SPRUCE PEAK PRESENTS

In Association with the Flynn Center Student Matinee Series

GOODNIGHT MOON

& RUNWAY BUNNY

We appreciate and value your feedback.

Click here for an evaluation of our study guides.

Click here for Teacher Feedback Forms for the performance.

Click here for Student Feedback Forms for the performance.

Click here for Parent Forms to help parents engage with their children

around the show.

Welcome to the 2015-2016 Student Matinee Season!

Today’s scholars and researchers say creativity is the top skill our kids will need when they

enter the work force of the future, so we salute YOU for valuing the educational and

inspirational power of live performance. By using this study guide you are taking an even

greater step toward implementing the arts as a vital and inspiring educational tool.

We hope you find this guide useful. If you have any suggestions for content or format of

this guide, please contact sms@flynncenter.org.

Enjoy the show!

The Performance & the Story

The Production

Things to Think About Before During/After you see the show

The Company: Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia

Themes to Explore

Nigh & Bedtime Routine

Safety & Comfort

Questions to Explore the Themes

Context & History

Author: Barbara Park

Illustrator: Clement Hurd

Dark Explorations

Learning About Nocturnal Animals

Recording Your Dreams

Tightrope Walk

Bunny Hide & Seek

Guess That Animal

Bring the Art Form to Life

Art Form: Puppetry

Words Come Alive Activities:

Circle Pass with Puppets & Solo Acts

Your Visit

Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center

Etiquette for Live Performance

Why is Etiquette Important?

Common Core Standards

The Common Core broadens the definition of a “text,” viewing performance as a form of text, so your students are experiencing and interacting with a text when they attend a Flynn show.

Seeing live performance provides rich opportunities to write reflections, narratives, arguments, and more. By writing responses and/or using the Flynn Study Guides, all performances can be linked to Common Core:

CC ELA: W 1-10

You can use this performance and study guide to address the following Common Core Standards (additional standards listed by specific activities):

CC ELA: RL 1-10, RF 1-4, SL 1-2, L 3-5

Thank you to the 2015-2016 Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center

Matinee Sponsors:

Champlain Investment Partners, the UPS Store, the Kimmich Family,

and the Duke Family.

This guide was written & compiled by the Education Department at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts with inspiration from the State Theater of New Jersey Study Guide, with additional ideas adapted from the Mermaid Theater of Nova Scotia website. Permission is granted for teachers, parents, and students who are coming to Flynn shows to copy & distribute this guide for educational purposes only.

Activities to Deepen Understanding

After you see the show:

Discuss how the theatre company adapted

the play from the books. What was the

same, what was different? Use one of the

Margaret Wise Brown’s other books or

another picture book about nighttime or

families, and create your own classroom

play. Which characters and parts of the

story are essential? Which can be left out?

Work on writing a script for actors from

the book. Will you use a narrator or will

you use action and character dialogue to

tell the story?

The Production

Using various styles of puppetry, Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia brings two of

Margaret Wise Brown’s beloved stories vibrantly to life. Young learners will be

soothed and charmed by the gentle whimsy presented onstage. The two main forms

of puppetry you’ll see are rod puppetry and table top puppetry. Even though you’ll

see many puppets and lots of action on stage, only THREE puppeteers will be working

to create the story! The puppeteers will be dressed in all black, even wearing black masks. This helps the

audience focus on the puppets and the storytelling and not the performers. The actors will not speak to tell

the story; you’ll hear a recording with original music. During Goodnight Moon there will be blacklighting,

which will make set pieces and puppets glow in the dark. These creative storytellers invite you into a

dreamy, sleepy, sweet world of imagination!

Mermaid Theatre knows that these stories are really familiar to audiences, and also expects that young

people might try to help tell the stories. Also, the whimsical nature of this production often elicits joyous

and curious vocal responses. Mermaid theatre wants you to know that these responses are absolutely fine,

and that this show is officially a “non-shushing” show!

