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By Roxanne Schroeder-Arce Music & Lyrics by Héctor Martínez Morales .... Before the performance, creates a cue sheet to guide the crew in getting things .... Mariachi music is believed to have originated in Jalisco, Mexico in the 1800s, where ...
BEHIND THE CURTAIN

ARTWORK: AXEL B. PHOTOGRAPHY, MODEL AISHA SAN ROMAN

A CREATIVE & THEATRICAL STUDY GUIDE FOR TEACHERS

By Roxanne Schroeder-Arce Music & Lyrics by Héctor Martínez Morales

AGES 8 AND ABOVE

MARCH 19 - APRIL 4 & APRIL 8 - 11 STUDENT MATINEE MARCH 21 - 30 PUBLIC SHOWS

As part of DCT’s mission to integrate the arts into classroom academics, the Behind the Curtain Resource Guide is intended to provide helpful information for the teacher and student to use before and after attending a performance. The activities presented in this guide are suggested to stimulate lively responses and multi-sensory explorations of concepts in order to use the theatrical event as a vehicle for cross-cultural and language arts learning. Please use our suggestions as springboards to lead your students into meaningful, dynamic learning; extending the dramatic experience of the play.

Dallas Children’s Theater

BEHIND THE CURTAIN

A Creative & Theatrical Resource Guide for Teachers DCT Executive Artistic Director.....................................Robyn Flatt Resource Guide Editor......................................................Marty Sherman Resource Guide Layout/Design.....................................Kim Lyle Play..........................................................................................MARIACHI GIRL By..............................................................................................Roxanne Schroeder-Arce Music & Lyrics by.................................................................Hector Martinez Moralex Director of Production......................................................Robyn Flatt Poster Art...............................................................................Axel B. Photography, Model Aisha San Roman

DALLAS CHILDREN’S THEATER, one of the top five family theaters in the nation, serves over 250,000 young people from 196 zip codes, 146 cities and 78 counties and 32 states each year through its main stage productions, touring, educational programming and outreach activities. Since its opening in 1984, this award-winning theater has existed to create challenging, inspiring and entertaining theater, which communicates vital messages to our youth and promotes an early appreciation for literature and the performing arts. As the only major organization in Dallas focusing on theater for youth and families, DCT produces literary classics, original scripts, folk tales, myths, fantasies and contemporary dramas that foster multicultural understanding, confront topical issues and celebrate the human spirit. DCT is committed to the integration of creative arts into the teaching strategies of academic core curriculum and educating through the arts. Techniques utilized by DCT artist/teachers are based upon the approach developed in The Integration of Abilities and Making Sense with Five Senses, by Paul Baker, Ph.D. DCT founder and Executive Artistic Director, Robyn Flatt defines the artistic mission and oversees the operations of the organization, consisting of twenty-five full time staff members and more than 200 actors, designers, theater artists and educators.

See pages 18 for the TEKS that your field trip to Dallas Children’s Theater satisfies!

Permission is granted for material included in this Resource Guide to be copied for use in the classroom

CURTAINS UP ON PUTTING A PERFORMANCE TOGETHER Every DCT performance you see is the result of many people working together to create a play. You see the cast perform on stage, but there are people you do not see who help before, during, and after every production.   The DIRECTOR Determines the overall look of the performance. Guides the actors in stage movement and character interpretation. Works with designers to plan the lights and sounds, scenery, costumes and make-up, and stage actions.   The DESIGNERS Plan the lights, scenery, costumes, make-up, sound, and actions to help bring the director’s vision to life. There are also designers who work to create the posters, advertisements, programs and other media for the performance.   The STAGE MANAGER Before the performance, creates a cue sheet to guide the crew in getting things on and off the stage during the performances. During the performance, uses this cue sheet to direct people and things on and off the stage.   The CREW Builds and operate the scenery, costumes, props, and light and sound during the performance.   The CAST Performs and presents the story to the audience.   The AUDIENCE That’s right! There can be no performance without you- the audience. The role of the audience is unique because you experience the entertainment with the performers and backstage crew. You are a collaborator in the performance, and it is important to learn your role so you can join all the people who work to create this Dallas Children’s Theater production.

