passportYour

2011 – 2012

cultureTeacher’s Resource Guide

to

The Paper Bag PlayersLaugh! Laugh! Laugh!

Generous support for SchoolTime provided,

in part, by

Paper Bag Players • njpac.org

CONTENTSOn StageBe prepared to Laugh!

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In the SpotlightA director’s rollicking role

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Did You Know?Paper makes perfect

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Theater TalkA guide to stage-speak

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In the ClassroomTeaching Science Through Theater and other activities

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More ResourcesRelated readings and other media

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FoundationKid Power!Through energy efficiency and conservation, kids can help preserve our planet’s rich natural resources and promote a healthy environment.

TIP OF THE DAY

Pulp it Did you know that recycling paper conserves our valuable natural resources? If we all recycled our newspapers, for example, we could save about 250 million trees each year! Plus, every ton of recycled paper saves approximately four barrels of oil and 4,200 kilowatt hours of energy. Made possible through the generosity of the PSEG Foundation.

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The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) Arts Education Department presents the 15th season of the Verizon Passport to Culture SchoolTime Performance Series.

Teacher’s Resource GuideThis resource guide will help you prepare your class for an enriching experience at our SchoolTime Performance. The guide provides discussion ideas, activities and reading resources that can promote arts literacy in your classroom. Permission is granted to copy and distribute this guide to any class attending a 2011-2012 SchoolTime Performance (all other rights reserved). You can find additional resources online at artsed.njpac.org.

NJPAC Arts EducationAt NJPAC, our mission is to join with parents, teachers and community to cultivate an appreciation of the arts in all children of New Jersey. We believe the arts provide an effective means of knowing and learning that helps children find the self-esteem, poise and confidence they need to succeed in every facet of life. Our innovative programs are designed to engage the artist in every child:

In-School Residencies Bring the joy of dance, music and theater directly into your classroom with teaching artists who create stimulating performing arts experiences that engage students’ imaginations and encourage their creative self-expression.

SchoolTime and FamilyTime Performances Open your students’ eyes to the worlds of music, dance, storytelling, theater, and puppetry through professional stage productions.

Arts Training Programs Students express themselves through after-school study of acting, dance, instrumental music, vocal music, and musical theater. Teaching artists with professional performing arts experience mentor the students at NJPAC’s Center for Arts Education.

VISIT US ONLINEFind additional resources online at artsed.njpac.org

On Stage

As the Paper Bag Players developed ideas, songs and dances for their newest production, Laugh! Laugh! Laugh!, they were happy to discover that the sketches kept them in stitches.

“I never realized how much I loved to laugh till now,” admits Amy Walsh, one of the musical’s five actor-creators. “I always liked to make my parents, friends and teachers laugh, and I used my face and body to do it,” says Kevin Richard Woodall, whose specialty is physical comedy. Co-star Laura Canty-Samuel, a stand-up comedian, agrees. “Laughter is our favorite thing in the world—next to ice cream!”

Their job is to tickle your funnybone

3Paper Bag Players • njpac.org

Ted Brackett, artistic director of the Paper Bag Players, even has a hard time describing one of the scenes in Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! without cracking himself up. Though he and his team of actor-writers have worked on the show over the course of a year, recalling the jokes and audience interactions gets to him every time.

In Laugh! Laugh! Laugh!, the four are joined by fellow performer-creator John Stone, who is the composer and keyboardist. Behind the curtain, scenic artist Jonathan Peck practices his wizardry in making props great and small from paper.

Put together, their exercises in side-splitting humor are intended to jiggle bellies and stretch smiles from ear to ear. The collaborators challenge young audiences to keep from giggling during these episodes:

• The First Day of School. In the opening number, three friends express their excitement and apprehension while waiting for the bus.• Amazing Amy. With your help, this superhero kid

saves the day with her hilarious feats of daring.• Volcano. A princess learns that first impressions aren’t always

correct when she encounters Volcano, a little, loud-mouthed dragon.• Dandy Do-Everything Dynamo. Laura discovers there is no magical shortcut to doing chores when she’s bamboozled into buying a malfunctioning machine.• Shakey Shake. There’s dancing in the aisles for this audience-participation activity.• Wow Fantastic Dancing Dust. Kevin and Amy find a bag that contains the power to get toes tapping.• Magic Brush. Ted’s paintbrush brings a multi-colored masterpiece to life.• Bubbles. Sing along with the cast as they seek the perfect bubble. (Go to thepaperbagplayers.org/teachers-corner/words-music/ for the sheet music.)

