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“...Your True Gift Is Not Your Hair. It Is Your Heart.”
Parables and Fairy Tales
RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY by Lou Clark
sert with his arms stuck
high over his head. When
Samson and Rapunzel
meet they realize they
must help one another to
make it out of the desert.
Their journey together
helps them discover that
the true meaning of their
gifts extend far beyond
their long, beautiful
tresses.
Samson believes his hair
gave him strength. Rapun-
zel believes that her hair
might just be holding her
back. But both have
dreams that take their
imaginations into the
stars. See what happens
when two very unlikely
friends join forces to
make their dreams come
true.
RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR
DAY is freely adapted
from the stories of Rapun-
zel and Samson. In the
play, fairy tale and par-
able collide to bring this
unlikely pair once gifted
with beautiful hair to-
gether in a barren, food-
less, sun-scorched world.
The Witch sends Rapunzel
to the desert after catch-
ing her with Prince Bobby
in the tower. Rapunzel
thinks she is being pun-
ished but the Witch is
really sending her to fulfill
her fate to save the starv-
ing kingdom as predicted
by Mr. Frog, the frog of
destiny.
At the same time, Samson
destroys the sacred tem-
ple of his enemies and is
cursed to wander the de-
leading to a happy ending.
What results when these two
genres collide? A play that
involves fantastic characters,
in fantastical situations, which
demonstrates the power of
people working together to
change the world.
RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY is
adapted from the parable of
Samson and Delilah and the
popular Rapunzel fairy tale.
But, what is the difference be-
tween a parable and a fairy
tale anyway?
A parable is a simple story
used to illustrate a moral or
spiritual lesson. In Samson and
Delilah we learn of God’s love
for us despite our frailties.
A fairy tale is a story, usually
for young children, involving
fantastic forces and beings
engaged in improbable events
Inside This Study Guide:
Cast & Crew 2
Educational Objectives 2
Pre-Show Discussion & Activities 3
Summary of Samson & Delilah and Rapunzel
3, 5
Post-Show Discussion Questions & Activities
4-5
Resources 5
Thank you to our Sponsors 6
RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY premiered on July 18, 2012 at the Long Center’s Rollins Studio Theatre, Austin, TX.
Study Guide created for the Pollyanna Theatre Company Production
Creating A
Hopeful Culture
Prince Bobby and Rapunzel
in rehearsal.
Study Guide Created By
Kathy Blandin, PhD
Teaching Fellow in Theatre
Piedmont College
Demorest, GA
Because the early childhood curricu-
lum is a spiral, each of these skills is
the foundation for further success in
Grades 3, 4, and 5 where the TEKS
repeat and expand these basic
skills. While the activities in this
guide are written for second grade
students, they can easily be ex-
panded and enriched to serve stu-
dents through Grade 5.
RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY and the
activities in this study guide will re-
inforce the following objectives and
student expectancies:
SECOND GRADE ENGLISH LAN-
GUAGE ARTS AND READING
2.1
2.3 B & C
2.6 A & B
2.8
2.18 A
2.30
SECOND GRADE FINE ARTS/ART
2.2 A, B & C
2.3 A
2.4 A & B
SECOND GRADE FINE ARTS/
THEATRE
2.1 A, B, C & D
2.2 A, B, C & D
2.3 A, B, C & D
2.5 A, B, C & D
Who’s Who In RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY?
Page 2 RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY by Lou Clark
her son Elias, and their three
“fierce” dogs. Ia has worked with Pol-
lyanna for 11 years and has a BFA in Act-
ing from Texas State University.
Continued on page 6
Educational Objectives/TEKS
Theatre is the most collaborative of art
forms (which means that it takes lots of peo-
ple to make a play). We are lucky to have
many of the best theatre artists in Austin at
Pollyanna Theatre Company. These are the
talented people who helped create RAPUN-
ZEL:
JUDY MATETZSCHK-CAMPBELL, Ph.D.
Director
As the Director of RAPUNZEL Judy worked
with the actors, designer, and crew to bring
life to the playwright’s words. When she
isn’t directing, Judy travels the country to
work as Dramaturg for the most notable
Theatre for Youth playwrights. Judy is the
founding Artistic Director of Pollyanna and
holds a PhD in Theatre-Text Criticism from
UT-Austin.
LOU CLARK
Playwright
Lou is a playwright, director, educator, pro-
ducer, actor and Native New Englander who
has lived and worked in New York,
Seattle, New Mexico and most re-
cently Arizona. She is the author of
more than 10 plays and also enjoys
directing.
