TEACHER’S GUIDE

The Rainbow Fish

Monday, February 2, 2015 10:00 AM & 12:30 PM

2014-2015 Class Acts season sponsored by

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Dear Educator, Welcome to Class Acts at Sangamon Auditorium, UIS! We hope this guide will help you expand on concepts from this particular performance and incorporate them into your classroom teaching, both before and after the performance. We want students to think of the arts as an integral part of their lives, not just a one-time isolated event Before arriving at the Auditorium, you can prepare your students by helping them understand the story or by sharing basic information about the performing art form they are going to see. We also ask you to review the theater etiquette information with your students (found on pages 2-3 of this guide) to help prepare them for attending a live performance. After the performance you can talk to your students about their experience. Did they like the performance? What did they learn? How was the performance different than what they expected? We hope the information and activity ideas included in this guide will help your students gain a deeper understanding of the performance they see. We look forward to seeing you! If you have any questions about these materials, please feel free to contact me at 217.206.6150 or azepp2@uis.edu.

Amy Zepp Audience Development Coordinator

Youth programming in the Class Acts series and in conjunction with other Sangamon Auditorium events is supported in part by the Helen Hamilton Performing Arts Endowment for Youth Fund, gifts from Elizabeth and Robert Staley, and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

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Theater Etiquette Going to a live theatrical performance is different than watching a movie or TV show – the members of the audience are very important, and the way they behave will affect the performance. Therefore, theaters have their own special rules about behavior.

Ask the ushers if you need help with anything – The people who wear red coats are volunteer ushers, and they want to make sure everyone is able to enjoy the performance. They will guide you to your seat, and they can help you find a restroom. In any emergency situation, the ushers will help guide your class to safety. There may be as many as 1700 people coming to see the performance. Please follow the instructions of the ushers at all times.

Turn off and put away cell phones, iPods, electronic games, beeping watches, or anything else that can light up or make noise – These can be very distracting to the performers and your fellow audience members.

Do not eat, drink, or chew gum in the auditorium – Even the quietest chewers and slurpers make a great deal of noise in the auditorium! The noise is very distracting to the performers and to the other people around you. Also, even if you are very careful, food and drinks can sometimes make a mess in the auditorium. We try to keep the auditorium as clean as possible so that it will be just as nice for the next audience.

Never throw anything in the auditorium – This is distracting and dangerous for the performers and people in the audience.

Do not put your feet on the back of the seat in front of you

Please do not wear a hat inside the auditorium – It is difficult for the people behind you to see the stage if you’re wearing a hat.

Use the restroom before the performance begins – As soon as your class arrives and is seated in the auditorium, your teacher can arrange visits to the restroom before the performance begins. The ushers will help you find the closest restroom. Of course, if you must use the restroom during the performance, please be as quiet as possible about leaving your seat. Once you get to the aisle, an usher will help you find the way.

When the lights begin to dim, the performance is beginning – This tells the audience to stop conversations, get settled in their seats, and focus their attention on the stage. A person will come out and make an announcement before the performance begins. Pay close attention to the announcement because it might include special instructions that you will need to remember.

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Remember that the overture is part of the performance – If the performance has music in it, there might be an opening piece of music called an overture before any actors appear on stage. Give this piece of music the same respect you give the performers by being silent and attentive while the overture is played.

Do not take pictures or recordings during the performance – The flashes can be distracting to performers, and it is against the law to take pictures or recordings of many performances.

Refrain from talking, whispering, singing along, or tapping in time to the music during the performance – Remember that live performers can see and hear you from the stage. It is very distracting to the performers and the other audience members if you talk during the performance. After all, the audience came to hear the professionals perform, not you! Save your singing for the ride home.

It’s ok to react to the performance – Spontaneous laughter, applause, and gasps of surprise are welcome as part of the special connection between the performers and the audience during a live show. However, shouts, loud comments, and other inappropriate noises are rude and distracting to the actors and your fellow audience members.