Since their debut performance in 1958, the Paper Bag Players have enchanted children with their lively renderings of everyday situations through music, dance, visual artwork, and audience participation. For its 53rd season, the team—equipped with paints and crayons—again demonstrates its boundless creativity in turning household items, cardboard boxes and brown paper into sets, costumes and props.

Laugh! Laugh! Laugh!, the 40th production staged by “the Bags,” is expected to be seen by more than 60,000 children and students, who are likewise expected to snicker! roar! howl! with delight.

Linda Fowler is an arts journalist whose work has appeared in Inside Jersey and New Jersey Monthly magazines, The Star-Ledger, Playbill, TheaterMania.com, and Listen: Life with Classical Music.

To get the complete story on the Paper Bag Players, go to thepaperbagplayers.org.

The cast of the Paper Bag Players’ Laugh! Laugh! Laugh!, from top: Kevin Richard Woodall, Ted Brackett, John Stone, Laura Canty-Samuel and Amy Walsh

“Worth cheering about … every skit comes fresh

out of the bag!”—The New York Times

By Linda Fowler

The Paper Bag Players retain other templates. The hour-long show runs with no intermission and is composed of about 10 vignettes, performed as a revue. Some segments are as short as a couple of minutes and others are 10 to 12 minutes. Skits have been saved in an archive for decades and are occasionally “dusted off” to reappear in another production. (Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! contains all new material.) “There’s a lot of movement, a lot of songs, and we do audience participation,” Brackett says, mentioning other necessary elements. Above all, there’s paper: cardboard sets and props, bags used as masks and boxes transformed into cars.

To boost the Bags’ profile, Brackett says he is exploring the creation of a “B company” that would continue to tour the current show “farther afield” from the Boston-D.C. corridor while the original cast stages the next premiere. For the NJPAC performances, the actor and director is glad to be only a short train ride from his family in Maplewood.

During a recent New York engagement of Laugh! Laugh! Laugh!, Brackett was reminded of why the company has staying power. After running lights for the show, a technician judged to be in his 60s told Brackett his first theatrical experience was seeing the Bags. “It really put him into a life in the arts,” Brackett relates. “Some of the kids that we reach—there’s just nothing like it.”

— L.F.

In the Spotlight

Ted Brackett: Surely he jests

Paper Bag Players • njpac.org4

In his early years acting with the Paper Bag Players, Ted Brackett also learned to write and produce, yet he didn’t anticipate that one day he would be the heir apparent to lead the Bags to the next stage.

“I’ve been around the company for like 24 years now and it’s been great,” says Brackett, who took over the directorship three years ago with the blessing of his mentor, Bags co-founding artistic director Judith Martin. “Every year it’s a new challenge. … I feel really lucky to be able to be an actor with a steady job—and not have to audition.”

Brackett still utilizes some of the successful formulas devised by this half-century-old, award-winning children’s theater. Throughout the school year, the five-member cast tours with the production, while holding periodic brainstorming sessions for the next original show. “It empowers the actors to write material that they get to perform the following year,” he explains. Intensive scripting and rehearsals begin in earnest in the spring to prepare for the fall opening. Summers are spent on scenic design—and a welcome vacation.

Read more about the cast of Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! Go to artsed.njpac.org.

Before the Paper Bag Players ... there had to be paper bags.

We do not actually know who had the good idea to paste two sides of paper together to carry things, but the idea became popular during the 19th century, and it was not long before people started imagining ways to improve the design of the simple paper bag. We do know that, in 1852, Francis Wolle (1817-1893) of Bethlehem, Pa. (a teacher, a principal of a young ladies’ seminary and an ordained clergyman) patented the first device for making paper bags.

At about the same time, Margaret “Mattie” Knight (1838-1914), a girl in Maine, was making sleds and kites for her brothers. When she was 12 years old, she worked in a textile mill, where she saw first-hand the injuries that could be caused by operating heavy machinery. To rectify the problem, Knight created a device that would

stop the machine. By the time she was a teenager, her factory device was in wide use and her success spurred her to continue inventing. Just after the Civil War, she decided that paper bags could hold more if they had square bottoms, so she experimented with a machine that would cut, fold and paste bag bottoms to the sides of the paper.

She patiently designed thousands of models. Knight then prepared to file a patent application, but she discovered that a man named Charles Annan was filing for a patent on a design suspiciously similar to hers. Annan had, in fact, seen Knight’s machine and copied it. Annan claimed that Knight, being a woman, couldn’t possibly understand the paper bag machine. Knight only had to produce her designs and notes to prove that she was the true designer of the paper bag machine. Victory in hand, she founded the Eastern Paper Bag Company in 1870 and went on to patent nearly 90 inventions.

