): She is spontaneous and joyful. Attuned to the beauty of the outdoors, Sal's mother was at times conflicted by her roles as a housewife and mother. She became sad as a result of her miscarriage and decided to try to reconnect with who she was before she married and became a mother by traveling to visit a cousin in Idaho. Sal adores the memory of her mother and throughout the novel struggles to come to terms with the events and forces that led up to her mother's departure. Other  characters  in  the  stage  adaption  include:   Doctor,  Police  Officer,  Nurse,  Boy  and  a  Sheriff. Mr. Winterbottom: Phoebe's father. Mr. Winterbottom fills his role as husband and father. He comes home from his nine-to-five job withdrawn and distant. Mrs. Winterbottom's departure challenges his understanding and expectations of her. Ben: Sal's schoolmate and romantic interest. Ben is a quirky, creative young man who persists, despite confusion and shyness, in expressing his affection for Sal throughout the novel. Ben lives with his cousin Mary Lou because his mother is not well. Walk Two Moons Margaret Cadaver: Phoebe's next-door neighbor and Sal's father's friend. Margaret helped Sal's father move to Euclid, away from his farm. Although Sal feels deeply suspicious of Margaret's intentions toward her father, Sal's father sees her as a friend. Their friendship is based on the fact that Margaret befriended Sal's mother during her last days alive. Margaret herself suffered a great tragedy when she lost her husband in a car accident. Mr. Birkway: Sal's English teacher and Margaret Cadaver's brother. Mr. Birkway is a passionate and energetic English teacher whose enthusiasm inspires the interest of his students. Mr. Birkway makes a grave mistake when he, in all innocence, reads excerpts from his students' journals. He realizes his mistake only when his sister becomes implicated in the gossipy journal entries. Mrs. Partridge: Mrs. Cadaver and Mr. Birkway's mother, Mrs. Partridge lives with her daughter next door to Phoebe. Mrs. Partridge, despite her blindness, can guess people's ages by feeling their faces. She is an eccentric but lovable old woman. Mary Lou Finney: Sal's classmate and Ben's cousin. Mary Lou is a loud, brash girl of whom Phoebe disapproves. Sal is secretly envious of her chaotic, loving household. The Lunatic: The mysterious young man who appears on Phoebe's doorstep and lurks threateningly around her neighborhood. Mike turns out to be the adopted son of the local police chief, Sergeant Bickle. Sergeant Bickle: The chief of police. Sergeant Bickle listens skeptically but patiently to Phoebe's worries about her mother's disappearance.   11  Putting it in Context Where  does  a  writer  get  ideas  for  an  imaginative  novel  like   Walk  Two  Moons?    Often  they  spring  from  his  or  her  own  experiences.    Several  of  the  themes   and  incidents  in  Walk  Two  Moons  stem  from  Sharon  Creech’s  life.  In  the  novel,  thirteen-­‐year-­‐old   Sal  takes  a  journey  with  her  grandparents  from  a  Cleveland,  Ohio,  suburb  to  Lewiston,  Idaho.  This   is  the  same  trip  that  Creech  took  the  summer  that  she  turned  twelve.  The  journey  remains  a  vivid   memory  for  her:  “What  a  journey!  What  a  country!”  she  recalls.  “What  spectacular  and   unexpected  sights  reared  up  around  each  bend!”    Longing  for  her  mother,  Sal  is  not  so   enthusiastic  about  the  trip,  but  her  grandmother  echoes  Creech’s  excitement.       During  the  trip  west,  the  family  stopped  at  an  Indian  reservation  and  bought  Creech  a  pair   of  moccasins  for  her  birthday.  She  was  thrilled  because  she  loved  reading  Native  American   stories.  A  cousin  of  hers  had  told  her  that  one  of  their  ancestors  was  an  Indian.  “I  loved  that   notion,”  Creech  explains,  “and  often  exaggerated  it  by  telling  people  that  I  was  a  full-­‐blooded   Indian.”  Similarly,  in  Walk  Two  Moons,  Sal  is  proud  of  the  fact  that  she  is  part  Indian.     The  Indian  myths  that  Creech  loved  involved   reincarnation—the  belief  that  a  person  returns  to  life  after   death,  usually  in  another  form.  “How  magnificent  and   mysterious  to  be  Estsanatlehi,  the  ‘woman  who  never  dies’,”   she  writes.  “I  wanted  to  live  a  thousand,  thousand  lives.”  Not   surprisingly,  the  theme  of  reincarnation  plays  a  major  role  in   Walk  Two  Moons.  Sal  takes  comfort  in  the  belief  that  her   mother’s  spirit  inhabits  a  beautiful  “singing  tree.”   