Solar Stage Children’s TheatreTEACHER GUIDE

BY: Kristoffer Pedlar and Michelle GramTable of Contents

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Synopsis pg. 3-4

Drama and Music Activities pg. 5-9

Art Activities pg. 10-11

Language Activities pg. 12-15

Puzzles and Games Activities pg. 16-23

Krampus the Christmas CurmudgeonSynopsis:

It’s 2 weeks to Christmas, and while her parents are asleep, a young girl named Jill is busily decorating her tree so it will be the best it can be for Christmas Eve. While she’s working she hears sounds from the roof of her house. She

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assumes Santa has come early and quickly leaves out snacks. Much to Jill’s surprise, it isn’t Santa coming down the chimney, it’s a strange beastly creature, named Krampus. He eats Santa’s snacks and when Jill calls him on it, he proceeds to present her with a letter saying that this year, Jill is on the NAUGHTY LIST! Jill is horrified to find out this news, thinking she’s never done anything wrong, and that she has only 2 weeks to improve or she won’t get any presents from Santa Claus! When Jill looks through the actual Naughty List, she realizes that Santa Claus himself is on the list! Now THAT really doesn’t make sense!

Next, Santa Claus himself comes down the chimney! Jill is giddy with joy! But then quickly informs Santa that, like her, he is on the naughty list. This doesn’t surprise him though. Apparently, after Krampus leaves naughty-list-informing letters and coal for all the naughty children, Santa comes in after and secretly removes them and still brings gifts to the naughty kids! Despite learning this, Jill is furious when she learns that Santa has betrayed her and put her on his not-nice list.

Suddenly, the three hear Jill’s mother waking up. Jill and Krampus hide Santa in the closet and the two head to the North Pole to clear Jill’s name. The two hop on Krampus’ sleigh and fly off into the night.

At the North Pole, Krampus and Jill visit Santa’s House where they stumble on Remy, Santa’s sleepy and very full-from-dinner right-hand reindeer who pursues the two after they steal Santa’s sack of presents. Remy chases them through Santa’s Village filled with snoring elves, a field of sleeping reindeer, into a snow cave with a very wide-awake snow monster, and into Krampus’ house. It’s here that Krampus finally divulges the history between him and Santa. The two used to be best friends. He tells the story of the first official Christmas, where Santa and Krampus decided that their really nice friends deserved presents, while their not-nice friends perhaps deserved a letter instead informing them that they need to behave better to earn gifts, and then get a lump of coal instead. Santa believed instead of just giving to their friends, these rules should apply to all boys and girls all over the world. It was decided that the job was too big for one of them, after flipping a coin, Santa got to deliver the presents to the nice kids, and Krampus became the manager of the Naughty List. Jill notes that Krampus was a coin toss away

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from being Santa Claus. The two decide to try and help Krampus become the new Santa Claus by delivering the presents from the sack. Unfortunately every time they take one out, it’s something….less desirable, like socks or dental floss.

Meanwhile, Remy decides to give up his chase of Jill and Krampus and use his GPS from Santa’s sleigh to rescue the big man in red. Santa’s sleigh was broken by Krampus, so Remy himself flies Santa back to the North Pole. Luckily, they arrive just in time to rescue Jill and Krampus from a dangerous situation, sliding down a hill with the sack of presents. Jill and Krampus are grateful, Remy is praised for being so brave, rescuing Santa and Christmas itself, and Santa finally acknowledges that his view of Christmas changed over the years, and became very flashy and commercial, which was not what he and his old friend Krampus had intended the holiday be about in the first place. The four new friends make amends, and realize Krampus too needs a bigger, better role in the holiday.

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Drama and Music Activities

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Santa Cardiovascular warmup

As a class make a list of 10 actions Santa would have to perform on Christmas Eve (ex. Load the sleigh with toys, link down the chimney, carry a large bag of toys around, hop from house to house)

As a class mime these actions for a count 8 for each action. Increase the speed of the actions each time you go through them until the class does the list of Santa’s action super fast.

