Study Guide
Arts in Education Touring Production
2015-2016
Performance Order of Scenes
THE PETRIFIED MAN
By Eudora Welty
Leota—Bri Thomas
Mrs. Fletcher—Allison Heinz
SHILOH
By Shelby Foote
Luther Dade—Matt Denton
THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED
By Tennessee Williams
Tom—Matt Denton
Willie—Allison Heinz
ELEGY FOR THE NATIVE GUARD
By Natasha Tretheway
Narrator—Chris Ambrose
THE REIVERS
by William Faulkner
Lucius - Allison Heinz
Ned - Chris Ambrose
Boon - Matt Denton
Mule Man - Bri Thomas
THE LONG DREAM
By Richard Wright
Fish—Chris Ambrose
Gladys—Bri Thomas
Buck—Allison Heinz
Fats—Matt Denton
CRIMES OF THE HEART
by Beth Henley
Barnette - Matt Denton
Babe - Allison Heinz
FOR MY PEOPLE
by Margaret Walker Alexander
Margaret—Bri Thomas
A TIME TO KILL
By John Grisham
Carl Lee—Chris Ambrose
Jake Brigance—Matt Denton
GOOD OLD BOY
by Willie Morris
Willie - Matt Denton
Miss Abbott - Allison Heinz
Kay King - Bri Thomas
Spit - Chris Ambrose
SYNOPSIS OF SCENES AND CHARACTERS
THE PETRIFIED MAN
By Eudora Welty
The story takes place in a beauty parlor, and is primarily a conversation between the beautician Leota and
her customer Mrs. Fletcher. Leota mentions her friend Mrs. Pike, and Mrs. Fletcher is curious. Mrs. Pike and
her husband are renting a room from Leota and her husband Fred. The conversation continues, and soon Leota
lets it slip that Mrs. Fletcher is rumored to be pregnant. Mrs. Fletcher demands to know who said this, and it is
eventually discovered that it was Mrs. Pike who suspected the pregnancy. Leota explains the events surrounding this proclamation, and her and Mrs. Pike’s visit to the travelling freak show is mentioned. Among the freaks
in the show is “The Petrified Man”, whose food turns to stone as it moves through his digestive system. As the
conversation ends, Leota tells of the ladies’ visit to Lady Evangeline, the freak show fortune teller, who tells Mrs.
Pike that her husband is faithful to her and he would soon come into money.
A week later, Mrs. Fletcher returns for her weekly appointment, mentioning the gossipy Mrs. Pike. Leota is
clearly perturbed and tells Mrs. Fletcher why. Apparently Mr. and Mrs. Pike had been reading one of Leota’s
police magazines and recognized Mr. Petrie, a neighbor from New Orleans who was wanted for raping four
women in California. It turns out that he was the petrified man from the freak show, and the Pikes receive a
$500 reward for turning him in.
CHARACTERIZATIONS
Leota is a stereotypical gossiping beautician who goads her clientele into revealing their petty selves under their
genteel exterior. She is cynical and stuck up and only cares about her customers as far as it can benefit her.
Mrs. Fletcher is another stereotypical character, that of a “fine Southern lady”. She sees herself as a societal superior of Leota, but her own pettiness shows that is not the case.
SHILOH
By Shelby Foote
Shiloh is a series of monologues and reminisces of both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Battle of
Shiloh, one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War. It is split into seven chapters: the first two chapters deal with the preparation for the battle, while the third details the movement into the battle. Chapters four,
five and six give the actual details of the battle, and the seventh covers the post-battle aftermath.
Scene Synopsis: One actor reveals the memories of a Civil War soldier.
THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED
By Tennessee Williams
In this short play set beside a railroad embankment, the boy Tom encounters Willie, a sadly deluded
thirteen-year-old girl abandoned by her family and living alone in a condemned house. Lost in her own fantasy
world, Willies is obsessed with the idea of emulating her dead sister Alva, a prostitute who catered to railroad
men. Willie wears alva's clothes, sings Alva's song, and in every way replaces her own life with her sister's even
believing that she has inherited Alva's boyfriend, all "men with responsible jobs." Furthermore, Willie can imagine no other future for herself than to die young, as Alva did, from "lung affection." Though she seems glad to
have someone to talk to, Willie can never step out of her delusion long enough to communicate sincerely with
Tom. She clearly uses her imagination to hide from the unpleasantness of reality and abruptly changes the subject every time Tom attempts to steer the conversation back towards the real world. Although Tom is sexually
interested in Willie, he soon tires of her monotonous dedication to reliving Alva's life, and finally decides she is
best left alone.
CHARACTERIZATIONS
Tom is the young adolescent boy who happens upon Willie by the railroad tracks. Encouraged by his friend's
report of Willie's promiscuity, Tom is at first interested in her and is impressed by her resourcefulness in living
on her own, but he ultimately finds her too deluded to pursue.
Willie, the abandoned teenage girl, finds a way to live her distorted reality through the obsession she has for her
deceased sister. This suppression leads her to the railroad embankment where she believes she can accomplish
her fantasies, but still maintain the "popular" qualities her sister had when she was alive. Her ostentatious display of behavior reveals only that Willie live oblivious to reality by quitting school and becoming a "pretend"
adult. Discouraged when things "just don't happen like the make-believe world of the movies," she continues to
fantasize her own destiny. Willie is left challenged to find her own identity without her sister and family. She
continuously boasts of having inherited all her sister's belongings when in reality it is the only way she knows of
being accepted. Ironically, through this lonely yearning she attempts to find her own individuality.
ELEGY FOR THE NATIVE GUARD
By Natasha Tretheway
In her poem “Elegy for the Native Guards”, Natasha Tretheway tells of a trip to Ship Island, Mississippi and
her feelings about the soldiers who died there. She notes there is a monument for the Confederate soldiers
who died, but no marker for the Native Guards, a regiment of black Union soldiers who also lost their lives
on the island. Tretheway feels that all dead should be honored and remembered, regardless of what side of
the war they fought on. And with this poem, creates a monument herself.
THE REIVERS
by
William Faulkner
Subtitled "A Reminiscence," The Reivers begins on a note of action recalled in memory, and about a
fourth of the way through the novel, posthumously awarded the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, we come upon
one of William Faulkner's most engaging yarns.