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CURTAINS UP ON THE ROLE OF THE AUDIENCE Watching a play is different from watching television or a sporting event. When you watch T.V., you may leave the room or talk. At a sporting event you might cheer and shout and discuss what you’re seeing. Your role as a member of the audience in a play means you must watch and listen carefully because: • You need to concentrate on what the actors are saying. The actors are affected by your behavior. Talking and moving around can make it difficult for them to concentrate on their roles.



Extra noises and movement can distract other audience members.

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Are you ready for your role in this performance?

Check the box next to the statements that describe proper etiquette for an audience member during the performance.

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Try your best to remain in your seat once the performance has begun.



Share your thoughts out loud with those sitting near you.



Wave and call out to the actors on stage.



Sit on your knees or stand near your seat.



Bring snacks and gum to enjoy during the show.



Reward the cast and crew with applause when you like a song or dance and at the end of the show.



Arrive on time so that you do not miss anything or disturb other audience members while you are being seated.



Keep all hands and feet and items out of the aisles during the performance.

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CURTAINS UP AFTER THE PERFORMANCE Attending a play is an experience unlike any other. Because a play is presented live, it provides a unique opportunity to experience a story as it happens. Dallas Children’s Theater brings stories to life through its performances. Many people are involved in the process. Playwrights adapt the stories you read in order to bring them off the page and onto the stage. Designers and technicians create lighting effects so that you can feel the mood of a scene. Carpenters build the scenery and make the place of the story become a real place, while costumers and make-up designers can turn actors into the characters you meet in the stories. Directors help actors bring the story to life before your very eyes. All of these things make seeing a play very different from television, videos, computer games, or CDs and audiobooks of stories. ACHER T



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Hold a class discussion when you return from the performance. Ask students the following questions and allow them to write or draw pictures of their experience at DCT.

What was the first thing you noticed when you entered the theater? What did you notice first on the stage? What about the set? Draw or tell about things you remember. Did the set change during the play? How was it moved or changed? Was there any space besides the stage where the action took place? How did the lights set the mood of the play? How did they change throughout? What do you think “house lights” are? How do they differ from stage lights? Did you notice different areas of lighting? What did you think about the costumes? Do you think they fit the story? What things do you think the costume designers had to consider before creating the costumes? Was there music in the play? How did it add to the performance? What about the actors? Do you think they were able to bring the characters to life? Did you feel caught up in the story? What things do you think the actors had to work on in order to make you believe they were the characters?

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• Draw a picture of what the audience might look like from the stage. Consider your work from the viewpoint of the actors on stage. How might things look from where they stand? • Write a letter to a cast member telling them what you liked about their character. • Write how you think it might feel to be one of the actors. Are the actors aware of the audience? How might they feel about the reactions of the audience today? How would you feel before the play began? What about after the show ends? • Which job would you like to try? Actor, Director, Lighting or Sound Crew Member, Stage Manager, Set Designer, Costume Designer, or another role? What skills might you need to complete your job? • Choose a favorite story and draw or use the computer to create a program cover design for a theatrical adaptation of your story. 5

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CURTAINS UP ON THEATER VOCABULARY ACTOR

any theatrical performer whose job it is to portray a character

CAST

the group of actors in a play

CENTER STAGE

the middle of the stage

CHARACTER

any person portrayed by an actor onstage. Characters may also be animals, and sometimes things.

