2312 Rosemarie Lane
Stockton, CA 95207
Picnic
A Summer Romance
by William Inge
A Classroom Study Guide
INSIDE…
Connections to Standards ……………………………………. 3
About the Playwright ………………………………………….. 4
Synopsis …………………………………………………………5
Cast of Characters ………….…………………………………. 6
Historical Perspective ……….………………………………… 7
Glossary ……………………….…………………………………8
Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts ….…………………9
Teacher Resources ………………………….……………..… 10
Theatre Etiquette …………………………….……………….. 11
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
OFFICEOF EDUCATION
FREDRICK A. WENTWORTH, SUPT.
Produced by Community Involvement Office
San Joaquin County Office of Education
Picnic
at
Stockton Civic Theatre
2312 Rosemarie Lane
Stockton, CA 95207
March 22 – April 15, 2006
Talk Back Nights offer a special opportunity for audience
members to ask questions of the director and actors following the
performance. In conjunction with this study guide, students will get a
deeper look at SCT’s production of Picnic.
Special student performances with Talk Back following the
show are scheduled for:
Thursday, April 6 and 13, 2006 - 7:30 pm
Special student price when group reservations made by teacher - $8.00.
($10.00 for individual students on Talk Back Nights only.)
Regular student price of $15.00 applies for all other performances.
For more information on
purchase of student group tickets,
call the SCT box office.
473-2424
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CONNECTIONS TO CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS
Suggestions for connecting materials in this guide to content standards .
English/Language Arts – Grades 9 & 10
Reading 1.0
Students apply their knowledge of word origins to determine the meaning of new
words encountered in reading materials and use those words accurately. (see enclosed
glossary)
Literary Response and Analysis 3.0
Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of
literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. They
conduct in-depth analysis of recurrent patterns and themes.
Writing 1.0
Students write coherent and focused essays that convey a well-defined
perspective and tightly reasoned argument. (See enclosed writing prompts)
Speaking Applications 2.0
2.4 Deliver oral response to literature:
(b) Support important ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to
the text or to other works. (See enclosed discussion prompts)
English/Language Arts – Grades 11 & 12
Literary Response and Analysis 3.1
Analyze characters of sub-genres that are used in poetry, prose, plays, novels,
short stories, essays and other basic genres.
Writing Applications 2.0
2.2 Write responses to literature:
a. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas in works
or passages.
b. Analyze the use of imagery, language, universal themes and unique aspects
of the text. (See enclosed writing prompts)
Performing Arts – Theatre – Grades 9 – 12
Artistic Perception 1.0
1.1 Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as acting values, style, genre, design,
and theme to describe theatrical experiences.
1.2 Document observations and perceptions of production elements,
noting mood, pacing and use of space through class discussion and
reflective writing.
Historical and Cultural Context 3.0
3.3 Identify key figures, works, and trends in world theatrical history from various
cultures and time periods.
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About the Playwright –William Inge
Born on May 3, 1913, in Independence, Kansas, William Motter Inge was the
youngest of five children. He would get his first taste of the theatre at an early age. The
local boy scout troupe, of which Inge was a member, held its weekly meetings in a Civic
Center which boasted a 2000 seat theater, and the boys were often invited to sit in the
balcony after their meetings and watch the touring shows which passed through town for
one night stands on their way from Kansas City, Missouri to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The small
town of Independence had a profound influence on the
"I've often wondered
young Inge, and he would attribute his understanding of
how people raised in
human behavior to growing up in this small town
our great cities ever
environment and using this knowledge. Most of his plays
develop any knowledge
revolve around characters who are clearly products of small
of humankind. People
towns just like Independence.
who grow up in small
towns get to know each
Inge was educated at the University of Kansas at
other so much more
Lawrence where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
closely than they do in
Degree in Speech and Drama in 1935. After graduation and
cities."
a brief attempt at post-graduate studies, he worked a
William Inge
variety of jobs including highway laborer, news announcer,
and high school teacher before returning to school and
earning a Master of Arts Degree from the George Peabody College for Teachers in
1943. Upon earning his Masters, Inge moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he landed a
job as the drama and music critic for the St. Louis Times. During the course of his duties
at the Times, Inge was fortunate enough to come into contact with Tennessee Williams
who invited the young critic to attend with him a production of The Glass Menagerie.
Inge was so inspired by Williams' play that he decided to try his hand as a playwright.
After completing his first script, Farther Off from Heaven (1947), Inge sent a copy to
Williams who recommended it for production. The play was produced by Margo Jones in
Dallas, Texas.