In 1905 eleven-year old Lucius Priest, Boon Hogganbeck, tough, faithful, but completely and unreliable
part-Chickasaw Indian mad about machinery, and stowaway Ned William McCaslin, the Priests' colored coachman and handyman, are on their way to Memphis in the Winton Flyer owned by young Lucius' grandfather
and "borrowed" for the excursion without the owner's permission or knowledge. They soon reach Hell Creek
bottom, the deepest, miriest mudhole in all Mississippi. There is no way around it, and of course, the automobile becomes bogged in the mud and remains stuck in spite of their labors with shovel, barbed wire, block and
piled branches. Meanwhile on the gallery of a painless cabin nearby, his two mules already harnessed in plow
gear, a barefooted redneck watches and waits. The backwoods opportunist appears to pull the car out of the
slough. Then follows stiff bargaining.
The three arrive in Memphis, but instead of going to the Gayoso Hotel, but instead of going to the Gayoso Hotel, as Lucius expected (the McCaslins and Priests always stayed at the Gayoso because a distant member
of the family had in Civil War times galloped into the lobby in an effort to capture a Yankee general), Boon
drives his passengers to Miss Reba's, a house of ill repute. Boon has his reasons; Miss Corrie, one of Miss Reba's
girls, shares the affections of his crude but open and innocent heart. That night Ned, a master indirection and a
reckless gambling man, trades the stolen racehorse never known to run better than second. Before the three
can return to Jefferson it is necessary for young Lucius to turn jockey win a race against a better horse, Colonel
Linscomb's Acheron. Boon and Ned become involved in difficulties with the law as represented by Butch
Lovemaiden, a corrupt deputy sheriff. As the result of all this Lucius, forced to assume a gentleman's responsibilities of courage and conduct, has lost the innocence of childhood before his grandfather appears to set matters straight. At times the boy is close to despair but he realizes that the has come too far, that to turn back now
would not be homesickness but shame.
Grandfather Priest has the final work on his escapade. When the boy asks how he can forget his folly and guilt,
his grandfather tells him that he can't because nothing in life is ever forgotten or lost. Lucius wants to know
what he can do. His grandfather says that he must live with it. To the weeping boy's protests he replies that a
gentleman can live through anything because he must always accept the responsibility of his actions and the
weight of their consequences. Grandfather Priest ends by telling Lucius to go wash his face; a gentleman may
cry, but he washes his face afterward.
Scene Synopsis: The scene begins with Boon commanding Ned to help him get the car out of the mud. Lucius steers. Unable to accomplish the task, they meet up with the Mule-Man. Much to Ned's dismay, the
mules pull the car out of the mud for an extra charge.
CHARACTERIZATIONS
Lucius is the bright, adventurous, eleven year-old great grandson of his namesake Lucius Quintus Priest.
The Reivers is often his memory, and reflects a clear and image laden recollection of an incident of childhood mischief.
Ned is a young black boy who decides to accept an afternoon ride with his friends Boon and Lucius. Ned
dislikes the fact that he has to help free the car from the mud while wearing his Sunday clothes.
Boon is a twenty-one year old man who is part Indian. He is headstrong, outspoken and determined. He is
the leader of the group in the scene. He also seems to be somewhat mischievous.
Mule-Man, a poor, white man in The Reivers, is an opportunist. If he sees an easy way to make some money
you best be assured he'll use it - even if it is as absurd as destroying a road in order to charge people for
help.
THE LONG DREAM
By Richard Wright
The novel tells the story of Fishbelly, the son of a black vice lord in a southern town. His father, proud of
his independence through illegal enterprises, is destroyed by the equally corrupt white leaders of the town.
Fishbelly attempts to take his father's place. He is defeated and framed for a crime he did not commit. When is
finally released from prison, he leaves the country for France.
Scene Synopsis: In this particular scene, Fish has come by to see the girl he dates Gladys. They haven't seen
each other for a while and fish has a proposition for her. A tragic occurrence changes Fish's life.
CHARACTERIZATIONS
Gladys loves her boyfriend, Fish and feels fortunate that he has chosen her as his girlfriend because she believes
he has class. But at the same time she is insecure about their relationship because she knows that they don't
come from the same background and she feels that she isn't good enough for him. She thinks that incidents
from her past might prove to be a barrier between them and needs reassurances from Fish that his commitment
to her is true. Gladys' devotion to Fish runs deep and her vow to make their lives happy is heartfelt.
Fish is a young middle-class man. He is very outgoing, gregarious and outspoken. He is a hard worker and a
fashion plate.
CRIMES OF THE HEART
By Beth Henley
This dark comedy launches the audience back in time to Hazlehurst, Mississippi in the year 1974. A small
town with big time drama. Meg is back in town after a failed music career, Babe shot her husband and everyone seems to have forgotten Lenny’s 30th birthday. The three fight, laugh and love their way to accepting
and overcoming the situations at hand.
SCENE SYNOPSIS
Babe is being interviewed by Barnette Lloyd, her attorney, about the day that she shot her husband.
CHARACTERIZATIONS
Rebecca (Babe) Botrelle: 24. The youngest of the Magrath sisters. She has shot her wealthy, powerful lawyer
husband, because she “didn’t like his looks.” She’s maybe a little crazy, but sweet natured.
Barnette Lloyd: 26. Babe’s lawyer. Barnette is young, bright, and ambitious attorney. This is his first real
case. He holds an intense grudge against Babe’s husband Zachary. His fondness for Babe and the drive to get
even motivate him to take on Babe’s case.
FOR MY PEOPLE
By Margaret Walker Alexander
For My People” was mostly written in a fifteen-minute burst of brilliant inspiration. Its principal tactics are
inventory—a concretization of the feeling—and repetition, a concentration and intensification of the poem’s
passion and political resolve, especially tuned for oral presentation.
Our version begins the chronology of African American history with the first of six incantations of “for my
people,” recalling the songs of an enslaved race—of sadness, of verbal play, of grief, of the rare times of joy,
and of supplication and submission to whatever God has willed.
The next stanza describes the tasks of slavery, performed in uncompensated and blind hope: “washing, ironing, cooking, scrubbing, sewing, mending, hoeing, plowing, digging, planting, pruning, patching.”
Alexander then declares admiration “for my people,” hoping to make a world of universal brotherhood to
replace the fascist one that suppresses African Americans.
