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STUDYGUIDE
A CLASSROOM GUIDE TO THE JUNGLE THEATER PRODUCTION

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WHATS INSIDE

About The Jungle Theater..............................................................................3 Theater Etiquette............................................................................................4 ON STAGE: Exploring Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Whats it About?........................................................................................................6 Whos Who?..............................................................................................................9 Meet the Playwright..................................................................................................10 An America Classic..................................................................................................13 OFF STAGE: Exploring the Context & Language Time CapsuleSnapshots of 1962..........................................................14 Wit and Word-Play............................................................................................15 The Latin MassA Translation................................................................................17 BEHIND THE SCENES: Activities for the Classroom Resources for Further Exploration.......................................................................18 Questions for Discussion..............................................................................19 Be a Theatre Critic...................................................................................................21 Glossary of Theater Terms......................................................................................22

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ABOUT THE JUNGLE THEATER

A Closer Look With a reputation for artistic excellence both locally and nationally, the Jungle Theater occupies a unique niche in the cultural landscape of the Twin Cities.
Founded in 1991 in a storefront space at the corner of Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue in South Minneapolis, the Jungle Theater quickly established a loyal following and received widespread critical acclaim for its productions. In 1999, the theater moved into its permanent home, an intimate 149seat space across the intersection from its original location. In addition to the Jungles main stage productions of classic and contemporary plays, the theater also maintains community arts education and outreach programs which serve the Greater Metro area, and reflect the theaters commitment to neighborhood and community. Because of its small size, the Jungle offers the audience an unparalleled intimacy to the stage: powerful writing, exceptional acting, and top-notch direction and design are all presented in a playhouse that feels as intimate as your living room. Now celebrating its Twentieth Anniversary Season, the Jungle Theater continues to have a substantial impact on the Twin Cities theater scene, upholding a reputation for excellence that stems from a commitment to high artistic standards and the contributions of many respected and celebrated local artists. A flagship example of the transformative power of the performing arts, the Jungle plays a continuing and vital role in the Lyn-Lake neighborhoods economic, social and cultural development.

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THEATER ETIQUETTE
Thank you for exposing your students to live professional theatre. To assist you in preparing your students for the experience, we have created some guidelines which we hope may be of use. Live theatre is different from the experience of attending a rock concert, where the performers may break the third wall and interact with the audience. At rock concerts, it might be acceptable for an audience member to get up and go talk to someone else in the audience, or to leave to bring concessions back into the auditorium. This is not the case in the theatre. At a small theatre such as ours, there is no enhancement from microphones. Hence, it is essential that the audience refrain from talking, scraping chairs, rustling papers and the like. More important, the story and the message are in the language, not in the visuals, close-ups and/or special effects - and that requires a careful ear. Audience members must concentrate on what is being said, and the distractions of extraneous noise interfere with concentration. Theatre is also different from television or movies. At a movie, if you leave to get popcorn or whisper to someone sitting next to you, it doesnt disrupt the performance or distract the performers. In the theatre, the audience becomes the other character in the play. The actors can feel when an audience is with them. Often a performance is improved or heightened when an audience is intensely involved in the action or words of the play. The audience helps shape the experience. Live theatre is an intimate experience. Because we are close to the actors, who, if they are good, are portraying powerfully the deepest human emotions, we are able to feel that emotional tenor ourselves. Concentrating on what the actors are feeling enhances an audiences enjoyment. Many of our participating schools have thoughtfully prepared and trained their student body to be a good live audience, and the following are some suggestions we know other schools have found effective:

There shall be no late seating. All students and staff should arrive by 9:30 a.m. and be seated before the program begins. Instruct your teachers and chaperones to sit throughout the theatre with the students. The presence of an adult is sometimes enough to remind students to behave. The opening and closing of doors, for whatever reason, creates distraction and can disrupt the performance. Therefore, once the performance has started no one will be allowed to leave the theatre unless it is an emergency, so be sure to advise your group use the restroom before the performance begins and then again at intermission.

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THEATER ETIQUETTE

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Encourage positive audience participation; applause and laughter appropriate to the action are expected. They are to refrain from catcalls and any response which is likely to distract others. Remind them of the importance of listening carefully. Refreshments from our concessions stand are allowed in the theater, but students should refrain from crinkling soda cans or plastic water bottles: this noise is very disruptive to the actors on stage and fellow audience members. The use of cell phones, pagers, i-Pods and the like is strictly prohibited. Students found using these devices during a performance will be asked to surrender these items to the usher until the completion of the performance at which time they will be returned. The taking of photos, with or with out a flash and the use of any recording device is prohibited by law and strongly enforced at our theatre. If you havent already done so we invite you to use the contents of this study guide to prepare your students in advance. Students who have previous exposure to the subject matter through in class discussions and exercises are more likely to be an attentive audience.

Finally, the Jungle Theater staff and artists, want to thank you for your participation and look forward to personally welcoming you to the Jungle. If we can be of help to you, or if you have ideas regarding how we can make this a better experience for your students, please let us know by contacting Margo Gisselman at margo@jungletheater.com or by calling (612) 2780141.

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WHATS IT ABOUT?
Albee describes his play as: "an examination of the American Scene, an attack on the substitution of artificial for real values in our society, a condemnation of complacency, cruelty, and emasculation and vacuity, a stand against the fiction that everything in this slipping land of ours is peachykeen".
ACT ONE, "Fun and Games," opens at two o'clock on a Sunday morning as middle-aged couple George and Martha return home from a faculty party at a small college in the New England town of New Carthage. Over the course of the scene, as Martha bickers with George, we learn that George is a going-nowhere history professor, while Martha is the daughter of the college president. She soon informs him that she has invited a new member of the Math Department over for drinks. Martha also loudly sings, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" a joke of a song they heard at the faculty party and is angry that George doesn't laugh. Before their guests arrive, George warns her not to do "the bit about the kid." Their guests are Nick, a blond 30-year-old professor in the Biology Department, and his wife Honey. Nick and Honey are somewhat shocked at being thrown into the war zone that is Martha and George's marriage. While Honey copes by drinking brandy after Brandy, Nick attempts to insinuate himself into his hosts' good graces. Drunken Martha is shamelessly flirting with him immediately. Martha goes off to show Honey to the bathroom. While the women are gone, George bitterly suggests that Nick will take over the Biology Department and the college. When Honey returns, she mentions that she didn't know