The Time and Place The year in which the action of Walk Two Moons occurs is never disclosed. The omission may be because the author sought to give the novel a sense of timelessness. If the time of Walk Two Moons is uncertain, however, the places are not. Euclid, Ohio, is a real city located northeast of Cleveland. Further, during the trip west, they stop at several well-known places of interest. *Chicago, Illinois *Madison, Wisconsin *The Wisconsin Dells *Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota *The Missouri River in South Dakota *The Badlands and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota *Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming *Coeur d’Alene in Idaho *Lewiston, Idaho See a map of Sal’s Trip on the next Page! Volume 4, Issue 3 Inspiration “Sometimes you know in your heart you love someone, but you have to go away before your head can figure it out.” ― Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons   STUDENT ACTIVITY Map Sal’s Journey Before beginning the book, obtain a map of the United States, as well as individual maps of the different states Sal and her grandparents drive through. (The states are Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.) As Sal and her grand parents progress through their trip, students can trace the route with a highlighter and use pins to mark the places they've visited. Have students calculate the mileage and approximate driving times of different portions of the trip.   12 We went to Pipestone National Park and saw Indians thunking away at the stone quarry. I asked one if he was a Native American, but he said, “No, I’m a person.” I said, “But are you a Native American person.” He said, “No, I’m an American Indian person.” I said, “So am I. In my blood.” -Sal, Chapter 12 On Sal’s road trip from Euclid, Ohio to Lewistown, Idaho, she and her grandparents stop at a lot of places! “Are we at the ocean?” Gram asked…. “You gooseberry, that’s Lake Michigan.” Gramps kissed his finger and put it against Gram’s cheek. Chapter 7   Walk Two Moons Putting it in Context Journey www.slideshare.net/ngabel/ walktwomoons-­‐383684 Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. Pipestone National Monument is located in southwestern Minnesota. The site is sacred to many Native Americans as its stones were used to make ceremonial pipes. For more information about the site along Sal’s journey, check out this awesome online slide show! www.slideshare.net/ngabel/walktwomoons-383684 “I’d like to sleep in Coeur d’Alene tonight. You momma sent us a postcard from Coeur d’Alene and on it was a bountiful blue lake.” -Gram, Chapter 40 Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is the second largest city in the state. It is named after a tribe of Native Americans who were discovered by French Canadian fur traders in the 1890s.   15 Some of the stories in Walk Two Moons are Native American folktales and Greek myths! Sal shares the Native American stories when she remembers joyful moments with her mother. In Mr. Birkway’s class, Phoebe and Ben present reports of Greek myths. Check out some of these old folktales and myths! STUDENT ACTIVITY Use the myths in Walk Two Moons as a springboard and have students research other Native American and Greek myths. Invite students to share or write a retelling of a Native American or Greek myth that most interests them. Consider having students share their myths in a variety of ways, perhaps through drawing, movement or music. In  Chapter  24,  Ben  gives  a  report  about  Prometheus     Ben  had  to  give  his  mythology  report.    He  was  nervous.    He   explained  that  Prometheus  stole   fire  from  the  sun  and  gave  it  to   man.  Zeus,  the  chief  god,  was  angry   at  man  and  Prometheus  for  taking   some  of  his  precious  sun.    As   punishment,  Zeus  sent  Pandora  to   man.    Then  Zeus  chained   Prometheus  to  a  rock  and  sent   vultures  down  to  eat  Prometheus’s   liver.    In  Ben’s  nervousness,  he   mispronounced  Prometheus,  so  what   he  actually  said  was  the  Zeus  sent  vultures  down     to  eat  porpoise’s  liver  –Sal     The  story  of  Prometheus  is  a  Greek  myth.      Prometheus  was  a   Titan  god  entrusted  with  the  task  of  molding  mankind  out  of  clay.   His  attempts  to  better  the  lives  of  his  creation  brought  him  into   direct  conflict  with  Zeus. Putting it in Context Myths Volume 4, Issue 3 A Myth is a story whose author is unknown and that explains a people’s belief about nature, an event in history, or the origin of a custom or practice. Myths usually involve gods and heroes. Myths were important both to ancient Greeks and to Native Americans because they explained occurrences in their world. They are stories told over and over again. Prometheus fountain at Rockefeller Center, NYC In  Chapter  27,  Phoebe  gives  a  report  on  the  myth   of  Pandora’s  Box.     “On  the  night  after  Phoebe  had  given  her  Pandora   report,  I  thought  about  the  hope  in  Pandora’s  box.   Maybe  when  everything  seemed  sad  and   miserable,  Phoebe  and  I  could  both  hope  that   something  might  start  to  go  right.”    –Sal     In  Greek  mythology,  Pandora  was  the  first  woman   on  earth.  When  Prometheus  stole  fire  from   heaven,  Zeus  took   vengeance  by   presenting  Pandora   to  Epimetheus,   Prometheus'  brother.   With  her,  Pandora  had   a  jar  which  she  was  not   to  open  under  any   circumstance.  Impelled   by  her  natural   curiosity,  Pandora   opened  the  jar,  and  all   evil  contained  escaped   and  spread  over  the   earth.  