We Will Remember: A Tribute to
Veterans
An engaging story
about connections between generations!
November 9 - 18 with School matinees on Nov 14 & 15 at 10:00 am
Study
Guide
For a complete study
guide, contact Prime Stage at
412-771-7373
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On-Line Student Matinee Ticket Order form
Dear Teachers, families and
homeschoolers:
Here are lesson
plans and an excerpt from the script to introduce your students to the world of the play
and the world of the theatre. Here are also some questions to discuss on
your way home from the theatre.
Enjoy!
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WRITING
OBJECTIVE: WE WILL REMEMBER is a new work. This will give the students a taste of what it is like to work with a new play.
PROCEDURE: Ask students to write about an event that happened to
them. Hand out the except script (attached at the end of this document) to each student.
Look over the scene. Give them fifteen minutes and then place them in small groups to compare
what they see as the action in the story, and how they could tell an action.. At the end of the class have the groups take turns pointing out different things.
FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS: Use only part of the script and go through each part with the entire class.
FOR OLDER STUDENTS: Make it a contest to see who can tell the most compelling
story, or take a famous play and analyze what makes it a good play.
ACTING
OBJECTIVE: Get the students to enter the shoes of the veterans.
PROCEDURE: Split the class into pairs or small groups. Give each group a different war
to use. (Revolutionary, Civil, WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm). Ask them to write a letter, as if they were a soldier in that war. Then have them perform the letter with feeling, each taking part of the letter as their own.
FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS: Photocopy some pages from a book with veterans letters (like
The Greatest Generation) and give them time to rehearse in small groups and then perform them in front of class.
FOR OLDER STUDENTS: Instruct them to put more detail in their letter: to whom they are writing, what is going on, and have each student write his or her own letter.
OBJECTIVE:
Make a hero
PROCEDURE: Give the students a few days to bring in found objects like 2-liter bottles, milk jugs, cardboard, and cans. On the day of the project, bring in glue, wire, tape, anything to hold the stuff together. On the found objects, take permanent markers and put qualities that one looks for in a hero on the sides of the bottles and such. Then put them together to make a figure. You are making a hero with the objects and the qualities of a hero. This will work best in larger groups, three or four groups per class.
FOR YOUNGER STUDENTS: Give each student a large piece of Model Magic or clay. Have them shape a figure and color it with markers and have them write what they find in a hero on a piece of paper on which they can place the figure. If time allows, have them explain their project.
FOR OLDER STUDENTS: Have the entire class work on one gigantic model. Have them work together. This may take more than one day this way.
THEATRE ETIQUETTE
OBJECTIVE: Have students realize the rules of behavior in the social setting of the theater and learn a little about their classmates.
PROCEDURE:
Practice when to clap: Have a group of students come to the front of the classroom and perform a three line scene, bow and leave, after which the other students clap. Tell them that clapping is only appropriate at the end of acts or at curtain call when all the actors bow.
Seating arrangements: Using the board, show the three different kinds of seating arrangements in theatre: proscenium (where the audience is all on one side), thrust (where the audience is on three sides, like in the Hazlett), and arena or theatre in the round (where the audience is on all four sides of the stage). Ask the students the advantages and disadvantages of these set-ups. Tell them that the Hazlett, where you will be seeing
WE WILL REMEMBER is a thrust stage.
This not only means the audience is on three sides, but very often the actors will be quite close to the audience. The actors can hear everything, see most things, and even smell you in the audience. This set-up also means that audience can see other audience members.
This is wonderful time to tell them that if they really invest their attention to the show (i.e. not having side conversations while show is in progress, no eating while in the theatre, nothing to distract others) then the actors will devote themselves more fully to making the show better. It really works.
Also remind students that during intermission, they can talk and move around out in the lobby, but when the lights flash, they should head back to their seats. I strongly suggest advising them to use the facilities before leaving school as there will be many people in the theatre and the bathrooms are small.
Give each student a scavenger hunt sheet. (attached) Give them about 20 minutes to find everything they can. Then ask some of them about the stories behind their answers.
This lesson should work with any age also.
FOLLOW-UP
OBJECTIVE: To have students mentally digest what they learned through the play
PROCEDURE: The following are ways in which the students can go out and conduct their own interviews.
AFTER THE SHOW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- What was your first impression of the scenery when you entered the
theatre?
- What did the Plexiglas walls represent to you?
- What did repeated lines and moving lights effect mean to you?
- Did you like the opening song? What did it mean to you?
- Which student did you connect to? Why?
- Which veteran did you connect to? Why?
- What did you discover about war and how to live in troubled times?
- How did the music, sound effects and lighting effects bring the stories to
life for you?
- What did the students mean when they said, "Our connection to the
people."?