So now the paper bag had a square bottom and could hold several items. All that was left to do was to make it easy to fold and stack. That happened in 1883, when Charles Stilwell designed the first machine to produce paper bags with pleated sides. Subsequently, with the advent of the American supermarket in the 1930s, the demand for the paper bag skyrocketed.

There are many things to do with paper bags, but don’t forget—you can also use them to help create plays just like the Paper Bag Players. When the Paper Bag Players began in 1958, founding artistic director Judith Martin admits, “I was horrified at the idea of using paper. When we began to use (it) on stage, however, the children loved it. … They found it so funny.” And a half-century later, they still do.

Did You Know?

It’s only a paper bag

Paper Bag Players • njpac.org 5

By Mary Sheeran

script — the written text detailing what happens, including what is to be said, during a play or performance.

set — the arrangement of scenery and props on stage.

slapstick — a visual comedic technique that includes falls, bopping heads on door jambs, falling on banana peels, and tweaking the nose.

artistic director — the person who oversees the production, chooses the material and brings together the work of the author, set designer, musicians, actors, technicians, and others.

comedy — a story or play treating characters and situations in a funny or amusing way; the opposite of tragedy.

composer — the person who creates original musical themes for the scenes in a production and/or writes the production’s score.

dialogue — the conversation in a play between two or more characters.

director — the person who conceives of an overall concept for a production, supervises all of its elements and guides the actors in their performances.

ensemble — a group of actors who work collaboratively to develop, rehearse and perform a production and equally share responsibilities within the performance.

finale — the last musical number in a production, usually quite elaborate.

music director — the person who supervises all the music in a production.

musical score — the complete music for a production, showing all parts for the instruments, including voice.

musical theater — a genre of theater that uses singing and dancing in addition to dramatic action to tell a story.

pantomime — actions or gestures without words used as a means of expression.

performer — a person who takes part in a production by saying lines, singing or dancing.

props — items used on stage to help create a sense of place such as a photograph, a flag or a map; the belongings used by a character on stage such as a purse, a hand mirror or a sandwich.

punch line — the humorous last part of a joke.

scene — a division of a production, often part of an act and usually played without changing the scenery.

scenery — painted canvas mounted on wooden frames, drops, cutouts, etc. used in a theater to represent the location or environment where the action takes place.

Theater Talk

A guide to terms used by stage artists

Paper Bag Players • njpac.org6

Members of the Paper Bag Players not only act, but contribute to the writing and staging of their shows.

Paper Bag Players • njpac.org

Before the Performance Teaching Science Through Theater (Grades K-6)By Sharon J. Sherman, Ed.D.

Integrating science and theater in the elementary grades not only enables students to connect these disciplines but provides a creative way to attain understanding through engagement.

In science class, children study matter and energy transformations. They learn that all organisms transfer matter and convert energy from one form to another.

Students usually observe a variety of plants and animals in natural settings—at a zoo or botanical garden—or turn to digital or video resources. As young scientists, they grow plants from seeds in their classrooms, recording plant height, amount of leaves and conditions for growing. They keep these observations in science notebooks and carefully analyze the data (Science Standard 5.3.2.B.1).

Next, students learn about animals and how creatures meet their needs for food and water. They identify animals’ characteristics, including the unique structures and behaviors that enable them to obtain food.

Theater is brought into the science classroom when students create and perform short plays. Tell them a local zoo is sponsoring a children’s series with the theme, “Care and Feeding of Animals,” and they have been asked to participate. As they write their plays, they should use voice, movement and facial expression to tell their stories.

Students in later grades continue to develop their understanding of matter and energy transformations. Now they identify sources of energy (food) in a variety of settings: farm, zoo, ocean, and forest. They learn that almost all energy and matter can be traced to the sun (Science Standard 5.3.4.B.1).

Once again, you can bring theater into the classroom by having the students write plays about different ecosystems. Divide students into groups and let them select one of these environments: marsh, pond, field, forest, farm, zoo, school, or backyard. Ask them to write about the organisms that live in the ecosystem and describe the habitat and food chain. As a culminating activity, the entire class can compare and contrast life in each ecosystem.

Sharon J. Sherman, Ed.D. is Dean of the School of Education and Professor of Teacher Education at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ.

The Teaching Science Through the Arts content of this guide is made possible through the generous support of Roche.

After the Performance1. How many of the stories in Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! do the students remember? Can they describe each one? Once you recognize a story from their descriptions, write its title on the board. Ask the students to name the characters in the story. How did the story begin? How did it end? How did the story progress to its ending? (1.3, 1.4)

2. Discuss the definitions in “Theater Talk” on page 6 of this Teacher’s Resource Guide. What sort of props did the performers use in each story? Who were the characters in each story? Can students describe the scenery in each story? What did the music director do? Did the music enrich the various plays? If so, why? (1.3)

*Numbers indicate NJ Core Curriculum Content Standard(s) supported by the activity.

