Discovery Guide

People’s Light & TheatrePeoplesLight.org

February 15, 2012- March 25, 2012

In this issue:Using This Guide, Page 2-3The Story & The Writer, Page 4-5The World of the Play, Page 6-7Our Production, Page 8-9Meet the Artists & Characters, Page 10-12Enhancing Your Experience, Page 13Resources for Educators, Page 14-15Self-Guided Tour, Page 16-17A Thank You to Our Sponsors, Page 18

THE STORYIn the lonely world of the Great Depression, George and Lennie travel together looking for work. Hired as ranch hands for a barley harvest, they arrive with the hope of saving up enough money to buy their own piece of land. Their friendship surprises a few of the other workers. Worldly George watches out for Lennie, an innocent, gentle giant. Slim and the other workers welcome the two into their rough world. However, the Boss’ hot-tempered son, Curley, singles out George and Lennie. Curley’s wife only adds to their anxiety as she flounces around the men’s bunkhouse. When the ranch hands taunt Curley about this, he moves to attack Lennie. Frightened, Lennie retreats until George calls for him to fight back. Lennie’s display of physical power stuns the men. Afterward, Slim plays on Curley’s pride to ensure George and Lennie keep their jobs. The results of the fight draw Curley’s wife towards Lennie, who only dimly perceives the danger she presents. When Lennie’s uncanny strength causes a death, Curley rounds up a mob to hunt him down. George must find him first and spare him from Curley’s intentions.

THE STORY & THE WRITER

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“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ menGang aft agley,An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,For promis’d joy!”

—Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”

ranches; these experiences developed his empathy for the workers of America and impressed upon him the strong connection between man and his environment. He first gained literary success with his fifth novel, Tortilla Flats, in 1935. Of Mice and Men, which was published in novel form and produced on Broadway in 1937, assured his popularity across the nation. Published just two years later, The Grapes of Wrath earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1940. In his war correspondence for the New York Herald Tribune, he reported on the overlooked aspects of war life. Other non-fiction works include a serious study of marine biology in The Sea of Cortez and a film on the life of Emiliano Zapata, Viva Zapata! In 1962, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died six years later in New York City, where he had spent the latter portion of his life. Though his total works amounted to four screenplays, three travel narratives, sixteen novels, a collection of short stories, and two published journals, critics point to Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath as his greatest literary triumphs.

AUTHOR & PLAYWRIGHTJOHN STEINBECKJohn Steinbeck—author, playwright, war correspondent, and journalist—grew up in Salinas, California. Born in 1902, by the age of fourteen he decided to be a writer. Though he studied writing, literature, and science at Standford between 1919 and 1925, he never earned a degree. He dropped in and out of school, taking time to work with migrants on California

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Of Mice and Men, drawn from the lines of a Robert Burns poem, was first titled Something That Happened. This working title reflects Steinbeck’s own philosophy that life simply is--neither life nor nature has an overarching purpose or a determined cause. This view coalesced from his upbringing in California, his devotion to the land, and his experiences with migrant workers.

His devotion to California soil takes its roots in his early life. Born and raised in Salinas, Steinbeck saw life closely intertwined with nature’s surroundings. Observations of the geography coloring the worlds of his novels and brought to life the realms of verdant lands which he knew intimately. The early years of his life sped by as the traditional ways of life faded from the valley. He watched as fertile fields shifted from cattle grazing grounds to small farms to corporate farms. The corporations that owned these massive tracts of farmland had no connection to the land itself or the people who harvested their crops.

THE WORLD OF THE PLAY

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“I was a bindle-stiff myself for quite a spell…I worked in the same country

that the story is laid in.” —John Steinbeck

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Steinbeck’s works frequently focus on the land of California and the men and women who worked there. He gained an intimate acquaintance with the lives of migrant workers, ranch hands, mill workers, and other laborers by working as one of them. Later, in writing a series of articles for The San Francisco News, he traveled in a bakery truck with Tom Collins, manager of a federal labor camp in Central Valley. Living and witnessing these lives impressed a need to share these stories with the larger world. In his reports for The San Francisco News, Steinbeck exposed the oppressive practices of the corporations against the struggling migrant workers.

