Education and Outreach Tour 2013-2014 Presents

The Commedia Cinderella

By Lane Riosley

A Teacher’s Guide

PCPA's Outreach Tour is funded in part through grants from a number of gracious organizations. Thank you to our generous sponsors:

PXP * Target * Nichols Foundation * The Towbes Foundation * Santa Barbara Foundation * Santa Maria Arts Council * ERG * The Children’s Creative Project *

A Note To the Teacher

This study guide has been written to give teachers information about PCPA’s production of The Commedia Cinderella that can be taken into the classroom. Included are a synopsis, information about our production, pre- and post- performance exercises, and a few activity pages in keeping with our theme. The vocabulary lists are all terms found in The Commedia Cinderella and may be used in conjunction with some of the suggested activities.

Our hope is that this study guide enables you and those in your classroom to prepare for our performance, and that you, as the audience, after learning more about the different elements of our production, can enjoy it even more.

We are very pleased to be producing this adaptation of The Commedia Cinderella. This production focuses specifically on introducing students to a classic piece of children’s literature through dramatic performance. This is an excellent opportunity to introduce your students to classic stories and literature that have been adapted for the stage or for film.

Please remind all students that this is a live performance, and they, as the audience, are one of the most important parts of the production. Our actors want to give the best performance they can, and a polite and attentive audience is what makes that possible. We know that you and your students will have questions for our Outreach Tour, so as long as time allows, we like to have a question-and-answer session following the performance. Until then, for questions or to get more information, please call Leo Cortez the Director of Education and Outreach at 805-928-7731 x3156. Or email him at pcpaoutreach@pcpa.org

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

The Commedia Cinderella

With roots in the humorous, physical acting style of Italian Commedia Dell’Arte, this hilarious rendition of one of the world’s most famous and loved fairytales is just pure fun.

The commedia players, a band of lovable vagabound actors, are poor travelers who have made all their props from objects they’ve found and costumes that are partly hand-made and partyly inherited.

The players - Columbina, Isabella, Lelio, and Il Capitano – love the story of Cinderella so much that they try to improve upon it whenever possible.

Your students my know the story of Cinderella, who dreams of a chance to win the hand of the handsome Prince, but they’ve never seen it told like this.

This piece is both hysterically funny and holds a strong message of never judging someone one their appearance. And always believe in magic!

About the Playwright

Lane Riosley is a writer living and working in Houston, Texas. She is the 1991 winner of the Roger L. Stevens Award in Playwrighting from the Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts' Fund for New American Plays. Lane also has written a screenplay for KUHT-TV/PBS television series CENTERSTAGE as featured in the 1993 American Film Institute Festival in Los Angeles, and she served as a speaker at Theatrefest '93, the 43rd annual convention of the Texas Educational Theatre Association. Lane most recently served as a panel speaker at Comicpalooza 2013.

Currently, Lane has 19 plays in publication, ten with Pioneer Drama. She is the author of the Houston Museum of Natural Science Burke Baker Planetarium program and Lucky Hightops and the Cosmic Cat Patrol, a six part science theatre series. Lane’s plays have been produced by schools and theatres nationwide including The Taradiddle Players, The Actor's Company of Burbank, The Little Top Theatre Company, The West Coast Ensemble, The Texas Renaissance Festival, EarlyStages of Houston, Stages Repertory Theatre, The Merry Go Round Theatre and the Asolo Theatre. She is an alumnus of the Sam Houston State University Department of Theatre and Dance.

More information about Lane and her work can be found on her website, http://www.laneriosley.com/

About the Play

The players love the story of Cinderella so much they try to improve upon it whenever possible. Il Capitano, the mischief-maker of the group, boasts about getting the role of the prince. Columbina puts an end to his bragging by giving Lelio the prince’s role and making Il Capitano the prince’s servant instead! Columbina brings the Fairy Godmother role to life with a slew of silly spells. Commedia dell’arte, Italian for "comedy of the professional artists," was a popular form of improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 15th century and continued in its appeal for centuries. At that time, all performances were unscripted and held outdoors, with only simple props and no scenery. The influence of commedia dell’arte is evident in much of our contemporary comedy, most notably in the great commedia artists of the 20th century, the Marx Brothers. When presented today, the commedia players — such as Il Capitano, Lelio, Isabella, and Columbina — are portrayed as poor travelers who have made all their props from objects they’ve found. Their costumes, are partly hand-made and partly inherited from wealthier people who either tired of that fashion or thought better of it. The various talents of the actors’ acrobatics, dance, music, quick wit and insight into human nature, all make the plays as entertaining and relevant today as they were to the people of Renaissance Europe, when commedia dell’arte was at its height of popularity.