Clap at the appropriate times – If you are enjoying the performance, you can let the performers know by clapping for them. During a play or musical, you can clap between scenes (during a blackout) or after songs. During a music concert or dance performance you can clap after each piece is performed. In a jazz music concert it is ok to clap in the middle of a song when a musician has finished a solo. If a music ensemble plays a piece with several sections, called movements, the audience will usually only clap at the very end of all the movements.

The performers will bow when the performance ends – This is called a curtain call. You should applaud to thank the performers for their hard work, but you should not move around or begin to leave the auditorium until the curtain call is over and the lights become brighter. If you really enjoyed the performance, you are welcome to give a standing ovation while you applaud. This is reserved for performances you feel are truly outstanding!

Respect the hard work of the performers – You may not enjoy every performance you see, but I hope you will recognize that each performance requires a tremendous amount of dedication on the part of the performers and those who work backstage. It is polite to keep any negative comments to yourself until you have left the building.

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Class Acts and Common Core

Attendance at any Class Acts event can help teachers meet Common Core Standards. The clearest example can be found in the Standard for Speaking and Listening, #2:

Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

The experience of attending a live performance is a unique format that can greatly enhance a student’s understanding of an important topic or theme. Additionally, in the Common Core Standards for Reading, the definition of the word “text” can be expanded to include non-printed works such as dance, music, theater, and visual arts. This makes the arts an important part of all standards in the Reading category, at every grade level.

Write to Us! We would love to hear from you and your students! If your students write about the performance they saw or create artwork related to it, you are welcome to send it to us via email to azepp2@uis.edu or through the mail to

Class Acts Sangamon Auditorium, UIS

One University Plaza, MS PAC 397 Springfield, IL 62703-5407 We love sharing student work with our Class Acts sponsors, so they can see the impact of their donations.

Table of Contents

This Study Buddy™ published byArtsPower National Touring Theatre isdesigned to help you and your studentsprepare for, enjoy, and learn from ourmusical The Rainbow Fish, based onthe popular book by Marcus Pfister. Itcontains background information aboutthe production as well as cross-curricularactivities to present to your students bothbefore and after the performance.

About Our Show andArtsPower 2Activity Page 3Learn More 4Your Turn 5All About Theatre 6Write to Us! 7

GARY W. BLACKMAN

MARK A. BLACKMAN

GREG GUNNING

THE RAINBOW FISHBased on the book by Marcus Pfister.Published by North-South Books, Inc.New York.

Adapted by Greg GunningMusic by Richard DeRosaLyrics by Greg Gunning

Original Direction by Greg Gunning

Incidental Music by Ron Drotos

Sets by Tom Carroll Scenery

Costumes by Fred Sorrentino

STUDY BUDDY™Veronica Heller, WriterDan Helzer, DesignerMark Blackman, Editor

© ArtsPower 2004Please photocopy any of the following pages.

Generously Funded by

TheRAINBOWFISH

Study Buddy

Additional support provided byThe Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation

Artistic Director

Founding Co-Director

Founding Co-Director

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ounded in 1985 by Gary Blackman and Mark Blackman, ArtsPower is one of America'slargest producers of professional Actors' Equity Association theatre for young and family

audiences. We tour our original musicals and plays across the United States - 43 states in all - inmany of our nation's first-run Broadway theatres, cultural centers, university auditoriums, andschools. With nearly 900 performances annually, ArtsPower has amassed an audience of sevenmillion people.

ArtsPower's mission is to create and tour nationally-recognized, professional Equity theatre ofexceptional quality that nurtures in both children and adults a deeper connection to family,peers, and their own feelings, and instills in them what it means to be a good person in heart,mind, and deed. ArtsPower's productions speak to the rewards associated with overcomingadversity, standing up to prejudice and inequity, and of the American ideals of freedom andrespect for others.

ArtsPower's main offices are located at 271 Grove Avenue, Bldg. A, Verona, NJ 07044. Ourtoll-free number is (888) 278-7769. We welcome your questions or comments.