She  hastened  to   close  the  lid,  but  the   whole  contents  of  the   jar  had  escaped,   except  for  one  thing,   which  lay  at  the  bottom,   and  that  was  hope.   A statue of Pandora (1861) by Loison at the Louvre Palace in Paris, France In  Chapter  23,  We  learn  about  Napi.     “My  mother  once  told  me  the  Blackfoot   story  of  Napi,  the  Old  Man  who  created   men  and  women.    To  decide  if  these   new  people  should  live  forever  or  die,   Napi  selected  a  stone.  ‘if  the  stone   floats’,  he  said,  ‘you  will  live  forever.    If   it  sinks,  you  will  die.’  Napi  dropped  the   stone  into  the  water.    It  sank.    People   die.”  –Sal     Old  Man,  also  known  as  Napi,  is  a  god   and  trickster  figure  in  the  mythology  of  the   Blackfoot  Indians.  He  is  said  to  have  created  the  world  and  all  the   creatures  in  it.       The  first  man  he  created  was  satisfied  with  the  world,  but  the  first   woman  was  not.  She  wanted  to  know  if  people  would  ever  die  and  if   life  would  be  the  same  forever  as  it  was  now.  Old  Man  had  not  thought   about  whether  humans  would  live  forever.  To  answer  the  question,  he   threw  a  piece  of  wood  into  the  river.  If  the  wood  floated,  he  said,   humans  would  die  and  come  back  to  life  after  four  days.  If  it  sank,  they   would  die  and  never  live  again.  The  wood  floated,  but  the  woman  was   still  not  satisfied.  She  decided  to  try  the  test  herself.  However,  instead   of  a  piece  of  wood,  she  threw  a  stone  into  the  water.  The  stone  sank,   so  Old  Man  decreed  that  death  for  humans  would  last  forever.   Artist depiction of Napi   16 Walk Two Moons Symbols The Plaster Wall We first hear about the plaster wall in chapter 1 when Sal says, “My father started chipping away at a plaster wall in the living room of our house in Bybanks shortly after my mother left us one April morning.” Later she shares the following: On the night that we got the bad news—that she was not returning—he pounded and pounded on that wall with a chisel and hammer. At two o'clock in the morning, he came up to my room. I was not asleep. He led me downstairs and showed me what he had found. Hidden behind the wall was a brick fireplace. At the end of the book, Sal tells us that she begins to understand why her grandparents took her on the road trip to find her mother. In fact, she begins to understand a whole ton of things about the last year or two. She tells us: Lately, I've been wondering if there might be something hidden behind the fireplace, because just as the fireplace was behind the plaster wall and my mother's story was behind Phoebe's, I think there was a third story behind Phoebe's and my mother's, and that was about Gram and Gramps. Perhaps that plaster wall represents the stories that are buried within other stories and how these stories give rise to new stories. Just as someone once decided to build a plaster wall over the fireplace in Sal's home, Sal can choose to build something of her own, something new in her life. “You never know the worth of water until the well is dry.” -Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons Symbols are objects or references used by the author to add deeper meaning to a story. Indentifying the many symbols in Walk Two Moon will bring a deeper meaning to the novel. Blackberries Blackberries remind Sal deeply of the way things used to be in Bybanks, when her mother was happy and the two of them would go blackberry picking together. Blackberries seem to represent living in the moment and enjoying all that life has to offer, which is what Sal and her mom used to do. Blackberry is also the name of the chicken Ben gives to Sal! Trees The trees represent Sal’s emotional reaction to the natural world and her changing emotions – the tree on the farm did not sing on the day Sal learned that her mother would not come back. The word “Tree” is Sal’s middle name. The Marriage Bed Grams’ and Gramps’ marriage bed is a symbol for their marriage and love. They’ve had it since the first day they were married. No matter where they are, Gramps always recites his saying, “This ain’t our marriage bed but it will do.” Hair Sal has very long hair. Her mother also had very long hair but cut it before leaving for Idaho. To Sal, it represents the happiness her mother once knew. Her hair, saved but deeply hidden, reminds Sal of the idealized mother she is beginning to realize never existed. Sal's mother and Mrs. Winterbottom both cut their hair before or during their journey. Both women cut their hair as part of their attempt to transform themselves. There are even more symbols in Walk Two Moons! Can your class identify them? Walk Two Moons, PST 2013 Photo   17 Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Walk Two Moons contains many rich themes for exploration and discussion. Below are listed some prominent themes from the novel with supporting statements. Themes “In a course of a lifetime, what does it matter?” -Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons