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Inter*Act Performances with Jan Turnquist
Phebe Emerson: Eyewitness to a Revolution
Join Phebe Emerson on April 19, 1775 - the fateful day when the
Redcoats marched into Concord from Lexington. Mrs. Emerson, the
wife of Concord’s minister in 1775, witnessed the famous battle
that took place on that day. Phebe brings a fresh perspective to
this historical event, discusses how the townspeople felt about
the American Revolution, and reviews the events leading up to it.
The grandmother of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Phebe gives students a sense
of daily life in Colonial America, and provides an informational
foundation for understanding the "flowering of New England"
during the 19th century. Programs are tailored to the age group
and may be adjusted to meet your needs.
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Catalyst for Civil War
Travel back in time with Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), whom
Abraham Lincoln called "the little lady who made this Great
War." This famous abolitionist and author speaks about her
life, her dedication to ending slavery, and the publication of her
best-selling novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Students join this prolific
writer and public figure for important lessons in American history
that can focus on a variety of historical topics and figures, including
pre-Civil War America, the Civil War, the Underground Railroad,
abolitionist activities, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner
Truth, 19th century travel, and life in New England and Europe.
Programs are tailored to the age group and may be adjusted to meet
your needs.
Louisa May Alcott: Dynamic Author
Meet Louisa May Alcott, author of the much-loved autobiography,
Little Women. Louisa introduces students to important 19th century
issues, including suffrage, abolition, equal education and the Underground
Railroad. Students also learn about the many famous friends of the
Alcotts, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau and
come to appreciate the courage and determination of a fiercely independent
woman and her unusual Victorian family. Programs are tailored to
the age group and may be adjusted to focus on a variety of topics,
including the "literary flowering" of New England, the
Underground Railroad, the Union Hospital, the Civil War, 19th century
women’s rights and social reforms, and Louisa’s "thriller
tales." Programs are tailored to the age group and may be adjusted to meet your needs.
For Phebe Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Louisa May Alcott
programs:
Grade Levels: 3-12
Performance Time: 1 hour unless requested for 45 minutes.
Audience: up to 80: Single: $390 Double: $625 Triple: $825 Quad: $980
Audience of 81-160: Single: $625 Double: $995 Triple: $1,312 Quad: $1,562
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Games, Pranks and Stories from the Childhood of Louisa May Alcott
While learning about life a hundred years ago, children can step
into the Victorian childhood of Louisa May Alcott and identify with
a naughty little child who tried to be good.
Performance Time: 45 minutes
Grade Levels: K-2
Audience Limit: 80
Single: $240 Double: $384 Triple: $504 Quad: $600
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Massachusetts Curriculum Links
African-American Studies
English Language Arts
History and Social Science
Theater
You can add to your visit with Louisa May Alcott with a field
trip to her Concord home, Orchard House. Ask for the tour discount
(must be at least ten per group). Please call (978) 369-4118 for
details, or check the Web site: wwwlouisamayalcott.org
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David Zucker
Winner of the National Young Audiences Artist of the Year Award
for 1996.
Poetry in Motion
In "Poetry in Motion," now in its 18th year with Young Audiences, David Zucker vividly brings to life
the best of English language poetic literature. This participatory
program recreates the fine tradition of spoken verse with the poems
of such authors as A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, Langston Hughes, James
Whitcomb Riley, and many more. David’s rare talent as a mime
and his masterful acting are aided by various props, costume pieces,
masks and puppets; resulting in one of the most popular programs across the national YA network.
Grade Levels: K-12
Performance Time: 45 minutes
Audience Limit: 200 (Grades K-2), 250 (Grades 1-2),
300 (Grades
3-5, 6-8, 9-12)
Single: $1,000 Double: $1,600*
Travel Fee: based on mileage
*Add $50 for 2 locations
Kindergarten Only!
Bring David Zucker into your classroom in a Poetry in Motion
program customized for your youngest students. For this 30-min show
David suggests a smaller, more intimate performance space like a
classroom or a library, though an auditorium also works. The Kindergarten
Only show can be ADDED to any Poetry in Motion or Poems that Go
Bump performance.