Elizabeth Taylor as Martha and George Segal as Nick in the 1966 film version of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

George and Martha had a son. George is furious at Martha, who has told Honey that their son, whose 21st birthday is tomorrow, will be returning home the next day. Martha, who has changed into a seductive outfit, continues shamelessly flirting with Nick and insulting George, telling a story about how she punched George when he refused to join in a boxing match with her father. George grows fed up and leaves the room. He comes back with a rifle and shocks everyone by firing it at Martha. A parasol, not a bullet, erupts from the barrel. The tension dissipates a bit and George, much to Martha's chagrin, insists on talking about their son. The two argue which has been the worse influence on the boy, and Martha proceeds with her tact of humiliation by telling Nick and Honey how George is flop who failed to take over the History Department, as she'd anticipated when they got married. Their shouting match ends when George grabs Honey and dances around with her while singing "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Honey rushes off to the bathroom to be sick.

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WHATS IT ABOUT?
ACT TWO, "Walpurgisnacht," opens as Martha is making coffee in the kitchen. George learns from Nick that he married Honey because she was pregnant with what ended up being a hysterical pregnancy. The added bonus is that she is rich, left money by her evangelist father. He half-jokingly confides his plan to rise to power at the college by sleeping with wives of important faculty members. George shares an anecdote of a boy, whom he says he knew in prep school, who ordered "bergin" at a gin joint with his friends. This boy had accidentally killed his mother with a shotgun, and a year later, with his learners permit in his pocket, he crashed into a tree and killed his father. Martha and Honey return. Martha is even more blatant in her flirtation with Nick. When Honey declares that she wants to do Interpretive Dance, Martha takes the opportunity to dance with Nick in a blatant lascivious manner. George gets fed up when Martha continues to insult him, suggesting that the boy who ordered "bergin" and killed his parents was George and mocking his failed attempt at publishing a novel. He tries to strangle her, but Nick pulls him off. George announces it's time for a new game. They've just finished playing Humiliate the Host, and there will be time for Hump the Hostess later. Now, it's time for Get the Guests. George toys with a confused Honey by telling her a story of a girl named Mousie who puffed up and whose puff went "poof." Honey again runs off to be sick again. While Honey is lying on the cool tile of the bathroom floor, George turns his back to Martha and Nick, who begin to kiss and grope on the couch. Martha is annoyed that George is not paying attention and getting angry. She and Nick eventually move off to

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the kitchen, bumping into the doorbell chimes on the way. Honey stumbles out to the living room, still half in her dream, telling George that she heard bells. Honey's half-coherent mumblings reveal that she's terrified of having children and has actually been secretly preventing getting pregnant. Honey's continued talk of bells gives George an idea of how to get even with Martha - he'll tell her he received a telegram that said that their son is dead.

Arthur Hill as George and Melinda Dillon as Honey in the original Broadway production of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

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WHATS IT ABOUT?
ACT THREE, "The Exorcism," opens as Martha wanders onstage alone. Drunk and exhausted, she launches into a confused monologue which reveals her desperation and loneliness. She says that she and George cry all the time, then freeze their tears into ice cubes for their drinks. Nick comes back onstage, wondering what has happened. George is gone, and Honey is back in the bathroom. Martha calls him a flop and reveals his impotence, surprising him when she tells him that George is the only one who can satisfy her. She tells Nick not to believe appearances and praises George's ability to learn the games as quickly as she can change the rules. Nick is furious and grows more so when Martha continually refers to him as a houseboy and a gigolo. When the doorbell starts ringing, she tells the houseboy to get it. It's George, hiding behind a bouquet of flowers, quoting a line from Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire: "Flores para los muertos." George pretends to be a Western Union man and acts as if he's mistaken Nick for his and Martha's son. Nick gets fed up and calls them vicious, and George and Martha join together in deriding them. Soon, George and Martha launch into another series of arguments over seemingly meaningless topics - whether or not there is a moon that night, whether or not George has taken a trip to Majorca that continually reference truth and illusion. George starts throwing his bouquet of snapdragons at Martha, telling her their marriage has gone snap. George drags Honey back into the room and announces one last game, Bringing Up Baby, to be played to the death. Honey, very drunk and holding a bottle, wants to play Peel the Label instead. George assures her they have. George begins to tell a rehearsed story about their son, scared away by

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Martha's overbearing presence. Martha counters with a story of her own describing an idealized childhood. During her story, George begins to chant the Requiem. In the midst of this, Honey suddenly cries out that she wants a child. Martha begins to blame George for dragging the boy down with him, and their argument intensifies. Honey pleads for them to stop. Slowly and deliberately, George tells Martha that their son is dead. He was driving on a country road, swerved to avoid a porcupine, and crashed into a tree, the exact details of the "bergin" boy's story. Martha is furious and yells that George has no right to do this. George insists that those were always the rules of the game, and that once she broke the rules by mentioning their son, he had no other choice. Nick finally realizes that the son is imaginary, and George confirms his suspicions. They couldn't have any children. He suggests Nick and Honey go home. The last few minutes of the play are quiet and tender. George assures Martha that things will be better and says a quiet no to her suggestion that they create another child. He begins to sing her "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" as a sort of lullaby, and Martha answers, "I am."