These influences also surfaced in Steinbeck’s fictional work, especially in Of Mice and Men. The New Republic noted “the book is well contrived and effectively compressed, driving ahead with straight and rapid movements, as magnificently written as Steinbeck’s other four California novels.” Recently, Time critic Jonathan Franzen concluded that despite flaws, Steinbeck’s storytelling—“his ferocious will to make sense of his life and his country”—was powerful. At the time, a few critics bemoaned the unhappy ending for the underdog-protagonists. Rather than provide a dream fulfilled, Steinbeck closed with Lennie’s death and George’s loss. There is a spare and unadorned truthfulness in how Steinbeck captures the ordinary life of ordinary people

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OUR PRODUCTIONSCENIC DESIGN FOR MULTIPLE LOCATIONS

In August 2011, director David Bradley had the opportunity to visit the Salinas Valley and immerse himself in the landscape that influenced so much of Steinbeck’s writing. The images he brought back to the design team captured the unique quality of light and landscape of the place where Of Mice and Men takes place.

This play presented some unique challenges for designer Wilson Chin. In theatre, the designer has to create a cohesive artistic approach while depicting multiple locations. In this particular story, Wilson needed to design the following locations: a river bank, the bunkhouse, Crook’s shed, and the barn. These locations needed to look like they all be-longed in the same world as well as transition smoothly from one to the next. Working closely with the director, he developed a scenic design that could function both as a wide open landscape and the various locations on the ranch.

The deck is “dual raked,” meaning that the stage slants from 6” to 36” from front to back and from side to side. The lowest point is downstage left, and the highest is upstage right. However, the bunkhouse scene also needed furniture--a table, chairs, and beds for the workers. The bunk beds needed to be “counter-raked” so the actors could sit and lay on them comfortably and safely. If you look closely, you’ll see that the legs on the beds are different lengths to accommodate the sloping floor.

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TELLING THE STORY WITH LIGHTOnce Wilson had developed the scenic design, lighting designer Dennis Parichy saw some great opportunities to use the textures in the walls of the set to create interesting angles of light on the stage. the open slats in the back walls allow light to shine through and help the audience to imagine different times of day based on the direction of the “sunlight.” The lighting designer also can affect the “mood” of scene by altering the qualities of the light, changing whether it’s hard or soft, bright or dim, along with the light’s color and direction.

Dennis and Wilson also agreed on having a “cyclorama” hung at the very back wall of the stage. This is a pale piece of VERY large fabric, similar to a projector screen, that can be lit in many different ways depending on the “gels” the designer uses to provide color to the light. (Gels are very thin sheets of heat-resistant plastic that are fastened in a frame in front of a lighting instrument.) As you watch Of Mice and Men, you’ll notice how the cyclorama changes to depict clouds and different times of day.

Scenic, lighting, prop, costume, and sound design are all critical elements of telling a story on stage. Though you do not see the designers or the theatre artisans who bring those designs to life in the curtain call at the end of the show, they’re an essential part of our work at People’s Light & Theatre.

by John Steinbeck

MEET THE ARTISTS AND CHARACTERS

Artistic TeamDirector David BradleyProduction Manager Charles T. Brastow*Stage Manager Kate McSorley-Fossner*Assistant Director/Dramaturg Wendy BableFight Choreographer Samantha BellomoSet Design Wilson ChinCostume Design Marla J. JurglanisLighting Design Dennis ParichySound Design Christopher Colucci

Theatre ArtisansTechnical Director Joseph Franz Scene Shop Foreman Dylan Jamison Scenic Painter Will Scribner Scenic Carpenter Chris Wilson Master Electrician Gregory Scott Miller Assistant Master Electrician Stephen Dombkoski Costume Shop Manager Marla J. Jurglanis Cutter/Draper Abbie WysorWardrobe Bridget Anne Brennan Properties Master Elizabeth StumpAssistant Properties Master Sarah Pierce

*Member, Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and

Stage Managers

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Meet the Cast

*Member, Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and

Stage Managers

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GEORGEPete Pryor*

DirectorDavid Bradley

Assistant DirectorWendy Bable

LENNIEIan Bedford*

CANDYPeter DeLaurier*

THE BOSSTom Teti*

CURLEYChris Faith*

CURLEY’S WIFEJessica Bedford

SLIMJerry Richardson*

CARLSONMark Lazar*

WHITAndrew Kane*

CROOKSLou Ferguson*

CANDY’S DOGCharlie and Beanie

OUR CHARACTERS

Slima “mule skinner” or “jerk-line skinner.” His job is to drive the mule team; a position of higher status than a “bucker”

Carlsonalso a “mule skinner”

Whita farm worker, probably a grain bucker

Crooksthe ranch’s “stable buck;” his job is to care for the horse and mulesGeorge

a migrant farm worker and grain”bucker.” His job is to lift the 70 pound grain bags onto the wagon.