Before you see the show:

As a class, read the books. Come up with

describing words that apply to each story

(calm, playful, sleepy, etc.). When you’re

watching the show, see if the characters

could be described in the same way or if

they are a bit different in the play version.

The Company: Mermaid Theatre

Founded in 1972, Mermaid Theatre’s unique

adaptations of children’s literature have

delighted more than five million young people in

sixteen countries on four continents. Based in

Windsor, a small rural town in Nova Scotia’s Avon

Region, the company performs for more than

300,000 spectators annually, and currently ranks

among North America’s most active touring

organizations. Closer to home, Mermaid offers

instruction at all levels through its Institute of

Puppetry Arts, welcomes artists-in-residence

through its Theatre Loft, provides a unique

outreach program for adolescents through the

Youtheatre, and offers a vibrant performing arts

series at MIPAC (the Mermaid Imperial

Performing Arts Centre). Mermaid Theatre is best

known for unique stage adaptations of children’s

beloved literary classics. Their innovative

puppetry, striking scenic effects, evocative

original music and gentle storytelling have been

applauded by five million spectators in fifteen

countries.

As you watch the show:

How do the actors controlling the puppets

incorporate the characteristics from your

pre-show discussion into the show? How

might a word like “sleepy” be shown by a

puppet? How do the puppets

communicate characteristics and emotions

without changing facial expressions? Try

to identify at least three ways that the

puppets communicate their characters.

Night & Bedtime Routine

Goodnight Moon explores one little bunny’s

bedtime routine. In this production,

blacklighting will be used to create a dark stage

with glowing puppets and objects. While

darkness can be an intimidating concept for

young people, this production shows the beauty

and peacefulness of the night.

Questions to explore the theme:

What’s the difference between night and day? What

things do you do during the day? What do you do

when it is dark at night?

What words can you think of to describe the

nighttime?

What do you do to get ready for bed?

Safety & Comfort

Whether it’s an evening ritual or a persistent

parent, both of these stories highlight the safety

and comfort of home. In Runaway Bunny, the

mama bunny shows how far she would go to

keep her little one safe.

Questions to explore the theme:

Why do you think the little bunny wanted to

run away? How might he have felt if he

actually did run away?

What do the words “safe” and “comfortable”

mean to you? Where or with whom do you

feel safest and most comfortable?

The Stories: Classic and Lasting

Goodnight Moon & Runaway Bunny are some of the most beloved and cherished children’s stories of all

time. Goodnight Moon shares the nighttime routine of a little rabbit before getting tucked into bed. We

travel through his bedroom as he bids “Goodnight” to all the objects and beings that surround him. In

Runaway Bunny, another little bunny threatens to run away from his mother, who engages him in a playful

and creative game of chase, where both imaging transforming into different things and creatures, until they

agree to stay in their own safe, warm home. Both stories evoke the gentleness and safety of home.

Author Margaret

Wise Brown wrote

hundreds of books and

stories during her life,

but she is best known

for Goodnight Moon,

Big Red Barn and

Runaway Bunny.

Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have

animals as characters in the story. She liked to write

books that had a rhythm to them, so many of her

books rhyme or repeat a word pattern. She liked to

place a hard word into a story or poem because she

thought this made children think harder when they are

reading.

She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper

at her Alma mater, Hollins University, and at a library in

Westerly, Rhode Island where she quickly wrote down a

story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories

and then had to write them down in the morning

before she forgot them.

She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a

story, which often isn’t the same way an adult would

tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way

a child saw things and once gave two puppies to an

illustrator to use as models. The illustrator painted

many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he

woke up, the papers he painted on were

bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off

the paper! She once stated that the author

of a book didn’t seem important to her as a

child; it was the story that was important.

(Source: http://margaretwisebrown.com/)

Illustrator

Clement Hurd is

best known for

illustrating Goodnight

Moon and The Runaway

Bunny, the classic

picture books by

Margaret Wise Brown.

