January 26 – February 20book by Jeffrey Hatcher

conceived by Rob Ruggiero and Dyke Garrisonmusical supervision and arrangements by

Danny Holgatedirected by Rob Ruggiero

PLAY GUIDE

AboUt tHE Ella PLAY GUIDE

This play guide is a resource designed to enhance your theatre experience. Its goal is twofold: to nurture the teaching and learning of theatre arts and to encourage essential questions that lead to enduring understandings of the play’s meaning and relevance. Inside you will find:

• Contextual and historical information including a list of characters, plot synopsis and information about the playwright.

• Evocative, thought-provoking articles on topics surrounding the play, which are meant to incite conversation and analysis.

• Bridgework activities connecting themes and ideas from the play to your curriculum.

• Oral discussion and writing prompts encouraging your students to draw connections between the play and their own lives. These prompts can easily be adapted to fit most writing objectives.

We encourage you to adapt and extend the material in any way that best fits the needs of your community of learners. Please feel free to make copies of this guide, or you may download it at: www.actorstheatre.org/education_guides.htm. We hope this material, combined with our pre-show workshop, will give you the tools to make your time at Actors Theatre a valuable learning experience.

Ella student matinees and study guides address specific EduCAtiOnAl OBjECtivEs:

• Students will identify or describe the use of elements of drama in dramatic works.

• Students will identify or explain how drama/theatre fulfills a variety of purposes.

• Students will identify a variety of creative dramatics.

Table of conTenTs3 What to Expect from Ella; “One of the Good Ones”: A Note from the Director

4 About the Adaptor: Rob Ruggiero; What Makes a Musical Legend?

5 Becoming Ella

6 A Legend’s Life in Music

8 Ella: Our First Lady of Song

9 Bridgework, Writing Portfolio, Works Cited

12 Upcoming Opportunities

Actors Theatre EducationSteven Rahe, Education DirectorJacob Stoebel, Education CoordinatorJeffrey Mosser, Education FellowSarah Lunnie, Literary/Education AssociateRebecca Davis, Education InternCaitlin Puckett, Education Intern

Study guide compiled by Rebecca Davis, Emily Feldman, Adrien-Alice Hansel, Jeff Mosser, Caitlin Puckett, Steven Rahe, Jacob Stoebel, Amy Wegner.

Graphic design by Jen Dorman.

Yum Brands Inc. is honored to sponsor Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Student Matinee Series for the 2009-2010 season.

The crawford charITaBle foundaTIon supports Actors Theatre of Louisville’s 2009-2010 education programs.

ParTners In educaTIon

3

WhaT To expecT from ellaHow do you tell the story of a great American singer on stage? How do you showcase her music, while including information on her life, times and lasting contributions to American musical history? do you write a play or a musical?

Ella happens to be a play with music. The playwright refers to this as a “musical portrait.” So, what is a musical portrait? With traditional plays and musicals, the protagonist strives to overcome conflicts and obstacles. In Ella, the challenges of Fitzgerald’s real life are on display and serve to create the conflict in the play. In traditional musicals, like Hello, Dolly! or West Side Story, songs typically advance the development of the character and/or the plot and often include choreography. But instead of moving the plot, Fitzgerald sings in Ella to capture the spirit of her incredible talent and showcase the magnitude of her legacy.

The result is a living biography of sorts, acted out in the first person and accompanied by live musical performances. Here’s what you can expect from this musical portrait:

n You will meet Ella Fitzgerald and several of her band members, who also play the roles of important men throughout her life.

n Ella will tell and show you her journey from being a lookout at a bordello in her childhood to becoming the musical legend we know today.

n You will hear her sing some of her most famous hits including: “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t got That Swing,” “You Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “That Old Black Magic,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” and many more!

