Lesson Plan on the play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell



Useful Theatre Terms

actor: a person who performs in a play

blackout: when all lights are simultaneously turned off to indicate the end of a scene

blocking: a plan that indicates where an actor stands and moves

center stage: the middle portion of the stage floor

cue: a signal that tells an actor when to speak or move

downstage: the area of the stage that is closest to the audience

improvisation: a drama that is not scripted, but is made up as you go

monologue: a scene when only one actor speaks

offstage: the area of the stage that is not seen by an audience

onstage: the area of a stage where actors perform

pantomime: a story performed without words  

proscenium: a decorative frame that arches around the stage's acting area

stage directions: instructions given to actors to tell them when and where to move on stage

stage left: the area of stage that is on the actor's left

stage right: the area of stage that is on the actor's right

upstage: the back of the stage or the area that is the farthest away from the audience

A Brief History of Theatre

When watching the television show, “Gilligan’s Island” there are some features that are reminiscent of the Greek and Roman theatre. For example, the opening credits on “Gilligan’s Island” explain the story of what events took place before the action of the show starts to kind of catch the audience up to speed and give them a little background to help them understand what the situation is when the episode begins. This is similar to the role that the Greek chorus played. They served, partly, as narrators to explain the action and background behind the play to help the audience understand what the play was about. The chorus was a very important part of the Greek theatre as is the theme song at the beginning of “Gilligan’s Island.” They both allowed major portions of the plays/shows action to be given ‘off stage’ so that the main plot could be focused on. It allows the writer to get to the point of the play/show quickly without losing any important pieces and still giving the audience a full picture of the message that he/she is trying to convey.

Another similarity is the use of stock characters in ‘Gilligan’s Island.” The role of the protagonist is played by the Skipper and the role of the foil is played by Gilligan. The Skipper is strong and pretty smart and Gilligan is scrawny and not very smart at all. It is sort of hard to definitively assign the other character types because they seem to fluctuate from episode to episode. For the most part, however, the Professor plays the role of the raissoneur or the confidante because he always seems to have the right answers for how to do things. The rest of the characters such as Ginger and the millionaire and his wife seem to be the stereotypes. Finally, the antagonist role changes the most from episode to episode. Sometimes, it is played by someone who comes to the island that they are on or sometimes, it is just the island itself because they are always unable to leave for some reason or another. Like in the Greek and Roman theatre, using stock characters allows the audience to relate to the characters that are being portrayed and gets the audience to feel like they are more involved with what is happening. This makes the jokes funnier and the action more believable because the character types are familiar to the audience in contexts outside of the performance.

The last major similarity is the continuity or lack thereof between the different episodes of “Gilligan’s Island.” Each individual episode of the show has a beginning, middle, and end, and the characters never seem to get anywhere by the end of the episode. They at least never get off the island by the end of the episodes. This means that all of the episodes can be watched in no particular order and the events will still make sense because it’s just the action in the middle of the show that changes from episode to episode. This is similar to the way that the theatre festivals were performed in Greek and Roman times. The plays were performed over several days and they all related to each other but they all didn’t necessarily go in a particular order. This could be a good thing because if one misses and episode of “Gilligan’s Island” or if one misses one of the plays being performed they won’t be behind when the next show/play is on.

Many of the modern television shows can be compared to the Greek and Roman theatre styles in this same way. There are probably even more elements that can be compared that aren’t as significant or as evident in our modern TV shows. What is evident though is the way that people entertain themselves today is very similar to the way that people entertained themselves in Greek and Roman times. The predominant themes and techniques are recycled over and over and are still just as effective as they were when they were first used.