Grade Levels: K only
Performance Time: 30 minutes
Audience Limit: 80
Price: $200 each*
*Must be scheduled in conjunction with a Poetry in Motion performance.
Odyssey of the Mime
For over 30 years, David has been delighting audiences with Odyssey
of the Mime. He has performed across the United States, in England
and in Greece. Mime knows no barriers of language or culture. David
performs in traditional whiteface and combines improvisation with
audience participation to capture the hearts and minds of audiences
of all ages. Each performance is different because each audience
determines, by their actions and reactions, the direction the program
takes. A cornucopia of imaginary props flow from the bottom of David's pockets, walls arise from nowhere,
ladders leap to impossible heights, fish can fly, birds can swim,
and anything is likely to happen. David is the embodiment of this
classical art and he uses gestures, facial expressions, body language,
and classical mime illusion technique to draw audiences into his
world where they become eager participants rather than mere observers.
Grade Levels: K-12
Performance Time: 45 minutes
Audience Limit: 250 (Grades K-2), 300 (Grades 3-12)
Single: $1,000 Double: $1,600*
Travel Fee: based on mileage
*Add $50 for 2 locations
Massachusetts Curriculum Links
English Language Arts
Theater
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"Characters"
Educational Theater
Invite an extraordinary woman from the past into your classroom
to talk with your students, answer questions, and be a living example
of a particular period in history. All roles are portrayed by Marcia
Estabrook who, in assuming the personalities of her characters,
educates and entertains through dynamic, and spontaneous interaction
with her audience.
Please note: If more than one character is presented in one day,
"single" pricing applies.
Mother Goose
Young students get to meet Mother Goose, the beloved author of nursery
rhymes. Children join Mother Goose as she recites nursery rhymes,
sings songs, plays a circle game, and tells a story.
Performance time: 45 minutes
Grade Levels: age 4 - Grade 1
Audience Limit: 25
Single: $270 Double: $430 Triple: $565 Quad: $670
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Beatrix Potter: Exploring Fact and Fiction in Literature
Mrs. Heelis (Beatrix Potter's married name) sits among your students
to have a cozy chat. During the course of her visit, the following
topics are brought forth:
- Contrasting fact and fiction in her books about Peter Rabbit,
Jemima Puddleduck, etc.
- How she became an author
- The roles of author, illustrator and publisher
- Her Victorian childhood in London (compared with that of modern
day children).
The visit concludes with a reading from one of her books and a live
drawing of one of her characters for the class to keep.
Performance time: 55 minutes
Grade Levels: grade 2 only
Audience Limit: 35
Single: $270 Double: $430 Triple: $565 Quad: $670
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Caroline Ingalls: Tenderness
and Tenacity
Many children have grown up reading the "Little House"
books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This program gives students a chance
to meet her mother, Caroline, and to learn more about pioneer life.
Caroline will reminisce about various topics of the 1860’s
and ‘70’s, such as school days in her one room school,
family and community customs, American Indian lands, children’s manners,
primitive living conditions, and even personal encounters with wild
animals. The program concludes as Caroline tells her version of
one of Laura's (now famous) stories.
Performance Time: 1 hour
Grade Levels: 3-12
Audience Limit: 40 (grades 3-6), 80 (grades 7-12)
Single: $390 Double: $630 Triple: $819 Quad: $975
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Molly Pitcher: Woman of the War
Mary Hayes was but one of many "Molly Pitchers" who followed
their husbands to war during the American Revolution. These women
were not allowed to fight (though Mary claims she did), but they
forfeited comforts and risked their lives daily to ease suffering
and aid the patriot cause. As Mary discourses on the fierce winter
at Valley Forge and the Battle of Monmouth the following June she
laces her talk with astonishing facts and outrageous 18th century
opinions on everything from health care to manners.
Performance Time: 1 hour
Grade Levels: 5-12
Audience Limit: 40 (grades 5 & 6), 80 (grades 7-12)
Single: $390 Double: $630 Triple: $819 Quad: $975
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Madame Curie: Discovery!