Elizabeth Taylor as Martha and Richard Burton as George in the 1966 film version of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

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WHOS WHO
List of Characters
George George is Marthas husband, a forty-six-year-old professor of history who married Martha early in his career but has failed to live up to her overwhelming expectations. Because of his professional frustration, George feels threatened by up-and-coming young faculty members like Nick, and tries to compensate through showy displays of intellectual superiority. George appears to have been responsible for the deaths of both is parents, and is traumatized by this fact. Martha Martha is a boisterous woman in her fifties, with loud, coarse ways and a dominating manner toward her husband, George. Martha had dreams of power which she feels were defeated by Georges lack of ambition. Despite her relentless ridicule of George, Martha is very sensitive to Georges criticismsof her heavy drinking, her sometimes lascivious behavior, and her braying laugh. Nick Nick is blond and good-looking, around thirty-yearsold. He is a young biology professor who represents a threat to George with his good looks and sexual energy, and his ambition and willingness to prostitute himself for professional advancement. In short, Nick seems capable of achieving the promise to which George never lived up. Honey Honey is a twenty-six-year-old blond girl, rather plain. Like her husband, Nick, Honey is from the Midwest, striving with her husband to make their way in new surroundings. Honey is not depicted as particularly bright, but she is capable of exerting her will. She is afraid of bearing a child, and as George suspects, she has avoided pregnancy without Nicks knowledge.

WHATS IN A TITLE?
In the opening scene of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, George and Martha argue over Georges failure to admire a joke Martha made earlier in the evening: she replaced the Big Bad Wolf of the song, Whos Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?, from the 1933 Disney cartoon The Three Little Pigs, with the name of the avant-garde British writer, Virginia Woolf (18821941). The joke conveys the sophistication of the coupleand their preoccupation with wordplay and games. Albee first encountered the joke inscribed in soap on a mirror behind the bar of a local hangout, long before he wrote the play. He found it funny and remembered it years later when he was writing about a couple that haveand do not havea son. When asked, Albee explains that the big, bad wolf is a life lived without delusions.

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MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT

An Inside Look Edward Albee was born in Washington, DC on March 12, 1928. When he was two weeks old, baby Edward was adopted by millionaire couple Reed and Frances Albee. The Albees named their son after his paternal grandfather, Edward Franklin Albee, a powerful Vaudeville producer who had made the family fortune as a partner in the Keith-Albee Theater Circuit.
Young Edward was raised by his adoptive parents in Westchester, New York. Because of his father's and grandfather's involvement in the theatre business, Edward was exposed to theatre and well-known Vaudeville personalities throughout his childhood. From early on, Edward's mother Frances tried to groom her son to be a respectable member of New York society. The Albees' affluence meant that Edward's childhood was filled with servants and tutors. The family Rolls Royce took him to afternoon matinees, he took riding lessons, vacationed in Miami in the winter, and learned to sail on Long Island Sound in the summer. In 1940, twelve-year-old Edward entered the Lawrenceville School, a prestigious boys' preparatory school. During his high school days, he shocked school officials by writing a three-act sex farce entitled Aliqueen. At the age of fifteen, the Lawrenceville School dismissed Edward for cutting classes. Hoping to inspire some discipline in his wayward son, Reed Albee enrolled Edward at the Valley Forge Military Academy. Within a year, Valley Forge had dismissed Edward as well. Ultimately, Edward attended Choate from 1944 to 1946. Even as a teenager, Edward was a prolific writer. In 1945, his poem "Eighteen" was published in the Texas literary magazine Kaleidoscope. His senior year at Choate, Edward's first published play Schism appeared in the school literary magazine. After graduating from Choate, Edward enrolled at Trinity College, a small liberal arts school in Hartford, Connecticut. While there Edward irked his mother by associating with artists and intellectuals whom she found objectionable. During his days at Trinity College, Edward gained a modicum of theatre experience - although it was onstage, as an actor, rather than as a writer. During his

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MEET THE PLAYWRIGHT

sophomore year, in 1947, nineteen-year-old Edward was dismissed from yet another school. This time, Trinity College claimed that he had failed to attend Chapel and certain classes. Despite his mother's objections, Edward moved to New York City's artsy Greenwich Village at the age of twenty. He supported himself by writing music programming for WNYC radio. In 1953, young Albee met playwright Thornton Wilder. Later, he credited Wilder with inspiring him to become a playwright advice he did not follow for a few more years. Over the next decade, Albee lived on the proceeds of his grandmother's trust fund and held jobs as an office boy, record salesman, and Western Union messenger. In 1958, Albee wrote his first major play, a one-act entitled The Zoo Story. When no New York producer would agree to stage it, Albee sent the play to an old friend in New York. The play was first produced in Berlin. After its success abroad, American theatre producer Alan Schneider agreed to produce The Zoo Story off-Broadway in a double bill with Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape. This early association with Beckett served to cement Albee's connection to the Theatre of the Absurd. In fact, The Zoo Story was at the time of its production hailed as the birth of American absurdist drama.

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Immediately, Albee became perceived as a leader of a new theatrical movement in America. His success was in part predicated on his ability to straddle the two divergent traditions of American theatre - the traditional and the avant garde, combining the realistic with the surreal . Thus, critics of Albee can rightfully see him as a successor to American playwrights Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill while at the same time unmistakably influenced by European playwrights like Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. Albee has also called Ring Lardner, James Thurber, and Jean Genet important influences on his writing. Throughout the following years, Albee strengthened his reputation with a series of one-act plays, including The Death of Bessie Smith and The Sandbox, which he dedicated to his beloved grandmother, in 1960. In 1961, The American Dream dealt with themes that would be drawn upon in Albee's later career. That same year, Albee adapted an unsuccessful production of Melville's short story Bartleby with his friend William Flanagan. Despite the success of his original work, Albee's adaptations - Carson McCuller's The Ballad of the Sad Cafe in 1963 and James Purdy's Malcolm in 1965 - have not been critically or popularly successful. Critics described them as being static representations of literary works, simply transplanting existing scenes from the books to the stage. Albee's real successes have always come from his original and absurdist dramas. His first three-act drama and the play for which he is best known, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, was produced in New York in 1962. Immediately it became popular and controversial. When its nomination for a Pulitzer was not accepted unanimously by the prize committee, two members of the Pulitzer Prize committee resigned. Nonetheless, the play received the Tony Award and New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