CHOREOGRAPHER

the person who designs and teaches the dances in a production

COSTUME DESIGNER

the person who creates what the actors wear in the performance

DIRECTOR

the person in charge of the entire production

DOWNSTAGE

the area at the front of the stage; closest to the audience

HOUSE

the area in the theater where the audience sits in the theater

LIGHTING DESIGNER

the person who creates the lighting for a play to simulate the time of day and the location

ONSTAGE

the part of the stage the audience can see

OFFSTAGE

the part of the stage the audience cannot see

PLOT

the story line

PROSCENIUM

the opening framing the stage

PROJECT

to speak loudly

PROP

an object used by an actor in a scene

SET

the background or scenery for a play

SETTING

the time and place of the story

SOUND DESIGNER

the person who provides special effects like thunder, ringing phone, or crickets chirping

STAGE CREW

the people who change the scenery during a performance

STAGE MANAGER

the person who helps the director during the rehearsal and coordinates all aspects of the lights, sound, and scenery with the actors during the performance

UPSTAGE

the area at the back of the stage; furthest from the audience

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CURTAINS UP ON THE AUTHOR ROXANNE SCHROEDER-ARCE serves as assistant professor in the University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance. She previously taught at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts and at California State University, Fresno. In addition to teaching, Ms. Schroeder-Arce is a director, performer, scholar/researcher and playwright. She has three plays published by Dramatic Publishing and her bilingual plays have been presented to children and youth in theaters around the United States.

CURTAINS UP ON THE COMPOSER/LYRICIST HÉCTOR MARTÍNEZ MORALES is a composer and also performs on a number of instruments including piano and guitar.  Aside from his formal classical training in music, he has performed numerous styles of music including Latin American folk music and mariachi.  He holds a BM from Arizona State University and a Masters from the Longy School of Music where he studied with John Morrison; both in composition and theory.  He has studied privately with a number of teachers; most recently with Bert Van Herck (Harvard) and he also studied at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, France under teachers such as Phillip Lasser (Juilliard) and Narcis Bonet (l’Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris).  Mr. Martínez’ works have been performed in several countries and he has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra with whom he performed his charango concerto Trois Images de Ma Vie.  Mr. Martínez has received commissions from the likes of Chicago Symphony Orchestra players and American Composers Forum.  

CURTAINS UP ON THE DISCUSSION What are cultural differences? What differences in cultural traditions does Cita face with her father? What reasons are there for the differences? Why do you think it is so important to Luis to preserve his culture and its traditions? Why is it so important to Cita to change his mind? What reasons does Cita’s mother present to Luis to encourage him to allow his daughter to join the Mariachi? How might you argue her case? How can Cita’s schoolmates benefit from the cultural differences she encounters? How does her father benefit from the differences he faces in his new homeland?

CURTAINS UP ON AUDIENCE FEEDBACK “Thank you so much for letting me read the script for Mariachi Girl! I enjoyed it and it will be fun to present on stage and very interesting not just because the empowering message in it, and the colors of a culture behind it, but the dynamic of the language! The incorporation of expressions and words in spanish from different characters, knitting the music and the play, culture and language really flow in very interesting ways in bicultural and bilingual families and communities making their own song their own rhythm their own music, always changing and reshaping as immigrants , and as a new generations of children are given the magic colors of both cultures and languages to create new bridges,different shades for each one of their unique own paintings with their stories. and it is in that space among the colors and music, that we dance, we sing and feel in life.” Thank you, Diana (DCT Board Member)

What did you think of the play? Write us a letter and mail it to: Dallas Children’s Theater attn: Mariachi Girl feedback 5938 Skillman Dallas, TX 75231

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CURTAINS UP ON HISTORY MARIACHI-ORIGINS