1. “Paper Bag Puppets” is an arts-integrated resource from Verizon’s Thinkfinity.org. This lesson from Enchanted Learning provides instructions for creating paper bag animal puppets including frogs, pigs, raccoons, dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, and pandas. Once they have made their puppets, have the youngsters perform impromptu skits for each other. enchantedlearning.com/crafts/puppets/paperbag/index.shtml (1.2)*

2. Supply each student with crayons and paper. Play a peaceful recording such as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade or selections from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Ask the students to draw or color anything they wish in response to the music. (1.1, 1.2)

VISIT US ONLINEFind additional resources online at artsed.njpac.org

In the Classroom

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8 Paper Bag Players • njpac.org

Photos of the Paper Bag Players by Gerry Goodstein

Writers: Linda Fowler Mary Sheeran

Editors: Linda Fowler Laura Ingoglia

Design: Pierre Sardain 66 Creative, Inc. 66Creative.com

NJPAC Guest Reader: Chamie Baldwin Graff

NJPAC Teacher’s Resource Guide Review Committee: Judith Israel Mary Lou Johnston Amy Tenzer

Copyright © 2012 New Jersey Performing Arts Center All Rights Reserved

One Center Street Newark, New Jersey 07102Administration: 973 642-8989Arts Education Hotline: 973 353-8009artseducation@njpac.org

More Resources AcknowledgmentsBooks for Teachers

McCully, Emily Arnold. Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. What Can You Do With a Paper Bag? Inspired by works of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Chronicle Books, 2001.

Websites

The Paper Bag Players — thepaperbagplayers.org

Paper Bag Masks — ehow.com/how_5083095_make-paper-bag-mask.html

Things to Do With Paper Bags — Scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3747157

Paper Bag Scrapbook — scrapbook-crazy.com/paper-bag-album-instructions.html

Paper Bag Puppet — wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Bag-Puppet

as of 1/18/12 NJPAC Arts Education programs are made possible by the generosity of: Bank of America, The Arts Education Endowment Fund in Honor of Raymond G. Chambers, Leon & Toby Cooperman, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Amy C. Liss, McCrane Foundation, Merck Company Foundation, Albert & Katharine Merck, The Prudential Foundation, PSEG Foundation, Marian & David Rocker, The Sagner Family Foundation, The Star-Ledger / Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Verizon, Victoria Foundation, Wells Fargo, John & Suzanne Willian / Goldman Sachs Gives and The Women’s Association of NJPAC.

Additional support is provided by: Advance Realty, C.R. Bard Foundation, Becton Dickinson and Company, The Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation, Allen & Joan Bildner, Bloomberg, Ann & Stan Borowiec, Jennifer Chalsty, Chase, Edison Properties, Veronica Goldberg Foundation, Meg & Howard Jacobs, Johnson & Johnson, The MCJ Amelior Foundation, The New Jersey Cultural Trust, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Novo Nordisk, Panasonic Corporation of North America, Pechter Foundation, PNC Foundation on behalf of the PNC Grow Up Great program, The Provident Bank Foundation, E. Franklin Robbins Charitable Trust, Roche, TD Charitable Foundation and The Blanche M. & George L. Watts Mountainside Community Foundation.

Find additional resources online at artsed.njpac.org or scan the QR code displayed here.

For even more arts integration resources, please go to Thinkfinity.org, the Verizon Foundation’s signature digital learning platform, designed to improve educational and literacy achievement.

VISIT US ONLINE

William J. Marino.……............................…………………………………………………………………….Chairman John Schreiber.............…....……..................…………………………………..President & Chief Executive Officer Sandra Bowie………….………........................……………………………………..Vice President of Arts Education Sanaz Hojreh.……………......................….……..………………………..Assistant Vice President of Arts Education Verushka Wray Spirito.............….………............………….........................…Associate Director of Performances Chamie Baldwin Graff.............….………............……………................…Director of Marketing, Arts Education Caitlin Evans Jones…………..........................……….………………………….…Director of In-School Programs Jeff Griglak......………......................……………….………………………………..……..Director of Arts Training Constance Collins........…….….........................Administrative Assistant and Office Manager for Arts EducationLaura Ingoglia…………........................….……………………....…………....Editor of Teacher’s Resource Guides Linda Fowler..…………........................…….…………………....…………....Editor of Teacher’s Resource Guides