Edward Albee, seen here in 1962

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Meet The Playwright

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After the failed McCullers adaptation in 1963, Albee's original drama, a dream play called Tiny Alice, opened in New York. That same year, Albee joined with two friends in creating an absurdist group called "Theater 1964," which produced, among other things, Beckett's Play and Pinter's The Lover at Cherry Lane Theatre. After Malcolm closed after only five days, Albee rebounded with the success of A Delicate Balance in 1966. For this play, he received the Pulitzer Prize. Albee continued to write plays throughout the 1960's and 1970's. Everything in the Garden, adapted from a play by Giles Cooper, was produced in 1967, followed by the original plays Box and Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung in 1968, All Over in 1971, and Seascape in 1975. For Seascape, Albee was awarded a second Pulitzer Prize. Throughout the 1980's, Albee's playwriting career failed to produce a substantial commercial hit. Plays from this period include The Lady from Dubuque (1980), an adaptation of Lolita (1981), The Man Who Had Three Arms (1983), Finding the Sun (1985), and Marriage Play (1987). During this time, Albee also taught courses at various universities and maintained his residence in New York. In 1994, Albee experienced a much-awaited success with the play Three Tall Women. That play earned Albee his third Pulitzer Prize and his first commercial hit in over a decade. Three Tall Women also won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Albee's most recent productions have been Lorca Play in 1993 and Fragments: A Concerto Grosso in 1995.

EDWARD ALBEE : IN HIS OWN WORDS

I despise restful art.
Edward Albee: A Singular Journey

And I would hope that every play I write shakes a few people up, asks a few questions that people would rather not think about.
The New York Times, September 1, 1991

But there is not always a great relationship between popularity and excellence. If you know that, you can never be owned by public opinion or critical response. You just have to make the assumption youre doing good work and go on doing it. Of course, there are the little dolls you stick pins in privately.
The New York Times, April 13, 1994

I think you can change the way people think about their consciousness you can change just about everything about them. You make them aware that theyre missing the boat, that theyre not being fully alive.
The Guardian (U.K.), January 10, 2004

Each play is an act of aggression against the status quo. Too many playwrights let the audience off the hook instead of slugging them in the face, which is what you should be doing.
The Boston Globe, March 7, 2004

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AN AMERICAN CLASSIC
Edward Albee was already hugely celebratedand criticizedas the leader of a revolution in American playwriting when his first full-length play, Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, opened on October 13, 1962. Virginia Woolf was more than a huge theatrical success; it was a cultural watershed. The play fulfilled the hopes of those eager for a rebirth of American drama, but also outraged many who found the play obscene, morbid and decadent. The conservative Pulitzer Prize Committee overruled the recommendation of its own judges and refused to award the Drama prize to Albee, on the grounds that his play did not present a wholesome view of American life. Familiar to tens of thousands who have never seen or read it, influencing countless plays, movies, novels and short stories, Virginia Woolf is one of the very few American dramas to fully permeate American life.

REFERENCES IN POPULAR CULTURE:

Mad Magazine published a spoof of the movie, entitled Who in Heck is Virginia Woolf?! At one point, it is remarked "This is an art film, so the censors have to let us talk dirty!" Their son turns out to be real, and to George and Martha's dismay, a clean-cut non-dysfunctional bore, in keeping with Mad's tradition of altering the endings of the movies that they parody. The film was spoofed on The Benny Hill Show, with Hill playing both Burton's and Taylor's parts. In an episode of The Simpsons, Marge and Homer go on a marriage counseling session with other couples, one such couple acts and sounds similar to George and Martha. However, just by looking into each other's eyes, the two fall in love again and walk off into the sunset within seconds. In an episode of American Dad!, Roger the Alien and Francine adopt a role playing game to escape the boredom of their daily lives. Roger adapts the persona of Professor Jordan Edilstein, while Francine chooses the character of Amanda Lane. The two meet a new couple in town, Rick and Candy, and invite them for a dinner party in which Jordan and Amanda get drunk and verbally and physically fight, while Rick and Candy sit there. In an episode of Will & Grace, Jack refers to Will and Grace when he mentions not wanting to stay at the dinner party with George and Martha. In "Dinner Party" from The Office, Michael and Jan invite Jim, Pam, Andy, and Angela to their home. As the night progresses, Jan and Michael begin bickering to a greater extent. Once Dwight arrives uninvited, their arguing gets worse until Jan destroys Michael's TV. In the television series, Gilmore Girls, in the episode Presenting Lorelai Gilmore, main characters Rory and Lorelai arrive at their grandparents to find them engaged in a large argument, screaming at each other. Lorelai remarks, "I think George and Martha are joining us for dinner."

The 1966 movie won 5 Academy Awards, and occupies an iconic place in the history of American film.

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TIME CAPSULESnapshots of 1962

Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opened on Broadway on October 13, 1962. The play is set on the campus of New Carthage, a small New England College. Here's some of what was going on beyond the campus.

For one week the world seems on the brink of nuclear war as the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. square-off over Soviet intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. France transfers sovereignty to the new republic of Algeria. The transfer sparks terrorism in both Algeria and France. Pope John XXIII opens the Second Vatican Council. The announced purpose was spiritual renewal and a reconsideration of the position of the church in the modern world. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy permits the liturgy to be conducted in vernacular language instead of Latin. John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth. James Meredith becomes first African-American to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett tries to bar his admission. Angry whites riot, causing three deaths and numerous injuries. 15,000 U.S. military advisers in Vietnam. President John F. Kennedy defends the U.S. role in Southeast Asia saying that the troops are "not combat troops in the generally understood sense of the word." Mariner II reaches Venus. The first interplanetary probe sends back photos of the cloudshrouded planet.