He studied painting in Paris with Fernand

Léger and others in the early 1930s. After

his return to the United States in 1935, he

began to work in children's books. He

illustrated more than one hundred books,

many of them with his wife, Edith Thacher

Hurd, including the Johnny Lion books, The

Day the Sun Danced, and The Merry Chase.

A native of New York City, he lived most of

his life in Vermont and California. (Source:

http://www.harpercollins.com/cr-100493/

clement-hurd)

Flynn Show Choir performing “Newsies”

Dark Explorations

CC ELA: RL1-4, RF2, SL1-2, 4, L4; NEXTGEN: ESS1.A

Create a serene, dark corner in your classroom, with

paper or blankets and glow-in-the-dark stars and a paper

moon. If you’re able and have access, you could position

a blacklight in your room to mimic the look of Mermaid

Theatre’s Goodnight Moon. Build in some dark time

during your school days, giving each child a flashlight and

letting them explore the night sky. Ask them to find

objects in the room using their flashlights to illuminate

their discoveries. As a reflection, ask students:

What was it like to move around in the dark? What

did it feel like?

What does the night sky look like near your home?

What are some words you would use to describe the

night sky? *Create a list of these descriptive words so

they can be used in writing practice or storytelling.

Encourage students to view the night sky with family,

and come back and report on what their experience

was like.

Learning About Nocturnal Animals

CC ELA: RL1, 4, 5, 7, RI1-10, RF 1-4

Bring a collection of books about nocturnal animals into

your classroom for students to explore. Explain that

some animals sleep during the day, and hunt, eat, and

live their awake lives during the nighttime. These are

nocturnal animals and they include: owls, raccoons,

opossum, bats, many foxes and wolves, and several

species of wild cats. Read about and discuss what these

animals’ lives might be like at night.

Get creative with nocturnal animals! Using crayons, have

students draw some of these newly studied creatures on

white paper, pressing heavily with the crayons. Then

paint the entire paper with a mix of black tempera paint

and water. The crayon will stay visible through the paint

and create a bright night scene!

Recording Your Dreams

CC ELA: RF1, W3-4, SL1, 4, L1-4

Dreams are a series of images, moments, sensations, or

thoughts that go through our head while we sleep.

Create a dream journal for each student where they can

write, draw, or collage about their dreams, ones they

remember from the past, or ones that they have

currently. If students are comfortable, have them share

with a partner or the class.

Tightrope Walk

CC ELA: RL1-3, SL1-2

“If you go flying on a flying trapeze,” said his mother, “I will be a

tightrope walker, and I will walk across the air to you.”

Using a rope, yarn, or easily removable tape, create a line

on your classroom floor and have students practice

walking across the “tightrope” like the mama bunny.

Students can use an umbrella or bar to steady them.

Bunny Hide and Seek

CC ELA: RF1-4, W2, 4, SL1-4

Hide several small toy bunnies around the classroom and

write clues that would help students discover the bunny’s

location (words or images). Divide students into as many

groups as there are bunnies, and have them work

together to find their hidden toy. After, you could also

have each group hide the bunny and create their own set

of clues to find the bunny in the classroom.

Guess that Animal

CC ELA: RF1-4, SL1-4

Create cards with images and/or images and pictures of a

variety of animals. In pairs, small groups or as a class,

have students pick a card one at a time and give clues as

to what animal is on their card. They can describe the

animal physically, or describe what the animal does, how

they interact with the world. You could also have

students act out their animal either silently or with sound

clues. Students can guess aloud or record guesses and

then reveal guesses after everyone’s performed.

The Art Form: Puppetry

The first child who ever picked up two sticks and had them play with each other was making use of puppets.

Strictly speaking, the difference between dolls and puppets is not the thing itself but whether or not there is an

audience. In this case, the child making two sticks talk to each other is simply playing, while the child making two

sticks talk together in order to entertain a little brother or sister is a puppeteer.