Sculpting a Krampus

In pairs practice the technique of sculpting. One student is the sculptor and the other is the clay. The sculptor uses visual cues to make the clay move into place. When finished have all sculptors in the class do a gallery walk through to view the sculptures of the Krampus. When completed the sculptor and the clay should switch places and repeat this activity.

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Alternate: Students sculpt Santa Clauses and Krampuses and compare the 2 images. How do they differ in their facial expressions, stances, general carrying of themselves?

Tableau Retell

Tableau – A series of frozen figures that represent a scene from a story or history.

As a class or in small groups make a list of the important plot points from Krampus the Christmas Curmudgeon on chart paper. Students then create a frozen image of each plot point.

Students use the elements of drama (B.E.S.T. – Body, Energy, Space, Time) to create their images and should find a way to transition from one image to the next.

Student tableaus should have frozen action, facial expressions, interesting body shapes and an interesting use of space and levels.

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The 12 days of Krampus

At the end of the story ,”The 12 days of Krampus” is sung by the entire cast. In groups of four create actions to go with the song. Make sure your actions use the elements of Drama.

Alternate: Create your OWN verses of “The 12 Days of Krampus.”Perform the song with your actions to the class.

Flashback

In Krampus the Christmas Curmudgeon, the technique of Flashback is used. A flashback is when the action tells the story of something that happened earlier in a characters’ life. The story uses this technique quite well to explain the actions of Santa and Krampus.

In pairs create a short flashback scene that tells the story of Remy the Reindeer. What

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makes him tick? Why does he behave the way he does? What is his motivation? Be sure to explain your choices. And be ready to perform your scene

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Art Activities

Design the best sleigh

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In Krampus the Christmas Curmudgeon Krampus’ sleigh is a beat up old sleigh and Santa’s is a newer and faster one. Design your own sleigh in the space provided and explain what makes your sleigh so special.

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Language Activities

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List making Krampus the Christmas Curmudgeon, Krampus has the job of giving gifts to people on the naughty list. Below make a list of items that you think would make good presents for people on the naughty list. Be sure to explain each choice.

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Paragraph Writing

Krampus the Christmas Curmudgeon is a play with a lesson at the end of it. Explain what you feel the most important lesson of the play is and why you think it is an important one to learn. Be sure to use evidence from the text to support your ideas.

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Day in the life

Krampus the Christmas Curmudgeon is a story that introduces us to Krampus a character whose life has been dedicated to something he doesn’t truly believe in. How does Krampus spend his days? How does he feel about Santa’s fame and the fact his work is constantly undone?

Write a journal, in the first person, from the perspective of Krampus

Be sure to include his daily activities and his feelings toward the world.

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Puzzles and Games

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Christmas Maze!

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Krampus and Santa Colouring Page

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Art by: Helen Androlia Reindeer Dot-to-Dot

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Christmas Dot-to-Dot

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Krampus Word Search

T  A  L  S  Q  M  L  L  G  K  U  CJ  M  U  Y  M  E  R  X  L  I  S  T

Z  D  A  P  X  N  A  U  G  H  T  YP  D  W  O  N  S  L  V  X  V  S SK  Q  O  S  H  Z  U  B  H  K  M GG  Z  N  E  F  R  I  E  N  D  K  NC  H  R  I  S  T  M  A  S  K  P  NX  C  O  O  J  K  R  A  M  P  U SU  R  N  I  S  A  N  T  A  O  T  KN  O  L  I  K  G  E  E  X  B  U  YQ  L  F  L  E  P  N  I  C  E  D  KU  F  X  S  L  E  I  G  H  C  S  HCHRISTMAS NAUGHTY

ELF NICEFRIEND REMY

JILL SANTAKRAMPUS SLEIGH

LIST SNOW

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