Russell’s World Study Guide

Russell’s World
Written & Directed by Herbie Barnes
Featuring Kelisha Daley, Ziska Louis & Mike Petersen

Introduction

This guide was written by Marjie Chud in collaboration with Molly Gardner.

As you scroll through this guide you will find curriculum connections, an interview with the Playwright and Director Herbie Barnes, a rendering of the scenic design by Set and Costume Designer Anna Treusch, discussion questions, units of study and more. If you wish to create your own lesson plan from the study guide copy, we have created a lesson plan template for your use. We hope you will find this guide to be a useful resource. Should you have any questions or feedback or have inquiries about the use of this guide (which is copyright protected), please feel free to contact Molly Gardner, Senior Education Manager at mgardner@youngpeoplestheatre.org.

Thematic Overview

Russell’s World was originally produced by Manitoba Theatre for Young People (MTYP) and presented at YPT in 2005/06. The play has since toured across Canada. Russell’s World now returns to YPT, as a new production rehearsed and staged specifically to be filmed for online audiences. The play is about Russell, a child who is bullied at his new school. We see him alone in his bedroom, but his imagination fills the space as objects come to life, helping him to ultimately overcome his fears and loneliness. With themes including the power of imagination, adapting to new circumstances, overcoming loneliness and making your own fun, this story is more relevant to young people than ever, as the COVID-19 pandemic has required young people to adapt to new circumstances and changing social situations at home and at school.

Synopsis

Having just moved to a new neighbourhood, Russell comes home every day after school and stays in his bedroom until his mom comes home from work. Russell is lonely, he misses his friends, and is being bullied at school. His bedroom is a refuge where his imagination makes everyday objects come to life. Russell and his “friends” imagine a series of adventures that ultimately help Russell to grow, to accept his new situation, and to begin to face his fears.

Curriculum Connections

Language
The Arts – Drama
Health and Physical Education – Social Emotional Learning
Full Day Kindergarten

Ancestral Teachings

Bravery
Love
Honesty

Themes

Power of imagination
Adapting to new circumstances
Overcoming loneliness
Making your own fun

About the Playwright

Herbie Barnes is the Artistic Director of Young People’s Theatre (YPT). He is a Canadian director, writer, actor and arts educator. He has written several plays for both adults and young audiences. Herbie has performed and directed across North America. He originated the role of Russell in the original 2004 Russell’s World production at Manitoba Theatre for Young People (MTYP). Herbie’s directing credits include Oliver!, Alice In Wonderland (Bluff City Theatre); Music Man (Talk Is Free Theatre); and Tales of an Urban Indian (Public Theater).

Interview with Playwright and Director Herbie Barnes

Curriculum Expectations

By participating in these activities, students will connect to the following Ontario Curriculum Expectations:

Language
Oral Communication: Listening to understand
– extend understanding of oral texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights; to other texts and to the world around them
– begin to identify some of the presentation strategies used in oral texts and explain how they influence the audience

Oral Communication: Speaking to Communicate
– identify some non-verbal cues, including facial expression, gestures, and eye contact, and use them in oral communications, appropriately and with sensitivity towards cultural differences, to help convey their meaning

The Arts – Drama
– engage actively in drama exploration and role play, with a focus on exploring drama structures, key ideas, and pivotal moments in their own stories and stories from diverse communities, times and places
– express thoughts, feelings, and ideas about drama experiences and performances in a variety of ways

The Arts – Visual Arts
– use a variety of materials, tools and techniques to respond to design challenges
– explain how elements and principles of design are used to communicate meaning or understanding in their own and others’ artwork

Health and Physical Education – Social-Emotional Learning Skills
– Healthy relationships: apply skills that help them build relationships, develop empathy, and communicate with others as they participate in learning experiences in health and physical education, in order to support healthy relationships, a sense of belonging, and respect for diversity
– Self-awareness and sense of identity: apply skills that help develop self-awareness and self-confidence as they participate in learning experiences in health and physical education, in order to support the development of a sense of identity and a sense of belonging

Social Studies – Heritage and Identity: Our Changing Roles and Responsibilities
– describe the impact that people can have on each other in some different situations
– formulate questions to guide investigations into some aspects of interrelationships between events, people and/or places in their lives and their own roles, relationships, responsibilities, and identity/sense of self