Finally, Alexander closes the litany of pain, endurance, grief, and relentless hope with the poem’s famous
incantation, calling for a new world, born of a “bloody peace,” peopled by a courageous and freedom-loving
new generation, a race of people—perhaps an alliance of Caucasians and African Americans—that will “rise
and take control.”
A TIME TO KILL
By John Grisham
Set in the fictional town of Clanton, Ford County, Mississippi, A Time to Kill begins with the vicious rape of
a ten-year-old black girl by two white men. They are quickly arrested and charged. However, things then
get more complicated. The girl’s father, Carl Lee Hailey, plans the murder of the two rapists and shoots and
kills them in the town courthouse. He is sentenced to death. Jake Brigance, an ambitious young lawyer,
agrees to defend Carl Lee. Helping Jake on the case are his former boss Lucien Wilbanks, fellow attorney
Harry Rex Vonner, and law student Ellen Roark, who has prior experience with death penalty cases. The
prosecuting attorney is a man named Rufus Buckley, and the judge who will preside over the trial is white
Judge Omar Noose. Buckley hopes to win the case so as to gain the publicity that a win would generate, in
hopes of being elected to a higher public office (governor). At the same time, Billy Ray Cobb’s brother, Freddy Lee Cobb, is seeking revenge for Carl Lee’s killing of his brother. To this end, Freddy enlists the help of the
Mississippi branch of the KKK, which is led by Stump Sisson. Subsequently, a KKK member attempts to plant
a bomb under Jake’s porch, and Jake’s secretary Ethel Twitty and her husband Bud are attacked by the KKK
and Bud dies. On the day the trial begins, there is a riot outside the court building between the KKK and the
area’s black residents, and Stump Sisson is killed by a molotov cocktail. Believing that the black people were
at fault, Freddy and the KKK increase their attacks. The National Guard is called to Clanton to keep the peace
during the trial. The case proceeds, and in the end, after lengthy deliberations, the jury acquits Carl Lee by
reason of insanity.
Scene Synopsis: Jake Brigance is meeting with Carl Lee Hailey at the Ford County Jail after Carl Lee shot and
killed the two men who raped his daughter. They are discussing whether or not Jake will take the case and
how much his fee will be.
CHARACTERIZATIONS
Jake Brigance: Young, idealistic lawyer who takes on Carl Lee Hailey’s case. Married, with a daughter of his
own, Jake encounters numerous obstacles while trying to win Carl Lee’s acquittal by reason of insanity.
Carl Lee Hailey: Kills the two men who beat and raped his ten year old daughter and is put on trial. A veteran
of the Vietnam War, he feels he was only doing what he needed to do for his family.
GOOD OLD BOY
By Willie Morris
Good Old Boy is a humorous look at growing up in Yazoo City, Mississippi in the 1940's and 1950's. In
this book you'll meet all the characters and children that make up a small Southern town.
Scene Synopsis: Willie is recalling his fourth grade years when Miss Abbott was his teacher. He does not have
fond memories of these years.
CHARACTERIZATIONS
Willie is an intelligent child who is used to being treated fairly and to being rewarded for his knowledge. Consequently he is both alarmed and confused by Miss Abbott's brand of education which seems designed more for
terrifying students than teaching them. Confident in himself and his own religious beliefs, Willie is unmoved
by Miss Abbott's ideas, but he remains fearful of her authority and forever resents the injustices he feels she has
inflicted upon him. He also reveals a sense of mischief in his description of Miss Abbott and some of his less ad-
mirable classmates.
Miss Abbott was brought up by strict, God-fearing parents, who taught that the only true wisdom comes from
the Bible. Miss Abigail Elizabeth Abbott intends to instill that same fear of God in her students that her parents
instilled in her - -fear being the operative word. God help the children.
Author Biographies
EUDORA WELTY was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on April 13, 1909.
She was educated in Jackson public schools, Mississippi State College for
Women, the University of Wisconsin, and the Columbia University Graduate
School of business. Her short stories have appeared in The Southern Review,
Atlantic Monthly, Harper's Bazaar, The New Yorker and other magazines. She
has received four O'Henry Memorial prizes, the M. Carey Thomas Award
from Bryn Mawr, the Brandeis Medal of Achievement, the Hollins Medal, and
the first Annual Award of Excellence from the Mississippi Arts Commission.
She also received the Howells Medal from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters, the Gold Medal for the Novel from the National Institute of Arts and
Letters, and the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for The Optomist’s Daughter. She lectured at many colleges and literary events, has held the William Allan Neilson
Professorship at Smith, the Lucy Donnelly Fellowship at Bryn Mawr, and was
a lecturer at the conference of American Studies at Cambridge University. She
worked under grants from the Rockefeller and Merrill Foundations and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, has held two Guggenheim Fellowships, and is a member of the National Council on the Arts. She has been
given honorary degrees from Smith University of Wisconsin, Western College for Women, Millsaps College,
University of the South, Denison University, Washington and Lee, Mount Holyoke College, Tulane University,
Washington University, Harvard and Yale. Two of her novels have been adapted and produced on Broadway,
and she has been the subject of several television productions by Mississippi Educational Television. Her photographs were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in 1973, and have been collected in two volumes: One
Time, One Place and Photographs. She was author of thirteen books,and numerous articles. Miss Welty died on
July 23, 2001.
WILLIAM FAULKNER, eldest of four sons of Murry Falkner (sic) and Maud Butler Falkner, was born on September 25, 1897, at New Albany, Union County, about 35 miles from Oxford, Lafayette County, in the State of Mississippi. Between that date and July 6, 1962, when he died, he spent most of his life in Oxford as a very private
citizen, and in Jefferson, Yoknapatawpha County, as a very famous writer.
Faulkner's father, like himself, dropped out of his class at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), moved
from one job to another, and at last was given a position as conductor on the family railroad, the job he had
when William was born.
Faulkner's early formal education was spotty, his many other preoccupations
(especially reading and inventing) taking up so much of his time that he failed to complete high school. In
1918, Faulkner decided to join the Army. He was turned down for being too short; the U.S. Signal Corps also
turned him down, despite his experience in flying planes, because he hadn't had two years of college. He was
finally accepted by the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was commissioned a lieutenant. After World War I, however, Faulkner was able to enter the University of Mississippi (1919) under a government-sponsored vocational
training program for veterans. In the university, Faulkner shied away from regular courses, taking only those
subjects that interested him, especially French. After two or three semesters, he was off to Europe.