Madame Curie’s discoveries of radium and polonium had a tremendous
impact in the scientific world. She is best known for receiving
two Nobel prizes in her lifetime, but in this program students will
learn about the lasting significance of her discoveries. During
a slide presentation, Madame Curie talks to the audience about her
girlhood in occupied Poland and her years of work and scientific
discovery with her husband, Pierre, in their laboratory.
Grade Levels: 6-12
Performance Time: 45 minutes
Audience Limit: 40 (grade 6), 80 (grades 7-12)
Single: $390 Double: $630 Triple: $819 Quad: $975
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Ellen Craft: Running 1,000 Miles to Freedom
In 1848, Ellen Craft and her husband William made a most remarkable
escape from slavery in Georgia to freedom in the North. Rather than
travel via the Underground Railway, they took the "above-ground"
railroad. Often mistaken as a Caucasian woman due to her light complexion,
Ellen disguised herself as a white man, while her husband posed
as her slave. Mrs. Craft tells the true story of their escape from slavery,
their year in Boston, their subsequent escape to England, and their
eventual return to Georgia, where they started the Woodville Cooperative
Farm School several years after the Civil War had ended.
Performance Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Grade Levels: 7-12
Audience up to 80: Single: $390 Double: $630 Triple: $819 Quad: $975
Audience of 81-200: Single: $475 Double: $760 Triple: $998 Quad: $1,188
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Three Mill Girls: We are not Machines
Meet three mill workers who have different perspectives on their work
in the mills. Mary Paul is "pro-mill," Sarah Bagley instigates turn outs and strikes, and Mary Harvey, an Irish immigrant worker,
displays a complex range of attitudes from gratitude to outrage.
The program explores various topics, including immigration, industrialization,
labor history, prejudice, Victorian morals and women’s
history.
Performance Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.
Grade Levels: 7-12
Audience Limit: 80
Single: $475 Double: $760
Travel Fee: based on mileage
Massachusetts Curriculum Links
African-American Studies
English Language Arts
History and Social Sciences
Theater
Science and Technology
Health
Multicultural Studies
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Sojourner Truth: A Woman
Ain’t I
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883) was born into slavery in Hurley, New
York as Isabella Baumfree. During her 29 years as a slave, she developed
a close relationship with God, walked away from slavery, and then
renamed herself Sojourner Truth. Joining other notable Abolitionists
such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, Sojourner took to
the road to free her people, and continued to be an activist for
the post-Civil War Rights of the freed slaves and women suffragists.
Veteran actor, singer, and teacher Kathryn Woods uses Sojourner’s
own words and spiritual music to recreate this inspiring woman,
recalling her years as a slave, celebrating her relationship with
God, and sharing poignant stories of her days walking through this
land.(This program does not advocate any particular religion.)
Performance Time: 1 hour
Grade Levels: 3-12
Audience up to 200: Single: $395 Double: $630 Triple: $830 Quad: $988
Audience of 201 to 400: Single: $545 Double: $872 Triple: $1,145 Quad: $1,362
Special travel arrangements required, please ask when scheduling.
Add a Student Workshop
In this workshop, students discuss the concept of heroism and share
stories about heroes in their community. Students will work in pairs
to create skits about one of their heroes/heroines, and present
them to the rest of the class.
Grade Levels: 3-12
Participants: 30 students
Price: $125 per workshop
Residency: Local Heroes
In this residency, Kathy Woods works with students to create a theater
piece about a local hero. After seeing Kathy’s performance
of Sojourner Truth, students discuss the concept of heroism and
choose a hero from their community to highlight. Kathy teaches students
how to create a theater piece, and inspires them to find the heroes
in themselves.
Grade Levels: 3-12
Contact office for pricing information
Massachusetts Curriculum Links
African-American Studies
English Language Arts
History and Social Science
Multicultural Studies
Music
Theater
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MythMasters
Anthony Cascio and Lindsay Flathers, the Mythmasters, blow the
dust off centuries of stories from ancient Greece, bringing the
power, majesty, and magic of Mount Olympus to life. Mythmasters
is shaped to enlighten your teachers' units on Greek Mythology.