- What did it mean to you when the Plexiglas walls lifted up in the air?
- What was your favorite image in the play? Why?
- How many Red, White and Blue patterns did you see in the play?
- What do you want to learn more about after seeing the play?
VETERANS PROJECT: INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES
Copyright 2001: Sandra Fenichel Asher Used by permission.
A good interview is planned, purposeful, and structured
I. Before the interview begins
A. Determine your goals
B. Develop your opening
C. Develop questions
l. Open-ended - "What do you remember about the day you left home?"
2. Specific - "How old were you?"
3. Creative - (see other outline)
4. Final question: "Is there anything I haven't asked that you'd like to tell me?"
D. Contact your interviewee
l. Introduce yourself
2. State your purpose
3. Request a specific amount of time for the interview
4. Confirm date, time, and place to meet
E. Gather your materials: questions, paper, pens, recorder, tape, release form
II. During the interview
A. Establish rapport
B. State your purpose again
C. Refer again to the agreed-upon amount of time
D. Ask permission to tape
E. Ask interviewee to sign release form
F. Ask your questions, listen closely, take notes, tape if you can
l. Begin with an open-ended question
2. Follow up with more specific, probing questions
3. Repeat l and 2, as needed.
4. Try one of the creative challenges
5. End with the final open-ended question
G. Ask permission to call again, if necessary, for clarification
H. Say "thank you"
I. End interview on time
III. After the interview
A. Go over your notes and listen to your tape as soon as possible
B. Write your report on the interviewee as soon as possible
C. Write a journal entry about your feelings and experiences before, during, and after the interview
D. Write a creative response to the interview: a poem, story, or monologue
DAYS BEYOND: other ideas from the playwright
VETERANS PROJECT: CREATIVE WRITING CHALLENGES
Copyright 2001: Sandra Fenichel Asher Used by permission
I. FINDING YOUR OWN BEST STORIES
A. Make ONE of the three following lists:
1. THOSE I LEFT BEHIND. List as many family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even pets to
whom you said goodbye before you left to go into the service.
2. THOSE WHO STOOD BESIDE ME. List as many people as you can remember who served with you.
3. COMING HOME. List as many people as you can who were with you on your trip home and/or who were
waiting for you when you arrived.
B. Now, look over your lists and choose one person to write about. Your story may be about something that happened to you and this person, or something that happened only to this person. Either way, choose a story that's about the MOST of something: the best, worst, luckiest, saddest, funniest, the most terrifying, embarrassing, surprising. Or write about the first time you met this person or the last time you saw him or her. "Mosts," "firsts," and "lasts" tend to be dramatic stories worth sharing.
C. If you prefer, begin with a list of PLACES rather than PEOPLE, and write your story about one of those places. Again, make it about the MOST of something that happened there, or write about the "first" or "last" time you
saw this place.
l. THE PLACES I LEFT BEHIND, or
2. THE PLACES IN WHICH I SERVED, or
3. PLACES ON THE WAY HOME
II. MEMORY POEMS
A. Begin by making a list of people or places, as above.
B. Look over your list and choose one person or place to write a poem about. Let the following questions
guide you. DON'T WORRY ABOUT RHYME. It often spoils more poems than it helps! A poem needs only
a unifying idea to hold it together, and in this case the person or place you're writing about will provide that unifying idea.
PLACE POEM (Use the name of the place you've chosen as your
title) What was the day like that you remember in this place? (Respond in one sentence.)
What time of day do you recall? (Respond in one sentence.)
What sounds did you hear? (As many sounds as you like, in as many lines as you need.)
What did you see? (As many sights as you like, in as many lines as you need.)
Why is this place memorable? (Respond in as many lines as you need.)
When do you think about this place now? (Respond in one sentence.)
How does the memory of this place make you feel? (Respond in one sentence.)
PERSON POEM (Use the name of the person you've chosen as your title.)
What did this person look like? (Respond in one sentence, with three details.)
Describe this person's personality. (Respond in one sentence, with three details.)
Why is this person memorable? (As many lines as needed.)
When do you think of this person now? (Respond in one sentence.)
How does the memory of this person make you feel? (Respond in one sentence.)
C. Last, but not least: Read over your poem and add or delete words as needed to make it more clear and concise.
NOTES TO INTERVIEWERS:
I. If you are working with someone other than a veteran (spouse, child, etc.), you'll need to suggest beginning with a different list of people or places. You might, for instance, have a parent, spouse, or child of a veteran list the people (or pets!) who were nearby while the veteran was away and write about something that happened that related to the war in some way. Or he or she might list places he or she went while the veteran was away and write a poem about how it felt to be there alone. Feel free to think of topics of your own, and encourage your interviewee to think of them as well.