ANDREW PERRY
Stage Manager
In every play someone has to keep
track of all the details and that some-
one is Andrew, who has been the
Pollyanna production Stage Manager
since 2007. He enjoys playwriting
and has a BFA in Theatre and Stage
Management from Texas State Uni-
versity.
IA ENSTERA LAYADI
Set & Costume Designer
Ia created the place where the play
happens and the colorful costumes
that the characters wore. Ia lives
in Austin with her partner Stacy,
Cast of RAPUNZEL from left to right: Jacob
Trussell, Julie Linnard, Michelle Keffer,
Aaron Alexander, and Toby Minor.
“As the magic of fairy tales requires,
we are off for our next adventure…”
Witch
Sleeping Beauty and Snow White
(both suffer a curse which can only
be broken by a kiss from a prince)
Depending on the age of the children you could do
this activity as a large group or divide the chil-
dren into small groups and allow them to each
create a story. Each story must have a clear
beginning, middle, end; have a moral or message
(like a parable); and a happy ending (like a fairy
tale).
Audience Behavior
It is also important to discuss appropriate audience
behavior with the children before coming to the
theatre so they are prepared.
Stay seated.
Stay still.
Stay quiet.
“Keep your thoughts in your head
until after the show!”
Before going to see RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY
you may want to discuss the following questions
and engage in the activities as an introductory
experience for the children in your care:
Rapunzel, the Fairy Tale
What do you know about the story Rapunzel?
(Go over the summary of the story if the chil-
dren are not familiar with it.)
The story of Rapunzel is a fairy tale. What is
a fairy tale? (A fairy tale is a story, usually for
young children, involving fantastic forces and
beings engaged in improbable events leading to
a happy ending.)
What other fairy tales do you know?
Samson and Delilah, the Parable
What do you know about the story Samson and
Delilah? (Go over the summary of the story if
the children are not familiar with it.)
The story of Samson is a parable. What is a
parable? (A parable is a simple story used to
illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson.)
Based on the summary for Samson and Delilah,
what is the moral/lesson to this story?
Rapunzel’s Bad Hair Day, the Play
What do Rapunzel and Samson have in common?
(Long hair)
The play we will be seeing takes two characters
from different stories who have something in
common, and imagines what might happen if
they lived in the same story. Let’s do the same
thing and create our own story. Here are some
fairy tale characters with things in common that
you could use for this activity:
Goldilocks and Hansel (both sneak
into homes that do not belong to
them)
The Wolf from Red Riding Hood and
the Wolf from The Three Pigs
Pre-Show Discussion and Activities
Page 3 RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY by Lou Clark
Costumes tell us a lot about a character.
Looking at the costume drawing above,
make a list of
traits for each character.
For example, is the Witch mean or nice
based on the costume?
Samson & Delilah Samson was the strongest man in Israel and hated by the Philistines. The Philistines bribed Samson’s love, Delilah, to discover the secret of Samson’s strength. Using her powers of seduction and deception, Delilah discovered that the secret to Samson’s strength was his hair. If his hair were cut, he would lose all strength. While Samson slept on her lap, Delilah shaved off the seven braids of his hair. Subdued and weak, Samson was captured.
Rather than killing him, the Philistines preferred to humiliate him by gouging out his eyes and subjecting him to hard labor in a Gaza prison. As he slaved at grinding grain, his hair began to grow, but the careless Philistines paid no attention. And in spite of his horrible failures and sins of great consequence, Samson's heart now turned to the Lord. He was humbled. He prayed to God—a first—and God answered.
During a special holiday the Philistines gathered in Gaza to celebrate. As was their custom, they paraded Samson
Summaries for the Original Samson & Delilah and Rapunzel
into the temple to entertain the jeering crowds. Samson braced himself between the two central support pillars of the temple and pushed with all his might. Down came the temple, killing Samson and all of the people in it. Through his death, Samson destroyed more of his ene-mies in this one sacrificial act, than he had previously killed in all the battles of his life. Rapunzel A lonely couple, who want a child, live next to a walled garden belonging to witch. The witch catches the man sneaking into her garden and accuses him of theft. He begs for mercy, and the old woman agrees to be lenient, on condition that the then-unborn child be surrendered to her at birth. Desperate, the man agrees. When the baby girl is born, the witch takes the child to raise as her own, and names the baby Rapunzel. Rapunzel grows up to be the most beautiful child in the world with long golden hair. Continued on page 5
Post-Show Activity: Surrealist Collages
lots of different colored paper to work with so they can explore color as well as composi-tion in this activity.