Science and Technology – Understanding Structures and Mechanisms
– investigate the structure and function of simple machines
– describe the properties of materials that enable the objects and structures made from them to perform their intended function

Mathematics – Geometric and Spatial Reasoning
– Geometric reasoning – construct three dimensional objects and identify two dimensional shapes contained within structures and shapes
– Location and movement – create and interpret simple maps of familiar places

Full Day Kindergarten
Self-Regulation and Well-Being
– identify and use social skills in play and other contexts
– communicate their thoughts and feelings, and their theories and ideas through various art forms

Belonging and Contributing
– demonstrate knowledge and skills gained through exposure to and engagement with drama, dance, music and visual arts

The Arts – Drama
– plan and shape the direction of a dramatic play or role play, building on their own and others’ ideas both in and out of role, with support

Glossary

• Bird’s-eye View: a general view from above, or as if from above.
• Collective Creation: a widely used genre in which students collaborate in a group to agree on a shared vision that represents a place, person or story in a drama.
• Exaggeration: a statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is.
• Gesture: a movement of the body or limbs used to express or emphasize a thought, emotion, or idea.
• Maquette: ​​a small preliminary model or sketch. Maquettes are created to physically model, in miniature, the set for theatre and stage design.
• Mime: the use of gesture, movement, and facial expression without words or sounds to communicate actions, character, relationships or emotion.
• Monologue: a long speech by one character in a drama, intended to provide insight into the character.
• Personification: the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
• Prop: a portable object used in a drama to support the action or to give authenticity to the setting.
• Role: the function assumed or part played by a person or thing in a particular situation.
• Stage Set: scenery and properties designed and arranged for a particular scene in a play.
• Tableau: a group of silent, motionless figures used to represent a scene, theme, or abstract idea (e.g., peace, joy), or an important moment in a narrative.
• Thought tracking: a strategy in which the teacher circulates, tapping students on the shoulder to prompt them to focus on their inner thoughts and feelings. Thought tracking helps students in-role to tap into thoughts and emotions that lie beneath the surface, enabling them to deepen their response and/or contrast outer appearance with inner experience
• Voices-in-the-head: A convention used to deepen students’ understanding of a conflict or a difficult choice facing a character in the drama. The student representing the character remains silent while others standing behind speak out to express the thoughts and feelings the character might be experiencing at this point
• Writing in-role: writing done from the point of view of a character in a drama in order to deepen the writer’s understanding of the character and create or develop scenes that reflect this understanding

PRE-SHOW UNIT OF STUDY

Pre-show Questions

• What is your favourite object and why is it important to you?
• How and when do you use your imagination?
• If you could use your imagination to travel anywhere, where would it be and why?
• How does your imagination help you? Can it ever cause a problem?
• Have you experienced something new recently? What was it and how did it make you feel?
• When you’re playing alone, would you rather play online or with toys? Does this change when you are playing with friends?
• Do you/did you like learning from home, and if so, why? Do you/did you like learning in school, and if so, why? Did you prefer one more, and if so, why?

PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES

Warm Up: Big, Bigger, Biggest

Objective
Students will explore the concept of exaggeration with gesture and vocal expression.

Preparation and Materials
Open space to stand in a circle or move near desks.

Instructions

1. Ask students to stand in a circle or at their desks and have a volunteer make a single syllable sound while simultaneously improvising a simple action. Label this as “big”.
2. The student standing next to them then exaggerates both the sound and the action. This is “bigger”.
3. The entire class now collectively performs “biggest” by exaggerating both the sound and action.
4. Continue the pattern around the circle.

Debriefing Discussion Questions

Ask students:

• How did you use your voice and body to exaggerate?
• How did it feel to watch your idea become exaggerated?
• Is the message still the same?
• When or where do you see or hear exaggerated movement or sounds?

Extensions

• Repeat the activities with intentional gestures or emotions.
• Repeat the activity with simple words building with synonyms (i.e. sad, sorrowful, dejected).
• Sing notes to work on vocal expression or harmony.
• Ask students to write an exaggerated version of a known story or create their own.

Exercise: Remember When…

Objective
Students will devise a collective story building on each other’s ideas.