“one of The Good ones”a noTe from The direcTorElla is a dream come true for me. Five years ago I began developing this musical portrait of “The First Lady of Song.” I have always been a fan of jazz, and Fitzgerald’s amazing body of work seemed to cry out for a theatre piece celebrating the life of this woman. Her story needed to be told. Everyone I know loves Ella Fitzgerald, yet most do not know much about her life and her history. They just know her as the great singer she was. Our journey has afforded me the great privilege of taking a closer look at this brilliant musician, and really getting to know the sweet woman we all remember as “the nice one”— her past, her struggles, her dreams, her desires, her connection with her music and her audience—her real “story,” so to speak. One thing quickly became clear: Ella’s music was her gift to the world and (like most great artists) she defined herself through her work. Also (like most artists) she struggled with her sense of self and her ability to balance her life and her talent. Ella shared many of the same personal battles as so many of us, including her own painfully familiar search for love. Yet she sparkled and triumphed, and remained a huge defining force in the music world for decades. I found it fascinating (as I hope you will too) to see and know more about the Ella behind closed doors—the Ella we never could see on concert stages and on television—and to experience the musical voice of one of the greatest singers of all time. I think it’s about time we celebrated the life of one of “the good ones.” Her life and her music are truly food for the soul. Enjoy.

-Rob Ruggiero

abouT The adapTor: rob ruGGeieroRob Ruggiero is a freelance professional director who has directed at numerous regional theaters around the country as well as Off Broadway. He conceived and directed the world premiere musical portrait of Ella Fitzgerald entitled Ella (starring Tina Fabrique). A popular and critical success, Ella has been or will be seen on 22 regional theater stages from 2005-2010. Ella recently won three Kevin Kline Awards, including “Outstanding Director of a Musical” for the St. Louis Production and the Chicago production won three 2008 Joseph Jefferson Awards including “Best Director – Revue.” Mr. Ruggiero also conceived and directed the musical revue Make Me A Song: The Music Of William Finn, which opened Off-Broadway in 2007 to great reviews. The production received nominations for both the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Review and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical. In 2008 an original cast recording was released and the London premiere

was also produced at the New Players Theater. He made his Off Broadway debut directing All Under Heaven, his second collaboration with Valerie Harper, which toured regionally and in Florida, and had a critically acclaimed run in Los Angeles. Mr. Ruggiero recently collaborated again with Ms. Harper in Matthew Lombardo’s new play Looped which continues to be produced nationally, including a recent production in Florida and a production at Arena Stage with a projected Broadway production opening in the fall of 2009. Mr. Ruggiero has received four Kevin Kline Awards, two for Best Direction of a Musical (Urinetown and Ella) and two for Best Direction of a Play (Take Me Out and The Little Dog Laughed). Upcoming projects include a revival of Camelot at Goodspeed Musicals, where he also directed a highly acclaimed production of Big River as well as a production of 1776, which garnered him his third Connecticut Critic’s Circle Award for best direction. Mr. Ruggiero has staged numerous musical productions including William Finn’s Elegies–A Song Cycle, Falsettos, Ragtime, West Side Story, Crazy for You, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,

WhaT makes a musical leGend?

The Last Five Years, Godspell and Howard Crabtree’s When Pigs Fly (Boston Premiere). His production of Island Of The Blue Dolphins had an extensive national tour and was seen by thousands of children.

until well into the 1930s. The Vaudeville circuit included hundreds of talented singers and actors and Ella would take much of her musical inspiration from these touring acts.

The roaring ‘20s were the heyday of jazz and blues, and musicians such as trumpet player Louis Armstrong and pianist Duke Ellington caught Fitzgerald’s ear. Bing Crosby’s lush baritone was one of Ella’s favorites, but she modeled her own sound after Connee Boswell of the Boswell Sisters. A group of three women who made dozens of hits with their tight-knit harmonies and jazzy sounds, the Boswell Sisters helped pave the way for female performers to come. Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith brought

the Delta Blues up north to New York and captivated a young Fitzgerald with their moving melodies and gritty lyrics. Musical theatre composers like Irving Berlin and George and Ira Gershwin were often times more famous than the people who sang their songs, and their jazzy arrangements could be found in films, musicals and nightclub acts from Harlem to Hollywood. Like many before her, Ella would go on to tackle these styles, and added swing, big band, be-bop and even nursery rhymes to her veritable repertoire. From jazz, blues, musical theatre and Vaudeville, Ella Fitzgerald heard it all, and sang it all, becoming one of the most versatile artists the world has ever seen.