For older children, have them create a collage in the style of Max Ernst (above). Simply provide the children with a magazine picture of some sort of environment (a room or out-door setting) and then give them catalogues and magazines to cut up. Their cut up im-ages will be glued to the environment pic-tures.
Another Surrealist artist who worked with collage was Jean Arp (see artwork at left). Arp wanted to see what would happen when he left artistic im-pulses to chance, so he would rip up paper and allow it to fall freely on to another larger paper. Then he would glue the small paper to the bigger paper. This is called a Chance Collage. Engage children in the creation of their own surre-alist collage.
For younger children, have them create a Chance Collage (right). Be sure to give them
After seeing RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY discuss
the following questions with the children in your
care.
How did the play differ from the original stories
of Samson & Delilah and Rapunzel?
The character Mr. Frog is called “the frog of
destiny” in the play. What does that mean?
Can you think of any other characters from
How does the Witch in RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR
DAY compare to the witches in the other sto-
ries? The witch in the play is good, what other
stories have good witches? Why are these good
characters still called witches?
Before we saw the play we learned that a
parable is a story with a lesson or moral. What
is the lesson in RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY?
stories that you know who can predict the fu-
ture? (Some examples are the witch’s mirror from
Snow White and the Severn Dwarves, Professor
Dumbledore from Harry Potter, and the Wicked
Witch in the Wizard of Oz). What are some
similarities and differences between these char-
acters?
What other stories have witches as a character?
Post-Show Discussion Questions
Page 4 RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY by Lou Clark
RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY takes two unrelated
stories and brings them together to create a brand
new fantastic story. In art and literature this is
called surrealism. Surrealism is defined as “the
practice of producing fantastic or incongruous
imagery in art, literature, film or theatre by means
of unnatural or irrational juxtapositions or combi-
nations.” The result was to make the familiar seem
strange.
Introduce the concept of surrealism with the fol-
lowing discussion/activity:
Show the children Max Ernst’s Une semaine de
bonte, (A Week of Kindness), 1934 (shown at
right). What do you see in this artwork? What
word would you use to describe this artwork?
Why do you suppose the man has a wreath
around his legs? Why do you suppose the
woman has wings? Surrealist artwork often feels
like a dream. If this artwork is a dream, what
is happening in the dream?
This artwork was created by Max Ernst, an
artist that was a part of the Surrealist move-
ment. Define surrealism. He created it by cut-
ting up catalogues and putting different pictures
together.
Post-Show Activity: Surrealism in Art and Theatre
short Rapunzel's braided hair and casts her out into the wilderness to fend for herself. When the prince calls that night, the witch tricks him and he leaps from the tower in despair and is blinded by the thorns below.
For months the Prince wanders through the wastelands of the country. One day, as Rapunzel sings while she fetches water, the prince hears Rapunzel's voice again, and they are reunited. When they fall into each others' arms, her tears immediately restore his sight. The prince leads her to his kingdom, where they live happily ever after.
When Rapunzel reaches her twelfth year, the witch shuts her away in a tower in the middle of the woods. When the witch visits Rapunzel, she stands beneath the tower and calls out:“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, so that I may climb the golden stair.” Upon hearing these words, Rapunzel would wrap her long, fair hair around a hook beside the window, dropping it down to the witch who would then climb up the hair to Rapunzel's tower room. One day, a prince rides through the forest and hears Rapunzel singing from the tower. Entranced by her ethereal voice, he searches for the girl and discovers the tower, but is naturally unable to enter. He returns often,
listening to her beautiful singing, and one day sees the witch visit, and thus learns how to gain access to Rapunzel. When the witch is gone, he bids Rapunzel let her hair down. When she does so, he climbs up, makes her acquaintance, and eventually asks her to marry him. Rapunzel agrees. Together they plan a means of escape, wherein he will come each night (thus avoiding the witch who visited her by day), and bring her silk, which Rapunzel will gradually weave into a ladder. Before the plan can come to fruition, however, Rapunzel foolishly gives the prince away when she asks the witch why it is easier for her to draw up the prince than her. In anger, the witch cuts
Resources Used In This Study Guide
Summary of Rapunzel Continued...
props. Finally, share the plays with the whole
group. Allow the children to reflect on each
play by asking them to describe what they
liked and ask questions about what they
didn’t understand.