Lenniea giant man with the innocence of youth; his powerful physique makes him an asset in farm labor. Also a grain bucker.

Candyan old farmhand, he lost his right hand on the job at the ranch and now cleans the bunkhouse. (Candy is often referred to as a “swamper.”)

Bossthe ranch superintendent; he has the power to hire and fire farm workers, and is responsible for getting the grain harvest in on time.

Curleythe Boss’ quick-tempered son

Curley’s Wifenewly married to Curley and unaccustomed to life on a work ranch

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ENHANCING YOUR EXPERIENCEIf you enjoyed Of Mice and Men, you might also like:

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton*

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros*

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner*

Native Son by Richard Wright*

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee*

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

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RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORSActive Discussion TechniquesIntroductory Text: Excerpts from THE HARVEST GYPSIES by John Steinbeck

On these large ranches there is no attempt made for the relaxation or entertainment of the workers. Indeed any attempt to congregate is broken up by the deputies for it is feared that if they are allowed to congregate they will organize, And that is the one thing the large ranches will not permit at any cost. The attitude of the owner on the large ranch is one of hatred and suspicion, his method is the threat of the deputy’s guns. The workers are herded about like animals. Every possible method is used to make them feel inferior and insecure. At the slightest suspicion that the men are organizing they are run from the ranch at the points of guns. The large ranch owners know that if organization is ever effected there will be the expense of toilets, showers, decent living conditions and a raise in wages. The attitude of the workers on a large ranch is much that of the employer, hatred and suspicion. The worker sees himself surrounded by force. He knows that he can be murdered without fear on the part of the employer, and he has little recourse to the law. He has taken refuse in a sullen tense quiet. [pg. 35-36]

In visiting these camps one is impressed with several things in particular. The sullen and frightened expression that is the rule among the migrants has disappeared from the faces of the Federal camp inhabitants. Instead there is a steadiness of gaze and a self-confidence that can only come of restored dignity. The difference seems to lie in the new position of the migrant in the community. Before he came to the camp he had been policed, hated, and moved about. It had been made clear he was not wanted. In the Federal camps every effort of the management is expended to give him his place in society. There are no persons on relief in this camp. [40-41]

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Connection to Of Mice and MenIn the scene where George, Lennie, and Candy decide to go in together on the farm, George tells Lennie and Candy, “Now don’t tell nobody about her. Jus’ us three and nobody else. They’re liable to can us so we can’t make no stake. We’ll just go on like we was a bunch of punks. Like we was gonna buck barley for the rest of our lives. And then all of a sudden, one day, bang! We get our pay and scram out of here.”

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Vote with Your Feet (This is an active discussion technique inspired by theatre practitioner Augusto Boal.)

Designate one side of the room as the AGREE, YES, or TRUE end of the spectrum, and the opposite side as DISAGREE, NO, or FALSE.

Tell students that in a moment you are going to share a statement and that they should choose where they stand on the continuum between AGREE and DISAGREE based on their personal opinion on the statement. (This activity works best if you use a statement that is likely to generate very polarized responses, such as “Carlson was justified in shooting Candy’s dog.”)

Once you have shared the statement and students have chosen where they stand, let them know that you are going to ask some of the students who made decisive moves toward one side or the other to share why they made that choice. If at any time a student decided that they would like to change their position based on what is shared by their classmates, they should feel free to do so. (Often, students will ask for more clarification on the statement or for you to define what you mean by certain things. Rather than further explaining the statement, let them know that it’s up to them to decide how they interpret it. Extensive explanation often dilutes the potential for a dynamic discussion.)

Possible facilitation questions:1. You made a very decisive move to this side if the room. Can you share your reason for making that choice?2. For those of you in the middle, why was it difficult to choose one side or the other? 3. (To students who change their position during the discussion) What was just said that persuaded you to change where you stand?

Farm supervisors rarely kept keep migrant workers for more than the length of a single crop harvest. This prevented migrants from settling permanently in California, and deterred them from forming organized groups that might challenge the authority of the landowners and supervisors. It also made it nearly impossible for migrant workers to apply for government relief because they could not establish residency for the required qualification period.

For DiscussionWhat parallels do you see between the tension between farm supervisors and migrant workers, and New York City’s response to the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti park?

As we get closer to the 2012 presidential election, what similarities to you see in the political arena between migrant worker circumstances in Of Mice and Men and the current issue of undocumented workers within the United States?