4

Ella Fitzgerald’s childhood memories were shaped by the sights and sounds of the 1920s, New York City and the peak of Vaudeville. A kind of variety show

that included song, dance,

comedy and later even film, Vaudeville was the primary form of

American entertainment

musical connecTions To Today: if you liked Fantasia’s performance in the finale of the third season of American idol, check out Ella’s version of “summertime” from the famed Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. she sang it long before Fantasia did.

if you like Christina Aguilera’s song “Ain’t no Other Man” from Back to Basics, check out Ella Fitzgerald’s 1956 version of “The lady is a tramp.”

if you’re a musical theatre aficionado, have a listen to Ella singing “People” on her album Hello dolly! do you think she sings it better than Barbara Streisand?

musical connecTions To Today:

5

becominG ellaWhen Rob Ruggiero set about realizing his dream to create a musical portrait of jazz great Ella Fitzgerald, he faced a distinct challenge: Who could portray Ella at the peak of her voice and fame, a musician whose distinctive interpretation forever marked many of the songs she sang, whose career lasted nearly sixty years and included a national Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

When Ruggiero first approached Broadway and singing sensation Tina Fabrique, she had her doubts.

“Ella never sang flat; she never made mistakes,” Fabrique says of her first thoughts when Ruggiero suggested she take on the role. “Her music was in her and a part of her. It’s a voice like no other.”

She was also concerned about mastering Ella’s signature scat style. “Scat requires imagination, melody, finding sounds that fit into your mouth. Ella learned it in the bebop era, imitating Dizzy Gillespie’s runs on his horns. It became part of her trademark.” But Fabrique, whose work includes Broadway’s Bring in ’ da Noise, Bring in ’ da Funk and Ragtime, as well as several TV shows (including the original theme song for Reading Rainbow) and a tour as a featured

singer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, ultimately accepted Ruggiero’s offer. As Fabrique and Ruggiero built the role, they moved away from performing an impression of Fitzgerald. “I was always thinking in terms of creating a real spiritual projection of Ella. I’m more interested as an actress in who the woman really was, what made her want to sing, the things that happened to her and how they affected her life and art. I wasn’t concerned with sounding exactly like her.” That said, she still paid close attention to Fitzgerald’s legendary recordings. “I learned her scat solos note for note,” Fabrique remembers. “It took a lot of time and energy.”

Fabrique has toured with Ella since its first production in 2005, and performing this role for so long has deepened her respect for the jazz icon. “One thing I really like about Ella is that she didn’t make a fuss about things. She didn’t live wildly or carry on or complain. For the most part she was simply about getting that groove on and swinging.”

After her initial trepidation, Fabrique has found herself playing to packed houses and critical acclaim accross the country. “I could stay with it forever,” she says. “I’m having a ball.”

-Adrien-Alice Hansel

ella Fitzgerald sings in Milan, Italy in 1968

if you like Etta James and her famous hit “At last,” (maybe you heard Beyonce since this song in Cadillac Records) then you might enjoy her singing “My Melancholy Baby.”

if you’ve listened to Jason Mraz singing (especially live) and wondered how he does that cool vocal percussion/scat thing, listen to Ella Fitzgerald’s live recording of “How High the Moon” in Berlin.

if Beatles Rock Band is your favorite nintendo Wii game, listen to Ella’s cover of “Can’t Buy Me love.”

“Tina Fabrique evokes the maternal musical spirit of Miss Ella with remarkable skill and finesse… a must-see performance.”

—Variety

“Tell Mr. Ellington there’s no doubt about it: This show called Ella has positively got that swing.”

—The San Diego Union-Tribune

spun from the music and life story of one of the most iconic American singers of all time, Ella treats audiences to a swinging song list from Ella Fitzgerald’s beloved repertoire, while giving

us a fascinating glimpse of the woman behind the

microphone.