Inge's next literary effort, Come Back, Little Sheba (1950), earned him the title of
"most promising playwright of the 1950 Broadway season", but his career was only
beginning to gain momentum. He followed this success with Picnic (1952) which won
him a Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Critics Circle Award, the Outer Circle Award, and the
Theatre Club Award. Next came Bus Stop (1955) which he would later adapt into a
popular film starring Marilyn Monroe, and, two years later, The Dark at the Top of the
Stairs (1957), a reworking of his first play, premiered on Broadway. This somewhat
autobiographical drama would come to be considered Inge's finest play. He would later
describe it as his "first cautious attempt to look at the past, with an effort to find order
and meaning in experiences that were once too close to be seen clearly." By this time,
critics were hailing Inge as another Tennessee Williams. Unfortunately, his later works
would not fulfill that promise. The Dark at the Top of the Stairs was followed by a string
of box office failures including A Loss of Roses (1960), Natural Affection (1963), Where's
Daddy? (1966), and The Last Pad (1970). Inge's only real success during this period
was his screenplay for Splendor in the Grass (1961) for which he won an Academy
Award. Convinced that he could no longer write, the small town Inge fell into a deep
depression, and on June 10, 1973, at his home in the Hollywood Hills, William Inge took
his own life.
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What is the play about?
A student study guide created by
The waning days of summer should give way to the promise of autumn and a
fresh start, but it’s 1953 in this small Kansas town and options are few for the stunningly
beautiful Madge and her independent younger sister, Millie, who yearn for more than the
life of staid domesticity awaiting them. Then Hal, a dangerously handsome drifter, comes
along and sets the whole town a-flutter. He and Madge strike instant sparks, but can she
really reject all she’s been taught in order to follow unreliable hopes and a pounding
heart? In this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic, Inge depicts the pleasure—and the pain—of
risking everything to choose one’sr own path.
Why will this play be useful to my students?
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William Inge’s Picnic follows a classic, three-act dramatic structure,
providing a blueprint for young playwrights.
Picnic provides an historical lens to the culture, language, and social
structure of the 1950s. Inge’s writing reflects an idealized vision of
America that was common to the era, but often features characters
struggling to fit into that ideal.
Madge and Millie face many choices that will be familiar to today’s
teens—especially when deciding whether to follow their own paths or
listen to the lessons of their parents.
MADGE
I always wonder, maybe some wonderful person is getting off here, just by
accident, and he’ll come into the dime store for something and see me
behind the counter, and he’ll study me very strangely and then decide I’m
just the person they’re looking for in Washington to carry on an important
job in the Espionage Department. Or maybe he wants me for some great
medical experiment!
FLO
Those things don’t happen in dime stores.
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Cast of Characters
Mrs. Owens’ House
Mrs. Flo Owens
Mother of Madge and Millie. Single, protective of her daughters. Wants them to have better
luck in life than she had.
Madge Owens
Mrs. Owens’ oldest daughter and Millie’s sister. The Queen of Neewollah (Halloween spelled
backwards) and the prettiest girl in town. Dating college boy Alan Seymour, but enthralled with
tortured drifter Hal.
Millie Owens
Mrs. Owens’ youngest daughter and Madge’s sister. A fun-loving bookworm growing into
a spirited young woman.
Rosemary Sydney
Mrs. Owens’ self-proclaimed “old maid” boarder. An unmarried, independent schoolteacher who
enjoys spending time with her girlfriends, Christine and Irma, and casually dating Howard
Bevans.
Mrs. Potts’ House
Mrs. Helen Potts
Mrs. Owens’ next-door neighbor. Takes care of her elderly mother, who had Mrs. Potts’ marriage
annulled the day after she eloped with her young love, leaving her “Mrs. Potts” in name only.
Takes in boarders who help alleviate her loneliness; enjoys Hal’s virile company.
Mrs. Potts’ Mother
Heard only as a voice from offstage. Considered too mean to be accepted into a nursing home.
Dominates her daughter’s daily routine.
Hal Carter
A lonely, rough drifter who comes to town looking for work. A former high school and college
football star, but his personal life is not nearly so glamorous. The son of an alcoholic father who
died in jail and a mother who doesn’t want anything to do with him. Does odd jobs for Mrs. Potts
in exchange for meals.
Friends and Townspeople
Alan Seymour
A member of a rich and prestigious local family, and Madge’s boyfriend. One of Hal’s only friends
in college.
Howard Bevans
A local businessman who enjoys a drink and good company. Casually dating Rosemary.
Irma Kronkite
A local schoolteacher, friends with Rosemary.
Christine Schoenwalder
The new “feminine hygiene” teacher.
Bomber
The newspaper delivery boy. Enjoys messing with Millie and flirting with Madge.
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The United States Then and Now
Then–1950s
Now–2000s
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Unemployment rate was around 6%.
