April 8 & 15, 2016E N R I C H M E N T G U I D E

Sponsored by:

ANTIGONE

Dear Educators and Parents,

We are pleased to present the Young Company’s production of ANTIGONE. Like many young people, Antigone is faced with a big choice- stand up for what she believes in and suffer the consequences or concede and live complaisantly under King Creon’s rule. In the end, is her defiance an act of heroism or that of stubborn pride?

Enclosed in this Enrichment Guide is a range of materials and activities intended to help you discover connections within the play through the curricula. It is our hope that you will use the experience of attending the theater and seeing ANTIGONE with your students as a teaching tool. As educators, you know best the needs and abili-ties of your students. Use this guide to best serve your children – pick and choose, or adapt any of these suggestions for discussions or activities.

Enjoy the show!

Julia MagnascoEducation Director(414) 267-2971Julia@firststage.org

SETTING THE STAGEpreparing for the play

Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3–4About the Playwright . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Recommended Reading . . . . . . . . . 7Pre-Show Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

FOR TEACHERSCurriculum connectionsbefore or after the play

ABOUT SOPHOCLES-the original storyteller of Antigone . . . . . . . . . . . 6

CREATIVE WRITINGCreon's Decision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Recreating Antigone . . . . . . . . . . 8–9

CURTAIN CALL

Post-Show Questions . . . . . . . . . . 10Who Said It? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Who Said it? (ANSWERS) . . . . . . . 11

First Stage Policies• The use of recording equipment and cameras are not permitted during

the performance.• Food, drink, candy and gum are not permitted during the performance.• Electronic devices are not permitted in the theater space.• Should a student become ill, suffer an injury or have another problem,

please escort him or her out of the theater space.• In the unlikely event of a general emergency, the theater lights will go on

and the stage manager will come on stage to inform the audience of the problem. Remain in your seats, visually locate the nearest exit and wait for the stage manager to guide your group from the theater.

Seating for people with special needs: If you have special seating needs for any student(s) and did not indicate your need when you ordered your tickets, please call our Assistant Patron Services Manager at (414) 267-2962. Our knowledge of your needs will enable us to serve you better upon your arrival to the theater.

INSIDE THE GUIDE A Note to Teachers and Parents

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The Chorus assembles to set the scene for the story of Antigone, a strong-willed young girl who will defy Creon, her uncle and the King of the land. Antigone sits alone. Her beautiful sister, Ismene, is absorbed in conversation with a young man named Haemon. Haemon is Antigone’s fiancée and King Creon’s son.

The night Antigone and Haemon were engaged, Haemon spent the entire evening dancing with Ismene. Yet, he sud-denly left the dance in search for Antigone and proposed to her. Antigone accepted Haemon’s proposal. Ismene was left alone at the dance to be mocked, laughed at by a group of young men. The Chorus informs us the marriage will never happen, “…the earth wasn’t meant to hold a husband of Antigone…”

The Chorus now speaks of the powerful, elder King Creon. Creon is the brother-in-law of the former king, Oedipus. Before he ascended the throne Creon loved music and was a patron of the arts, spending his time shopping for manuscripts. When Oedipus and his sons died, Creon was made King. He took Eurydice for his wife and Queen. She bore two daughters, who were raised by Nurse. Eurydice is not helpful to the king and spends her days knitting.

We are now introduced to the Messenger, who has had a premoni-tion. Soon, the death of Haemon will be announced. Messenger is very sad and keeps to himself. There are also three Guards, who play cards. They are ordinary people, with everyday prob-lems. The police also get away with crimes other people would go to jail for.

Having been introduced to the characters, the tragedy begins. Oedipus has four children, the girls are Antigone and Ismene and two boys, Eteocles and Polynices. When Oedipus died, the two sons were to share the throne an reign over Thebe, alternating years. Eteocles reigned one year and refused to yield the throne to his younger brother. There was a civil war. Six foreign princes joined Polynices’ side, but they were defeated, one for each gate of the city. The brothers eventually killed one another and Creon was made King. The Chorus explains that Creon issues an official proclamation that Eteocles will be buried with full hon-

ors, but Polynices will be left to rot, without a gravestone. Anyone that attempts to give him a proper burial will be put to death.