Volume 4, Issue 3 Loss and Acceptance: As Sal tells about the disappearance of Phoebe's mother, she recognizes similarities in her own experience when her mother leaves (SPOILER ALART!) and is later killed in an accident. Both girls experience the stages of grief: anger, denial, and acceptance. Sal is not able to see her dead mother or attend her funeral, she cannot put closure on her mother's life. It is not until Sal sees the accident site, sits at her mother's grave, and reads the headstone that she can finally accept her mother's death. Walk Two Moons presents the notion that death and loss, as well as grief, are universal. All human beings experience the pain of loss. Sharon Creech allows her characters to experience the pain of loss as well as the feelings that accompany the acceptance of loss. Taking A Journey: As Sal takes a physical journey across the United States with her grandparents, she also takes an inner journey that causes her to change. Before she leaves on her road trip, Sal still believes her mother will return. On the journey, Sal learns that she had nothing to do with her mother leaving because her mother chose to leave. Sal is able to let go of the guilt she has been feeling ever since her mother left. Sal also understands, for the first time, the magnitude of her father's grief. She is able to forgive her father for not taking her with him when he went to Idaho to bury her mother. A journey can give individuals insight that leads to maturity and independence. Hope: Sharon Creech also includes the theme of hope. Sal's Indian heritage is important to her because she needs stories of reincarnation to give her hope for the future. The story of Pandora's box gives us a source of hope. Sal looks into Pandora's box and sees the horrible things that are a part of the world. She also sees that "most people seem a lot like us: sometimes afraid and sometimes brave, sometimes cruel and sometimes kind." Sal chooses to hold on to the hope that is in the bottom of Pandora's box and turn "to the other box, the one with the smooth beautiful folds inside." In order to be brave enough to face the evils in the world, everyone needs hope. Empathy: The first message that appears on Phoebe’s doorstep reads, “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.” Sal takes this advice to heart throughout the book. By putting herself in people’s shoes, Sal becomes more compassionate and understanding of others. This practice gives Sal a way to measure and understand her own behavior and past. Nature: From The Badlands to the Missouri River, in blackberries and in trees, Sal and her family have strong respect and appreciation for nature and understand it as one of the many blessings that life, often cruel and unpredictable, gives to us. Excerpts from www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/newbery-medal-winners/walk-two-moons/major-themes.html Classroom Activity There are even more themes in Walk Two Moons! Have the class break into small groups and discuss the themes that they consider important in the novel. Select two themes that the group can all agree upon and express each one, using the following phrases: “Walk Two Moons tells us that . . .We know this because . . .” Complete the phrases by giving specific reasons. Each group will present the statements of theme to the class to determine whether the class arrived at the same conclusions.   20 Class Activities Walk Two Moons Prime Stage’s mission, bridging literature, life and learning, encourages students to approach literature with curiosity and personal relevance. The activities below are intended to spark enthusiasm, interest and inquiry into the story before they have read the text or attended the performance. Sacred Places Many cultures have places that are sacred to them. As Sal travels, we learn about sacred Native American lands and Sal’s own personal sacred place where she finds peace. Point out some cultural places that may be sacred. These can be buildings such as churches, temples or mosques, or land. Suggest that there are also places that are sacred to us as individuals – places where we retreat for peace or spiritual refreshment. Have students think of their own sacred place, write a description of the place and why it is important to them. Students may also draw a picture of their sacred place and how it makes them feel. Encourage students to look for these sacred places and note why they are sacred as they read Walk Two Moons. Cool Writing Activities! Inspire more curiosity about the book by having your students work on the following writing prompts. *Describe a road trip you have taken. Explain why you took the trip and how you passed the time along the way. Describe what affected you most during the journey. *At the beginning of the book there is a quote: "Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins." Reflect on this quote, what are some possible meanings of this quote? What situations might it apply to? When do people tend to judge others? Is it ever helpful? *Describe a favorite memory. * Recall a time when you formed an opinion