Most appreciated by families and children ages six and up
Parents and teachers of grades 1, 2, and 3, counselors, and other school staff are invited to attend the final run-through rehearsal of this play in the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall. The purpose of this preview is to acquaint you with the play before costumes, lights, sound, and remaining scenic elements are added and finished during technical week. The rehearsal is scheduled to 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 so you may prepare students in advance of their attendance the following weeks. Lawrence teachers may obtain In-Service Points through Ann Bruemmer, Arts Coordinator. The director, Jeanne Klein, and some actors from this production will be available to visit 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classrooms after attending 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, and to answer questions about this production. Contact Megan Persinger, TYP Assistant (kutypassistant@yahoo.com), or Jeanne Klein (864-5576) to schedule a classroom visit. A Young Girl runs into an empty building with an old red wagon, frightened by “kabooms” heard far away and shadowy figures on the wall. She finds a doll and begins to act out a story about Lily, a Zobeing orphan adopted by Papa and Mama Wuluman. Long ago, Zobeings (plant people who live by day) and Wulumans (animal people who live by night) used to grow gardens together, but they got into an argument that led to the Great Endless Unforgotten War. Mama and Papa Wuluman’s neighbors don’t like Lily because she’s a Zobeing, who wears a bluzulu seed around her neck. So Lily rips it off and buries the seed in a pile of wuludirt. When Papa starts to drink too much wulujuice, he turns into a balloon and floats away to three moons. Lily cries on the wuludirt and her tears water the seed that sprouts into a blue seedling. Lily has started a garden! When the neighbors damage their house, Lily moves her seedling into a pail and leaves with Mama to live in a safer place. At a border crossing, the Zobeing guard won’t let them live in Zobeelanda because Lily can howl “awoooo” like a Wuluman. So they make a new home near a broken chimney in the Land of Rubble, where Lily moves her bluzulu grass into a red wagon. While Lily and Mama sleep, a mysterious Zobeing Shadow comes in looking for his shadow. He leaves a ladybug and a rose in the wagon garden, and Lily scares him off. At first, Miss Beatrice (a ladybug puppet) doesn’t like Rosey (a rose puppet that the Young Girl moves) because she looks like a “stuck-up” ballerina. But Miss Beatrice likes to eat wutickle bugs (aphids) that make Lily laugh so hard that her tears water Rosey to help her grow. Mama comes back from searching for food, but the sunlight has made her shrink (into a puppet), so Lily begins to take care of her. When Lily buries an old teddy bear in some wuludirt and waters it with her tears of laughter, it grows into a tree with fruit (gummy) bears so Mama has wulufood to eat. Mama explains that Wulumans believe everything has a soul, so when you create something from broken toys, a part of your soul must be there, too. When the Zobeing Shadow comes back, Lily jumps on his back, but Mama tells her to let him go. Just then, a “kaboom” explodes and the crumbled chimney covers the Mama doll. Lily plants her Mama doll in her garden, but nothing happens. So Lily travels to the moon, where she meets the Young Girl, who’s waiting for her mommy to come back, and Lily makes her feel better. They find Papa-balloon who helps Lily understand that she has planted hope with her garden. Lily returns from the moon with Papa and sees Mama, whom Shadow found, back to her normal size. In return for finding Mama, the Young Girl finds Shadow’s shadow, and Lily tells him to go find other broken toys and lost souls so she can make a bigger garden. The Young Girl finishes her “happily ever after” story: “And the Great Endless Unforgotten War ended and gardens once again bloomed everywhere. And so the little girl who ‘would never be normal, who would never fit in’ did. And everyone cheered, ‘Awoooo!’” Examine diversity within a culture, society, or ecosystem Long ago, Zobeings and Wulumans lived as one big happy family and grew beautiful gardens together. But, as the Young Girl explains, they “got into an argument, which led to a fight, which started the Great Endless Unforgotten War…. Centuries later the war still rages on but no one remembers why it started nor do they remember how gardens came to be” (11). How are these Human Beings different? How can they grow to be friends again? When Miss Beatrice, a ladybug, meets Rosey, a ballerina, they get into an argument over their differences. Compare and contrast roses and ladybugs. How do they become friends? Many people speak different languages. In the play, Mama and Papa Wuluman put a “wu” or “wulu” in front of some their words. What do these words mean? Other “foreign” vocabulary words in the play: Explain the differences between wants and needs Lily plants a garden by burying a bluzulu seed in wuludirt. What happens when you plant a seed in dirt? What do seedlings need to grow? What do young human beings need to grow? Compare the things seedlings and humans need to grow up healthy and strong. [* Adapted from the 1989 United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child. The United States and Somalia are the only two countries in the world that have not ratified this document.] We love to see children’s visual expressions of this play. Send drawings to Jeanne Klein, Theatre for Young People, University of Kansas, 1530 Naismith Drive, Lawrence, KS 66045. Draw a picture of what makes Lily or the Young Girl feel good in the play. Teacher’s Guide written byPreview for Parents and Teachers
7:00 p.m. Monday, January 29, 2007Drama Workshops
The Story of the Play
Curricular Connections
snout-a-puss, and tusks-a-wus
Planting Hope
Jeanne Klein