Family Study Guide

About the Author:

About the Adaptor: Reginald André Jackson Reginald is a playwright and actor whose works in-clude stage adaptations of Christopher Paul Curtis' The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 and Bud, Not Buddy. As an actor he has performed at Seattle Reper-tory Theatre, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, Seat-tle Shakespeare Company, Book-It Repertory Theatre (where Bud, Not Buddy originated), and Seattle Chil-dren's Theatre, among others. He currently lives in Seattle, Washington, with his love, Liza, and their young son Julius

Christopher Paul Curtis (born May 10, 1953) Christopher Paul Curtis was born in Flint, Michigan, the setting for many of his books. He was a great reader, but as a youth he could not find books that "were about me." After high school, Curtis spent 13 years on the assembly line of Flint's historic Fisher Body plant. He attended college at night and wrote during his breaks to escape the noise of the factory. He wrote his first book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, in long-hand in the children's room of the Windsor Public Library.

What is an adaptor?

An adaptor is someone who takes a piece of literature and changes it so it will work in performance. Many times this means limiting characters, editing content, or adding more action.

The Great Depression In October of 1929 the stock market crashed - deepening a devastating depression that had an effect on our country for nearly 10 years. The decade of the 1930s saw the Great Depression in the United States and many other countries. During this decade large numbers of people lived in poverty, desper-ately in need of more food, clothing, and shelter. At the worst point of the Great Depression, in 1933, one in four Americans who wanted to work was unable to find a job. African Americans entered the Depression long before the stock market crash in 1929, and they stayed there longer than other Americans. By 1933, African Americans found it all but impossible to find jobs of any kind in agriculture or industry. As cotton prices dropped from eighteen cents per pound on the eve of the Depression to less that six cents per pound in 1933, some 12,000 black sharecroppers lost their opportunities in southern agriculture and moved increasingly toward southern, northern, and west-ern cities.

What was happening then? Bud Not Buddy is set in 1936

Hoovervilles Homeless men, women, and children were forced to take up residence in shacks as a result of the Great Depression. Angry, cold, and starving Americans, named these communities in honor of President Herbert Hoover because of the lack of Governmen-tal help.

Does anyone in your family remember the Great Depression? Do your grandparents? Ask them to tell you stories!

Family Activity

What first got you interested in set de-sign? I used to collect bits and pieces of junk off the street, and the playground, and out of the trash and build little models. What is your favorite part of design? I like everything about it. I like researching and reading the script and letting an overall image come to me. I love drafting and doing all the nuts and bolts stuff, and then six weeks later coming in and seeing it up. What was your inspiration for the BNB design? When I read the play, there were a couple passages that jumped out at me. One was the notion of one door closing, another one opening, and then Bud’s got this really nice speech at the beginning where he talks about letting go of something that he realizes isn’t working any more. I also did a lot of photo research of encampments during the depression to come up with the shape of things. What is the hardest part? Figuring it all out. It’s one thing to come up with an idea like that, but it’s another to spend a few hours at a drafting table figuring out the exact measurements, how it all fits, and how to make it structurally safe so it doesn’t all fall down. Anything else you would like to say? I’m hoping this might inspire some of the young people to figure out what they can do with the bits and pieces of their life. Working with what they have at hand. That’s kind of what the play’s about. I love the play.

An Interview with the Set Designer Kenton Jones

Build a fort with blankets, pillows, and paper. OR build a

model of a set with whatever you have at

hand.

Family Activity

Sketch of the floor plan

A model of the set

Herman E. Calloway (Bud’s grandfather) is based on Curtis’s pa-ternal grandfather, Herman E. Curtis. A classically trained violinist, Herman Curtis also played bass fiddle, accordion, and pi-ano and directed several bands. One of the bands was called Herman E. Curtis and the Dusky Devastators of the Depression, like the band in Bud, Not Buddy. Lefty was also based on Curtis’s other grandfather. Earl “Lefty” Lewis, a Negro Baseball League pitcher.

Who is Herman E. Calloway?

Bud’s Travels... Family Activity

Use the map to find places

you’ve been in Michigan. Now, look at a map of

the world. Where have you been and where would you like

to go?

Draw a line connecting the dots of Bud’s travels!

What did they say?

Here are some words from the play that you might not have heard before: Copacetic - fine; completely satisfactory; OK

Decoder Ring - an inexpensive toy popular

among young children from the 1930s through

the rest of the 20th century. It was occasionally

included as a toy prize in boxes of breakfast ce-

real and snack foods.

Embouchure - the mouthpiece of a wind instru-

ment and the adjustment of a player's mouth to

such a mouthpiece

Lopsided - heavier, larger, or more developed

on one side than on the other; unevenly bal-

anced; unsymmetrical

Prodigy - a person, especially a child or young

person, having extraordinary talent or ability

Scamp - a playful, mischievous, or naughty

young person

Telegram - a message or communication

sent by telegraph (long distance communi-

cation through wires)

Post-Show Questions: -What was your favorite part? -If you were the adaptor, how would you change the play? -How do you think his life would be different if Bud grew up today? -Bud had a list of survival rules he shared with the audience for a “funner life.” What rules can you remember? What survival rules do you have?

Eastern Michigan University Theatre 734.487.1220 emu_theatre@emich.edu

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