about someone that turned out to be wrong. Write a brief description of why you formed the opinion and what happened that made you change your mind. What lesson did you learn from your experience? Map of the United States In this novel, Sal and her grandparents take a long trip across the United States. To help students prepare for the novel, give them a map of the United States and ask them to label the places: Bybanks, Kentucky Ohio River Euclid, Ohio Lewiston, Idaho Washington, D.C. Philadelphia South Bend, Indiana Illinois Lake Michigan Chicago, Illinois Madison, Wisconsin Pipestone, Minnesota Sioux Falls, South Dakota Lake Mendota Wyoming Montana Mitchell, South Dakota Chamberlain, South Dakota Badlands, South Dakota Missouri River Mount Rushmore Yellowstone Park Students can use these maps to trace the route that Sal and her grandparents took on their journey. from scholastic website: www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/walk-two-moons-lesson-plan   21 Class Activities Prime Stage’s mission, bridging literature, life and learning, encourages students to make personal connections to literature through meaningful, interactive exploration of the text and themes. The activities below are intended to enliven, clarify and enrich text as they read the novel. Soul Drawings In the book, Mr. Birkway gives his students 15 seconds to draw "their souls." The results are profound and say a lot about the students. After reading that part of the book in chapter 21, have your students do the same and then discuss whether they find the pictures to be accurate representations. *Would the pictures be better if there was more time involved? What’s in a name! The meaning of names is very important in Sal's family. Have each student discover the meaning of his/her own name and any stories that go along with it by using the link below. Many parents have beautiful or funny stories to share with their children about what their names mean and how the names were chosen. Have each student make a nameplate that includes the meaning(s) of his/her name. Acting a Scene Underage Driver Pair students to role-play the scene in which Sal is stopped by the sheriff after taking Gramps’ car to visit the scene of the accident where her mother was killed. (Chapter 42) One student should assume Sal’s role, and the other that of the sheriff. Students can work together to develop a script for each role. Have students choose other moments from the book to role-play and develop. Excerpt from www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/walk_two_moons.pdf Volume 4, Issue 3 Venn Diagram Venn Diagrams provide a great way to compare and contrast! Have students make Venn diagrams comparing Mrs. Winterbottom's departure to Sugar's leaving. They can also do Venn diagrams comparing Phoebe's response to her mother's leaving with Sal's response to her mother's departure. Another idea is to compare the Hiddles to the Pickfords or to compare the Winterbottoms to Sal's family. All of these make for interesting discussions. Go here for a PDF of a Venn Diagram: http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/venn.pdf Gram & Gramps Letter Sal says that her father did not trust his own parents to behave themselves on the journey west. Imagine that he had asked Sal to write him a letter reporting on what Gram and Gramps were doing. Compose the letter that Sal might have written describing her grandparents’ behavior on the drive from Euclid to Minnesota. Support the letter with incidents from the novel.   22 Class Activities Character Circles Similar to the Social Circles activity on page 19, have students investigate all of Sal’s social circles. Students will draw a circle for each group of characters represented in the book: Sal’s family, family friends, school friends, best friends, different families of each friend, road trip characters, etc. Inside each circle, students can write down the names of the characters. How are they interconnected? What things do some of them have in common? How are they different? Home Sweet Home Have students use visual arts to make a scene that features key elements of the landscape of Bybanks, Kentucky, as it is described by Sal. Students should look throughout the novel for vivid descriptions of the place and try to capture the scene artistically. Students can draw, paint, collage, etc. Students can display their artwork if they wish. Excerpt from www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/walk_two_moons.pdf Cool Writing & Discussion Activities! Inspire your students to dig deeper as they read. *Throughout the book Sal discusses the different terms used to describe Native Americans: Indians, Injuns, Native Indians, and American Indians. Discuss the origin of the name Indians and why some Native Americans dislike the term. *Mr. Birkway reads two poems--"The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls" by Longfellow and "The Little Horse is newLY" by Cummings--that affect Sal strongly. Read the poems aloud and discuss or write your reactions to them. *What do you think of the scene (beginning on page 199 of the