As the show begins, we find the singer and her band rehearsing for a concert in Nice, France in

1966, and she’s sparring with her manager, Norman Granz. Ella is dealing with a major personal loss;

Norman wants her to put some patter into the act and let the audience know she’s okay, but she resists. The rehearsal continues

and as Ella sings, she reveals more and more about herself—her rags-to-riches beginnings and the constant tension in her life between career

and family—until suddenly we’re at the concert, and the woman we’ve come to know takes the stage as the consummate performer we love.

Ella’s voice is often described as having a joyous, pitch-perfect clarity, a quality that was linked to her public image as someone who lived a life without scandal—an introvert who preferred performing to talking about herself. Her mode of expression was her music: “The only thing better than singing is more singing,” as Ella herself

put it. But at the same time, her personal history was remarkable: she’d been homeless as a teenager but by her twenties had become a hit recording artist. She had several failed

marriages and an adopted son she left behind while touring. And she was a creative force of nature whose artistic adventures always competed with her longing for love and a home. Here’s a look

at some moments that shaped the legend’s life, and a career that spanned six decades.

6

a leGend’s life in music

Ella Fitzgeraldperforming inParis, 1960.

1917 Ella is born to parents who are gone from her life by her teens. Her father leaves when she is a baby, and her mother, who instilled in Ella a love of music, dies—which leaves Ella’s care in the hands of an abusive stepfather, and later an aunt. In her youth, Ella earns money by running numbers for gamblers and as a lookout for a bordello. For a time, she is sent to a reformatory where girls are routinely beaten, and she runs away.

1934 Ella is living and dancing on the streets of New York when she enters an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater. Initially planning to dance, on the spot she decides to sing. It’s her stage debut, and three encores later, she has won first prize.

1935 An even bigger break comes when 17-year-old Ella is introduced to Chick Webb, a drummer leading one of the top swing bands of the era. At first reluctant to hire the gawky girl, Webb is convinced

when he sees how much the crowds love her. He takes Ella under his wing, becoming her mentor and even her legal guardian. Ella plays the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem many times with Webb’s band.

1938-39 Triumph and loss: Ella releases “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” a swinging version of an old nursery rhyme. It becomes a massive hit, topping the charts for over four months. But in 1939, Chick Webb succumbs to tuberculosis, leaving Ella and

7

a leGend’s life in music

the band without a guide. Ella takes the helm for several years, but with the waning of the big band era, she soonembarks on a solo career. She is brieflymarried to a shipyard worker named Benjamin Kornegay in the early 1940s, but divorces him when she learns that he has a criminal record.

1945 Ella’s scat recording of “Flying Home” becomes one of the most influential jazz records of the decade. In the 1940s, working with Dizzy Gillespie and others, she’s drawn to a new style of playing called bebop, and uses her voice to improvise and scat like an instrument. “I tried to do with my voice what I heard horns in the band doing,” Ella explains. She becomes one of the most dazzling pioneers of this vocal style.

1947 While touring with Gillespie’s band, Ella falls in love with the bassist, Ray Brown, and they are married. The couple adopts a son of Ella’s half-sister, Frances, and names him Ray, Jr. But the marriage ends five years later, deteriorating because of conflicting career schedules.

1948 Ella begins her association with Norman Granz, a music promoter/ impresario and champion of the rights of black musicians. He books Ella into his Jazz at the Philharmonic tour, which takes her all over the U.S. and abroad, making her an international sensation on his Verve record label. Granz will become her manager, and Ella will continue to tour frequently over the next four decades.

1956-1964 “I never knew how good our songs were,” Ira Gershwin once said, “until I heard Ella Fitzgerald sing them.” Over nearly a decade, working with Granz, Ella records “the songbooks,” albums of music by all

the great American songwriters, including the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington and Rodgers and Hart. It’s a turning point: not only is the project a phenomenon, but the albums elevate the work of the songwriters, establishing popular music as worthy of serious exploration.