Cast of Characters Stock Characters

Columbina – Common lady, but very clever and good at dance and tumbling. She is the unofficial leader of the troupe. In this adaptation of Cinderella, Columbina plays the parts of the Old Woman, the Fairy God Mother, and Simper.

Il Capitano – Bombastic and proud with a large nose. He is a long time player and he will be playing the parts of Grovel and Sneer.

Isabella - Fancies herself a lady, but is also funny and a good dancer. Isabella is a young romantic and she plays Cinderella in today’s play.

Lelio – is a handsome, young romantic. He plays the part of Prince Profile the Fourth and Dither.

Cinderella Characters

Cinderella – A kind, smart, hardworking, feisty young woman. She lives with her stepmother and stepsisters who are not very nice to her. All she really wants is to go to the ball to meet the Prince.

Dither – is the youngest of the two stepsisters. She is silly, playful, and easily excited.

Grovel – is the servant to Prince Profile the Fourth. He does everything the Prince asks of him. He has some great ideas, but does not do a good job of making the Prince laugh.

Fairy Godmother – a magical woman who wants to help Cinderella get to the ball. She is often late and has some interesting ideas of how to be helpful. Her magical spells are very musical.

Prince Profile the Fourth – The Prince is very lonely and looking for a bride. He spends most of his days wandering around the kingdom with his servant looking for something to make him smile.

Simper – the oldest of the two stepsisters, Simper thinks she is a very good dancer. She whines a lot and is very mean to Cinderella.

Sneer – is the wicked stepmother to Cinderella. She is very rude to Cinderella and thinks that her daughters are the fit to marry the Prince. She does everything she can to prepare them for the ball.

Setting

Time: 17th Century

Place: Italy

The stage is bare except for a chest full of props. The troupe has brought along with them a number of musical instruments, costume pieces, and masks to help tell their story. Everything that you see has been found, borrow, or built by the players.

The Story of Cinderella Cinderella is one of the oldest stories told again and again in almost every culture starting as early as Ancient Greece. It became most popular with Charles Perault’s book written in 1697 about a young Cinder girl who was living in unfortunate circumstances that magically changed into remarkable fortune. The Grimm Brothers later told their version of it and most of us have seen the Disney animated musical that was created in 1950. It is a story of a young woman whose widowed father marries a woman with two daughters. The new step family does not like Cinderella very much and they are very jealous of the affection she receives from her father. When Cinderella’s father dies, she is left in the care of her stepmother, who decides that Cinderella will earn her place in the home by doing all of the chores. Cinderella is treated like a servant more so than a daughter and sister.

Meanwhile in the palace, the Prince is lonely and looking for a bride. He decides, with the help of his servant, that he is going to through a royal bride and invite all the

eligible young women in the kingdom. As the news spreads throughout the kingdom, Cinderella really wants to go. Her stepmother will not allow it and she is required to clean the carriage and make new dresses for her family so they can go to the ball.

Cinderella is obedient and does what she is told, but she really wants to go to the ball. Suddenly a Fairy Godmother appears and tells Cinderella she will help her meet the prince and get her to the ball. Cinderella is resistant at first because she doesn’t believe in magic and didn’t know she had a Fairy Godmother. Her Fairy Godmother gets to work and magically transfroms Cinderella’s dress of rags into a beautiful gown to wear to the ball and gives her fairy glass slippers to wear. As Cinderella is about to leave for the ball in her new carriage made from a pumpkin, the Fairy Godmother tells her she must be home by midnight because that is when all the magic will vanish.