Women's Experiences in the Pre-World War I Period

[pic]

|Women on the ranching and agricultural frontiers worked year-round. They provided food, |[pic] |

|clothing, and performed outside labour such as caring for the farm’s livestock, making |A Pioneer Woman |

|butter, and growing gardens. For many women in southern Alberta the idea that men and |Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection |

|women occupied separate spheres – men in the work force and women in the home – was not a |[pic] |

|reality. In many cases, particularly in the early homestead years, husbands and elder sons|Women shared farm work equally with men |

|left the homestead to engage in labour that could bring to the family farm necessary cash |Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection |

|for farm implements. |[pic] |

|While their husbands were away, women ran the farm, planted crops, and cared for children.|The Youngs Sisters, owners of a newspaper and stationery |

|Mrs. Mae Olstad of Camrose, Alberta, in 1975 recalled life on the farm: "You know I was |store. Four of the few female members of Calgary's business |

|the veterinary on the farm and everything else…. He was no good at that at all and so if |elite, ca. 1908 |

|any animal got sick it was me. Oh I can remember helping a young heifer with her calf. She|Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection. |

|couldn’t have it…and I knew my husband was gone… When he went, he didn’t come back for | |

|awhile." Source: Harvest Yet to Reap, p. 54. In rural areas doctors were usually scarce | |

|and women cared for the sick and injured. Pregnant women relied on their neighbours or | |

|community midwives for assistance during childbirth. | |

|Legally, women had few rights: they lacked basic property rights, In urban centres like | |

|Calgary and Lethbridge women likewise enjoyed fluid boundaries between the private and | |

|public spheres. Yet, their lives differed from rural women because they enjoyed more | |

|frequent social contacts, and young single women frequently worked before marriage. The | |

|types of employment women could take and train for, however, was limited. | |

Marriage as an institution

Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

Legally, women had few rights: they lacked basic property rights, divorce proceedings were harder for women, they could not vote, and they could not sit on juries. Although single or widowed women could acquire, hold, and dispose of property as a man, they could not homestead unless they were the sole head of the family. Married women could not dispose of or acquire land without their husband’s permission until 1906. Before the Dower Act was passed by the Alberta legislature in 1917, women could be left with nothing if their husbands died. The Act gave widows security by stating that they would receive the use of their husband’s homestead for life and that while he was alive he could not mortgage, encumber, or sell the property without his wife’s consent. In regards to divorce, while men only had to prove that their wives had committed adultery, women had to provide additional proof of cruelty and desertion. The law was not changed until 1927 when the Alberta Domestic Relations Act decreed that a woman could apply for judicial separation and alimony following a two-year separation from her husband. Women did not acquire equal rights over their children until 1920. Electorally, unmarried women who met certain property qualifications could elect and serve on school boards and, in 1894, widows and single women were granted the right to vote, but not hold office, in municipal elections. The degree to which the legal system reflected the patriarchal nature of early twentieth century society is evident in the punishment meted out for certain crimes: stealing cattle (14 years in prison); assaulting a male (10 years and a whipping); assaulting a woman (no more than 2 years).

Women’s Experiences in the Pre-World War I Period

Questions

1. Describe the life experiences of women during this period. Include in your answer how life in the city was different than life on a farm. What freedoms did women in the city have that farming women did not?

2. How were property rights different for men than for women? When did this change?

3. What were women’s rights like when it came to marriage and children? To the legal system?

4. Which changes do you feel were most important for women at that time?

Susan Glaspell Biography

Trifles: A Play in One Act

Susan Glaspell   (1882-1948)

BIOGRAPHY

Susan Glaspell grew up in Davenport, Iowa, where she was born in 1882. Glaspell began her career as an author of sentimental short stories for popular magazines. By 1915, she had turned her energies to the theater, becoming one of the founders of the Provincetown Players, a group that worked with experimental drama. In 1916, Glaspell moved to Greenwich Village in New York with the theater company- which had changed its name to the Playwright's Theater. She played an important role with the group as a writer, a director, and an actor. This theater group came to have a major influence on the way American drama developed. She worked with them for two seasons. Trifles was written to be performed with a group of one-act plays by Eugene O'Neill at the company's summer playhouse. She wrote other, longer plays that also have a feminist perspective. They are The Verge - which was written in 1921 - and Allison's House, which she wrote in 1931. The later is a Pulitzer Prize–winning drama based upon the life of Emily Dickinson: a very famous American poet. All in all, Glaspell wrote more than forty short stories, twenty plays, and ten novels. Her best works deal with the theme of the "new woman," presenting a hero who represents the American pioneer spirit of independence and freedom. She was one of the first feminists in the theater. Susan Glaspell died in 1948.