1958 The first Grammy Awards are held, and Ella is a winner. By the end of her life, Ella will have amassed 13 Grammys (her last in 1990, at age 73). In the late 1950s, Ella also cuts three albums with Louis Armstrong, including Porgy and Bess.

1970s Ella returns to her jazz roots, and her discography continues to win Grammys. In 1974, she teams up with Frank Sinatra and Count Basie for a popular two-week engagement in New York. Despite failing health and eyesight, she continues to perform and tour.

1986 Suffering from diabetes and congestive heart failure, Ella undergoes quintuple bypass surgery.

1991 Ella performs at Carnegie Hall—her 26th and final concert there.

1996 At the age of 79, Ella Fitzgerald passes away in Beverly Hills. In the New York Times, Frank Rich eulogizes her thus: “It’s not just that her singing is beautiful. It is also liberating, transporting us into a realm of pleasure beyond all barriers, whether of race and age, of jazz and pop, of high art and low, or even, when she floats into scat, of language. That timelessness will never fade.” Ella herself regarded this crosscultural, cross-generational appeal as her best legacy: “Coming through the years, and finding that I not only have just the fans of my day, but the young ones of today—that’s what it means,” she said. “It means it was worth all of it.”

—Amy Wegener

8

if you want to experience the great tradition of American popular song, Ella Fitzgerald’s music is the place to start. Her voice has captured the affections of audiences and musicians in every era, and her popularity shows no sign of waning. Ella’s palpable joy in singing, her purity of tone, and unique improvisational abilities made her an artist who crossed cultural boundaries and who could transition between swing, jazz, and pop with ease. Modern listeners have re-elected her over and over again as our First lady of song.

“Anyone who attempts to sing extemporaneously—that is, scat—will tell you that the hardest aspect of that kind of singing is to stay in tune. You are wandering all over the scales, the notes coming out of your mouth a millisecond after you think of them. A singer has to work doubly hard to emit those random notes in scat singing with perfect intonation. Well, I should say all singers except Ella. Her notes float out in perfect pitch, effortless and, most important of all, swinging.”–Mel Tormé, jazz singer, It Wasn’t All Velvet, 1988

“As an artist, Fitzgerald is American song. In the songbook series she began recording for Norman Granz at Verve in 1956, she performed a cultural transaction as extraordinary as Elvis’ contemporaneous integration of white and African- American soul: Here was a black woman popularizing urban songs often written by immigrant Jews to a national audience of predominantly white Christians. By the time she had gone through the entire canon, songs that had been pigeonholed as show tunes or jazz novelties or faded relics of Tin Pan Alley had become American classical music, the property and pride of everyone.”–Frank Rich, “How High the Moon,” The New York Times, 1996

“The origins of Fitzgerald’s vocal improvising were rooted primarily in instrumental models, not vocal ones. And particularly the instrumentals at that point where swing and bebop meet. She coined an uncanny and remarkably abstract vocabulary that

ella: our firsT lady of sonG

expressed the most subtle nuances of jazz improvisation—its attack, smears, curves, phrasing, vibrato and pulse. in mimicking virtuosity, she came to possess it.”–John McDonough, Down Beat, September 1996

“In its smoothness and flexibility, that voice is arguably the most perfect all-around pop-jazz vocal instrument of the last half century. Sarah Vaughan could sound more beautiful, and Billie Holiday and Carmen McRae had much greater emotional depth. But none could equal the range of Fitzgerald’s far-reaching musicality or match the dynamism, stamina and inner musical logic of her improvisation.”–Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 1993

“Always at heart a shy and self-effacing woman, Ella disappeared into the words and music of a song so completely that it transcended her matronly appearance, leaving just the purity of her voice. it was the voice of everywoman. Just as advertisers portray the feminine image as young, slim, bean beautiful, Ella’s voice—half girl’s, half woman’s—was its aural equivalent. Its perpetually youthful timbre gave it a universal, timeless appeal.”–Stuart Nicholson, Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of The First Lady of Jazz, 1996

“I have had the privilege of coaching or speaking to aspiring jazz singers, especially at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts. Ella Fitzgerald is always the one singer I point them toward. she was the ultimate. She had perfect pitch, impeccable diction, an understanding of the lyrics and music, and a feeling for what the writers had in mind for their compositions. She was the complete musician, using her voice as the ultimate instrument. No one scats like Ella. She set the standard. There are many singers I love to hear but if you have to choose only one, let it be Ella!”–Jeanette Kays, Louisville singer and teacher, 2009

-Compiled by Emily Feldman

ella in concert.