Telstar Communications satellite launched, making it possibly the first live transatlantic television broadcast. Pat Brown defeats Richard Nixon in California gubernatorial race Peter Fechter the first person killed in an attempt to flee East Berlin over the Wall. Johnny Carson replaces Jack Parr as host of the Tonight Show

Nobel Prizes Literature: John Steinbeck Peace: Linus Pauling Physiology or Medicine: James D. Watson, Maurice H.F. Wilkins, and Francis H.C. Crick for determining the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Grammy Awards Record of the Year: "Moon River," Henry Mancini Album of the Year: Judy at Carnegie Hall, Judy Garland Academy Awards Best Picture: West Side Story Tony Awards Best Play: A Man for All Seasons Best Musical: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

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WIT AND WORD-PLAY

The dialogue in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is rife with literary allusions and foreign words. Knowledge of these references will enrich the theatre-goers appreciation of both the humor and cruelty of the play.
Abomination: A thing that causes disgust or hatred. (Act I) Abstruse: To understand (Act I) Aegean: The Aegean Sea is located between the Greek peninsula on the west and Turkey to the east, with Crete forming a geographical division. The Aegean Sea region was the home of two of the world's earliest civilizations - the Minoan Civilization of Crete and the intellectual and military empire of Greece. It was also of the scene for much of the earliest growth of Christianity. (Act III) Albatross: An obstacle to success (Act I) Allegory: A story that contains a hidden meaning. (Act II) Bandied: Frequently used in casual conversation. (Act I) Bte: French; beast (Act II) Blue games: Not for children, a blue act was an obscene skit from a nightclub. (Act I) Blue circles around her: Pagan women would often paint blue circles on them for use in rituals. (Act I) Bucolic a description of an idealized rural life; also a literary form, usually a short descriptive poem, which depicts rural or pastoral life, manners, and occupations (remember that Nick and Honey are from Kansas, farm country). (Act II) Bravura: Great enthusiasm (Act II) Canaille: French; scum, scoundrel (Act II) Carthage: North African city which fell prey to internal conflicts and eventually was sacked by the Romans during the Punic Wars (c. 150 B.C.); in Virgils The Aeneid, the ancient, tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas is played out in Carthage. "You think youre going to be happy here in New Carthage, eh?" (Act I) Chippie: Slang; promiscuous woman. "Ohhhh! Ill bet! Chippie-chippie-chippie, hunh?" (Act III) Cipher: An unimportant person or thing Cochon: French; pig (Act II) Contemptuous: The feeling that a person or thing is worthless or beneath consideration. (Act II) Convoluted: Folded or twisted in a complex way (Act II) Crazy Billy: In an interview, Albee said the name was a private joke; his lover at the time was named Bill, and Albee said they both worked at Western Union. (Act III) Crete: Home to the Minoans, one of the earliest civilizations. (Act II) Cretins Someone with a congenital mental deficiency. (Act II) Daguerreotype: An early kind of photograph produced using silver-coated copper plate and mercury vapor. (Act II) Declension: The changes in the form of a noun, pronoun or adjective that identify its grammatical case, number or gender. (Act I) Derisively: Expressing contempt or ridicule. (Act II) Derision: Scornful ridicule or mockery. (Act III) Dies Irae: Latin, from the Mass for the Dead; day of wrath. "through all the sensible sounds of men building, attempting, comes the Dies Irae." (Act II) Fen: A low and marshy or frequently flooded area. (Act I) Flagellation: To whip someone, originally as a form of religious punishment. Flores: Flores para los muertos. Flores. Spanish; Flowers; flowers for the dead. Flowers. Quoted from Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire. (Act III) Frau: German for Mrs., sometimes meant as an insult to describe someone as dowdy and unappealing Gelding: A castrated animal, especially a male horse. (Act III)

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WIT AND WORD-PLAY

Gatling gun: A machine gun with a cluster of barrels that are fired in sequence as the cluster is rotated. (Act III) Gird: Encircle or secure with a belt or band. (Act III) Gomorrah: Biblical city which was destroyed by fire from God for its wickedness . Harridan: A bossy or aggressive old woman. (Act III) Ibid: In the same source. (Act I) Illyria: City on the coast of the Adriatic Sea; home of a contentious people, the city was destroyed by Rome during the Punic Wars; the setting for Shakespeares Twelfth Night. "And this this is your hearts content Illyria Penguin Island Gomorrah" (Act I) Incredulity: Being unwilling or unable to believe something. (Act I) Ineffectual: Ineffective (Act II) Insinuate: Gradually move oneself into a favorable position. (Act II) Lady Chatterley: Character in Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) by D.H. Lawrence. She is an aristocrat who elopes with her groundskeeper. "A kind of junior Lady Chatterley arrangementthe marriage." (Act I) Majorca: Island of the Mediterranean coast of Spain; once occupied by Carthaginians and their conquerors, the Romans; there are also many remains on the island of a primitive masonry technique referred to today as Cyclopean (connects to Georges calling Martha a Cyclops); Majorca also experienced a decline at one point because of fighting among the different groups living on the island. (Act III) Manchuria: The northeast area of China; J apan and Russia long struggled for control of this rich, strategically important region; at the end of WWII, Chinese Communists were strongly established in Manchuria, and from 1949-1954, it was one of the staunchest Communist areas in China. (Act II) Monstre: French: monster (Act II) Ostensibly: Apparently true, but not necessarily so. (Act I) Parnassus: In Greek mythology, a mountain whose twin summits were devoted to Apollo and to the muses. Considered to be the seat of poetry and music. (Act I)