1. When was Susan Glaspell born?

2. Where were her first stories printed?

a. in newspapers b. on the Internet

c. in magazines d. in a book of short stories

3. When did she begin to work in the theater?

a. 1915 b. 1951

c. 1916 d. 1921

4. Which of these did Glaspell NOT do in the company?

a. write b. produce

c. direct d. act

5. For how long did Glaspell work with the Playwright's Theater?

6. Who was Emily Dickinson?

a. an actor b. a playwright

c. a poet d. a director

7. Which play is about the life of Emily Dickinson?

a. Trifles b. The Verge

c. Allison's House d. Pulitzer Prize

8. How old was Glaspell when she died?

9. Which words describe Susan Glaspell according to the passage?

___a. director ___b. mother ___c. feminist

___d. authoritarian ___ e. democrat ___f. author

___ g. politician ___h. actress

Blocking a Scene

Read the first scene from “Trifles”. Design the scenery for that scene. Then block (place) the characters on the stage, paying attention to the stage directions given in the play.

Complete this table for FOUR pieces of scenery that you have placed on the stage.

|Scenery |Describe what it looks like |Why did you put this part of the scenery where you did? |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

Circle the areas that the actors will use, and label it for each actor.

ACTOR ONE

How will this actor use this space? (walk, sit, stand, move around)? Describe it.

ACTOR TWO

How will this actor use this space? (walk, sit, stand, move around)? Describe it.

Make A Scene

In this assignment you will make a scene of your own. You will be

the director. You will cut THREE characters and ONE object from a

magazine, and position them on a stage. You will then write a script

to go with the scene.

STEP ONE

Take a large sheet of paper and neatly drawn an outline of the stage on the paper.

STEP TWO

Using magazines find THREE characters and ONE object that you would like to place in your scene. (You may also use pictures for scenery as well if you wish). Cut them out.

STEP THREE

Position your characters, the object, (and the scenery) on the stage as they will appear at the START of your scene. Think about how to position them to show that they are acting. Will one of the characters be in the power position? Glue them on.

STEP FOUR

Complete the table, making up information about your characters.

STEP FIVE

Write a piece of the script for the scene. In your script each character should speak THREE to FIVE lines. Your script should use the proper format for a dramatic script that we learned in class.

| |BEHAVIOUR - How does character |LOOKS - How does the character |VOICE – How does the character |MOVEMENT – How does the character |MOTIVATIONS – How does the |

| |behave? |appear? |speak? |use their body? |character’s hidden needs or |

| | | | | |experiences influence them? |

| | | | | | |

|Character’s Name | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

Make A Scene

| |Meets the standard with |Meets the standard |Almost meets the standard |Needs work to achieve the |

| |distinction | | |standard |

| | | | | |

| |(Level 4) | |(Level 2) |(Level 1) |

| | |(Level 3) | | |

|cut and paste scene |meets the standard and ... |three characters and one object are cut |less than three characters and |less than three characters and |

| |characters and object chosen |from a magazine |one object are cut from a |one object are cut from a |

| |from the magazine are creative| |magazine … the cut and paste |magazine … the cut and paste |

| |or unusual ... without reading|the characters and object are neatly cut,|work is often neatly done |work is seldom neatly done |

| |a script the scene appears |pasted and arranged on the paper stage | | |

|Communication |immediately interesting to the| | | |

| |viewer | | | |

|stage blocking of |meets the standard and ... |characters are positioned to make use of |two of three elements of the |one of three elements of the |