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SELF-GUIDED TOURMany of the photos featured in our Discovery Guide are part of the Life Photo Archives and were taken by Dorothea Lange. You can view more of her photographs by visiting this link:http://images.google.com/hosted/life

CAPTURING THE PLIGHT OF THE MIGRANT WORKER THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY

“Pictures are a medium of communication, and the subject must be something that you truly love or truly hate. Moreover, you have to know what you are going to do with the pictures afterwards.” Thus spoke Dorothea Lange in an interview. This love of her subjects, first shown in the images of migrant workers in California, captured the depth of their lives. An 1934 exhibition of her portrait work in San Francisco introduced her to Paul Taylor, her future husband and collaborator on An American Exodus. The following year, they began documenting migrant farm workers for the California State Emergency Relief Administration (CSERA).

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She would walk through the field and talk to people, asking simple questions—what are you picking?...How long have you been here? When you do eat lunch?...I’d like to photograph you, she’d say, and by now it would be “Sure, why not,” and they would pose a little, but she would sort of ignore it, walk around until they forgot us and were back at work.

The great strength of Lange’s work was the focus of human struggle against despairing conditions. She sought to use her work to better the lives of those she photographed. Her work with migrants was used in a report to the U.S. Senate, in An American Exodus, for a Works Progress Administration exhibit in San Francisco, and by a number of newspapers and periodicals.

Resources:“Dorothea Lange is Dead at 70; Chronicled Dust Bowl Woes.” New York Times. 47. 14 Oct 1965. ProQuest Historical Newspapers New York Times. Web. 27 Jan 2012. <http://proquest.umi.com.www2.lib.ku.edu:2048/pqdweb?index=0&did=94989442&SrchMode=1&sid=3&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1327700441&clientId=42567>

“Migrant Workers Phototgrapher: Dorothea Lange.” Library of Congress. “Documenting America.” 2011. Web. 27 Jan 2012. <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fachap03.html>

The finished report for CSERA reached the desk of Roy Stryker, who offered Lange a job with the Resettlement Administration. This job sent her to Nipomo, but she switched and headed for the Imperial Valley to capture the horrendous conditions of life for migrant families. Due to a lack of funds, Stryker was forced to lay off Lange for two months, but rehired her in January 1937. Her colleague at the time,

Ron Partridge, described the way she worked:

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These corporations and foundations receive our special thanks for their steadfast support in 2011-2012 of our arts education programs, Arts Discovery.

ARTS DISCOVERY SUPPORTERS

Arts Discovery Producers BNY Mellon Mid-AtlanticCharitable TrustsThe Boeing CompanyIndependence FoundationINGPECOVertexVSA MetLife FoundationArts Connect All ProgramThe Wyncote Foundation

Arts Discovery Actors AnonymousCentocor, Inc.First Priority BankThe Elsie Lee GarthwaiteMemorial FoundationMeridian BankRosenlund Family FoundationSedgwick CMS

Arts Discovery Playwrights AONErnst & YoungDNB FirstEthel Sergeant Clark SmithMemorial FundGenuardi Family FoundationKPMGMarsh USA Inc.PepsiCoPNC BankPricewaterhouseCoopers LLPSafeguard ScientificsTowers WatsonWillis

Arts Discovery Directors Aqua Pennsylvania, Inc.The Barra FoundationCephalonConlin’s Copy CenterPenn Liberty BankStar Print Mail, Inc.West Pharmaceutical Services

Arts Discovery PartnersACE GroupThe ARAMARK Charitable Fund at the Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramCustomers BankThe Engage 2020 Innovation Grants Program, supported by The Wallace Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts and The Philadelphia Foundation, a program of the Cultural Alliance’s research initiative Engage 2020The Hamilton Family FoundationThe John Lazarich FoundationThe Marshall-Reynolds FoundationPA Council for the ArtsThe Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through Philadelphia Cultural Management InitiativeThe Pew Charitable TrustsPNC Arts AliveThe William Penn Foundation

--------------------------------------------------------------------Discovery Guide Content Developed by: Wendy Bable, Producer for Arts Discovery Programs; Hannah Daniel, Dramaturgy & Education Fellow

Visual Concept and Layout: Royal Flush Consulting

Show Logo & Graphics: Jill Margraff

Arts Discovery receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by annual state appropriation. Arts Discovery is also generously supported by hundreds of

gifts from generous individuals.