Probably the most serious and effective influence on Faulkner's reading tastes and later literary judge-
ments came from Philip Stone, twenty-one year-old lawyer with an interest in literature. Stone was impressed
with the surprisingly good quality of William's poetry, and agreed to become Faulkner's guide, mentor, and arbiter in the realms of reading, literature,
and Southern history and culture. The
two friends talked about the antebellum
South, the Civil War and Reconstruction,
decline of the plantation aristocracy along
with its outdated value system, Keats, and
the other Romantic poets. The debt to
Stone was repaid later when Stone appeared as Gavin Stevens in several of
Faulkner's stories and novels.
After Faulkner left the University in 1920, he left for New York in 1923. He picked up any odd jobs he could
get, and in time was able to get one as a clerk in the Doubleday book department in Lord and Taylor's department store. The pay was $11 a week, his room rent was $2.50 a week. But the department was managed by
Elizabeth Prall (later to marry Sherwood Anderson), and merely establishing a literary connection with her was
worth the drabness of the whole New York experience. After six months of vain efforts trying to impress publishers, Faulkner was happy to hear that he could have the University postmastership, if he wanted it. Faulkner
found this job dull and was dismissed after a brief period of employment. Soon after his "liberation " from the
post office, faulkner began writing in earnest. His first book, a collection of poems entitled The Marble Faun,
was published with money put up by Phil Stone. Of the 1,00 copies printed, about 50 were sold.
While living in New Orleans, Faulkner learned that his old boss from New York days, Elizabeth Prall,
was in town with her newly acquired husband, Sherwood Anderson. Faulkner called on her and was introduced to Anderson, a writer whom he admired. The friendship between Faulkner and Anderson grew even as
Faulkner began writing his first novel, Soldier's Pay. When the manuscript of Soldier's Pay was completed, Elizabeth Prall Anderson agreed to give it to her husband, she did not promise that he would read it, and he didn't.
But Sherwood Anderson did tell his publisher, Horace Liveright, of his "discovery." Liveright read the manu-
script and agreed to publish it. Most of his second novel, Mosquitoes, was also written during his stay in New
Orleans. On the basis of Faulkner's ultimate position in American literature, one must judge both Mosquitoes
and Soldier's Pay potboilers.
1929 was the year in which Faulkner was Sartoris and The Sound and The Fury published, began writing As I Lay Dying married Estelle Oldham Franklin, and purchased Rowen Oak. Now Faulkner laid down the
first lines of the country-squire pattern he was to follow for the rest of his life. When a dilapidated colonial
mansion, Rowan Oak, that once belonged to an Irish planter, became available, Faulkner bought it and started
putting enormous sums of money into restoring it to its former baronial grandeur. It was from this antebellum, two-stories house with columns across the center section in front that Faulkner was buried in 1962.
With the publication of Sanctuary in 1931, Faulkner emerged as a fairly popular writer. By 1939, Faulkner had
produced ten novels, two volumes of poetry, and two collections of short stories. The critics and Faulkner's
peers were taking notice of his considerable body of works, and it was they who started the long list of honors
which follows:
1939 - Elected to National Institute of Arts and Letters
1948 - Elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters
1950 - Received William Dean Howells Medal for Fiction
Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
1955 - Received National Book Award
Awarded Pulitzer Prize for Literature (Fiction)
Faulkner was now also recognized as a multifaceted celebrity. In 1955, he made two trips abroad for
the U.S. State Department. In 1956, articles by him on integration appeared in "Life", "Harper's" and "Ebony"
magazines. Stage productions of Requiem for a Nun were given in Paris (1956) and Greece (1957). In 1962,
he was invited to the White House (along with other Nobel Laureates), and turned down the invitation. Three
months later, Faulkner was dead (July 6) in Oxford.
SHELBY FOOTE was born November 17, 1916 in Greenville, Mississippi and attributes his start in literature to
the Percy family who exposed him to things literary. By the time Foote was sixteen he had begun to write poetry and while a student at the University of North Carolina he published eight short stories in the campus literary magazine. After his work at college and during service in World War II, Foote returned to Greenville to
continue his writing career. His novel Tournament, was published in 1949; Follow Me Down, Love in a Dry
Season and Shiloh followed. In 1954 he published a collection of stories, Jordon County and was soon at work
on his most ambitious work, a three-volume history of the Civil War entitled, The Civil War: A Narrative. This
work has been described as the closest thing to a genuine epic in modern American literature and contains over
1,500,000 words. After twenty years spent in the research and writing of this masterpiece, Foote returned to
fiction and in 1978 he published September, September. In 1990, he made an impressive appearance in the
acclaimed PBS documentary, The Civil War. Foote died in Memphis, TN on June 27, 2005.
MARGARET WALKER ALEXANDER was born July 7, 1915 in Birmingham,
Alabama. She is the daughter of Sigismund C. and Marion Walker. Her
parents, who were middle class, allowed M.W. Alexander to enjoy the advantages of a superior education at Gilbert Academy in Birmingham. After
graduating in 1930, she moved away from the South because she was told
that Negroes in the North were better off than Negroes in the South. During her travels, Alexander was shy about the idea of going to a white school
and in the transition became anti-white and feared close contact with
white people. Later she explains that she had new found freedom when
she decided to cross the Mason-Dixon line. While in Illinois, she recalls
one of her most embarrassing moments, which occurred when she was
refused service in a restaurant because of the color of her skin. However, the racial prejudice displayed toward
her and other African-Americans at that time did little to deter Walker's willingness to receive what she knew to
be rightfully hers; to receive the opportunity to achieve greatness through hard work and dedication.
After receiving her M.A. from the State University of Iowa in 1940, she became the professor of English
at Livingston College, Salisbury, North Carolina in 1942. She moved on to become an instructor of English at
West Virginia State College. In 1943, her first book of poems was published by Yale University Press, entitled
For My People. On June 13, 1943, Margaret married Finest James Alexander and had five children. She became an instructor at Jackson State University as Professor of English. While at Jackson State University, Alexander accomplished some of her childhood dreams and received many honors. She still considers Jackson to be
her home. However, in 1963, Alexander was awarded a fellowship at the University of Iowa and began her
travels again. At the University of Iowa she received a Ph.D and completed the Civil War novel based on a true
life story of her great-grandmother entitled Jubilee, which is called the Negro Gone With the Wind.