At dawn, Antigone sneaks onto the grounds of the house. Nurse has risen early and discovers her. Nurse had checked Antigone’s room earlier, “You hadn’t slept in your bed and left the back door open.” Antigone explains she only went walking through the garden. Nurse doesn’t believe her and accuses her of meeting a lover. Nurse admonishes her, after all Antigone is engaged to Creon’s son. Antigone assures Nurse she is still innocent, pure and in love with only Haemon. Just then, Ismene enters, saying she had checked Antigone’s room. Now, Nurse scolds them both for rising before the fire has been started and leaves for the kitchen.

Ismene and Antigone are both very tired, but Antigone teases Ismene about losing her beauty sleep. The two reminisce about their childhood. Ismene tells Antigone that she does not want to bury their brother and be punished with death. As a young person Antigone chooses to ques-tion authority, not follow rules and have concern for the less fortunate. Ismene warns her against such thinking and

Setting the Stage Synopsis

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that the city sides with the King. She believes only torture, disgrace and suffering are in their future.

Ismene expresses her desire to live and pleads with Antigone to not continue with her plans to defy King Creon’s orders and bury her brother. She tells her to “be sensible. It’s all very well for men to believe in ideas and die for them.” Antigone encourages her sister to return to bed.

Haemon enters the garden. Antigone confesses her deep love for him- she would have been proud to be his wife. She pleads with Haemon to leave her if he really loves her-despite these strong feelings- it will all be clear to him in the morning.

Ismene reenters and begs Antigone not to bury Polynices. “You are too late, Ismene. When you first saw me this morning, I had just come in from burying him.” Antigone leaves and Ismene chases after her.

Later in the day, a guard reports to Creon that someone has buried the body of Polynices. When questioned about the guilty party, the guard suggests it to be a child, since the corporal found a small shovel. Creon orders the body to be uncovered and for the guards to keep close watch on it. When the person returns to rebury the body, they shall be arrested and brought to him.

Antigone is caught and dragged in by the guards. Creon enters and questions the guards. They report that Antigone was digging in the dirt with her nails, trying to cover up the body in broad daylight. Antigone admits to burying the body with Polynice’s own toy shovel from when they were children. After more questioning Creon orders Antigone to go right to her room and go to bed, and to tell anyone that asks she has not been out since yesterday. When Creon asks about her intentions she admits she did it to honor her brother and fully accepts the consequences. He balks at her stubborn pride, yet admires her spirit which is reminis-cent of her father. Despite his proclamation, he vows to par-don her so that she can marry Haemon and live her life as a wife and mother. Antigone refuses to go, saying she must return to bury her brother again. Though Creon pleads with her to accept this pardon, she does not want to be saved nor stopped at completing her task. After much argument, Creon agrees to put Antigone to death. Creon reveals the true nature of the brother she is honoring- he was cruel and vicious and disrespectful to their father. Antigone is tempo-rarily defeated by this information. Yet, she turns quickly into a rage against Creon, saying that if she must ask questions, she doesn’t want humdrum happiness and she will not accept a moderate life. If she cannot have the happiness she had as a little girl, she wants to die. Creon tries to sur-press her mounting anger, but is unsuccessful.

Ismene enters and requests to be put to death with Antigone. Antigone insists on dying alone and Creon orders the guards to take her away. Haemon enters and begs his father to bring her back. He explains that his wish is not possible, as the people already know of the truth.

Antigone is placed in a prison cell with the guard that origi-nally arrested her. After brief small talk, the guard reveals that Antigone will be immured- put in a cave alive and then the cave will be walled up. Antigone’s last request is to write a let-ter. The guard pens her last love letter, “Forgive me, my darling. You would all have been so happy except for Antigone.”

The Messenger enters to deliver the news to the Queen. Haemon moans came forth from the cave. When the slaves pulled away the stones from the opening of her tomb, they discover that Antigone had hanged herself by the cord of her robe and Haemon was there, her body in his arms. When Creon attempted to pull him from the tragedy, Haemon struck him, pulled his sword and killed himself in a pool of blood lying next to Antigone. When Euridice, the Queen, hears of this, she calmly puts down her knitting, goes to her room and slits her throat. Creon is now alone. Antigone is calm. “A great melancholy wave of peace now settles upon Thebes, upon Creon who can now begin to wait for his own death.”

Setting the Stage Synopsis

https://sites.google.com/a/mail.blackriver.k12.oh.us/w-is-for-world-literature-kaina/home/t-is-for-theban-royal-family

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Jean Anouilh was born in Cérisole, near Bordeaux, on June 23, 1910. His father, a tailor, and his mother, a violinist in an orchestra, undoubtedly imparted to their son respect for crafts-manship and a love of art. Anouilh received his primary and secondary education in Paris, where he later studied law for a year and a half. In 1929 he went to work in an advertising agency, for which he wrote publicity and comic film scripts for 2 years. After a period in military service, he was briefly (1931-1932) secretary to the great actor and director Louis Jouvet and married Monelle Valentin, an actress who later created the roles of many of Anouilh's heroines.

