Still Life with Iris by Steven Dietz
PERFORMANCES
October 1, 4, 5, 7, 2004 • 1:00 p.m. • Lawrence schools October 6, 2004 • 1:00 p.m. • Rural schools
Tickets for school matinees are $2.50. Complimentary tickets are available for teachers and students on free/reduced lunch programs.
Saturday, October 2, 2004• 2:30 p.m.• Public performance
Tickets are $5 for K-12 students, $10 for adults, and $9 for senior citizens. For reservations, call the University Theatre Ticket Office 864-3982. The Ticket Office is open from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and an hour before curtain time for the public performance.
All performances are in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall on the KU campus.
Most appreciated by families and children ages nine and up.
Children with hearing difficulties may use special hearing devices, provided by Friends Of the Theatre, in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre. Teachers should make arrangements in advance with Erika Crane, 864-5576, or the University Theatre Ticket Office, 864-3982.
Preview for Teachers and Parents
7:00 p.m., Thursday, September 23
Parents, teachers, librarians, and other school staff are invited to attend the final run-through rehearsal of Still Life with Iris in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall. The purpose of this preview is to acquaint you with the play in its final, actor-rehearsal stage before finished scenery, costumes, lights, and sound are added during technical week--so you may prepare students in advance of their attendance the following week. The rehearsal will begin at 7:00 p.m. and to run non-stop until approximately 8:00 p.m. We encourage you to ask questions and to discuss the play and its performance techniques with us. Lawrence teachers may obtain In-Service Points through Ann Bruemmer, Arts and Humanities Coordinator.
Drama Workshops
Actors from Still Life with Iris and Jeanne Klein are available to visit elementary classroom students who have attended this production. A free, one hour (or less) drama workshop with actors is intended to extend the play’s themes, to encourage students to role-play analogous situations, and to answer questions about this production and theatre. To take advantage of this service-learning opportunity, contact Erika Crane, TYP Assistant, or Jeanne Klein (864-5576) to schedule a classroom visit.
The Story of the Play
Still Life with Iris is a fantasy-adventure about a young girl’s search for home. The play takes place in the magical Land of Nocturno where residents take care of all the wonders of nature at night. These people include the Lady Bug Spotters (Hazel and Elmer) and their mother, the Leaf Monitor; the Flower Painter, the Lightning Bolt Bender, and the Memory Mender, who repairs everyone’s Past Coats–-colorful, patchwork coats which contain each person’s individual memories. Iris lives with her Mother, the Wind Whisperer, but her Father, the Day Breaker, mysteriously disappeared 10 years ago during the last Great Eclipse and no one knows what happened to him.
The rulers of Nocturno, the Great Grotto and Gretta Good, live nearby on Great Island in a Great Room which contains only one, best thing of everything–-one book, one drape, one chair, etc. They force Iris to live with them as their one, best, only daughter by sending their servant, Mister Matternot, to get her. He gently convinces Iris to give up her Past Coat–-her identity and sad memories of home. Iris’ Mother, who also has her Past Coat taken away, now thinks she is Miss Overlook, and she cannot remember her daughter. Although Iris has lost her identity, she still has one button that came off her Past Coat, which allows her to see and remember the Still Life picture of her home–-three white chairs and a white table with an iris flower in a vase.
Iris arrives at the Great Goods’ Room wearing a new robe and only one, best shoe which hurts her foot. Mister Otherguy, a servant, gives her one perfect raindrop to drink, and the Goods give her one toy box which contains one doll locked in a glass case. When Iris plays alone wishing for a playmate, Annabel Lee, a pirate’s daughter, appears, longing to be free of her chains. When Iris wishes for more than one star so Annabel can find her lost ship, Mozart, the young composer, appears, and a key from his piano unlocks Annabel’s padlock. The Goods send Annabel away, but they decide to keep Mozart as their one, best son. They give him another piano–-with only one key–-and invite the Memory Mender to tailor a new suit for him. But when the Memory Mender sees Iris and gives her clues about her true identity, the Goods take away his Past Coat and make him their servant, Mister Himtoo.
In another Dark Room, Annabel Lee returns, having found her ship and an old, weathered Past Coat. When Iris confronts the Goods with this Past Coat, they lock her inside a glass case, just like the doll, but Annabel Lee and Mozart show them the rest of the lost Past Coats. Mister Matternot, Mister Otherguy, and Mister Himtoo realize the Goods have stolen all of their identities, and they chase the Goods away and free Iris from her glass prison.
Iris returns to the Still Life image of her real home, where Mister Matternot puts her mother’s Past Coat on Miss Overlook. With her identity regained, Mom realizes that he is her husband, Iris’ father, from the scars on his hands. They give him back his Past Coat, and Annabel Lee and Mozart bring back Iris’ Past Coat as well. Now that the family has been reunited and everyone’s Past Coats have been returned to their rightful owners, Iris’ Father raises the sun for a new day, as Mozart completes the serenade he has been searching to finish.
About the Play and Playwright
Still Life with Iris was the first children’s play to win the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays Award. Its longer, 90-minute version was originally produced by the Seattle Children’s Theatre in 1997, with KU alumnus, John Abramson, in the role of Mister Matternot and several magical illusions created by Steffan Soule and Cooper Edens. Since then, many other professional and educational theatres have produced this popular play across the country.
Steven Dietz has written many other noteworthy plays for both children and adults, which have been staged professionally across the United States, Europe, Australia, South America, Japan, and South Africa. His adaptation of Joyce Simmons Cheeka’s The Rememberer, about a young Native American girl’s experiences in an Indian mission school, was awarded the 1994 Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Award. His other widely produced plays include Force of Nature, Foolin’ Around with Infinity, Trust, Rocket Man, Handing Down the Names, and Halcyon Days.
Visit www.kutheatre.com to see designs for our production and to participate in more events celebrating our 50th Anniversary.
Curricular Connections
The Visual Art of Still Life
Several books by Cooper Edens inspired Steven Dietz to use his imagination and write a fantasy play about characters who take care of the wonders of nature.
A still life is an artistic painting or photograph of inanimate objects. In our play, a still life scene of an iris in a vase on a table represents a piece of Iris’ memory of her past home. When Iris rubs the button that fell off her Past Coat, she can see this still life image in her imagination.
Reading Metaphors in Language Arts
Iris is the name of the main character and the name of a flower which sits in a vase in Iris’ home.
Memories are inside our minds, but Nocturno characters wear their memories in Past Coats.
What’s your IDentity? Iris has a button from her Past Coat which helps her find her identity.
Even though Iris has lost her memory, she hasn’t lost that part of her identity which helps her find things.
Annabel Lee is also a character in a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. Read this poem aloud in class and compare this character’s identity with the identity of the character in the play.
Social Rights and Responsibilities
Grotto and Gretta Good govern the Land of Nocturno. How do you know whether they are “good” or “bad” rulers of their citizens?
The Music of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91), born in Salzburg, Austria, was a child prodigy who could play the piano and violin by age. He composed his first symphony at age eight and his first opera at age 12, among many other sonatas, concertos, and minuets.
The Scientific Wonders of Nature
Nocturno is a fantasy land where characters create the wonders of nature at night. Discuss the following elements of nature and explain how each really works:
Iris’ Father, the Day Breaker, disappears and reappears 10 years later during the Great Eclipse.
We’d love to hear your ideas about our production. Please make copies for students and return to Jeanne Klein, KU Theatre for Young People, 1530 Naismith Drive, Lawrence, KS 66045.
Play Review of Still Life with Iris
Reviewed by (name optional)__________________________________________
School ____________________________________________ Grade__________
Teacher’s Guide written by Jeanne Klein