John Howard Griffin explains the moral value of the novel's content by describing it as: "A big beautiful
work, splendid in itself, quiet aside from its importance to our understanding of the background of many of our
groups today".
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS was born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi on March 26, 1911. After
living his early years in various Mississippi towns, his family moved to St. Louis. This environment and its effect on the young Williams is described in his play The Glass Menagerie and his short story "Portrait of a Girl in
Glass". Williams attended the University of Missouri from 1929 to 1931, where he was withdrawn by his father because of his failure to pass ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps). He then worked for three years at
the International Shoe Company in St. Louis and, as a way of escaping tedium, began to write more and more.
Quitting his job, he attended Washington University before receiving a degree from the University of Iowa in
1938.
The Glass Menagerie opened in Chicago on December 26, 1944, and was his first professional success.
In 1945 it moved to Broadway. With this impressive start, Williams began his career as one of the world's most
popular playwrights. He won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for A Streetcar Named Desire and another for Cat on a
Hot Tin Roof, and four New York Drama Circle Critics Awards for these two plays as well as for The Glass Menagerie and The Night of the Iguana. Many of Williams plays have been made into films.
Williams divided much of his time between New Orleans, his home in Key West, and the Hotel Elysee on
East 54th Street in New York where died in 1983.
Like the famous protagonist of his first novel, RICHARD WRIGHT, was a native son. Wright was born the son of
a sharecropper near Natchez, Mississippi in 1908. In 1914, after his father deserted his family, young Richard
and his mother moved from one home to another within their extended families in Jackson and
Arkansas. More than the sustaining power of black culture or education in segregated schools; the poverty, fear
and hate that typified post-Reconstruction racial relations in the Lower South, prepared Wright to be an author.
Native Son(1940), his first novel brought his insights to a large and appreciative audience. Wright created a complex statement of rising awareness; where no risk is too great in order to become master of one's own
life. His inside view of the Jim Crow world earned Wright acclaim for his use of literary naturalism. His projection of violence and rebellion against social conditions, led to his emergence as a major literary voice of black
America. Black Boy, an ostensible autobiography representing the birth of the artist, necessarily suppresses the
importance of group experience in order to focus on the power of the individual sensibility.
In time, Wright found that Jim Crow knew no regional boundaries. As a reaction, in 1946 he moved
with his wife and daughter to Paris, where he lived until his death in 1960. During his self-imposed exile, he
wrote The Outsider and The Long Dream (1958), two novels concerning American racial relations and politics.
Other fiction written while Wright lived in Paris includes Savage Holiday (1954) and Eight Men (1960).
Despite the apparent departure from the experience of the American South in these later works, continuity exists between the original treatments of Jim Crow
and the commentary on historical change in Africa and Asia.
By the power of literary imagination, Wright with matchless
skill drew forth the significance of his southern education for world citizenship.
JOHN GRISHAM was born on February 8, 1955 in
Jonesboro, Arkansas. Growing up Grisham dreamed
of being a professional baseball player, but realized
he didn’t have the talent for the big leagues. As a
result, he ended up earning a degree in accounting
at Mississippi State University. After graduating
from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to
practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, Mississippi as a criminal defense and personal injury
attorney. First elected in 1983, he also served seven
years in the state House of Representatives.
One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham was present during the disturbing testimony of a twelve
year old rape victim. He wondered what might happen if the father of the girl killed the rapists, setting in
motion the writing of his first novel. Thinking of it as a hobby, Grisham would get up at 5 a.m. every day to
get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work. Three years later, A Time to Kill was finished. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988. Legend has it Grisham sold the book out of his trunk.
The hobby of writing became much more than that with his second novel, The Firm. The success of that
book, as well as his next two novels, The Pelican Brief and The Client, cemented Grisham’s place as master of
the legal thriller. This even sparked renewed interest in A Time to Kill.
Grisham has written one book a year since publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, all of which have been international bestsellers. His novels have been translated into 40 languages, and nine of them have been turned
into films. He has also written a screenplay, The Gingerbread Man, as well as a non-fiction book (The Inno-
cent Man) and a collection of short stories (Ford County).
Grisham contributes time and money to several charitable causes. Most recently he helped create the Rebuild the Coast Fund, which raised almost nine million dollars to help the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. He also finds time for his first love-baseball. He built six baseball fields on his property, and serves as
Little League Commissioner.
NATASHA TRETHEWEY was born on April 26, 1966, in Gulfport, Mississippi. She earned an MA in poetry
from Hollins University and an MFA in poetry from the University of Massachusetts.
Her first collection of poetry, Domestic Work, was selected by Rita Dove as the winner of the inaugural Cave
Canem Poetry Prize for the best first book by an African American poet and won both the 2001 Mississippi
Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize and the 2001 Lillian Smith Award for Poetry.
Since then, she has published three more collections of poetry, including Thrall; Native Guard, which received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; and Bellocq’s Ophelia.
Trethewey’s honors include the Bunting Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the
Rockefeller Foundation. She is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory
University in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 2012, Trethewey was named as both the state poet laureate of Mississippi and the 19th U.S. poet laureate
by the Library of Congress. In 2013, she was appointed for a second term, during which she travelled to cities and towns across the country meeting with the general public to seek out the many ways poetry lives in
American communities and reported on her discoveries in a regular feature on the PBS NewsHour Poetry
Series. She was succeeded in 2014 by Charles Wright.
As a child, BETH HENLEY attentively watched her mother's work in regional theatre and followed this inter-
est to a fine arts degree at Southern Methodist University in 1974. Although she aspired to be an actress, she
wrote her first play Am I Blue while in college. It was produced during her senior year. After teaching for a
year at Dallas Minority Reparatory Theatre, she decided to further her education by earning her graduate
degree at the University of Illinois-Urbana. After graduation she moved to Los Angeles to continue her career. Henley was frustrated in the lack of contemporary plays that showcased roles for southern
women, so she put all of her focus to playwriting.