From early childhood Anouilh had been fascinated by the stage. He haunted theaters and was writing plays at the age of 12. Like many a stage-struck youth, he tended to confuse real life with the theater, a view which led him to sacrifice in his early plays substance for theatricality. Undaunted by Jouvet's lack of encouragement and by the near or total failure of his first plays, Anouilh stubbornly resolved to devote his life to the theater. Success came in 1937 with Le Voyageur sans bagag-es (Traveler without Luggage). Anouilh's popularity steadily increased in the next two decades both in France and abroad.

Profoundly impressed by the plays of Jean Giraudoux and Luigi Pirandello, which broke with the tradition of the realistic theater, Anouilh recognized the value of poetry, of illusion and fantasy, and of irony as a means of portraying basic truths about human life. He held the growing conviction that the essence of the theater, that is, its quality of make-believe, mir-rors the pretense and self-delusion of life; this led him to exploit the artificiality of the theater as a way of exposing the falsity of

men's motives and even of their allegedly noblest principles and sentiments.

Anouilh's constant preoccupation with the technical production of his plays gradually led him to the role of director. In this capac-ity he produced, in line with his own views, plays by others, including Moli'e, as well as his own.

Completely absorbed in his work, Anouilh avoided other involvements and chose a secluded private life. His first marriage ended in divorce, and he married another actress, Charlotte Chardon, in 1953. One of his children, Catherine, also an actress, starred in her father's plays.

Although Anouilh grouped his plays in several categories according to their predominant tone: pi'es (plays), roses (pink), noires (black), brillantes (brilliant), grinçantes (jarring), costumées (costumed), and baroques (baroque)— they all offer a unified and ever-deepening view of the human condition. His characteristic heroes are essentially rebels, revolting in the name of an inner ideal of purity against compromise with the immoral demands of family, social position, or their past. The fanciful or uncompromis-ing efforts of the early heroes to escape from reality give way in most of the later plays to a profound bitterness caused by the recognition that no escape is possible. Among Anouilh's most admired plays are Le Bal des voleurs (1932; Thieves' Carnival), Antigone (1942), L'Invitation au château (1947; adapted as Ring Round the Moon), La Valse des toréadors (1951; The Waltz of the Toreadors), L'Alouette (1952; adapted as The Lark), Becket (1959), and Ne réveillez pas madame Don't Wake the Lady).

Anouilh died on October 3, 1987, in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Source: http://biography.yourdictionary.com/jean-anouilh

About the Playwright Jean Anouilh

http://quotesgram.com/jean-anouilh-quotes/#Wr4owitsBB

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Sophocles, the son of a wealthy arms manufacturer, was born probably in 496 B.C.E. in the deme Colonus near Athens. Of all the ancient playwrights, he scored the most wins in dramatic competitions, and won the most important dramatic festival, the City Dionysia, an unmatched 18 times. He received an education in music, athletics, and dancing, and as a boy of fifteen was chosen to lead the paean (hymn of praise) sung by the chorus of boys after the victory of Salamis. Like most of the ancient playwrights, he acted in the plays he wrote. He showed his musical skill in public, when he played the blind singer Thamyris in his drama of the same name, and played the cithara with such success that he was painted as Thamyris with the cithara in the famous Stoa Poecile ("painted colonnade"), a prominent gathering place in ancient Athens. Sophocles was also involved in Athenian political and military affairs. Owing to his practical gifts with language he was involved in negotiations with the allies of Chios and Samos. During the Peloponnesian War he was one of the generals. In 435 B.C.E., fulfilling the office of Hellenotamias, he was at the head of the management of the treasure of the allies, which was kept on the Acropolis; and in 413 B.C.E., when the question arose of giving to the state an oligarchical constitution, he was on the commission of preliminary investigation. He also filled a priestly office.