At the ball no one recognizes Cinderella and thinks she must be a Princess. The Prince spends the evening dancing and laughing with her. He thinks that he has found the most wonderful and lovely woman in the whole world. Cinderella is having such a wonderful time, she forget about the time and has to rush out as the clock chimes for twleve. As she runs out, she loses one of her glass slippers. The Prince finds the slipper and decided to search the whole kingdom until he finds the foot that fits the slipper.

When the Prince comes to their house, her Stepmother refuses to let Cinderella try on the slipper and banishes her to the kitchen. The Fairy Godmother is not very happy that Cinderella didn’t pay attention to the clock, but she still helps her find happiness by pushing her into the living room where the the Prince is trying the magic slipper on the feet of her stepfamily. Cinderella appears and tries on the slipper. It fits perfect. The Prince has found his love and he asks Cinderella to marry him. And they live happily ever after.

Commedia dell’ arte Commedia dell’ arte is the “Comedy of Art” or “Comedy of Professional Artists.” It is unwritten or improvised drama around a pre-established scenario or story. It is a form of theatre that began in 16th century Italy and was the start of sketch and scenario comedy, which we still see today in programs like Saturday Night Live. Commedia is characterized by the use of masks, stock characters, physical comedy, and lazzi. While very fun to watch, it is a highly disciplined art requiring both strong technique and a sense of ensemble playing. The commedia players respond off of each other, the audience reactions, and the lazzi they create. The players create all of the sound that aids in telling the story. There are a number of musical numbers and impromtu dialogue that varies with each performance.

What is a Stock Character? The actors of the commedia troupe represent stock characters whick rely heavily on specific types of based on personality, manner of speech, and other stereotypical behavior. There is a lot of exaggeration inside the characters and types. The three main types of stock characters are the servants, the masters, and the lovers. The masters have money and want to hold onto it very tightly. The servants want money and work very hard, often playing tricks on their masters, to get the money. The lovers just want to be together despite the resistance from their parents. The friction between each group of characters results in physical and bold comedy. There is a constant power struggle the groups and this is where much of the fun and lazzi comes from.

What is Lazzi? Lazzi is an improvised comedic dialogue or action commonly used in Commedia. During improvised performances a lazzi may be used to fill time or to ensure a certain frequency of laughs in a show. For practical purposes a lazzi may be any bit of business that may be easily recalled and performed in another situation, somewhat like a catch phrase. In any given troupe, the senior player could have well over one hundred lazzis at his/her disposal. The performer would not only have these well-rehearsed but would also pass them on to future generations within the troupe. As soon as a lazzi is initiated by one player, all of the other players must fall in, thus performing a lazzi requires every member of the troupe to know the routine as well as great teamwork. Lazzi can be planned or unplanned. It is generally used to interrupt the stage story and show off special skills (acrobatics, silly dance moves, songs) or make the audience laugh.

Glossary Adaptation: Changing a book, poem, or play into a different form. Lane Riosley’s adaptation of The Commedia Cinderella is an adaptation of the Grimms Brothers story of Cinderella.

Ball: a large party where there is formal dancing

Carriage: a vehicle with wheels that is covered and is used for carrying people.

Coachmen: a male driver of a coach or other carriage.

Commedia: a type of Italian comedy developed in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in which masked players depicted stereotyped characters in stock situations.

Dither: a state of excitement, nervousness, or indecision

Elegant: fine or rich in quality.

Evil: having very bad character or behavior.

Grace: beauty in form, style, motion, or behavior

Grovel: to be or move about in a bowed or horizontal position, as with fear or humility.

Handsome: having an attractive, healthy appearance

Hearth: the floor of a fireplace

Herald: a person who conveys or announces official news.

Livery men: a servant who owns or is employed in a horse stable.

Magic: mysterious control of physical things or events through special actions or words.

Mask: a covering that hides all or part of the face to help show different characters.

Narrator: A person or character who tells the story to the audience.

Performance: A particular entertainment shown to an audience.

Play: a story written to be acted on a stage.

Prince: a person who is a son or grandson of a king or queen.

Profile: an outline or view of something from the side.

Props: a piece of furniture or other movable article used in the presentation of a play; stage property.