hardcover edition) where Mr. Birkway reads students' journals aloud? Do you think it's ever okay to read someone's journal? If you found a friend's journal, would you read it? *The author repeatedly uses the phrase "might as well try to catch a fish in the air." What does it mean? What are some other expressions that have similar meanings? Character Party! This is a fun way to understand the characters in Walk Two Moons. Have students choose a character from the book. Characters can be assigned, picked from a hat, etc. However, they are not to know what characters the other students have chosen. Students are to remember three facts about their character. Sal is hosting a party and has invited everybody she knows! One by one, have characters enter the party and mingle with one another. Each student must remember one fact about all the other characters they meet. After the party is over, have students introduce each other as characters and share one fact that they remember! Prime Stage’s mission, bridging literature, life and learning, encourages students to make personal connections to literature through meaningful, interactive exploration of the text and themes. The activities below are intended to enliven, clarify and enrich text as they read the novel. Walk Two Moons   25 Meet the Cast What does it take to direct Tom Arvetis’ adaption of Walk Two Moons? Lisa Ann Goldsmith lets us in on her creative process and inspiration for this production. How do you define the role of the director in a theater production? The director is the parent of a play, the one who nourishes and mentors and encourages the rest of the artists. I always like to say that a director is the person who chooses "the color palate" for a production. For example, I might decide that a certain character is green. It is up to the actor to find the right shade, i.e., kelly green, or forest green, or lime green. My job is to guide their process, helping the actors and designers find the right path towards what is eventually a full artistic collaboration. Walk Two Moons tackles loss, belonging, family and friendship. Can you tell us a little about bit your preparation process? I lost my Mom just over a year ago, so when I first read this play and book last summer, that pain was still very fresh for me. I immediately understood where Sal was, and how we have to go through the grief in order to finally get to the understanding and the place of peace. Wayne and I worked with the playwright through some revisions of the script. I initially felt that some of the heart of the book was missing from the script, and through working on those revisions, that heart is now a big part of it. The play is narrated by 13 year-old Sal. Did this present you with any theatrical challenges or opportunities? The greatest challenge in this regard is that I have cast a 14 year old actress to play Sal. (Luckily, I had some excellent young actors audition.) There is a certain something about a 13-14 year old that disappears by the time they are, say, 16. A freshness, a vulnerability, a sense of still being a child and not quite a young man or woman. That said, it is a challenge for any actor, let alone a young one, to switch back and forth from being IN a scene to direct address to the audience, which is what Sal does a lot of in this play. I feel certain that Elly is more than capable of accomplishing this. What advice do you have for young people hoping to get involved in theater? Don't give up - keep at it! Everything you do in a theater makes you better at everything else, so participate in every aspect. Volume 4, Issue 3 “Flawlessly adapted, 'Walk Two Moons' challenges audiences to look outward into a world where everyone has the immense power to help one another. ' Walk Two Moons' has a poignant, valuable message for audiences of every age.”  - ChicagoBeat. Putting it on Stage Elly Bleier (Salamanca) Lily Lauver (Phoebe) Andy Kirtland (John) Lynne Franks (Gram) Philip Ball (Mr. Winterbottom) Julie Elizabeth Beroes (Margaret/ Mary Lou) Josh Brelsford (Ben) Luke Bruehlman (Officer/Sheriff) Matthew Carraher (Mr. Birkway) Colette Freiwald (Mrs. Partridge) Dana Hardy (Mrs. Winterbottom) Matt Henderson (Lunatic/ River Bank Boy/Brother) David Taylor Little (Sgt. Bickle) Ken Lutz (Gramps) Ivy Steinberg (Sugar)   26 Attending the Performance It  goes  without  saying  that  when  most   children  today  hear  the  word  “theatre”   they  think  “Oh,  MOVIE  theatre.”  And  with   that  thought  comes  all  of  those  things   that  we  do  at  movie  theatres:  eat   popcorn,  drink  noisily  from  soda  cups,  put   feet  on  the  seat,  text  message—and  the   list  goes  on  from  there.     But  live  theatre  is  just  that:  it’s  LIVE  with   LIVE  HUMANS  who  react  and  respond  to   the  audience,  something  that  we  at  Prime   Stage  think  is  the  beauty  of  the  theatre   experience.  Because  of  this,  live  theatre   requires  a  higher  level  of  respect  between   the  audience  and  performer  in  order  for   the  experience  to  be  a  positive  one.    