|characters |there is a sense of action |the entire stage, and the power position |standard are met |standard is met |

| |created in the positioning of | | | |

| |characters and objects |characters are positioned so it is clear | | |

| | |that they are interacting with one | | |

| | |another in some manner | | |

| | | | | |

|Application | |characters are positioned so it is clear | | |

| | |that they are interacting with the object| | |

| | |in some manner | | |

|profile of characters |meets the standard and ... |all parts of the table are completed |most parts of the table are |about half of the table is |

|table |profiles of characters are | |completed … a clear picture in |completed … a clear picture in |

| |rich in detail … the |a clear picture in words is created about|words is created about two |words is created about one |

| |characters are creative, |each character |characters |character |

|Thinking |unusual, or particularly | | | |

| |interesting to the reader | | | |

|script format |meets the standard and ... |a list of the characters is given |most elements of the standard |one element of the standard is |

| |script is neatly written or | |are met |met |

| |typed |lines of dialogue begin with the name of | | |

| | |the character in capital letters followed| | |

| | |by a ‘:’ | | |

| | | | | |

| | |stage directions are given in square | | |

|Knowledge | |brackets | | |

| | | | | |

| | |introductory information is in square | | |

| | |brackets | | |

|script content |meets the standard and ... the|introductory information provides context|two of three elements of the |one of three elements of the |

| |script would be interesting to|for the scene |standard are met |standard is met |

| |both the reader and to someone| | | |

| |viewing the acted scene … the |each character speaks at least one line | | |

| |dialogue slowly reveals |of dialogue | | |

| |aspects of the characters … | | | |

| |the scene creates an emotional|lines spoken are true to the profile of | | |

| |response in the reader/viewer |characters table | | |

|Thinking | | | | |

| | |enough stage directions are given to help| | |

| | |the director | | |

|script language |meets the standard and ... |there are few flaws in grammar, spelling,|there are several flaws in |the flaws in grammar, spelling,|

|conventions |there are almost no flaws in |or punctuation |grammar, spelling, or |and punctuation interfere with |

|Application |grammar, spelling, or | |punctuation |communication |

| |punctuation | | | |

Monologue Writing

Write a one page monologue. First complete this information to help you.

WHO?

Who is giving the monologue?

Choose a character from Trifles.

WHERE?

Where is this person when they are speaking? Describe it.

WHO IS LISTENING?

This person is saying their monologue to an audience. Who are they?

WHAT IS THE MAIN THING THEY ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT?

Your Monologue (Try to fill this space)

Show that the person talking is aware of who is listening.

ASSESSMENT

Monologue is on topic (A – 4 points)

Monologue is written for audience (C – 4 points)

Monologue is interesting to read or listening to (K – 4 points)

There are few flaws in language conventions (A – 4 points)

Activity

Write your own version of the scene beginning with when Mrs. Hale finding the bird in the sewing box. Use the resources in Appendix D for this activity.

1. Before you write any dialogue do a scene plan, using the worksheet “Plan Your Scene”. Use the play to help you decide who should be included in the scene and how you would like to change it from what the author had happen. The reference sheet “Scene Plan (How to Write a Scene for Your Story)” will give you some more ideas to guide your writing.

2. Complete a profile of characters – appendix D – for each of the characters who will appear in the scene.

3. Sketch the stage for this scene. Use the sheet “Blocking a Scene” for this activity. Show what would be placed on the stage and indicate what the room should like look.

4. Write your script and give stage directions. Use the stage directions given in the reference “Exit Stage Right”. Keep your stage directions simple as they are in the example. Use the reference sheet “Stage Directions” for this activity.

-----------------------

English, Gr. 9

Scripts & Plays – Script Writing

Make A Scene: Profile of Characters

Audience

Person giving monologue:

Hand-in with your scene

Name:

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