Mariachi music is believed to have originated in Jalisco, Mexico in the 1800s, where it was played during celebrations in the rural community. The term mariachi has no certain origin. Some argue that it stems from the French word for marriage, as the music was often played at weddings. The word mariachi was used before the French arrived in Mexico, which leads others to believe the word may refer to the type of wood used to make the instruments the mariachi play. The music of the mariachi reflects many types of musical traditions, from military bands to colonial melodies brought from Spain. Musicians use their instruments to put their own creative spin on beloved tunes. The mariachi band is Mexico’s only true surviving folkloric ensemble. The composition of the group itself has changed very little since the addition of the trumpet in the middle of the 1930s. The songs that mariachi groups perform have changed to meet the demands of the listeners A good mariachi band has a minimum repertoire of at least one thousand songs. Throughout the years, mariachi bands have kept their traditional instruments and clothing. They have also held to a strong tradition of all-male groups. Occasionally, a woman would be allowed to accompany the band as a soloist, but they were never considered part of the group. Female instrumentalists were a completely alien concept. Some believed that women simply couldn’t play as forcefully as men, while others discouraged women because of the traveling lifestyle of the mariachi groups.

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Divide into groups of two or three students and have each group research one of the following topics. Encourage them to find pictures, quotes, and information that could lead to a discussion of how each individual or group fulfilled a dream to perform traditional mariachi music. Include information on obstacles they faced in making their dreams of singing mariachi music come true. Allow each group to share their findings with the class. Lucha Reyes Lola Beltran Mariachi Los Coronelas Mariachi Las Adelitas Mariachi Michoacano Mariachi Las Estrellas de Mexico Linda Ronstadt Sebastien de la Cruz

Lucha Reyes

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CURTAINS UP ON GEOGRAPHY Use the map of the Mexican states (on page 11) to find the following places mentioned in the play. Mrs. Parker’s family comes from a small town called Emiliano Zapata in Zacatecas. Cita’s mother, Carmen, tells Mrs. Parker her family is from Hidalgo, Mexico. Mariachi music originated in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The capitol of Mexico is Mexico City. In which Mexican state do you find the capitol of Mexico?

CURTAINS UP ON LANGUAGE Carmencita’s family is bilingual, which means they are able to speak two languages fluently. DCT’s production of Mariachi Girl presents the story and songs using both Spanish and English. Use the following questions as a springboard to the activity. Do you think a member of the audience who is not bilingual can fully understand and enjoy this story? Why or why not? What “clues” are given that might help you understand a language you may not be familiar with?

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What advantages does knowing more than one language provide?

Using context clues from each of the following lines from the play, write what you think the italicized words mean. “Can’t I just go watch them play, for a second, por favor?” “Okay, por un momento. Then you got to sleep. But be quiet.”

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“No, some mariachis have accordions. But we are true mariachis. Tradicionales. Sin acordeones.” “Look. It’s a book that Mrs. Parker gave me; it’s all about Lucha Reyes. She was a girl in a mariachi group a long time ago. Now I can show Papi how wrong he is!” “Escuchame muy bien, Cita. You are not going to show you Papi how wrong he is, niña.”

Follow up the activity with a discussion about how “clues” in the sentences can help a reader understand the meaning of words.

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CURTAINS UP ON MATH NUMBERS IN TWO LANGUAGES Provide each student with a copy of the calculator master (Page 13) and encourage them to label each number with the Spanish/English word for that number. Cero, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez Zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten   +  

más

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For the equals sign (=), you use es if the answer is 1, otherwise you use son:

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PROBLEMAS DE MATEMÁTICAS - MATH PROBLEMS



Using the table provided, write out the following problems as words and then solve.

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1. 3 x 3:____________________________________________________________________________ 2. 10 / 2: ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. 23 + 42: _________________________________________________________________________ 4. 99 - 9: ___________________________________________________________________________ 5. 13 x 7: ___________________________________________________________________________ 6. 75 / 3: ___________________________________________________________________________ 7. 17 + 4: __________________________________________________________________________ 8. 67 - 66: __________________________________________________________________________ 9. 4 x 25: ___________________________________________________________________________ 10. 78 / 13: _________________________________________________________________________ 11