Rude: to act in a way that hurts other people; not polite.

Set: the background for the play to be performed on

Simper: to smile in a silly or exaggerated manner.

Sneer: to smile or move one's mouth to show disrespect.

Stepmother: the wife of one's father in a later marriage, not one's natural mother.

Stepsister: the daughter of one's stepmother or stepfather by a previous marriage.

Troupe: a theatrical or musical company, esp. one that travels.

Vain: having too much pride in one's appearance; stuck-up

Wicked: very bad; naughty; mischievous.

Pre-Performance Activities 1. The story of Cinderella is one of the oldest and most adapted stories ever. In a

few short sentences, have your students tell you the story of Cinderella.

2. What other fairy tales or short stories do you and your student enjoy? How would you tell those stories in a few sentences?

3. Commedia Troupes often created their work from an outline of a story and they improvised all of the lines. If you and your students were to create your own version of Cinderella, what would you need to tell the story? Who are the essential characters? What is the basic plot line?

4. What is a Fairy Godmother? If you had a Fairy Godmother, what would you want her to help you with?

5. Why is time, especially midnight, so important to our story?

6. Fairy Tales begin with “Once Upon a Time…” and end with “And they lived happily ever after.” Have your students create their own short Fairy Tale.

7. In commedia, the troupes often use found objects to create their shows (props, costumes, instruments) or they make them from materials that they already have. Using only things that can be found in your classroom, ask your students to create a scene from Cinderella.

8. For many of your students, this may be their first experience seeing a play before. Here are a few questions to help introduce your students to theatre:

a. What is a play?

b. How is a play different from watching a movie or television program?

c. Have you ever attended a play? If yes, what was it like?

d. What does it mean to be a good audience member?

e. Why don’t we talk to the actors when they are on stage?

f. Can you laugh if you think something is funny?

g. Can you clap if you really like something?

Post-Performance Activities The cast always loves to receive feedback on our performances. After watching our production of Commedia Cinderella, we would love to hear your thoughts or see your drawings of your favorite parts of our show.

1. Who was your favorite character in the play and why?

2. What was your favorite part of the show?

3. What was the magic of the fairy glass slippers? Why does it only fit on Cinderella?

4. Who do you think had the best dance moves in the show?

5. Did you like all of the costumes?

6. What did you think of our set and props?

7. The actors created all of the sound, music, and songs for the show. Do you think they did a good job?

8. With your students and a few simple instruments, can you create a song for the end of the show like we did?

9. What are some of the words the Fairy Godmother used in her magic?

10. There were only four actors in our play. How many characters did each actor play? How did they do this?

11. What does Prince Profile like about Cinderella?

Activity Pages In our story, the Fairy Godmother uses objects and creatures found in Cinderella’s home to help her get to the ball. She uses a pumpkin to make a carriage, a lizard for a livery men, a rat for a coachmen, and two mice as horses. How would you turn these things into magic? What would they look like transformed?

What colors do you need for magic?

What are the words to your magic spells?

How would this lizard dress as a livery man?

How would this rat look as a coachmen?

Turn this mouse into a horse.

Or dress up this horse for the ball.

In our story, Prince Profile is having a Christmas Ball to find a wife. How would you

decorate his castle for Christmas?

How would you decorate this tree?

Many of the characters in our show are wearing masks. Can you create a mask for

your favorite characters?

Cast & Production Team

It takes a lot of hard working and talented artists to put together our tour.

We would like to acknowledge and thank them for all of their hard work.

Cast

Lucas Blair Lelio, Prince Profile, Dither

Casey Canino Isabella, Cinderella

Paul Henry Il Capitano, Grovel, Sneer

Andrea Hilbrant Columbina, Fairy Godmother, Simper

Production Team

Director Katie Mack

Assistant Director Chris Forrer

Stage Manager Liv Scott

Scenic Designer Leo Cortez

Costume Designer Fred Deeben

Properties Lead Connie Preciado, Keely Brown

Sound Design Cast

Paints

Abby Hogan, Bessie Lebeda,

Jackie Roberts

Commedia Advisor Gale McNeeley