Average life expectancy was 68 years.
Average annual salary was $3,000.
Gross National Product was about $400 billion.
Population was approximately 150 million
people
Unemployment rate is around 6%.
Average life expectancy is 78 years.
Average annual salary is $35,000.
Gross National Product is about $10 trillion.
Population is approximately 300 million
people.
Teenage Pop Culture
James Dean, Rock & Roll, and Teenage Rebellion
The word teenager was incorporated into widespread usage in the 1940s to describe the
dynamic transition from puberty to adulthood. Still, as the early 1950s approached,
America’s teenagers were generally considered complacent and conservative. All that
changed when the United States experienced a rising affluence after the Second World
War. Teenagers started spending money, and American businesses eagerly responded
with products suited especially to their lifestyle. The increasing importance and
prominence of television in the American household provided a perfect venue to
advertise directly to teens.
With increased economic mobility came the power and desire to rebel. It is of little
surprise that the ultimate American act of rebellion, rock & roll, and its headlining stud,
Elvis Presley, took sudden and complete control of young people’s hearts and minds in
the mid-1950s. Rock & roll featured lyrics written directly to the concerns of teenagers
(going steady, jealousy, high school, clothing, cars, etc.) and a level of sheer noise and
emotion that was anything but conservative. Elvis and his peers brought sex, drugs, and
rock defiantly out in the open, featuring a style created by the great African American
rhythm and blues groups of the 1940s, who were largely ignored by white-owned radio
stations and record companies.
Meanwhile, at the movies, James Dean and Marlon Brando captured 1950s teens’ anger
and frustration. Dean’s performance as a hurt, misunderstood, and rebellious teenager
in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), his real life love of fast cars and motorcycles, and his
tragic death in a high-speed traffic accident just weeks before the film was released
canonized him as an icon of teen angst. His t-shirt, jeans, and leather jacket made him a
trendsetter for a group of teens known as “greasers.” James Dean was the “bad boy” of
his time. Much like Hal in Picnic, the sexual appeal of the tough, manly, and cool—but
emotionally fragile—young man drove women of all ages crazy. Inge’s play premiered to
widespread popularity and respect, in part due to his acknowledgement of female
sexuality.
Glossary
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Inventing new slang is one of the simplest and most effective ways by which young
people rebel against the generation that came before them. This secret code of
communication empowers teens and poses a threat to parents who have trouble
understanding what their children are saying. Picnic shows us that this practice is not
new. In the 1950s, teens often referred to young men as “cats.” Today, they often call
young men “dawgs.” In the 1950s, people were told to “hang loose” if they were uptight.
Today, they are told to “chill out.”
Here are a few examples of the slang used in Picnic. Are there any equivalent
expressions today?
As quick as you can say Jack Robinson
A way of expressing immediacy; something will be done right away.
Corker
Something remarkable or astounding
.
Dickens
A slang term for the devil.
Dime Store A retail store selling a wide variety of inexpensive articles for ten cents or
less. After the 1930s, slightly more expensive merchandise was added to
the stores.
I got rolled
Robbed because one was drunk, sleeping, or otherwise helpless.
On the make
Eagerly seeking a sexual partner.
Raise Ned
A less offensive way of saying “raise hell” or “raise the devil.”
Old Ned as a 19th-century euphemism for Satan.
Pauper’s Row
The area of a cemetery reserved for those too poor to afford a
proper casket or gravestone.
Snifter
A small portion of liquor.
Snowin’
Overwhelming with insincere talk, especially with flattery.
Steak fries
Outdoor get-togethers or barbecues.
The Stork Club
New York’s most famous nightspot. The club drew celebrities such
as Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn Monroe, J. Edgar Hoover, Bob Hope,
Frank Sinatra, and John F. Kennedy.
Tight
A slang term for being drunk.
Hot-rod
Any car that has been modified or rebuilt in order to improve its speed
and acceleration.
Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts
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Before Seeing the Show:
1. The play takes place in a small Kansas town in 1953. Explore this time period. Have
class members do research on the era: include “I Like Ike,” Sputnik, hula hoops, James
Dean, 3-D movies, Elvis Presley, Milton Berle, bomb shelters, McCarthyism, and the
Cold War. Explore the differences and similarities between the world of the fifties and the
world of 2006.
2. Discuss how a playwright creates the world of a play: setting, language, and
characters. How do these choices influence our emotional response to a play? What
might be difficult about setting a play in 1953 Kansas? What might be easy? How does
the playwright convince us that the world on stage is “real?”
After Seeing the Show:
1. Inge calls this play “a summer romance”. What might Inge have intended by this
description? Based on research done before seeing the show, how does the play
represent the real world of the 1950s? What elements in the play represent an idealized,
mythical America?