9

bridGeWork

aT your deskjazz Break-downWhile she didn’t write her own lyrics, Ella Fitzgerald certainly brought them to life! A song is a poem set to music. Take a look at the various parts of her poetry below.

“You’ll Have To Swing It (Mr. Paganini)”Listen PaganiniNow, don’t you be a meanieWhat have you up your sleeve?Come on and spring itAnd if you can’t spring it, you simply have toSwing it

Ask yourself what is she singing about? Who is she talking to? Does she use any slang? Is there a particular rhyme scheme used to create her lyrics? What might she want from this mysterious Mr. Paganini? Below is a quick example, but try this out on some of her other greatest hits!

Artistic inspirationElla Fitzgerald has inspired numerous musicians. What artist has inspired you the most? Why? What is it about their dance, artistic, or musical ability that makes you feel like you can connect with them? Create a shrine for the artist in the form of a collage. Be sure to represent the artist with images, lyrics or other materials that are associated with the artist.

__________: the Musical Portrait!The performance of Ella celebrates the music, life and times of Ella Fitzgerald. By your standard, which musical artist deserves their own musical portrayal on stage? What songs would you include if you could only pick their top five? What personal conflicts did they overcome to become the celebrated artist they are today?

on your feeTClassy talent showElla was going to dance on the Apollo stage until she decided to sing at the very last minute. Everyone has a talent whether or not you always display it. In class, find a way to share your talents with one another.

scat-a-tonic!Take a listen to Ella singing skat (a specific style of jazz singing), then find some instrumental jazz. Listen to it a few times and start thinking about how you would skat along with the music. Now try it out loud! How did you do? Did you stay true to the mood of the song? Were you in the range of the musical scale? Ella was renowned for her work at this art form. Keep trying. Perhaps you could have a skat-off in class!

a band swinging in the 1950s.

The apollo, the famous club where ella got her start, as it appeared in the early 1900s

WriTinG porTfoliopersonalElla Fitzgerald’s life was filled with struggles outside of her illustrious music career. She had to balance a home life and her musical success. Take some time to reflect on a personal struggle you may have had. How did you juggle the struggle that you faced? Try journaling about this topic. Be sure to explore the steps you took, the outcome and what you may have done differently.

liTeraryWe know that Ella Fitzgerald was a huge success. She drew from and contributed to American music in many ways. Pick another historical American musician and report on how s/he has contributed. Who did s/he work with and who was inspired by their work? In class, discuss how each of your musicians may have inspired one another to create a big picture of American music history!

TransiTiveWrite a review of Ella. Describe what it was like to watch the play, but be sure to write about more than just the story told by the play. Think about how the play tells its story. Make the experience of watching the play come alive for your reader by writing about several of the play’s many elements, including costumes, lights, props and music as well as how the actors performed in their roles and how the director’s vision was realized. Were there some parts of Ella you enjoyed more than other parts? If so, why?

10

discussion QuesTionspre-shoW QuesTionsn Ella showcases Ella Fitzgerald at the pinnacle of her fame. Imagine the time period she worked in. What does a jazz /swing club look like? What will the set look like? Design your own and compare it to the show when you see it.

n Ella is an influential performer in swing and jazz. Start thinking about all the different performers who may have been influenced by her. Who might have inspired Ella herself?

posT-shoW QuesTionsn Compare Ella to a play, to a musical and to an opera. How was it different? How was it the same?

n Imagine yourself as the director or the adaptor of the show. How would you change Ella?

ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe

compleTe Works ciTedBiography of Robert Ruggiero. Robert Ruggiero, Director. 4 Dec. 2009. www.robruggiero.com/clients/ruggieror/nav/frameset.shtml

The Estate of Ella Fitzgerald. The Official Website of Ella Fitzgerald. CMG Worldwide, n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2009. www.ellafitzgerald.com/

Daniel Ross. American Masters. PBS, n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2009. www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/fitzgerald_e.html

Ella Fitzgerald Complete Discography. 21 Mar. 2007. Web. 2 Dec. 2009. ellafitzgerald.altervista.org/discog_05.htm

Stephen Pearson. The People History. n.d. Web. 2 Dec. 2009. www.thepeoplehistory.com/40smusic.html

Southern Music in the 20th Century. www.watchamerica.tv. Web. 4 Dec. 2009. www.southernmusic.net/1920.htm

John Kenrick. Musicals 101. 1996. Web. 4 Dec. 2009. www.musicals101.com/

11

ella and billie Holiday

cross-curricular connecTionspsycholoGyDo you have a favorite song that takes you back to another place and time in your life? Sometimes it feels like we have our own soundtrack. Music often connects us with memories. Write about the way a song makes you feel and try to describe the memory that is linked to it. What other songs are on your soundtrack, and why?

hisToryElla changed with the times, from big band to swing to jazz. Look back into the history of your hometown. What role does music play in your neck of the woods? Is there a history with a particular song, style of music or musician? Do some research at your local history museum, library or with town elders. You might be surprised with what you find!

scienceElla Fitzgerald was said to have perfect pitch. Maybe you can’t carry a tune in a bucket – So why not turn that bucket into an instrument!? Try using different household items including glasses, bottles or cans to create percussion, string or wind instruments. Try filling bottles with water to change their pitch. What common objects can carry a tune? How does it work? Why?

MARk YoUR CALEnDARs:

nEw VoICEsYoUnG PLAYwRIGHts FEstIVALsUnDAY, APRIL 11 At 5 P.M.MonDAY, APRIL 12 At 7 P.M.bInGHAM tHEAtREFREE!

Catch world premieres of ten-minute plays written by young playwrights from around our region, performed by the Acting Apprentice Company. Not to be missed!

Tickets are required. Call the box office at 584-1205 or pick them up in person at 316 West Main Street.

IntRoDUCInG neW voices At wALDEn tHEAtRE!

humana fesTival colleGe daysmarch 12 - 14, 2010

Have a college student or professor in your life? College Days weekend is a three-day immersion into the world-renowned Humana Festival. College students and faculty are invited backstage to explore this festival firsthand and connect with people at the forefront of the field. If you know someone interested in a career in theatre, this weekend just might change his or her life.

College Days attendees will see astonishing world premiere plays, tour Actors Theatre inside and out, meet Actors Theatre staff and the Humana Festival creative teams, participate in career development workshops with our staff, audition for our Acting Apprentice Company or interview for a professional internship at the theatre and rub elbows with the best in the field.

Featured playwrights: Deborah Zoe Laufer, Deborah Stein, Victoria Stewart, Steve Epp, Cory Hinkle, Dominic Orlando, Dominique Serrand, Scott Organ, Lisa Dillman, Dan O’Brien, and Kirk Lynn packaGes only $99!Reservations: 502-585-1210

Beginning this January, Actors Theatre of Louisville will partner with Walden Theatre, Louisville’s award-winning theatre conservatory for young people, to offer a 12-session playwriting class for young creative writers looking to gain insight and practice creating stories for the stage. Students will write, read, share and respond to work written in and out of class, and each student will write at least one ten-minute play. The class will also include an insider’s look into the world renowned Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Students will see three Humana Festival plays and have the opportunity to meet with Humana Festival creative teams.

For more information or to enroll, please contact Walden Theatre at (502) 589-0084, or visit www.WaldenTheatre.org

upcominG opporTuniTies

sPonsoRED bY tHE noRton FoUnDAtIon