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Penguin Island: From a satirical treatment of French history by Anatol France (LIle de Pingouins, 1908); an island proselytized by a near-blind French monk who baptizes the islands inhabitants without realizing that they are all penguins. (Act I) Peritonitis: A serious inflammation of the abdomens lining (Act I) Pyrrhic victory: Won at too great a cost to have been worthwhile. (Act I) Poe-bells: Reference to Edgar Allen Poes poem "The Bells" (1849), which through rhythm and onomatopoeia evokes the sound of ringing bells. "I was asleep, and the bells started they BOOMED! Poe-bells they were Poe-bells." (Act II) The Poker Night: A scene from Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire. "Up the spout: THE POKER NIGHT. Up the spout" and the original name of the play. (Act III) Punic wars: A series of wars during which Rome attacked and conquered the powerful city-state of Carthage. The effort transformed Rome from a regional power into an empire. (First Punic War 264, 241 B.C., second 218-202, Third 149-146 B.C.) Putan: French for vulgar, whore (Act II) Sacre du Printemps: French; Rite of Spring; ballet (1913) by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, with dramatic, almost violent rhythms the work evokes Russian pagan rituals. "Marthas going to pin on some rhythm she understands Sacre du Printemps, maybe." (Act II) Salaciously: Having too much interest in sexual matters. Snapdragons: In Western folklore, snapdragons are believed to ward off evil. (Act III) Sonny-Jim: A term for an all-American guy that was initially used genuinely during the 1930s-50s but eventually became more cynical; also a political reference to Republican J ames Rolph, J who served as the r., mayor of San Francisco for 19 years and became governor of California in 1930. (Act III) Walpurgisnacht: German; the eve of May Day; witches Sabbath celebrated in medieval Europe; night of orgiastic celebration on which evil spirits are exorcised from cities and towns. (Act II).

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THE LATIN MASSA TRANSLATION

George recites this mass in Act III. In the Catholic faith, the Mass for the Dead is said on the occasion of a funeral or anniversary of a death.
Absolve, Domine, animas omnum fidelium defunctorum ab omni vinculo delictorum. Absolve, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed from every bond of sin. Et gratia tua illis succurrente, mereantur evadere judiciumultionis. And by the help of Thy grace, may they be enabled to escape the judgment of punishment. Et lucis aeternae beatitudine perfrui.. And enjoy the happiness of eternal light. In Paradisum deducant te Angeli. May the angels lead you into paradise. In memoria aeterna erit justus: ab auditione mala non timebit. The just shall be in everlasting remembrance: he shall not fear the evil hearing. Dominus vobiscum. The Lord be with you. Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die illa tremenda: Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra: Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira. Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra. Dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae; dies magna et amara valde. Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Libera me Domine de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda: quando caeli movendi sunt et terra; Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem. Deliver me, O Lord, from death everlasting, upon that dread day of terror: When the heavens and earth shall be moved: When Thou shalt come and judge the world in fire. Trembling and full of fear I approach the time of the trial of the wrath to come. When the heavens and earth shall be moved. Day of anger, day of terror, day of calamity and misery, day of mourning and woe. When Thou shalt come and judge the world in fire. Eternal rest grant them, Lord: and light perpetual shine down upon them. Deliver me, O Lord, from death everlasting, upon that dread day of terror: When the heavens and earth shall be moved: When Thou shalt come and judge the world in fire. Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Requiescat in pace. Rest in peace. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine. Eternal rest grant them, Lord. Et lux perpetua luceat eis. And light perpetual shine down upon them.

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RESOURCES
Interested in knowing more about Edward Albee and his plays? Here are some websites, books and films to check out.

Books:
Edward Albee has written over 30 plays, including one-acts and adaptations. Most are available in individual editions and all but the most recent are collected in the (so far) three volumes of The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: Volume 1 19581965 by Edward Albee (Overlook, 2004) Includes the landmark works The Zoo Story (1958) and Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962) The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: Volume 2 19661977 by Edward Albee (Overlook, 2004) Includes All Over (1971) and the Pulitzer Prize winners A Delicate Balance (1967) and Seascape (1974) The Collected Plays of Edward Albee: Volume 3 1978 2003 by Edward Albee (Overlook, 2006) Includes The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (2000), The Play About the Baby (1996) and the Pulitzer Prizewinning Three Tall Women (1991) Edward Albee: A Singular Journey by Mel Gussow (Simon & Schuster, 1999) A candid biography of the complex and brilliant dramatist by the late drama critic for The New York Times
Edward Albee holds his lifetime achievement Tony Award.

Websites:
www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/alb1int-1 A June 2005 video/audio interview with and biography of Edward Albee on the Academy of Achievement site arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1119811,00.html A 2004 interview with the playwright on the Web site for the British newspaper The Guardian

Film & Video:

Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? directed by Mike Nichols (Warner Brothers, 1966) Starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (who was very young for the role) as George and Martha, the film was controversial for its profanity but was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won five, including a Best Actress Oscar for Taylor.

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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Was written and set in the United States in the early 1960s. What political and social circumstances define this time period? How does the play reflect and comment upon this social and historical context? Give examples from the script. What makes this play releThe dramatist is always vant? 2. Albee called early drafts of his play The Exorcism. What does this alternate title suggest about the events of the story? 3. How do the humor and the serious edge of the play mix and to what effect? Consider the sense of humor displayed by George and Martha. What do they seem to find funny? What is meant when their characters talk about taking a joke? What do you find funny in the dialogue, personalities and situations of the play? 4. Find examples from the script which illustrate Albees facility with language in this play. Notice the rhythms of speech, the patterns of exchange, the levels of meaning, the wit, the allusions, the musical structure.

commenting on people, and the problem is to comment effectively and make art out of it. Youre making a critical comment when you create the life of somebody. You can only make propaganda out of it if you think somebody is entirely bad, entirely good. You must expose both attributes. A character totally unworthy of sympathy or love would be totally unworthy of attentionthe authors attention of the audiences. Edward Albee address at the Overseas Press Club 1965

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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

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5. Discuss the tortured relationships portrayed in this play. Do these individuals love one another? What do you think holds these characters together? What do these relationships suggest about relationships in society? 6. Discuss the idea that it is difficult to determine which of the characters stories about themselves and each other is true? How important is it that the truth about the characters past is clear? 7. Discuss the catalysts for the conflict between George and Martha: the alcohol, the presence of Nick and Honey, the lateness of the evening, the events of the faculty party. Can you identify other catalysts? How and why does the presence of these factors contribute to the conflict? Why for instance, do George and Martha seem to need witnesses? In what way do the characters of Nick and Honey parallel the presence of the audience in the theater?