2. In an article about Picnic, Inge compared the play to a journey “…in which every
moment [is] as interesting as the destination.” Determine the destination of each
character in the play. Using the format of a map, plot the obstacles each must overcome
to reach their destination. Use this map to explore the social, sexual, gender, age, and
class restrictions of the fifties.
3. Which characters take risks in the course of the play and why? What is at stake for
these characters? Compare the risks that are taken by the female characters and the
male characters. What does this comparison reveal about the world of the play?
4. Compare the lives of the two generations of women in the play: Rosemary, Mrs.
Owens, and Mrs. Potts as compared to Millie and Madge. How do the choices the
Owens sisters make anticipate the feminism of the future?
5. Modern critics have found fault with this play, claiming that the characters represent a
catalog of stereotypes: the unmarried schoolteacher, the widow, the spinster, the invalid
mother, the smart tomboy, the town beauty, the outsider, and the hometown college boy.
However, Brooks Atkinson said of its premiere: “Commonplace characters are as vivid
as brilliant characters when they are portrayed with insight.” Advocate for one of these
points of view in a class discussion.
6. Re-imagine the play in an urban 2006 setting. What changes did you have to make?
What might be the modern urban equivalent of a Labor Day picnic in a small Midwestern
town? Have the stereotypes in the play been replaced with contemporary stereotypes?
What in the play remains constant and true in life today?
7. Mrs. Potts bakes a Lady Baltimore cake. Discover why this is significant. The websites
below reveal the surprising origin of this once very popular dessert. Recipes are
included, so have a “Martha” moment, make some sweet tea, and relax on the front
porch like the characters in Picnic! A student study guide created by
www.foodreference.com/html/fladybaltimorecake.html and
members.cox.net/jjschnebel/ladybalt.html
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Teacher Resources
Websites:
The William Inge Center for the Arts
http://www.ingefestival.org/aboutinge.htm
William Inge’s Picnic www.centerstage.org/upload/guide_PDF/NS_Picnic.pdf
Books & Articles:
Armato, Philip M. "The Bum as Scapegoat in William Inge's Picnic." Western American
Literature 10 (1976): 273-82.
Brustein, Robert. "The Men-Taming Women of William Inge," Harper's, 217
(November1958): 53-57.
Burgess, Charles E. "An American Experience: William Inge in St. Louis 1943-1949."
Papers on Language and Literature 12 (1976): 438-68.
Courant, Jane. "The Drama of William Inge: A Critical Reassessment." DAI 51.9 (Mar
1991): 2928A 29A DAI No.: DA9103667.
Courant, Jane. "Social and Cultural Prophecy in the Works of William Inge." Studies in
American Drama 6.2 (1991): 135-51.
Fisher, Kerk. "The Front Porch in Modern American Drama: The Promise of Mobility in
O'Neill, Williams, and Inge." DAI 51.4 (Oct 1990): 1048A.
Gould, Jean. "William Inge", in her Modern American Playwrights (New York: Dodd,
Mead, 1966), 264-272.
Helphinstine, Frances L "Landlocked and Mindblocked: The Midwestern Characters of
William Inge." DAI 39 (1978): 884A 85A.
Herron, Ima H. "Our Vanishing Towns: Modern Broadway Versions." Southwest Review
51 (1966): 209-20.
Jones, Therese A. "An Individual Peace: The Work and Life of William Inge." DAI 52.1
(Jul 1991):162A No.: DA9117053.
McClure, Arthur F. William Inge, a bibliography. NY: Garland Pub., 1982. Z8437.5 .M38
Voss, Ralph F. "The Art of William Inge." DAI 36 (1976): 6692A 93A.
Williams, Lee A. "The Middle Class Midwesterner in the Work of William Inge." DAI 40
(1979): 847A.
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General Theatre Etiquette
1. Please arrive early to allow yourselves ample time to find your seats. Be
advised that there is no late seating.
2. Remind your students that they are sharing the theatre with many theatre
patrons and their actions greatly affect the theatre experience of all.
3. Please respect the actors and other playgoers by turning off all electronic
devices, audio beepers, and cellular phones before the play begins.
4 No photography or recording is permitted in the theatre without proper
authorization.
5. Remind students to stay in their seats and keep all aisles free.
6. Please refrain from talking, chewing gum, and unwrapping candy during the
performance because it is disruptive to the cast and surrounding audience.
7. Food and beverages are not allowed in the theatre area.
8. Patrons who leave the theatre during the performance (to go to the bathroom,
make a phone call, etc.) will not be allowed to return to their seats until
intermission.
Thank You and Enjoy the Show!
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