II. Your own poems and/or stories about the person you have interviewed, the place in which the interview happened, and your own feelings about this event are welcome!
III. You can also try writing a monologue: Take one of the responses you received to either the interview or the creative challenges and write it up as a monologue an actor could deliver from the stage, as if the actor were the person you interviewed, telling his or her story to the audience. This should be about one or two double-spaced, typewritten pages long. It should include the interviewee's own language, if possible, but may also include your own words as needed to "fill in the blanks."
IV. A "journal entry" response, with your feelings and impressions before, during, and after the interview, would also be very welcome.
Here are some websites relating to the topic of the play:
http://userpages.aug.com/captbarb
http://www.artisticvets.org
http://www.war-stories.com (Warning: These are Vietnam stories and may not be suitable for all students)
http://www.sunline.net/warstories
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg
http://www.redrival.com/mowrites4kids/usaplays4kids/asher
(about the playwright)
or http://usaplays4kids.drury.edu
CLASSROOM SCAVENGER HUNT!
Ask your classmates who matches the following items below and get them to sign their name beside it. See how many you can collect during the given time. Make sure the person can back up what they are signing!
1. Has someone in the immediate family in the service _______________________
2. Had a great-grandparent or grandparent in the service ______________________
3. Plans on going into the service in the future ______________________________
4. Has written a serviceman or woman overseas _____________________________
5. Has visited a military base ____________________________________________
6. Has visited a battlefield ______________________________________________
7. Has visited a Veterans hospital ________________________________________
8. Has visited Cape Canaveral ___________________________________________
9. Has been in a tank __________________________________________________
10. Has been in a submarine _____________________________________________
11. Has been on/in an aircraft carrier ______________________________________
12. Has seen the stealth bomber __________________________________________
13. Had/has great-grandparents from another country _________________________
14. Currently has a flag hanging outside their house __________________________
15. Has a flag somewhere on them now (patch, t-shirt logo, etc.) ________________
16. Is wearing red, white, and blue ________________________________________
17. Has an old army blanket at home ______________________________________
18. Has taken a cross country trip _________________________________________
19. Saw the movie Pearl Harbor __________________________________________
20. Knows all the words to the National Anthem _____________________________
21. Can name the four main branches of the US Military _______________________
22. Can name five American wars _________________________________________
23. Can name the thirteen original colonies __________________________________
24. Can name the first five presidents in order _______________________________
25. Can tell where the Statue of Liberty came from and where it is now ___________
An excerpt from WE WILL REMEMBER:A Tribute to Veterans
GRANDMOTHER
Here, in an attic --
UNCLE
There, in a basement --
NURSE
Look!
FOURTH STUDENT
In a diary --
UNCLE
In an album --
GRANDMOTHER
In her letters --
NURSE
In his heart.
(SOUND of old-fashioned love song is heard as LIGHTS come up on GRANDMOTHER, who resumes looking
through letters while NURSE, PATIENT and UNCLE freeze. MUSIC fades slowly under dialogue.)
GRANDMOTHER
(as if continuing a conversation with SECOND STUDENT)
I haven't looked at these things in a long time. I'm glad you called.
(SECOND STUDENT picks up a notebook and pen. She sits on the floor, facing GRANDMOTHER across the box of letters and taking occasional notes as they talk. OTHER STUDENTS watch them.)
SECOND STUDENT
Me, too. Tell me about World War II, Grandma: What it was like for you during those years?
GRANDMOTHER
For me?
SECOND STUDENT
Uh-huh.
GRANDMOTHER
Not your grandpa?
SECOND STUDENT
(hesitates, uncomfortable with the question)
First, you.
GRANDMOTHER
I thought you wanted to know about veterans.
SECOND STUDENT
You're a veteran.
GRANDMOTHER
No, I'm not!
SECOND STUDENT
Well, sort of. You lived through those times.
GRANDMOTHER
Sure, I lived through them -
SECOND STUDENT
(earnestly)
How?
GRANDMOTHER
(non-plussed)
How? I don't know . . .
SECOND STUDENT
How did you get through the day when the whole world around you had changed? That's what I want to know.
GRANDMOTHER
(realizing SECOND STUDENT is serious about this)
Well . . . all right . . . let me think . . . we did without a lot of things, I remember that.
SECOND STUDENT
(starts taking notes)
What kinds of things?
GRANDMOTHER
Gasoline, rubber -- nobody drove anywhere unless they absolutely had to.
Sugar, coffee, butter, meat, even shoes -- they were all rationed.
SECOND STUDENT
Shoes?
GRANDMOTHER
Soldiers need boots and leather belts . . .
SECOND STUDENT
Oh. Okay. What else?