Puppetry has been used throughout the ages as a means of telling stories. It may have originated in India over

4,000 years ago where acting by humans was forbidden by a religious taboo on ‘impersonation’; people probably

used puppets to tell stories even before they ever acted them out. Even today, the lead player in Sanskrit plays is

called “sutradhara”, meaning ‘holder of the strings’. There are a wide variety of puppet types which are found in

many cultures all over the world.

Which kind of puppets did you see in the show? Were there more than one kind?

What did you notice about the puppets on stage? What did they look like? How did they move? What do

you think they felt like?

How did the puppets show emotions or how did the puppeteers work the puppets to show emotions? Do

you think it is more difficult to enact a character with your own body or through a puppet? Why?

READ & EXPLORE: Click here for a more in-depth description of puppetry.

Activity: Solo Acts

Learning Goal: Deepen Understanding of Character

Performing Goals: Explore Characterization with

Body

Have everyone find their own personal space in the

room. Tell students you’ll begin the story now.

“Everyone crouch down and make yourself as small as you

can in your space. Imagine you are inside a hard, transparent,

spherical shell. The shell is only just big enough for you to fit,

so you can barely move. The shell is hard, but you discover

that by pushing against the wall of the shell you can make a

"dent." You can push one small part of the wall out away

from you, and when you let it go, it doesn't spring back. Keep

making more "dents" until you have actually made the whole

shell bigger. Keep pushing the walls out around you,

smoothing out the dents as you go so you keep your shell

smooth and round. Keep enlarging your shell until it is just

big enough to stand up in.

Now, listen as your teacher narrates some key moments

from the story. In your “shell” respond to the words and

images. For example, imagine you are the little bunny,

becoming a boat on the ocean, and then imagine you are the

mama bunny, becoming the wind to blow the sailboat home.

Activity: Circle Pass with Puppets

Learning Goal: Deepen Understanding of Material,

Make Connections

Performing Goal: Follow Cues, Increase Focus

Copy & enlarge illustrations of the animals objects

from Goodnight Moon & Runaway Bunny.

Alternately, you could have students draw them.

Cut them out and paste them on cardstock. One at

a time, ask the students to pass the image around

the circle as if it is moving on its own. Encourage

them as they pass the puppet to keep it moving in

the same style and to not stop the action. Repeat

with the remaining character.

Ask: “How are acting and puppetry the same? How

are they different? If we were to put on a puppet

show for our families and friends what might we

need to do or remember about performing with

puppets? Remind students to remember how the

characters in the book illustrations look, and

compare them with the puppets they see on stage

in the show.

WORDS COME ALIVE

Arts Integration Activities Providing the opportunity to actively explore the world of the show helps

students become more engaged and connected audience members,

thinking about artists’ choices and approaching the performance with

enhanced curiosity.

For more information about any of the above, click here, email

schoolprograms@flynncenter.org or call 652-4548.

Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center in Stowe

In 2013, Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center and the Flynn Center joined forces to

expand the live performance experiences available to young audiences in Vermont.

Now, our partnership opens up live these experiences to a more diverse

geographical Vermont community, and allows us to present inspiring shows geared

towards a more intimate performance space like the stage in Stowe.

Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center opened December 27, 2010. Since that grand

opening celebration, the community has benefitted from performances and

residencies by exceptional artists. “Peak Experiences” occur every Saturday evening and sometimes in

between. Series’ include Peak Family artists whose work is exciting to kids, parents and grandparents

alike; Peak VTartists featuring music, dance and theatre of the Vermont community; Peak Students events

during school time; Peak Films that are special, spectacular events captured live; Peak Classics featuring art

that has stood the test of time; and the Peak Pop series of big events in comedy and music.

For more information about the center and other performances coming up at SPPAC, visit:

www.SprucePeakArts.org

Why is Etiquette Important?

A good live performance is a powerful communication between audience and

performer. The more the audience gives to the performer, the more the performer can

give back to the audience. The performer hears the audience laughing, senses its

sympathy, and delights in the enthusiasm of its applause. Furthermore, each audience

member affects those sitting near him or her, in addition to the performers onstage.