Preparation and Materials
None

Instructions

1. Tell students they will be creating an oral adventure story using their collective imagination.
2. Begin with the sentence, “Remember that time we ___________?” filling in the blank. For example, “Remember that time we went to the moon?” You may choose to connect this to a particular area of study in the curriculum.
3. Choose a volunteer to continue the story with, “Yes and, ___________.”
4. Repeat until everyone has had a chance to participate, encouraging each student to begin their sentence with, “Yes, and…”. Remind them to use their imaginations and that there is no wrong answer. However, there may be a need to prompt them to make the story active by finding a problem that needs solving.
5. Repeat several times with different leaders.

Debriefing Discussion Questions

Ask students:

• What did it feel like to create a collective story?
• Was it challenging to add to the story? If so, how?
• How does this activity connect to the idea of community?

Extensions

• Students collectively add actions as they create the story.
• Students can write an extension or new ending for the story.
• Students can enact parts of the story in small groups. These can then be tied together for a retelling of the story in a variety of dramatic forms such as tableau, mime or a scene with dialogue.

Culminating Activity: Problem Solving Machines

Objective
By creating human machines, students will make choices to explore connection, cause and effect, as well as community.

Preparation and Materials
Space for groups to work

Instructions

Part One:

1. Ask students to define the word “machine”.
2. Create a list of examples of machines.
3. Explore the function and parts of the machines listed.
4. Create a stage space. Ask for a volunteer to perform a simple, repeatable action such as clapping.
5. Ask a second volunteer to join the first with a different action.
6. Repeat this until every student is moving together thus creating a machine.
7. Option – each student chooses a sound to add sound to the machine.
8. Using hand signals, direct the machine to get louder, quieter, faster and slower.
9. Freeze the machine and ask students to name it, describe its function, and describe their individual role in the machine. Encourage students to use their imaginations.
10.  Direct the machine to work again, this time encouraging students to allow their role in the machine to affect their movement.

Part Two:

1. Brainstorm a list of problems that occur in the classroom or school yard.
2. Ask students, “What if there was a machine that could fix a problem between friends? What could it do?”
3. In groups of three to four, students create their own problem solving machines.
4. Challenge students to label their machine and know each of their functions in it.

Debriefing Discussion Questions

• When did the machines work best?
• What was your function in the machine?
• How did your group work together to create the machine?
• What would happen if one part of the machine broke down?
• How are machines like communities (i.e. classes, families etc.).
• How can people be like a problem-solving machine?
• What are some of the ways you can work to solve problems by yourself and with your friends?

Extensions

• Repeat the activity with content from other areas in the curriculum such as environmental concerns or global issues.
• With movement, explore what happens when one part of the machine breaks down.
• Write stories about the problem solving machines.
• Draw pictures of problem solving machines.
• Create ‘super-self’ problem solving characters by exploring what students believe to be a skill or quality about themselves that makes them able to solve problems well (i.e. “I am empathetic or kind,” or “I like to share,” etc.).

Post-show Questions

• Why do you think the play is called Russell’s World?
• The playwright believes that anything can be a friend. What do you think he means?
• How does Russell use his imagination to think about his problems?
• Why is Russell afraid to tell his mom about the rip in his jacket?
• How do you think the puppets came alive?
• Who is Thing?
• How does Bear help Russell defeat Thing?
• The play starts with the line: “Safe” – Why?
• At the beginning of the play, Russell says he doesn’t want to imagine anything anymore. Why not?
• What do you think Russell should do about the kids who are bothering him at school?
• How does your imagination help you? Can it ever cause a problem for you?
• What would you miss about your home and community if you had to move away?

POST-SHOW ACTIVITIES

Warm-up Activity: Uses of an Object

Objective
Students will learn to use their imagination, making an ordinary object become extraordinary by using it in a unique way.

Preparation and Materials

• Pencil/pen or other objects from the classroom
• Space to stand in a circle or move near desks

Instructions

1. Hold up a pencil and say, “This is not a pencil, it is a microphone” while you mime using the pencil as a microphone.
2. One at a time, challenge each student to mime using their pencil as if it is something else. Encourage students to use their first ideas.
3. Repeat with a variety of other objects.

Debriefing Discussion Questions

Ask students:

• How did you come up with your idea?
• Did you face any challenges, and if so, why?
• How do objects in the environment become something else?
• How can items be reused in other ways?

Extensions

• Repeat the exercise using objects with specific subject connections such as shape, matter, colour, or beginning with a particular letter etc.
• Create characters from found objects.
• Improvise/write monologues from the perspective of a found object (see below).