The charm and the refinement of his character seem to have won him many friends. Among them was the historian Herodotus. He was also deemed by antiquity as a man especially beloved by the gods, particularly by Asclepius, god of medicine, whose priest he probably was, and who was said to have granted him health and vigor of mind to extreme old age. By the Athenian Nicostrate he had a son, Iophon, who won some repute as a tragic poet, and by Theoris of Sicyon another son, Ariston, father of another Sophocles who gained fame for himself by writing tragedies of his own, and afterwards by the production of his grandfather's dramas. There was a legend that a quarrel arose between Sophocles and his son Iophon, on account of his preference for this grandson, and that, when summoned by Iophon before the court as weak in mind and unable to manage his affairs, he obtained his own absolute acquittal by reading the chorus on his native place in the Oedipus Coloneus [Plutarch, Moralia, p. 775 B]. The tales of his death, in 405 B.C.E., are also mythical. According to one account, he was choked by a grape. According to others, he died either when publicly reciting the Antigone, or from excessive joy at some dramatic victory. The only fact unanimously attested by his contemporaries is that his death was as dignified as his life. We are also told that the god Dionysus, by repeated apparitions in dreams, prompted the general of the Spartans, who were then attacking Athens, to grant a truce in order to bury the poet in the family grave outside the city. On his tomb stood a Siren as a symbol of the charm of poetry. After his death the Athenians worshipped him as a hero and offered an annual sacrifice in his memory. In later times, on the proposal of the orator Lycurgus, a bronze statue was erected to him, together with Aeschylus and Euripides, in the the-atre, and an authorized and standard copy of his dramas was made to preserve them.

Even in his lifetime, and indeed through the whole of antiquity, he was held to be the most perfect of tragedians; one of the ancient writers calls him the "pupil of Homer" [Vita Anon., ad fin.]. If Aeschylus is the creator of Greek tragedy, it was Sophocles who brought it to perfection. He extended the dramatic action (1) by the introduction of a third actor, so that three people could be on stage in addition to the chorus, while in his last pieces he even added a fourth; and (2) by a due subordination of the chorus, to which, however, he gave a more artistic development, while he increased its numbers from twelve to fifteen persons. These moves made dialogue all the more important. He also perfected the costumes and decoration. But Sophocles' great mastery of his art appears, above all, in the clearness with which he portrays his characters, which are developed with a scru-pulous attention to details, and in which he is not satisfied, like Aeschylus, with mere outlines, nor, as Euripides often did, with copies from common life. His heroes, too, are ideal figures, like those of Aeschylus. While they lack the superhuman loftiness of Aeschylus' creations, they have a certain ideal truth of their own. In contrast to Euripides, Sophocles, like Aeschylus, is pro-foundly religious, and the attitude which he adopts towards popular religion is marked by an instinctive reverence. The grace peculiar to Sophocles' nature makes itself felt in his language, the charm of which was universally praised by the ancients. With his noble simplicity he takes in this respect also a middle place between the weightiness and boldness of the language of Aeschylus, and the smoothness and rhetorical embellishment which distinguish that of Euripides.

Sophocles was a very prolific poet. The number of his plays is given as between 123 and 130, of which above 100 are known to us by their titles and by fragments. Only seven have been preserved complete: The Trachinice (so named from the chorus, and its treating of the death of Heracles), the Ajax, the Philoctetes, the Electra, the Oedipus Tyrannus, the Oedipus at Colonus, and the Antigone. The last-mentioned play was produced in the spring of 440 B.C.E.; the Philoctetes in 410 B.C.E.; the Oedipus at Colonus was not put on the stage until 401 B.C.E., after his death, by his grandson Sophocles. Besides tragedies, Sophocles composed paeans, elegies, epigrams, and a work in prose on the chorus.

Source: http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/tragedy/index.php?page=sophocles

About Sophocles-the original storyteller of Antigone

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Electra by Sophocles

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Phaedra by Seneca

The Birds by Aristophanes

The Frogs by Aristophanes

The Trojan Women by Euripides

Medea by Eurpides

Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripes

Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius

The Illiad and The Odyssey by Homer

ONLINE RESOURCES- Greek Civilization

http://www.socialstudiescms.com/#!ancient-greece/c5fe

http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/educational/index_html.html

Recommended Reading

PRE-SHOW QUESTIONS 1. Antigone needs to fulfill an illegal mission she feels respects the wishes of her late brother. What are the potential

risks? What are the rewards?

2. The chorus states that two brothers, Polynices and Eteocles, fight over the throne after the passing of King Oedipus, which ends with both of them dead. How could they have resolved this struggle for power in a positive way that benefited both parties?

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Let’s imagine we are in the moment where Creon is deciding what to do about Antigone and the unburied body of Polynices. What else could have happened in this situation? Create a life for the characters after this moment and show how this decision impacted this. (Ex. If Creon decided to bury the body, would Haemon and Antigone have gotten married? What would their life look like? Would they have kids?)