In 1978 she completed and submitted Crimes of
the Heart to several regional theatres. A year later, the Actors Theatre of Louisville selected the
script to be a part of their Festival of New Plays,
1979. The success Henley found in this festival
launched the play to be performed at several regional theatres as well as an off Broadway run at
the Manhattan Theatre Club. Henley was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, which was unheard of for a play that had not yet reached
Broadway. It was also the first Pulitzer given to a
female playwright in twenty-three years. Subsequently, the play won a Tony nomination for best
play.
In 1981, Crimes of the Heart opened its curtains on Broadway and ran for 535 performances. Beth Henley
received a 1986 academy award nomination for her screenplay adaption of Crimes of the Heart. The Miss
Firecracker Contest, another Henley play that was produced in 1980, was also made into a movie in 1989.
Henley has written screenplays and television scripts. In most of her work, Henley gives the lead roles to
women. Most of her works can be classified as Southern literature because they are set in the South and ex-
pertly reproduce Southern dialect and colloquialisms. Further, they can be considered Southern Gothic because death and freakish disaster permeate the plots, adding to a comic style that has the audience laughing
at the humor and wincing at the pathos at the same time. Her characters tend to be misfits who, like real
people, are not always successful in overcoming their flaws. Nonetheless, Henley treats them with compassion and optimism.
Henley has written 17 plays in her career which include; The Miss Firecracker Contest, The Wake of Jamey
Foster, The Lucky Spot, Control Freak, Impossible Marriage and The Jacksonian.
One of Mississippi’s best-known contemporary authors is WILLIE MORRIS. Morris, the son of Henry Rae
and Marion Weaks Morris, was born in 1934 in Jackson, Mississippi. He moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi,
when he was six years old. At Yazoo City High School, he was editor of the school newspaper and played
football, basketball, and baseball. Willie Morris was voted most versatile, wittiest, and most likely to succeed
by his high school classmates. He graduated class valedictorian.
After graduation from high school , Morris headed for
Austin, Texas. At the University of Texas, he spent
many long hours writing for the Daily Texan. In 1956,
Morris earned his bachelor’s degree and won a Rhodes
scholarship. He spent the next three years of his life
reading modern history at New College, Oxford University in England. He married his first wife Celia Ann
Buchan in 1958 and she gave birth to their son David
Rae Morris in 1959 while they lived in England.
In 1960 Willie Morris returned to the U. S. and was
hired as editor of the Texas Observer, a weekly political newspaper published in Austin. However, he resigned from this position in 1962 because he disliked the fast pace of the work and the lack of a support
staff. After a short time in graduate school at Stanford University, he moved to New York City where he
landed a job as editor of Harper’s Magazine. He was awarded his M. A. by Oxford University in 1966. In
1969 Willie and Celia divorced. In March 1971, Morris resigned from Harper’s because of a dispute with
the owner. After his resignation, Morris started his career as an independent writer.
Morris’s writings deal with his personal experiences in the the South. His best known pieces of literature
include North Toward Home, Yazoo, Good Old Boy, My Dog Skip, and The Last of the Southern Girls. Three
of his books have been made into movies: My Dog Skip, The Ghosts of Medgar Evers, and Good Old Boy.
Willie Morris died in September of 1999 of a heart attack. His works have inspired writers and set a precedent for generations of authors to follow.
NEW STAGE THEATRE INTERN COMPANY
Chris Ambrose: (Acting Intern) is a recent graduate of the Mississippi University for Women (and smart
men), holding a B.A. in theatre. Before arriving at New Stage, he performed as Muga in the outdoor drama
Tecumseh! Other acting credits include Shadows of Destiny, The Cat in the Hat, and The Good Doctor. A native of Durant, Ambrose is honored to be working in his home state!
Matthew Denton: (Acting Intern) is thankful to be working with and learning from such a wonderful cast!
He was last seen on stage as Barnette in the New Stage production of Crimes of the Heart. Other local credits
include Beethoven in Dog Sees God (Unframed at New Stage), Luke in Next Fall (Unframed at New Stage),
and Bob Cratchit in Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge (Unframed at New Stage), as well as Charles
in See Jane Quit (Fondren Theatre Workshop).
Allison Heinz: (Directing/Acting Intern) is thrilled to be joining New Stage Theatre for their 50th season!
She is a graduate of the University of Alabama (Roll Tide!), where she studied musical theatre and communication studies. Heinz has directed several productions including You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and
Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead. Some of her favorite acting credits include Gruesome
Playground Injuries (Kayleen), Treasure Island (Capt. Smollet), and Shrek the Musical (Mama Ogre)
Bri Thomas: (Acting Intern) is thrilled and thankful to God, for the opportunity to learn and grow here at
New Stage Theatre, as an acting intern for the upcoming year. She just graduated from Indiana University of
Pennsylvania as a musical theatre major, where she’s been blessed to play the roles of Cinderella in Into the
Woods, Babe Williams in The Pajama Game, and Mrs. Mueller in Doubt: A Parable. Past roles include Babette in Beauty and the Beast, Katisha in The Mikado, and Arachne in Circus Olympus. Thomas hopes to
further improve her skills as a performer and can’t wait to see where this year takes her!
NEW STAGE THEATRE ARTISTIC COMPANY
Artistic Director Francine Thomas Reynolds
Reynolds has worked as a professional actress and director for more than 25 years. She has been the artistic
director at New Stage Theatre since 2006 and most recently directed Telling: Central Mississippi . Last season she directed One Man, Two Guvnors and All the Way . She appeared in New Stage productions as Dr.
Katherine Brandt in last season’s 33 Variations , Polly in Other Desert Cities , Lucille in Dividing the Estate, and
as Edna Earle in Eudora Welty’s The Ponder Heart . She has directed a variety of shows including The Whipping Man , The Grapes of Wrath , Hairspray , Mahalia: A Gospel Musical , The Great Gatsby , Lombardi , Boeing,
Boeing , Breaking Up is Hard to Do , Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure , A Christmas Carol , Gee’s Bend, A
Raisin in the Sun , Annie, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , A Soldier’s Play, and I Love You,
You’re Perfect, Now Change . Some of her other favorite acting roles include Beatrice in Much Ado About
Nothing , Chris in Rumors , and Belinda in Noises Off . Reynolds is on the Board of Directors for the Theatre
Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre and on the Board of Directors for Mississippi Theatre Association. She was a member of the Leadership Mississippi Class of 2014. Panels
and other associations include the National Endowment for the Arts grants panel, Poetry Outloud, Southeastern Theatre Conference adjudicator, Mississippi Arts Commission grants panel, and the Mississippi Alliance
for Arts Education Board of Directors. Reynolds has enjoyed adjudicating and serving as a commentator for
the Mississippi High School Drama Southeastern Theatre Conference and Mississippi’s English Speaking Union Shakespeare Competition. Reynolds worked as a locations casting director for several years. The last feature film she cast, Ballast , won top awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Originally from the Upper Peninsula
of Michigan, Reynolds enjoys living in Jackson with her husband, Chuck.