Myths explored include Phaeton and Helios, Orpheus and Eurydice,
and Echo and Narcissus. Through a skillful blend of theatrical techniques
(mime, comedy, drama, puppets, masks, costumes, music, reverence,
irreverence, and lots of audience participation), the gods and goddesses,
heroes and villains, monsters and maidens of Greek mythology come
alive on-stage to walk the earth once more.
Created by David Zucker and Richard McElvain
Grade Levels: K-8
Performance Time: 45 minutes
Audience Limit: 300
Single: $622 Double: $995*
Travel Fee: based on mileage
*Add $50 for 2 locations.
Do a Mixed Pair of Mythmasters and Shakespeare Guyz with Richard and David for $1,995!
Massachusetts Curriculum Links
English Language Arts
Theater
History and Social Science
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The Shakespeare Guyz:
Avon Calling!
This program, featuring Richard McElvain and David Zucker, the duo
renowned for Mythmasters, is designed to awaken a hunger for the Bard
in the classroom. This is very user friendly Shakespeare built to
make Shakespeare accessible to even your most skeptical students.
Audiences play games expanding their vocabulary and connecting to
the passions of Shakespeare's characters. The Shakespeare Guyz challenge
audiences to make personal connections with Shakespeare's themes
and appreciate a good Shakespearean insult. The performance involves
sword fights, costumes, props, puppets, and lots of audience participation.
Scenes are performed from Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar,
King Lear, Henry IV, as well as a complete over-the-top version
of Pyramus and Thisbee. Bring the Bard to your school with The Shakespeare
Guyz!
Grade Levels: 5-12
Performance Time: 45 minutes
Audience Limit: 300
Single: $1,200 Double: $1,800*
Travel Fee: based on mileage
*Add $50 for 2 locations.
Do a Mixed Pair of Mythmasters and Shakespeare Guyz with Richard and David for $1,995!
Massachusetts Curriculum Links
English Language Arts
History and Social Science
Theater
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Behind the Mask Theatre
Cat Mountain
Adapted from a book by Francoise Richard and inspired by a Japanese folk tale, this is the story of Sho, a servant girl who journeys to a strange and far-off mountain where she hopes to find her freedom and her lost cat. But to her dismay, the people she meets on the way all tell her that no one has ever returned from Cat Mountain! Performed solo, the little girl’s special visitor, in the form of a sacred ancestor, tells the tale with an assortment of masks, original music, traditional Japanese songs and theatre-styles.
Performance Time: 45 minutes
Grade Levels: 1-12
Audience Limit: 200
Single: $415 Double: $660* Triple: $870* Quad: $1,040*
Travel Fee: based on mileage
*Add $35 for 2 locations.
The Woman Who Outshone The Sun
The Woman Who Outshone The Sun is a story about a beautiful and mysterious woman with magical powers who is exiled from her mountain village. The river, the village's only source of water, also leaves as this is a magic river in love with the heroine of this tale. Through their suffering over what they have lost, the villagers learn important lessons of tolerance, forgiveness, and the frailty of the ecosystem. Performed as a bilingual play (Spanish and English), and adapted from book by Rosalma Zubizarreta, based on a poem by Alejandro Cruz Martinez, which is inspired by a Zapotec folktale.
Performance Time: 45minutes
Grade Levels: 1-12
Audience Limit: 200
Single: $830 Double: $1,320* Triple: $1,740*
Travel Fee: based on mileage
*Add $35 for 2 locations.
Add a Student Workshop
Two Behind the Mask Theatre artists lead students in design and construction of shadow puppets of their favorite characters in the plays, The Woman Who Outshone the Sun or Cat Mountain.
Grade Levels: 1-12
Participant Limit: 25 students
Price: $170 per workshop (for two artists)
Massachusetts Curriculum Links
Asian-Pacific Studies
English Language Arts
Foreign Languages
History and Social Science
Multicultural Studies
Theater
Visual Arts
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Inter*Act Performances
"Characters" Educational Theater
Sojourner Truth