GRANDMOTHER
Any scrap iron or metal you got ahold of, you saved up until the Scrap Man came by to collect it.
SECOND STUDENT
So you were recycling -- for a good cause -- like we collect pop tops at school.
GRANDMOTHER
Yes, something like that, only a lot more. Some of the neighborhood kids collected scrap metal in their little wagons. One fellow even threw in a stop sign!
(They laugh as SECOND STUDENT writes this down.)
SECOND STUDENT
A stop sign!
GRANDMOTHER
Mmm-hmmm. Oh, and you couldn't get nylon stockings at all.
SECOND STUDENT
Why would soldiers need nylon stockings?
GRANDMOTHER
Not the stockings -- the nylon. It was used to make parachutes. Whole factories were overhauled to make equipment for the war effort. And women took over all the men's jobs, because the men were away in the services. You saw a lot of women wearing slacks -- in public! -- who'd never worn anything but skirts or dresses before.
SECOND STUDENT
Did you wear slacks and work in a factory?
GRANDMOTHER
Slacks, yes. Factory, no, I had an office job. But your grandpa was really surprised to see me wearing slacks after he came home! I'm not sure he ever got used to it.
(Distant SOUND of an air-raid siren grows louder under the following dialogue.)
SECOND STUDENT
Were you ever afraid that the war would come here?
GRANDMOTHER
Sure. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, we couldn't help but be concerned. And we'd have those air raid drills!
Loud whistles would go off, and then everything had to be dark. We'd put blankets or heavy curtains over the windows, so no light could get out.
SECOND STUDENT
Why?
GRANDMOTHER
If enemy planes came over and couldn't see any light, they wouldn't know where the cities were.
SECOND STUDENT
Oh. Did everybody do that?
GRANDMOTHER
Everybody I knew did it.
(SOUND of fist pounding on a door)
There were air raid wardens who went around knocking on people's doors, if any light could be seen. But most people did their best. It was a time when everyone pulled together -
hard times'll do that, you know.
(SECOND STUDENT nods, understanding.)
The thing is, we knew exactly what we were fighting for and why. We never questioned it.
We were so proud of our boys.
(Listens a moment as SIREN fades away.)
But that doesn't mean we never worried. We worried all the time.
SECOND STUDENT
But you lived with that - worrying all the time.
GRANDMOTHER
Mm-hmm. Somehow you can - and you do.
(She takes a silver star out of the box of letters)
Look at this.
SECOND STUDENT
What is it?
GRANDMOTHER
The silver star we kept in our window while your grandpa was overseas.
Families used to get one for each person they had in service.
SECOND STUDENT
(stroking the cloth)
And this was Grandpa's?
GRANDMOTHER
Mmm-hmmm. You'd see them displayed everywhere, on porches, in windows.
Some folks had three, four, five of them in a row. If your boy was still alive, the star was silver.
But if he died, the star would be gold.
SECOND STUDENT
I'm glad Grandpa's star was silver.
GRANDMOTHER
So am I.
(SOUND of old-fashioned love song plays softly under the following.)
SECOND STUDENT
You must have missed him a whole lot.
GRANDMOTHER
(folding the star and putting it away in box)
Oh, yes. We were very young --
SECOND STUDENT
And in love?
GRANDMOTHER
Very much in love.
(THEY both laugh at this.)
I know that's hard to believe of your grandparents!
SECOND STUDENT
It is!
(becoming serious)
I only knew Grandpa when he was old and sick.
(beat, a bit ashamed -- )
I was afraid of him because of that . . .
GRANDMOTHER
(sadly)
I know. And it broke my heart to see it.
But you were too young too understand that he wasn't always that way.
SECOND STUDENT
(brightening)
I'm old enough now! Tell me about the other grandpa,
the one when you were young and in love and he went off to war.
GRANDMOTHER
(pleased by her interest)
All right! Well, we were just eighteen years old then. We'd only been married a few weeks before he went overseas. Every morning, from the day he left home, I'd take a slow walk all around our house. I'd stop in every room and picture him there, shaving, reading the newspaper, sipping coffee, listening to the radio.
(As she remembers, MUSIC swells and LIGHTS come up on WWII SOLDIER
upstage on raised area. He holds a letter, ready to mail. MUSIC fades out slowly under following dialogue.)
I thought if I kept on doing that, faithfully, every single day, I'd keep him alive and safe.
SECOND STUDENT
Maybe you did, Grandma.
GRANDMOTHER
Maybe. Or maybe we were just very lucky.
(Picks up a letter, hands it to SECOND STUDENT. Whenever WWII SOLDIER speaks, it's because
one or the other of them is actively reading one of his letters.)
This is just one of the scenes. We look forward to seeing you at the theatre!