HANDOUT: ORGANIZING YOUR INFORMATION: PERFORMANCES

Transcription

1 HANDOUT: ORGANIZING YOUR INFORMATION: PERFORMANCES Writing a script is the essential first step in creating a perfrmance. It will guide hw yu structure yur acting, prps, and cstumes. Belw are sme tips fr beginning t write yur script. Quick Tips fr Writing Scripts: Identify the key infrmatin first. Find the qutes, speeches, characters etc. that yu knw yu must include and wrk the perfrmance arund these. Balance drama with histrical evidence. Using qutes, speeches, r excerpts frm surces like newspapers can be an excellent way t incrprate evidence and detail that a great perfrmance requires. Prepare a perfrmance. Dn t prepare an ral reprt that simply states facts. Yu need characters t cme alive and interact with each ther and the audience. Try t engage the audience by asking questins r creating dramatic scenes. Chse the type f vice yu want t use. Yu can use first persn and third persn perspectives t tell yur stry. In sme cases yu may want t use bth t cnvey yur pints. Chsing characters. Select characters that can tell the mst in yur stry. Dn t vercmplicate the stryline with t many. Blck. As yu write yur script, include the actins and placement f yur characters. Avid clutter. T many prps, cstumes, r characters will verwhelm yur perfrmance. Length. Scripts are usually 4-5 pages. Yur research is still central. Yu want each piece t tie back t yur main argument and thesis. Practice, practice, practice. Yu wn t use yur scripts n stage, s make sure t practice yur perfrmance. Natinal Histry Day in Minnesta 89

2 Name: WORKSHEET: PLANNING YOUR PERFORMANCE By their very nature, perfrmances are the mst creative Histry Day categry. It s impssible t give yu a frmula fr a successful perfrmance. They can take many different frmats and will vary based n the number f peple, characters, scenaris, and tpic. Belw are tw tls t help yu begin brainstrming yur perfrmance. Keep in mind that these are nt the nly successful appraches t the perfrmance categry just a place t get started. Be creative! DRAFTING YOUR SCRIPT What Key Questins and Elements Intr Set the scene. (1 minute) Wh are yu? When is this taking place? Where are yu? Intrduce yur thesis. Histrical Cntext/ Backgrund What happened befre yur tpic t influence it? (2 minutes) Were there ther mvements, peple, r ideas that influenced it? What events led up Heart f Stry (3 minutes) Shrt and Lng-term Impacts (3 minutes) Cnclusin/ Wrap-up (1 minute) t the tpic? Key events and issues related t yur tpic. What ere the immediate utcmes f yur tpic? What has been the lng-term significance f yur tpic in histry? Reinfrce yur thesis. Cnclude yur characters actins. SCENARIO BRAINSTORM Brainstrm at least tw different scenaris using different characters in each. Which ne is the best apprach fr presenting yur ideas? Scenari 1 Character(s) (histrical figures, cmpsite characters, narratrs): Setting: Timeframe: Describe Scenari: Scenari 2 Character(s) (histrical figures, cmpsite characters, narratrs): Setting: Timeframe: Describe Scenari: What Wuld Yur Character Knw? When selecting characters fr yur perfrmance, think abut what they wuld r wuldn t knw. If yur character is Abraham Lincln, it s impssible fr him t knw what happened in 1870 because he was assassinated in Smetimes selecting a different character maybe smene wh wasn t a majr player gives yu the chance t take a step back and discuss yur tpic s significance in histry in a different way. Instead f Abraham Lincln, ne f his advisrs r aides wh lived after his death wuld give yu a mre lng-term perspective n Lincln s presidency. Natinal Histry Day in Minnesta 90

3 SAMPLE: QUEEN OF THE REDS: THE REBELLION OF EMMA GOLDMAN SCRIPT OUTLINE i. Intrductin (time and situatin) 1. Overview f anarchy, life as anarchist 2. Brief anarchist beliefs, backgrund in Russia ii. Becming a famus anarchist 1. Black Friday a. Details f event b. Leading t Gldman s anarchy 2. Deprtatin a. Frm United States i. Newspaper articles ii. Speech frm 1919 iii. Anarchist influences 1. Jhann Mst a. Intrductin b. Challenging Mst s beliefs i. Attacking with hrsewhip 2. Alexander Berkman a. Intrductin b. Assassinatin attempt n Frick iv. Anarchist Independence 1. Assassinatin f President McKinley a. N supprt frm Berkman, thers b. Stand up fr persnal beliefs v. Cnclusin 1. Influence f anarchist men 2. Visin fr an anarchist future Natinal Histry Day in Minnesta 91