In addition to visual art, the Surrealists also cre-
ated theatre. One of the goals of surrealist theatre
was to put dreams on the stage. Or, put another
way, to ask “What if…” and then stage the an-
swer. Guide children to create their own surrealist
theatre by following these steps:
Create a 10 X 10 graph. Ask the children to
think of 10 animals and list each animal on
the x-axis of the graph. Then ask the children
to think of 10 household objects and list each
item on the y-axis of the graph.
Put the children in pairs and ask them to
pick a graph coordinate (i.e. 4,3). The animal
and item at that coordinate are the subject of
their Surrealist play.
Now help them create the title for their play
by putting the animal and item into a “What
if…” question. For example, if the animal is
a zebra and the item is a coffee maker then
the “What if…” question and the title of
their play might be, “What if zebras drank
coffee?”
Next allow each pair time to brainstorm a
short story (3 minutes) which answers the
“What if…” question. Then have them
dramatize their story using costumes and
The summary for Samson & Delilah was adapted from www.about.com/christianity.
The summary for Rapunzel was adapted from The Annotated Brother’s Grimm by Maria Tatar.
Definitions taken from dictionary.com.
Surrealist activity ideas adapted from www.caloudraregionalgallery.org.au/PDF/Surrealism_Information.pdf
Surrealist activity ideas adapted from www.arts.unco.edu/ciae/resources.tools%20for%20teaching%20artistic%20inquiry.pdf
Some images found on Hekman Digital Archives
Post-Show Activity: Creating Surrealist Theatre
Page 5 RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY by Lou Clark
The Surrealist Play The Gas Heart,
1921, by Tristan Tzara
TOBY MINOR
Actor playing Prince Bobby/Young
Boy
Toby received his BA training from New
Mexico State Univ. and is a certified Ac-
tor Combatant with the SAFD (Society of
American Fight Directors). He has been
in several productions with Pollyana as
well as various theatres around Aus-
tin. Toby is represented by DVA talent
agency.
JACOB TRUSSELL
Actor playing the Frog
In addition to playing the Frog here at
Pollyanna Jacob recently completed a
TV pilot called Disenchanted. He has
received multiple awards and nomina-
tions for his work and is a graduate of
the St. Edwards University acting pro-
gram.
Continued from page 2
DON DAY
Lighting Designer
Don made sure we could see everything
by designing lights for this production.
In fact he helps set the mood through
lighting for plays at Southwestern Uni-
versity’s theatre, the Austin Playhouse,
and Hyde Park Theatre. Don has a de-
gree in lighting from UT Austin and is
Pollyanna’s resident Lighting Designer.
BRETON CHRISTOPHERSON
Sound Designer
Breton created all the sound and music
which helped create the world of the
play. Breton is a sound designer and
musician living in Austin. He is origi-
nally from Denver, CO and has a degree
in business and technology from the
University of Colorado.
AARON ALEXANDER
Actor playing Samson
Aaron is excited to be playing Samson
and working with Pollyanna again. He’s
especially happy for his son to get an-
other chance to see him perform! He was
last seen in at Pollyanna in Pattern Na-
tion: Waves.
MICHELLE KEFFER,
Actor playing Rapunzel/Rapunzel’s
Mom
Michelle is thrilled to be playing Rapun-
zel, one of her many film, television, and
theatre performances here in the Austin
area. She has been working with Poly-
anna for five years and has a degree in
theatre from Kent State University.
JULIE LINNARD
Actor playing the Witch
Julie loves playing the Witch and work-
ing with Pollyanna again! She earned her
BFA in Acting from Sam Houston State
Univ. and then moved to NYC where she
worked in costumes for many Off-
Broadway theatres. But, Austin is home
and she’s glad to be back.
RAPUNZEL’S BAD HAIR DAY Cast and Crew Continued...
We’d like to thank our sponsors, without whom we wouldn’t be here!
3710 Cedar Street Box 9
Austin, TX 78705
512-743-7955
The founders of Pollyanna Theatre Company believe in the power of the arts to bring much needed joy and hope into the lives of young people as well as into the life of the child that is alive inside each of us regardless of our age. And no other character we know embodies this timeless power of optimism better than Eleanor Porter’s timeless little girl, Pollyanna.
This project is funded and supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission for the Arts, The National Endowment, and the
City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division believing an invest-ment in the arts is an investment in Austin’s future.