Condemned by some

and worshipped by others, Edward Albee is clearly the most compelling American playwright to explode upon the Broadway stage since Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller in the middle 1940s.
Newsweek February 4, 1963

8. Cite instances when George and Martha say the exact opposite of what they mean. When do they lie to express the truth? Do they ever tell the truth in order to deceive? What is the impact of this? 9. What happens the next day between George and Martha? Do they start the games again? Have they evolved in their relationship?

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BE A THEATER CRITIC
A very strong element in the success or failure of a new production is the Theatre Critic. Use the following outline to write a review of the Jungle Theaters production of Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Paragraph 1: ABOUT THE PLAY (1) What was the title or the play? (2) Who wrote the play? (3) Which theatre company produced it? (4) What was your overall reaction to the play? (5) Give a brief synopsis of the plot of the play. Paragraph 2: (1) What aspects of the production (i.e. sets, costumes, lights, sound, acting), were similar to how you envisioned them? What aspects were different? What aspects would you like to have changed and why? (2) What scenes in the play did you find most/least interesting, entertaining, and enjoyable? What about these scenes made you like or dislike them so much? (3) Did the production move too slowly, quickly, or at the right speed? Paragraph 3: ABOUT THE CHARACTERS/ PERFORMERS (1) Did any characters touch you personally? Who was your favorite? (2) Were the characters motivations clear? In other words, could you understand what each character wanted? (3) Which actor do you think gave the best performance? What did this actor do that made you think s/he gave the best performance? (4) How did the way the actors use their bodies onstage enhance their performances? Paragraph 4: ABOUT THE SE T (1) Did the set provide the right environment/atmosphere for the production? If so, how? If not, why not? (2) Did the set reflect the themes and style of the play? (3) Were there any interesting details in the set? If so, what? Paragraph 5: ABOUT THE LIGHTING AND THE SOUND (1) Did the lighting establish the right mood and atmosphere for the production? If so, how? If not, why not? (2) Did the music/sound add to the mood and atmosphere of the production or take away from it? How? Paragraph 6: ABOUT THE COSTUMES (1) Were the costumes appropriate for the mood and style of the production? If so, why? If not, why not? (2) Did any of the costumes reflect a characters personality or wealth? What clues did the costumes give about the characters? Paragraph 7: CONCLUSION Would you recommend this production to someone? If so, to whom? If not, why not?

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Glossary of theater terms

ACOUSTICS: qualities that evaluate the ability of a theatre to clearly transmit sounds from the stage to the audience. ACT: main division of a drama, ACTS may be further divided into SCENES. ACTOR: a performer in a play; may be male or female. ADAPTATION: a reinvention of an existing story or play; includes turning novels into plays, plays into musicals, or making changes in language or plot. AD-LIB: making up a line not originally in a play, usually done when an actor forgets a line or someone misses an entrance. ANTAGONIST: the opponent or adversary of the main character (protagonist); provides the obstacle the protagonist tries to overcome. AREN A STAGE: stage placed in the center of a room with audience seating surrounding it, also known as theatre in the round. ASIDE : a brief remark made by a character and intended to be heard by the audience but not by other characters. ATMOSPHERE: tone or mood established by events, places, or situations. AT RISE : refers to the action taking place as the curtain rises. AUDITION: a brief performance of either a monologue or a short scene done by actors for the director of a play in order for the director to decide which actor he or she wants to cast in a particular role. BACKSTAGE: refers to the areas not a part of the actual stage, but restricted for actors and crewmembers. It usually includes the green room and the dressing rooms, and frequently offices and scenic shops as well. BOOTH: the small room set up for the management of the technical elements needed during a play, usually set behind the audience with a window facing the stage. The Stage Manager calls the show from there. The sound and light board operators run the audio and lighting equipment from there as well. BREAK A LEG: a superstitious good luck wish exchanged by actors who feel that saying good luck is a jinx. CALL: the time at which an actor is supposed to be at rehearsal or performance. CALLBACK: a second or third audition used to further narrow the field of actors competing for a particular role in a play. CAST: (verb) to assign parts to the actors in a play. CAST: (noun) group of actors in a particular play. CASTING CALL: notice to actors of an audition for parts in a play. CHARACTER: a person in a play created by the playwright and represented by an actor. CHOREOGRAPHER: the artist in charge of creating the dances and/or movements used by actors in a play. CLIMAX: (of a script or play) the moment of highest tension or suspense in a play; the turning point after which all action moves to a resolution. COMEDY: a story where the protagonist (main character) achieves his/her goal. COMIC RELIEF: a humorous moment, scene or speech in a serious drama which is meant to provide relief from emotional intensity and, by contrast, to heighten the seriousness of the story. COSTUMES : the clothes worn by actors in an a play designed to fit the era, mood, and personality of the characters as well as enhance the overall design look of the production. COSTUME DES IGNE R: the artist in charge of creating the look of the costumes for a play. COSTUME SHOP MANAGER: the person in charge of realizing the vision of the costume designer in actual clothes, responsible for maintaining the costumes and wigs during the course of the production.

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Glossary of theater terms

CRITIC: a writer who reviews plays. CROSS OVER: a hidden passage, often behind the scenery, through which actors can go from one side of the stage to the other without being seen by the audience. It is used if actors need to exit on one side and make their next entrance from the opposite side. CUE: the last words or actions that come before another actors speech or entrance; a light, sound or curtain signal. CURTAIN: end of a scene; closing of a curtain to depict the end of an act or scene. CURTAIN CALL: the process of actors taking their bows, receiving applause, and/or being reintroduced to the audience at the end of a play. DANCE CAPTAIN: member of the cast in charge of working with the dancers to maintain the quality of the dance numbers, make sure dancers are properly warmed up before performance, and teach understudies and new cast members existing numbers DESIGNER: a person who conceives and creates the plans for scenery, costumes, lighting, sound, makeup, hairstyles, props and other visual aspects of a performance. DIALECT: a speech pattern which is distinctive, or the use of a cultural accent on stage. DIALOGUE: conversation between two or more actors in a play. DIALOGUE COACH: person responsible for working with a cast on correct pronunciation and dialect usage. DIRECTOR: a person responsible for initiating the interpretation of the play, enhancing that interpretation with the concepts of the designers and making all final decisions on production values; tells the actors where to move and how best to communicate the interpretation of the play to the audience. DOWNSTAGE: front area of the stage, nearest to the audience.