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CURTAINS UP ON ART / DESIGN Design Your Own Charro Suit Another hallmark of the mariachi style is the distinctive costuming of its members. At first, the wandering musicians dressed like the rest of the workers in Jalisco- homespun white cotton suits and leather huaraches. As legend has it, the ornate charro outfits- based on the classic horseman’s attire of the region- came about as the result of a command performance by Mexico’s autocratic president General Porfirio Diaz for the U. S. Secretary of State in the early 1900s. – from Latina Arts, Inc. www.latinoartsinc.org

You will need: Markers, crayons, pastels or other coloring tools Glitter Glue Sticks Scissors Charro suit template provided (Page 15) Encourage students to search for examples of charro suits online before creating their own designs using the templates provided. Use markers, crayons, glitter and glue to embellish your suit. Cut the suits out and display in the classroom or hallway.

Charro Suit 13

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CURTAINS UP ON MUSIC The Instruments of the Mariachi

Match the picture to its corresponding label.

Trumpet Violin Vihuela Harp

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CURTAINS UP ON WRITING “I promised my father I would not let this country rob me of my culture…mi cultura, Carmen.” – Cita’s father, Luis The author mentioned in an interview that Luis’s struggle with supporting his daughter’s dream while preserving his own heritage was an interesting ‘journey’ for her in writing the play. She stated, “most fascinating has been my plight to understand what some of Carmecita’s father’s motivation might be…” It is clear that Luis loves his daughter and wants to make a “better life” for her. Use the following activity to express some of the reasons Luis might have for objecting to Cita’s dream of being a mariachi. With the template provided (Page 17) write a letter from Luis to his daughter. In it, explain why he feels the way he does about the mariachi and what reasons he might have for holding so strongly to the traditions of his ancestors. Be certain to include the parts of a good letter: date, greeting, body, and complimentary close.

CURTAINS UP ON MORE Books to Read:

Avalos, Cecilia. A Mariachi I’ll Be! Modern Curriculum Pr; Big Book edition, 1989. (Ages 4-8). A little girl dreams of becoming a mariachi player when she grows up.

Resource Books For Educators:

Sheehy, Daniel. Mariachi Music in America : Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. Oxford University Press, USA, 2005. Nevin, Jeff. Virtuoso Mariachi. University Press of America, 2002.

Websites to Visit:

Latino Arts, Inc. www.latinoartsinc.org - this site provides wonderful study guides to accompany performances sponsored by the group. Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles and Los Cenzontles pages have particularly good guides for students on the music and traditions of the mariachi. www.sobrino.net/mpc/womenmariachi A history of women’s roles in mariachi with timelines, photos, and other resources, compiled by experts Laura Sobrino and Leonor X. Perez. www.mariachi.org A calendar of western US concerts and events, directory of groups, and links to history and review sites.

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LETTER TEMPLATE

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T.E.K.S. satisfied by MARIACHI GIRL 117.13 - Theatre, Grade 3. 3.5 - Response/evaluation. The student responds to and evaluates theatre and theatrical performances. A - Evaluate and apply appropriate audience behavior consistently. B - Evaluate simple dramatic activities and performances. 117.16 - Theatre, Grade 4. 4.5 - Response/evaluation. The student responds to and evaluates theatre and theatrical performances. A - Identify and apply appropriate audience behavior at performances. D - Compare theatre artists and their contributions. 117.19 - Theatre, Grade 5. 5.5 - Response/evaluation. The student responds to and evaluates theatre and theatrical performances. A - Analyze and apply appropriate audience behavior at a variety of performances. D - Analyze and compare theatre artists and their contributions. 117.34 - Theatre, Grade 6. 6.5 - Response/evaluation. The student responds to and evaluates theatre and theatrical performances. A - Analyze and apply audience behavior at all performances. D - Compare selected occupations in theatre. 117.37 - Theatre, Grade 7. 7.5 - Response/evaluation. The student responds to and evaluates theatre and theatrical performances. A - Identify and demonstrate appropriate audience behavior at various types of performances. D - Compare career and avocational opportunities in theatre.

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