4 SAMPLE: QUEEN OF THE REDS: THE REBELLION OF EMMA GOLDMAN HISTORY DAY, TAKING A STAND IN HISTORY Bld: Primary surce qutes [Wrds in brackets]: Blcking n stage Line between paragraphs: Dentes new sectin (Setting: Barcelna htel rm, 1939) N, n Mr. Newspaperman! I d nt have time fr yu nw. My train leaves Barcelna in [lk at watch] well, I suppse I have a few mments. D yu mind if I pack while I talk? All right then. [Start unpacking drawers] S, yu want t speak t the infamus Red Emma Gldman, d yu? There is a lt fr me t tell. I am a radical, and an anarchist a persn wh believes in the absence f laws in sciety, in case yu were nt certain. And I am nt ashamed f it! Everything I have ever dne has been against gvernment and fr anarchy. I reasn, why shuld I, r anyne else, be frced t kneel befre laws, when I culd be free t lve, t be creative, t be independent, if gverned by my wn self. It was by that that I lived and spke, frm the mment I escaped the dictatrship f my unlving parents in Russia, t the mment I am nw speaking t yu. [Find handkerchief while unpacking] If yu want a scrap f histry frm my life, this is ne f the mst imprtant reminders. The tears I shed n Black Friday, Nvember 11, 1887, still stain this handkerchief. I have left them there these 52 years t remind myself and thers f the bravery f the men butchered that day, and f the legacy they left behind fr me t carry ut. [Sit dwn] There were eight f them, anarchists all, wh were speaking peacefully in Haymarket Square when a bmb was thrwn, and f curse the first peple the gvernment blamed were the anarchists. All they were trying t d was speak! Their cnstitutinal right, r s it was suppsed t be. But the gvernment did nt listen, and eventually fur f them were hung n Black Friday. I cannt understand hw the gvernment can deny them this right they claim t grant t every American citizen, except fr peaceful anarchists, I suppse. [Stand up, pack handkerchief] S, an anarchist I became, devted t eliminating the silencing laws. And I am still fighting. It is fr anarchy that tday I am ging t Canada. I am ging t raise mney fr sme Italian anarchists. I cannt g t Italy because I was banned frm there, just as I was nce banished and deprted frm the United States. They were always lking fr a way t get me ut f the cunty, s n December 22, 1919, they sent me and 248 ther anarchists t Russia, t be rid f the nly peple wh truly understd the atrcities f the gvernment. [Find articles in drawers, put n glasses] These are sme articles that I saved that went ut f their way t slay us; perhaps ne f them is frm yur newspaper. The Cleveland Plain Dealer: It is hped, and expected, that many mre vessels, larger, mre cmmdius, carrying similar carg, will fllw in her wake. The St. Paul Pineer Press: Banished Reds Curse America. I did nt curse America. In fact, I warned them f the inevitable turning f events. [Put dwn cane, straighten up, take tw steps frward, as if ging back in time t a yunger Emma] This gvernment has signed its death warrant with these deprtatins. This is the beginning f the end f the United States gvernment, but I will nt stp my wrk as lng as life rests with me. [Sluch, step back, pick up cane, g back t lder Emma] That was a lng time ag; twenty years nly, but it seems mre like a century. But I am ff the subject and we have s little time. Nw, everyne knws that the gvernment is run by men, and y, if I have nt had prblems with them bth. [Find picture f Jhann Mst] This is ne f the mst imprtant men in my new life in America, Jhann Mst. Aye, he was a hmely man, but a brilliant speaker wh taught me t speak just like him t the very suls f my cmrades. [Pack picture f Jhann] But ne night, as I was giving a speech fr Jhann in Cleveland, urging the futility f the struggle fr the eight-hur wrk day, an elderly man brught t my attentin hw useless my argument was. And I realized that I was nthing but a creatin f Jhann s, speaking nly what he tld me t speak. I knew that if I were t be a true anarchist, I must speak with what came frm my wn heart. When I apprached Jhann abut this, he flew int a rage and shuted at me, Whever is nt with me is against me I will nt have it therwise! Nw yu wuld expect a tiny, 21-yearld girl t shrink back in fear and bedience. But yu are speaking t Emma Gldman! And I tld him I wuld nt repeat his beliefs, I wuld nt fall int the slavery f marriage, and I wuld nt advcate vilence as a Natinal Histry Day in Minnesta 92