Education Director Chris Roebuck
Roebuck, graduated from Mississippi College with a B.A. in history. Roebuck was an acting intern at New
Stage Theatre, working with four other interns to take three touring shows across the state. He also worked
for the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, serving as performance coordinator/co -director of the extremely popular and successful R.A.T. (Reject All Tobacco) Pack performances for eight years. Among his numerous
professional acting credits, Roebuck has appeared in A Year with Frog and Toad , The Ponder Heart , A
Christmas Carol , Idols of the King , Forever Plaid , The Wind in the Willows , A Raisin in the Sun, and The
Fantasticks . In addition to the education touring shows, his directing credits include Lilly’s Purple Plastic
Purse , A Christmas Carol, and Dead Man’s Cell Phone at New Stage and American Buffalo and Dinner with
Friends with Fondren Theatre Workshop.
Technical Director/Props Master Richard Lawrence
Lawrence serves as the vice president of Fondren Theatre Workshop and most recently appeared in A Christmas
Memory at New Stage, FTW’s The Rocky Horror Show, Buck Nekkid for Jesus, and directed FTW’s Christmas show,
Every Christmas Story Ever Told. He also was the director of the widely successful productions of Cabaret and Company, which were a joint production of FTW, Actor’s Playhouse of Pearl, with support from New Stage. Lawrence, has
been seen in New Stage productions of The Trip to Bountiful and UnFramed’s The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, How I
Learned to Drive, The Weir, Circle Mirror Transformation, and Dublin Carol. Lawrence has won two Best Set awards
at Mississippi Theater Association conferences.
Set Designer Richart Schug
this is Richart’s 4th season with Newstage where he has designed sets for One Man Two Guvnors, All The
Way, Mrs. Mannerly, Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club and others. He has also
worked as a scenic painter and designer in New York at Purchase College SUNY where he went to school. He
would like to thank the very talented staff of Newstage, his family, and his fiancé Sarah Beck.
Costume Designer Lesley Raybon
Raybon joined New Stage in 2004 as an acting intern and since then has worked both onstage and off. She has found
her place as the resident costume designer and she has enjoyed designing shows and working with guest designers
and costume shop assistants. Some of her favorite shows include: The Grapes of Wrath, Goodnight Moon, The Great
Gatsby, and Cat in the Hat. When not at New Stage, she is a bariata at Starbucks, a puppeteer with Puppet Arts Theatre, wife to her wonderful husband Lawrence, and mother to baby Evelyn.
Audience Etiquette
For many of your students, this may be their first theatre experience. It may be helpful to discuss with them
the expected behavior of an audience. New Stage asks that prior to the performance, students are made
aware of the following:

Stay with your group at all times and pay attention to your teachers and chaperones.

Be sure to go to the bathroom before the performance begins. It is hard to leave once the performance begins.

Make yourself comfortable while keeping movement to a minimum.

Please do not stand up, walk around or put your feet on the seat in front of you.

Absolutely no gum chewing, eating or drinking in the theatre.
Noise
Live theatre means live actors who can hear not only what is happening on the stage, but in the audience as
well. While laughter and applause at appropriate time are appreciated by the actors, excessive noise and
talking is not. Even whispering voices can be distracting to the actors and others in the audience.

Do not talk during the performance.

Cell phones are prohibited in the theatre. If you have one turn it off and put it away and do not
bring it out during the performance.
Applause
Applause is used to acknowledge the performers and to voice appreciation or approval. Traditionally, applause comes before intermission and at the performance’s conclusion. A curtain call in which the cast returns to the stage for bows usually follows a performance.
A Theatre Glossary
Act— Sequences of scenes in a play which are played without an interval
An act may contain one or more given scenes.
Audition— A trial performance given by an actor applying for a part in a play.
Auditorium—The audience area at a theatre, also known as “the house”
Blocking—Fixing actor’s movements in rehearsal and entering them in the prompt copy of the script
Choreographer—The composer of dance steps or sequences of movement in dance.
Comedy—Comedy is usually contrasted with tragedy. It may treat serious subjects, but does so with a light
and humorous touch. There are many subgenres of comedy: farce, comedy of manners, etc. Some
comedy is physical and can be seen in the actions, facial expressions, or costumes of the characters.
other comedy is verbal and is heard in the spoken lines of the actors.
Cue—Words or actions to which an actor answers; the term is also used to mean the moment for a change
or effect in a scene or lighting.
Director—The person who rehearses the actors in their roles, as well as deciding and coordinating the
artistic aspects of a production.
Drama—The form of literature which, like all literature, creates a representation of some aspect of life in
order to entertain, educate, or in some way affect the thoughts of the audience or reader. Drama is
unique from other literature in that it is written to be performed live in front of an audience. The
word “drama” comes from the Greek and means “to do.” We do gain much by reading and
studying plays, but it is important to remember that a playwright’s intentions for his or her work are
only fully realized in a live performance.
Dress Rehearsal—A final rehearsal, with full scenery, costumes, and effects.
Effects—Any sounds, special lighting devices, etc., which are required by the play.
Farce—A form of comedy based on laughter at the ridiculous. Improbably events, fast paced action,
deceptions, and misunderstandings are typical elements of farce.
Flat—A scenic unit consisting of a wooden frame. It may have an opening in it to take a door, window, or
fireplace.
Improvise—To depart from a script, or work without one, with the actors inventing their own lines.
Melodrama—A comedy/drama noted for its action and excitement, frequently featuring graphic on-stage
fights and spectacular special effects.
Prompt Book—Copy of the script in which positions and moves of scenery, furniture, and actors and all
cues for changes and effects are recorded.