O

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f all the fish in the deep blue sea, the RainbowFish is the most beautiful. She is the only one

with lovely shiny scales, and she certainly knows it; shespends most of her time looking at herself in themirror. But when she will not share her scales withthe Green Fish and the Blue Fish, they do not want tobe friends with her anymore.

Rainbow is very confused. How can they ask her togive away the one thing that makes her special?Remembering what her teacher told her, she decidesto look for the Wise Old Octopus and ask for help.

Along the way, she meets a stuck-up Star Fish and ascary Shark. She begins to find out that there are

other fish in the sea. When she meets the Octopus atlast, the advice she gets is simple: share your gift withothers, and you will find happiness. This is still toohard for Rainbow, and she leaves thinking she hasmade the journey for nothing.

Once the Rainbow Fish returns home, though, shesees her old friends playing and realizes how badly shewants to join them. Do you think she will share herscales with her friends?

A Narrator helps us through the story, using a magicmirror to show the actors in their "fishy" forms.

Study Buddy

About Our Show

TheRAINBOWFISH

Teachers: Please read "About Our Show" to your students before seeing the performance.

Who goes where?

1) IHSF 2) LLSEH

3) CBAR 4) AKSHR

5) sadn

Study BuddyTheRAINBOWFISH

Try These: Activity for (Grades K-1)Teachers: Please photocopy and distribute to your students.

The Rainbow Fish feels all mixed up when her friends get angry at her. The letters in some of thewords below have gotten mixed up! Can you make these scrambled letters spell the names ofthings you might find under the sea? Hint: look at the pictures for help!

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1) Which of these do you use in the same way a fish uses its scales?

2) Which of these do you use in the same way a fish uses its gills?

3) Learn how to draw a fish. Follow the pattern below. Be sure to add scales and gills to your fish!

R eady for some fun fish facts? After your teacherreads to you about fish, think about what you

have learned and try the activities below.

Fish are covered in hard plates called scales.These scales protect the fish.

How can fish breathe underwater? They use smallslits called gills. Through the gills, fish can breathewater as easily as you breathe air!

Did you know that fish were around before thedinosaurs? They come in many different shapes andsizes. A whale shark, for example, can grow to morethan fifty feet long!

Study BuddyTheRAINBOWFISH

Learn MoreTeachers: Please read LEARN MORE to your students and then distribute this page.

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W hen the characters in The Rainbow Fish look into a magic mirror, we can see them as they reallylook. Imagine your own magic mirror. When you look into it, what do you see? What do you like

most about yourself, and what would you like others to see when they look at you?

Draw yourself in the imaginary mirror below.

Your TurnTeachers: Please read YOUR TURN to your students and then distribute this page.

Study BuddyTheRAINBOWFISH

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W atching a play is not the same as watching a movie or a television show. In the audience, you can see the performanceas it is happening; it is live and not on tape. For this reason, actors use special ways of telling the story onstage.

Music: This production is called a musical. That means the actors use music and songs instead of simplytalking. They can sing to each other or to the audience. Often, music helps to show how a character is feeling.

Think About It: Why might music be a good way to show feelings? How might itbe better than talking?

Doubling: When one person acts out more than one part, this is called doubling. ArtsPower uses only fouractors to play eleven parts. For example, the Green Fish and the Shark are played by the same actor.

Think About It: Why didn't ArtsPower just use eleven actors? Why mightdoubling be a better way?

Props: The Rainbow Fish and her friends live under the sea, but this play does not actually bring youunderwater! Instead, props are used. Props are objects used by the actors as they perform. You, in theaudience, have an important job: you must use your imagination to help turn props into the real thing.

Think About It: What if you had to pretend the stage were really underwater?What props might you use? During the performance, see if ArtsPower used anyof your ideas!

Adaptation: This play is called an adaptation. That means it came from a different source and was changed.Marcus Pfister's book The Rainbow Fish is the source for ArtsPower's play. Read the book!

Think About It: After you read The Rainbow Fish, you can watch to see how theplay is different. Why do you think some parts were changed?