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DRAMA: the playscript itself; the art of writing and staging plays; a literary art form different from poetry or other fiction DRAMTIS PERSONAE: cast of characters in a drama or, more generally, participants in an event. DRESSER: a person in charge of assisting actors with their costumes, wigs, and makeup during a production. DRESSING ROOM: the place where actors take their costumes, wigs, and makeup on and off. EXEUNT: stage direction meaning they exit. EXIT: stage direction telling an actor to leave the stage. EXPOSITION: dialogue which gives the audience the background information it needs to follow the action of the play; most will occur early on in the play. ENTRANCE: the movement of an actor onto the visible areas of the stage. FALLING ACTION: (of a script or play) the acceptance of the situation derived from the climax; the conflict is worked out or resolved. FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER: the artist in charge of staging fight scenes, can include swordplay, other weapons, or barehanded combat. FORESHADOWING: a hint of what is to come in the story. This is often used to keep the audience in a state of expectancy GHOST WRITER: person hired by an author to write on his or her behalf; receives no public credit. GREEN ROOM: a small lounge backstage where actors can relax and get ready to go on. HALF-HOUR: the usual call for actors to be at the theatre, thirty minutes before curtain. HOUSE : the audience or the theatrical building. HOUSE MANAGER: the employee in charge of the audience during performance, trains ushers, runs the concessions, and solves seating problems.

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Glossary of theater terms

IMPROVISATION: to make up as you go along; often used as a rehearsal technique to make actors more comfortable with their characters; may be a part of some performance situations. INCITING INCIDENT: (of a script or play) the launching pad of the play; the action or short sequence of actions that constitute the point of attack. IRONY: a contrast between what is and what appears to be. Two types of irony are--- VERBAL IRONY when a character says one thing and means another; DRAMATIC IRONY when the audience knows something that the character does not LIGHTING DESIGNE R: artist in charge of creating the lighting effects for a play. MAKEUP: cosmetics, wigs, hair colorings, or other items applied to the actors to change or enhance their appearance. MELODRAMA: play with exaggerated plot and emotion. MONOLOGUE: long speech spoken by one actor without interruption. MOTIVATION: a characters reason for saying or doing something; actors search for this in studying their role and use voice and movement to relay it to the audience. MOVEMENT COACH: a person familiar with the ways people physically relate to one another in different historical periods, as well as general historically and culturally accurate movements. (How to properly use a fan, how women walk while corseted, where and how men and women might stand in relation to one another, etc.) NARRATOR: one who tells the story; speaks directly to the audience. OBJECTIVE: what the character wants/needs/ desires. OFFSTAGE: areas on the stage which are not seen by the audience, like the wings or the crossovers, where action can take place and be heard by the

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audience, or where actors can wait for their entrances. PLAYWRIGHT: author of a play. PLOT: the story of the play. PROP: any moveable item used on the set of a play or handled by an actor. PROSCENIUM: a form of staging in which an arch frames the stage; the stage is at one end of a room and the audience sits in front of it, watching the play through an arch which frames the action. PROSCENIUM ARCH: opening in the proscenium through which the audience views the play. PROTAGONIST: the main character; the person whose success or failure the audience is most concerned. PUT-IN REHEARSAL: a special rehearsal called when an understudy is going to go on, so that the rest of the cast has an opportunity to get used to the presence of a different actor. REHEARSAL: the time period before a play opens involving the practice of the dialogue, movement, rhythms and interpretations of the play. RISING ACTION: (of a script or play) the sequence of action and events that leads to the climax of the play; the conflict becomes clear and tension builds as obstacles are presented. RUN CREW: people in charge of moving scenery and props onstage during a performance, and helping create live audio or visual special effects. SCENE : a small unit of a play in which there is no shift of locale or time. SCENIC ARTIST: a painter or machinist who reproduces the scene designers drawings in full scale on the stage. SCRIPT: the written words and stage directions created by a playwright. SET: the scenery of the play; depicts time, place and mood.

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SET DESIGNER: the artist in charge of creating the physical world in which the play will live; usually creates in drawings and scale models. SOLILOQUY: a speech given by a character alone on the stage where the audience gets to know the inner thoughts and feelings of the character. SOUND BOARD OPERATOR: the person who discharges the correct sounds or music at the appropriate moment in the play SOUND DESIGNER: the artist responsible for the creation of the sounds heard during a performance, including music and special effects. STAGE BUSINESS : small pieces of physical action put into a scene to heighten its appeal, suspense or sense of reality. STAGE DIRECTIONS : information written into a script which tells the actors when and where to move, or describes the intent or mood of action, may also describe scenery or props. STAGE LEFT: side of the stage on the actors left as they face the audience. STAGE RIGHT: side of the stage on the actors right as they face the audience. STAGE MANAGER: person who coordinates all aspects of the production during production and performance, runs or calls the show. SUBTEXT: the thoughts behind the words the actor speaks. THEME: the main idea or ethical precept the play deals with. THRUST STAGE: a stage set at one end of the room which extends out into the audience area; audience surrounds the stage on three sides. TONY: awards given annually by the American Theatre Wing for outstanding contributions to the theatre; officially the Antoinette Perry Awards. TRAGEDY: a story where the protagonist does not achieve his/her goal. TRANSLATION: taking a play in one language and

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converting it into another. UNDERSTUDY: an actor who has memorized all the lines and action of an actor in a play, so that if the original actor falls ill or cannot perform, there is someone prepared to take his or her place at a moments notice. UPSTAGE: the part of the stage farthest from the audience. Also, to steal the scene from another actor by moving upstage, forcing the downstage actor to turn his or her back on the audience. WINGS: the areas offstage right and left, hidden from the audience, where actors can enter or exit, do quick costume changes, receive or discard props, or speak lines meant to be heard as if from another room.