5 methd fr reinfrcing my beliefs. Irnically, the ne time I was frced t use vilence t reinfrce my beliefs was against Jhann. In frnt f a crwd Jhann verbally attacked my dear friend Alexander Berkman, my wn dear Sasha, fr a crime that Sasha had cmmitted in the name f anarchy. And I, enraged that anyne shuld dare t slay Alexander s name, leapt nt that stage and attacked Jhann with a hrsewhip, and cracked it ver my knee. [Pretend t crack cane ver knee] I will nt allw anyne t slay me r my partner, whether it is the gvernment r the man wh gave me my start. Then there is my Sasha, my anarchist partner until his death three years ag. [Find Sasha s picture] Tgether we fught the evils f law and brught many new lst suls t the beauty f anarchy. Our greatest stand against authritative unfairness was when he sught t murder the industrialist Henry Clay Frick, wh in cllabratin with Andrew Carnegie sught t initiate and 18 percent wage cut 18 percent! t the wrkers f the Carnegie Steel Cmpany. The Hmestead Strike incited frm this, and the unin was destryed. [Pack picture f Sasha] We felt it was ur duty t these peple t d away with Frick. Sasha sht him twice but Frick did nt die, and Sasha was sentenced t prisn fr his pains, 21 years. [Find letters in drawer] These letters are a painful reminder f the nine years he spent in prisn, and a painful jurnal f the ne time I was frced t turn my back n my partner fr smething I believed in. [Sit dwn with letters] Yu are prbably t yung t remember the assassinatin f President William McKinley in 1901, but it is fresh in my mind, as is the sad face f his assassin, a yung Plish man named Len Czlgsz. Len was an aspiring anarchist, listened t my speeches religiusly, ccasinally ffering his wn interpretatin. He did what he thught he had t d fr the gd f the peple, and hw was I t turn my back n him when my wn Sasha had cmmitted the same srt f vilence. [Stand up, pack letters] Sasha, frm where he waited in prisn, wrte that he felt it nt t be a prper stand against the gvernment; he and my fellw anarchists felt that the assassinatin had dne the mvement mre harm than gd. S there I was, caught between my partner and fellw anarchists, and my true pinins and beliefs, frustrated, cnfused as t where I shuld g. But my dedicatin t my cause verrides everyne and everything, and I chse t stand by him and ffer him the supprt f a wman wh understands the need t d what ne thinks is right. But nw they are all gne, and I am alne. D yu see what the men in my life have dne t me? They have angered me, inspired me, challenged me, int living and breathing my cause s that it will never leave me, even when sciety says that a seven-decade ld wman shuld be planting flwers and ding crss-stitch. Never will yu find Emma Gldman in idle retirement. My bdy is ld, but my heart is still yung with the hpe fr a peaceful sciety. Nw I am all dne and yu must g. I have many mre stries t tell yu, but yu culd nt fill yur whle newspaper with all f my prtests and rits. But just remember this ne day the Queen f the Reds will be victrius in banishing gvernment and establishing a sciety withut laws, withut war, and at peace. Natinal Histry Day in Minnesta 93

6 HISTORY DAY PERFORMANCE IDEA MAP Backgrund Buildup Thesis Shrt-Term Impacts Lng-Term Impacts/Legacy Main Event

7 PERFORMANCE SCENE SELECTION Using yur thesis and yur Perfrmance Idea Map, think abut the scenes that yu might include in yur perfrmance. Yu can have additinal scenes r fewer scenes depending n yur tpic there s n magical number f scenes. Remember: each scene change shuld have a purpse, such as when yu change characters, time perids, r pint f view. T many scene changes takes up a lt f time and can cnfuse the audience. Fewer scenes is ften better! T pick the scenes fr yur perfrmance, lk fr: Mments f cnflict r high emtin that are exciting fr the audience. Times when yu can explain different pints f view. An pprtunity t take a step back and lk at the tpic frm a bigger perspective. Often this will be yur pprtunity t talk abut the lng-term impact f yur tpic in histry and the legacy it has left. Smetimes a narratr wrks fr this purpse, but is there an interesting scene r hk yu culd use instead? Scene 1 Where? When? What s ging n? What parts f yur idea map can the character(s) discuss in this scene? Scene 2 Where? When? What s ging n? What parts f yur idea map can the character(s) discuss in this scene? Scene 3 Where? When? What s ging n? What parts f yur idea map can the character(s) discuss in this scene?