Prop(erty) - Anything used on the stage that does not form part of the scenery, costumes, or technical
equipment. Examples are food, drink, and items carried onstage by actors.
Proscenium—Originally a shallow platform in Greek theatre. Now, it refers to the wall dividing the
auditorium from the stage,, into which is cute the proscenium arch, through which the audience
views the action.
Rehearsal—The practicing and development of a play.
Stage Manager—The person responsible for organizing rehearsals, coordinating technical departments,
making and updating the prompt script (with positions, moves of scenery, etc.) and running
performances.
Tragedy—Tragedy was very carefully defined by Aristotle in the Poetics and we rely on his definition still
today, in many ways. The tragic hero should be aristocratic (although modern drama may use
methods other than wealth to identify the nobility of a character. This hero should possess
characteristics which make him or her great, yet at the same time, these same traits will lead to
his downfall. This leads to another paradox of tragedy: although the hero’s “tragic flaw” leads to his
destruction, he appears to be a victim of fate or forces over which he has no control.
Wings—Areas backstage at the side of the acting area. Also, flats or curtains that are hung facing the
audience at the sides of the stage playing space.
Wardrobe—Costumes and the staff and premises that handle them.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
Since much of the text for the script of MISSISSIPPI TALKING was drawn from short stories, poems, novels, and
diaries, the actors developed their characters by researching the original sources. The following activities are
devised to explore character development through writing and performance.
I.
SOME TYPES FOR WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Students can write a scene from MISSISSIPPI TALKING as one of the following: (eg. THE WIDE NET could be
written as a human interest story.)
Actor's journal, Advertisements, Affidavits,
Announcements, Ap-
plications, Biographical sketches, Board game instructions, Case studies, Children's books, Bumper stickers,
Commentaries, Constitution articles, Consumer guide or report, Contest entries,
nitions, Dialogues, Dictionary entries, Directions, Director's prompt
Debate outlines/notes, Defi-
books, Editorials, Emulation of fa-
mous speeches, Fact sheets, Graffiti, Greeting card text, Historical accounts, Human interest stories, Human interest stories, Interviews, Job specifications, Last wills and testaments, Legal briefs, Itineraries or travelogues and
Imaginative literature: Fairy tales or myths, Poems: diamantes, sonnets, haiku, Plays, Science fiction stories, Short
stories or novels, and Songs and ballads
II. Character Sketches. Students can develop the background to one of the characters in WELTY VOICES using
the following guide.
1. Physiology
A. Sex
B. Age
C. Height and weight
D. Color of hair, skin, eyes
E. Posture and character center
F. Appearance - the impression your physical appearance
creates (sloppy, dirty, neat, stylish, etc.)
2. Sociology
A. Class (lower, middle, upper)
B. Occupation (type of work, income, working conditions, feeling about job, ambitions, etc.)
C. Education (amount, kind of schools, marks, favorite
subject, poorest subject)
D. Home life (parents: are they living, divorced, etc.)
siblings, your family status.
E. Religion
F. Nationality
G. Position in the community (leader, very social, few
friends, lots of friends)
H. Political affiliations
I. Amusements, hobbies
3.
Psychology
A. Moral standards
B. Personal goals
C. Frustrations, chief disappointments
D. Sources of pride, fulfillment
E. Chief fears, inhibitions, phobias, superstitions
III.
Character Activities
Character Circle
Have students get into one big circle with one student in the center. Four or five students volunteer or are chosen to give the student in the circle the physical characteristic. The student in the circle takes the idea and
walks around the circle adding each suggestion and beginning to answer questions from other students of the
circle. Questions may be: How old are you? What is your name? What do you do for fun? Are you happy?,
etc.
One Line Character
Take a group of seven or eight students and ask them to be a mom, dad, grandmother, aunt or uncle. Ask them
to choose one phrase or sentence that person would say with an action they might use when saying that phrase
or sentence. Then ask them to use the same line when angry, happy, etc. Take another group with the same
directions as teacher, bus driver, sales person, sports figure, pop star, etc. These can all then be extended to
small scenes.
People Meet People
This is an imaginary television program. Characters are host, guest and audience. Host begins questions and
then opens it up to the audience. Guest can be any age or profession. Host and audience must go with the
character created by the host.
Waxworks
All the students find a space. You may begin by asking if any of them have heard of a wax museum and then
talk a bit about the kinds of waxworks in a wax museum; kings, queens, modern leaders, stars, etc. All absolutely still. You may then say that when you give the work waxworks the students all become a teacher, so
without saying a word the students begin to "act like a teacher", doing things a teacher does. When you say
waxworks the students must freeze. You may walk among them commenting on concentration, realism, etc.
You then choose a waxwork and ask everyone else to sit and watch as that waxwork comes to life when you say
action. They are many types of people that the students can become. Take two waxworks. Put them next to
each other. Tell the rest of the group to write four lines of dialogue that might occur if you were to say action.
This can be the beginning of a creative writing exercise.
Student Evaluation Form—Mississippi Talking
Name:_________________________________________________________________________________
School:________________________________________________________________________________
What is your overall reaction to the production?
How do you feel about the production values of the performance (costumes, set, performers, etc?)
How did your students react to the production? (We would appreciate any written response from your students)
Please comment on the educational value of the program.
What is your overall reaction to the question and answer (talk-back) session?
How did you hear about the New Stage touring productions?
What other plays would you like for your students to see?
Please list other comments and observations.
Please help New Stage by sharing your thoughts with us! Return form to:
Chris Roebuck/ Education Director/ New Stage Theatre/ 1100 Carlisle St/ Jackson, MS 39202
or fax to 601.948.3538.
Teacher Evaluation Form—Mississippi Talking
Name:_________________________________________________________________________________
School:________________________________________________________________________________
What is your overall reaction to the production?
How do you feel about the production values of the performance (costumes, set, performers, etc?)
How did your students react to the production? (We would appreciate any written response from your students)
Please comment on the educational value of the program.
What is your overall reaction to the question and answer (talk-back) session?
How did you hear about the New Stage touring productions?
What other plays would you like for your students to see?
Please list other comments and observations.
Please help New Stage by sharing your thoughts with us! Return form to:
Chris Roebuck/ Education Director/ New Stage Theatre/ 1100 Carlisle St/ Jackson, MS 39202
or fax to 601.948.3538.