As  an   audience  member,  you  are  the  final  and   most  important  component  of  this   production  of  Walk  Two  Moons. House rules (and we don’t mean your mama’s house!) Please review the following “house rules” with your students prior to attending our production: -Please stay together with your group and wait for an usher to help you find your seat. -Please turn all cell phones & pager completely off before the performance. If you are texting during the performance, you will be asked to leave. (FYI, the theater will be dark, and light from your phone shines up on your face when you text. Everybody, including the actors on stage, can see you!) -No photography or videotaping. -Please stay in your seat until the intermission or the end of the play. -No eating, drinking, or chewing gum during the performance. -We encourage active listening and appropriate responses such as laughing or clapping. Please do not talk during the performance! -Be polite and attentive. Show your appreciation by clapping. (FYI – the actors really love to see how much you enjoyed the show!) PDE Academic Standards 1.6, 9.1 Thinking Like a Critic Critics play an important role in theatre. They are often the first to see the show and can write a wonderful – or horrendous – review for all the world to see. Prepare your students to attend the show by “thinking like a critic.” Read the following questions before the show. Think about the questions as you’re watching the show and write your answers in a notebook or journal during intermission or on the bus ride home. Write a critique of the show based on your responses. PDE Academic Standards 9.1-9.4, 1.4- 1.5 Actor choices—How did they move and speak? Did they seem like people we know? How did they relate to other characters? Designer choices—What design element captured your attention the most -the set, costumes, lights, or sound -and why? How did the design elements work together to support the entire production? What choices did the designers make in materials, colors, intensity, detail, etc.? Were the design elements more descriptive or suggestive? What symbols were in the design elements? Director choices—What was the style, pace, and rhythm of the play? What stage pictures helped to tell the story? How did the director unify all the elements of the production? Interpretation—Did the director make a statement about life now? How did the characters, design, and play make you feel? What did the play mean to you? What might it mean to others? Evaluation—Why do you suppose the playwright wrote the play? Why was the play produced now? When were moments where the storytelling was very clear? When were moments you were confused about the story? Who would enjoy the play and why? Remember—it’s all about choices! Whether you loved the play or not, identify the specific choices that made you feel that way! Walk Two Moons   27 LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION OF WALK TWO MOONS AND GO BEHIND THE SCENES WITH PST’S EDUCATION BLOG! http://primestage.com/wordpress/ Prime Stage Theatre performs all of its shows at The New Hazlett Theater in Pittsburgh’s Historic North Side. New Hazlett Theater 6 Allegheny Square East Pittsburgh, PA 15212 PST Education Box Office Phone: 412-841-7353 E-mail: studentmat@primestage.com Prime Stage & Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Education Department presents Monologues & Movement A Weeklong Summer Experience for Middle School Students This unique theatre-and-dance camp, created by Prime Stage and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, inspires fun, creativity, and self-confidence in students in grades 5-9. Go to our website to register or get information! www.primestage.com   CLASSROOM INTERNET RESOURCES Sharon Creech’s official website http://www.sharoncreech.com Information on Walk Two Moons presented in a fun way. http://www.shmoop.com/walk-two-moons/ Glencoe McGraw-Hill Study Guide to Walk Two Moons http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/p df/walk_two_moons.pdf Sharon Creech speaks at the 2009 National Book Festival in this You Tube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm_wR5730 Q8 Official website for the Seneca Nation of Indians http://sni.org and one more thing! The following excerpt is from a review of Walk Two Moons that appeared in the New York Times, May 21, 1995: It’s great that the hero on the archetypal quest here is a young woman in search of courage and identity. . . . As Sal retraces her mother’s steps through the Badlands and the Black Hills, she tells stories about her friend’s mother, who also left, and we learn Sal’s mother’s story and her grandparents’ story and her own. The storytelling is comic and affectionate, each chapter building to its own dramatic climax. Sal’s voice is sometimes lost and lonely, expressing her grief and also her awe for the great country she’s traveling through. We recognize that she’s been stuck physically and emotionally. She learns that “a person couldn’t stay all locked up in the house. . . A person had to go out and do things and see things.” Do  you  have  students  interested  in  acting  or  dance?