Other Books by Marcus Pfister:Milo and the Magical Stones

Sun and MoonThe Magic Book

Dazzle the DinosaurJust the Way You Are

All About TheatreTeachers: Please read this page to your students. Discuss their responses to the "Think About It" questions.

Study BuddyTheRAINBOWFISH

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W e would love to hear from you. Please let us know what you thought of the play!: Send your letters toArtsPower, 271 Grove Avenue, Bldg. A, Verona, NJ 07044 or e-mail us at info@artspower.org.

Teacher's Name:Your School:City, State:Date:

Dear ArtsPower,

My favorite character in The Rainbow Fish was

My favorite part was when

Here's what else I have to say about the show:

Sincerely,Your Name:

Write to usTeachers: Please photocopy this page and distribute it to your students.

Study BuddyTheRAINBOWFISH

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THE RAINBOW FISH BACKGROUNDER

How It Came to Be

"We were looking for a story with a moral theme for young people," says founding co-

director Gary Blackman about ArtsPower National Touring Theatre's interest in Marcus

Pfister's popular work The Rainbow Fish. And while we at were certainly drawn in by the

lessons this tale teaches, we found that such themes became especially compelling when

coupled with the book's distinctive illustrations. In fact, the pictures in The Rainbow Fish

in large part determined the highly-visual nature of its stage adaptation. Many of our

backdrops come directly from the pages of the book. Yet at the same time – since

Pfister's charming story is a short and deceptively simple one – to flesh out our hour-long

performance, we added scenes and characters not found in the original. We built a 1950’s

malt shop complete with a singing greaser shark, a playground set, and a "Hollywood

Under the Sea" movie marquis. Authenticity and inventiveness are carefully balanced.

One of the biggest challenges was sustaining the illusion of an aquatic environment

without dressing the actors in fish costumes! The solution offered by Greg Gunning, the

writer and lyricist as well as ArtsPower Artistic Director, was simple, yet incredibly

effective: We decided to set up a magical mirror; anyone who looks into the mirror and

repeats a chant (guided by the Narrator) can see exactly what the fish world sees.

Occasional glances through the mirror at more elaborate sets help viewers to imagine the

entire production taking place underwater. What's more, the mirror reinforces the

Rainbow Fish's major character flaw: her vanity. This device is very popular with young

audiences, who always get a thrill out of seeing the Magic Mirror reveal each new

undersea character as well as chanting along with the Narrator in order to enter the fish

world again..

(More About) the Set and the Music

We fashioned piscine costumes with the help of colorful lightweight material: iridescent

and semi-translucent, this cloth shines particularly bright on the beautiful Rainbow Fish.

Her special scales are rendered as glittering strips of fabric that can – when the Rainbow

Fish finally learns generosity – be detached and tied around the wrists of other actors and

actresses. The show as a whole has a strong visual appeal and combines faithfulness to

the printed page with highly creative artistic license.

When it came to music for The Rainbow Fish, Greg Gunning drew inspiration from one

of his favorite shows: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Richard

DeRosa’s fully-orchestrated score is constantly changing and evolving, as fluid as the

actors' flowing costumes. With complex choreography and very few non-singing scenes,

this production runs the gamut from calypso to 1950s swing to gospel to east Indian. A

highly-singable Broadway feel holds the whole production together.

Themes

Intended for kindergarten through second grade, The Rainbow Fish may not seem

particularly sophisticated in its plotting: a self-centered character comes to recognize the

value of sharing with others. But there are more complex issues of identity involved. It is

not talents or possessions that the Rainbow Fish must share; she must learn to give of

herself. She eventually recognizes that her shiny scales are indeed quite special, and that

she herself is a special creature, but also sees that her external traits are not what will

bring friends close to her. She instead lets go of part of herself as she allows others to

take the silver scales, and in so doing proves that her innermost identity is even more

beautiful than her outward appearance. Looking into the mirror, she sees that she is at her

best when surrounded by those who love her. Paradoxically, it is by making certain

crucial sacrifices – giving up the safety of isolation and total self-absorption – that she

becomes happy and whole.