Recreating AntigoneA ELA Classroom Activity

1. As a class or in groups, have students place the following events in sequential order.a. Creon gives up on trying to save Antigone and orders her to death by a rock prison. Antigone

hangs herself inside this cave.b. Feeling as though life is empty, Haemon kills himself. Queen Eurydice, hearing of her son’s death,

kills herself as well.c. The chorus summarizes Antigone and her more attractive sister Ismene at a ball, where

Haemon, son of King Creon, proposes to Antigone. But it is foreshadowed this marriage will fail because Antigone will die burying her brother, Polynices.

d. There is peace in the city and lonely Creon sits on his throne waiting for death.e. Antigone is dragged in after trying to rebury the body in plain site of the guards. Her refusal

to stop burying the body puts Creon in a situation. He explains the hidden truth that the two brothers were traitors.

2. Using the comic strip sheet on the following page, have students storyboard the 5-6 most important parts of the story.

3. Assign each group at part of the story to act out in front of the class.

Creon's DecisionA Creative Writing Classroom/Homework Activity

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Creon's DecisionA Creative Writing Classroom/Homework Activity (Cont.)

BEGINNING

MIDDLE

END

BEGINNING

MIDDLE

END

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1. There you go, frowning, glowering, wanting your own stubborn way in everything. Listen to me. I'm right oftener than you are.

2. You might give me credit for knowing my own mind. It’s you I love, and no one else.

3. I wasn't very sure that you loved me as a woman; and I did it - because I wanted you to want me. I was trying to be more like other girls.

4. It's like this, sir. Soon as it happened we said “Got to tell the chief about this before anybody else spills it. He’ll want to know right away.”

5. Stop chattering and tell me why you are here. If anything has gone wrong, I’ll break all three of you.

6. The sun was coming up and it was beginning to smell, so we moved it up on a little rise to get him in the wind.

7. You thought that because you come of the royal line, because you were my niece and were going to marry my son, I shouldn't dare have you killed.

8. The King stood trembling in the far corner of the tomb, and Haemon went on staring. Then, without a word, he stabbed himself and lay down beside Antigone, embracing her in a great pool of blood.

9. Creon! If you kill her, you’ll have to kill me too.

10. Clear out! If the story doesn't get around, you won't be shot.

11. The thing is catching! Who knows but that lots of people will catch the disease from me! What are you waiting for?

WHO SAID IT?

POST-SHOW QUESTIONS 1. The story portrays Ismene, Antigone’s sister, as far more attractive and personable than Antigone, yet prince

Haemon chooses to marry Antigone instead. What are his reasons for marrying Antigone?

2. The Greek chorus is a role used throughout the tragedy. What purpose does it serve? How would the play be different if the chorus was not present?

3. Creon struggled with the idea of law consistency when family got involved. Do you think it best to protect family, or hold everyone accountable equally. If you were in charge, what would you do? What reasons make up your decision?

4. Following Creon’s decision to put Antigone to death, the death of Haemon and Queen Eurydice soon followed leaving Creon alone in his kingdom. Do you believe Creon made the right decision?

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1. There you go, frowning, glowering, wanting your own stubborn way in everything. Listen to me. I'm right oftener than you are. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ISMENE

2. You might give me credit for knowing my own mind. It’s you I love, and no one else. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HAEMON

3. I wasn't very sure that you loved me as a woman; and I did it - because I wanted you to want me. I was trying to be more like other girls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ANTIGONE

4. It's like this, sir. Soon as it happened we said “Got to tell the chief about this before anybody else spills it. He’ll want to know right away.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GUARD

5. Stop chattering and tell me why you are here. If anything has gone wrong, I’ll break all three of you. . . . . . . . CREON

6. The sun was coming up and it was beginning to smell, so we moved it up on a little rise to get him in the wind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GUARD

7. You thought that because you come of the royal line, because you were my niece and were going to marry my son, I shouldn't dare have you killed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CREON

8. The King stood trembling in the far corner of the tomb, and Haemon went on staring. Then, without a word, he stabbed himself and lay down beside Antigone, embracing her in a great pool of blood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MESSENGER

9. Creon! If you kill her, you’ll have to kill me too. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ISMENE

10. Clear out! If the story doesn't get around, you won't be shot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CREON

11. The thing is catching! Who knows but that lots of people will catch the disease from me! What are you waiting for? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ANTIGONE

WHO SAID IT? (ANSWERS)