Technological devices (cameras, phones, etc.) have become so prevalent in our daily

lives, but using these devices is distracting to the performers onstage and other

audience members trying to watch the show. Even the light from checking the time, or

the buzz of a phone on vibrate can pull the people around you out of the experience.

Cell phone frequencies can even interfere with the

microphones in the production, and taking photos can be

unsafe for performers. Additionally, an artist has the right to

decide what photos and videos go out into the world.

Phones keep you from being present and fully engaged with

the show. Thank you for turning devices completely off!

DISCUSS BEING A MINDFUL

AUDIENCE MEMBER:

How is going to see a live

theatre performance

different from seeing a

movie, going to a concert, or

watching TV?

In small groups, come up

with a list of positive

audience behaviors, and

behaviors that would be

disruptive to performers and

other audience members.

Come together and create a

master list.

Etiquette for Live Performances

The Essentials

Listen, experience, imagine, discover, learn!

Give your energy and attention to the performers.

At the end of the show, clap for the performers’ time and energy.

Eating, drinking, and chewing gum are not okay.

Talk only before and after the performance.

Turn off wireless devices. No photos, videos, texting, or listening to music.

We can’t wait to see you at the theater!

Teachers, a few reminders:

Fill out the Seating and Travel Survey, so we can best accommodate your group’s needs in regards to dismissal,

bussing, students with different needs, etc.

Share your experience with us! Use the feedback links, or share your students’ artwork, writing,

responses. We love to hear how experiences at the Flynn impact our audiences.

Explore other student matinees at the Flynn this season. We’ve still got seats in some shows and we’d love to

help you or other teachers at your school enliven learning with an engaging arts experience!

We have some new initiatives to deepen student connection and experience!

Pre or Post-Show Video Chats: Help students build enthusiasm or process their

experience with a free, 5-10 minute video chat before or after the show! We can

set up Skype/Facetime/Google Hangouts with your class to answer questions

about the content, art form, and experience. Contact Kat,

kredniss@flynncenter.org to set up your chat!

Autism and Sensory-Friendly Accommodations: The Flynn Center has been

working diligently to break down barriers for audience members with disabilities,

with a particular focus on those with sensory-sensitivities. Social stories, break

spaces, sensory friendly materials, and more are available for all student

matinees. Feel free to let us know ahead of time if any of these would be useful,

or ask an usher at the show!

Make your field trip the most meaningful learning experience it can be with a preparatory

Companion Workshop in your classroom!

An engaging Flynn Teaching Artist can come to your school to deepen students’ understanding of both content and form

with an interactive workshop, enriching kids’ matinee experiences. Funding support is often available. To learn more, check

out this link. To book a workshop, click here. Questions? Contact Sasha: schoolprograms@flynncenter.org or (802)652-

4508

Re-stock your teaching toolkit and reignite your passion with upcoming professional

development opportunities for educators!

Get certification renewal credits, invigorate your teaching, and learn new teaching strategies that can be tailored to most

curricular material. Sponsored by the Champlain Valley Educator Development Center

November 12, 4-6PM: Workshop with Improvised Shakespeare—Chicago’s Improvised Shakespeare company leads a two-

hour workshop specially designed for Middle and High School teachers. This workshop is sure to be rapid-fire fun that gives

you new tools to get kids’ creative and critical thinking juices flowing! 2 credit hours

November 18, 9-3PM: Engaging Active Learners Conference—Now in its 7th year, we are proud to offer a full-day

conference on arts integration for Vermont educators! In collaboration with the Creative Schools Initiative, we’re thrilled to

welcome five of the nation’s top experts on arts integration to the Flynn to work with educators. In addition, choose from

a variety of content- and grade-specific teacher break-outs and hands-on workshops, and snag resources to take back to

your school. Come be part of the conversation and leave inspired! 6 credit hours

Register Now!

Hello from

the Flynn!