Exercise: Found Object Characters

Objective
Students will use their imaginations to create characters and stories from everyday objects.

Preparation and Materials

• Found objects
• Drawing paper
• Pen or pencil
• Drawing materials

Instructions

1. Tell students they will have 30 seconds to find an object in the classroom.
2. Ask students to imagine what the object would say if it could speak. Share an example with an object as a puppet.
3. Using drawing paper, instruct students to draw their object adding details to make them into characters and listing as many characteristics they can to describe their object character.
4. Using personification, encourage students to imagine how their objects could come alive like the Book, Jacket and Bear do in Russell’s World. In pairs, direct students to introduce their objects to one another in-role by voicing and animating their object.

Debriefing Discussion Questions

Ask students:

• How did you decide on a voice for your character?
• What about the structure or shape of your object determined the way it would move?
• Have you ever imagined that one of the objects in your room has come alive? What adventures would you go on?

Extensions

• Write monologues from the point of view of an object.
• Find a family object that has a tradition or history connected to it and write the story of the history from the point of view of the object such as the journey of the object through generations.
• Group students to devise one story for all of their objects.
• Build puppets with found material and recyclables.

Culminating Activity: Dream Bedroom*

Objective
Inspired by Anna Treusch’s set design, students will imagine and construct a model for their dream bedroom using recyclables and other found material.

Preparation and Materials

• A clear desk space
• Space to display materials
• Shoe boxes (one per child)
• Recyclables such as newspapers and plastic containers
• Found material such as:
  • Fabric pieces
  • Aluminum foil
  • Straws
  • Buttons
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Plastic Wrap
• Pens or pencils
• Writing paper
• Construction paper
• Glue sticks or white glue
• Scissors
• Crayons, markers or coloured pencils

Instructions

1. Ask students to describe all the set pieces and props in Russell’s room. (See Appendix A)
2. Discuss: Why do you think the scenic designer, Anna Treusch, chose to make the set of Russell’s bedroom so colourful? What objects in his room were special to Russell and why? What materials do you think were used?
3. Explain to students that they will be designing and building a shoe box maquette or model of their dream bedroom. It can have anything they imagine in it.
4. Instruct students to create a list of all the real-life objects they would want to have in their dream bedrooms. They can label their list (Name of Child’s) World.
5. Using blank paper and crayons, markers or colouring pencils, instruct students to draw a bird’s-eye view of the bedroom. Encourage them to fill the entire page.
6. Pair students to discuss their dream rooms with each other. Encourage them to share the reasons for choosing each object and how they will build them.
7. Students may now begin building their maquette using the materials collected, glue and scissors.
8. Display the final models and share with a Gallery Tour walk-about.

Debriefing Discussion Questions

• Why did you choose each of the objects in your dream room?
• What materials did you use for your model?
• What do each of these materials represent in real life?
• If your dream room was built to be a full-size theatre set what materials would you use to construct it? Why?
• What are the properties of these full-size real-life materials?

Extensions

• Older Grades: build the models to scale by working in measurement from the Mathematics curriculum.
• Write stories or role play with objects that could come alive in their rooms.
• Collectively imagine and create a dream classroom.
• Deepen the Science Curriculum with a focus on the properties of materials used.

Culminating Activity: Tableaux Stories

Objective
Students will collaborate to create tableaux that represent words and/or themes and then build on these ideas to create tableaux stories.

Preparation and Materials

• Space to move

Instructions

Part One:

1. Call out a word and direct students to create a tableau to represent the word; words can be related to structures, animals, and eventually themes in Russell’s World. For example, “book”, “adventure” or “loneliness”. This can be done by moving around the class or from their desks.
2. While students are in tableau, point out different interpretations of the same instruction.
3. Continue the activity varying both the group size and tableau word. Encourage students to explore levels, facial expressions and connection with one another.

Part Two:

1. Continue the activity above, this time calling out titles connected to friendship such as “The Birthday Party” or “Recess” or “First Day of School” – any title connected to a theme from the play. This can be explained as captions for a picture (tableau) they will create.
2. Prompt a conversation about friendship with questions such as: What does it mean to be a friend? What do you do with your friends? What makes your friendships special? What kinds of problems can we run into with our friends (in the class, at recess, after school etc.)?
3. Choose one of the suggestions and ask for three or four volunteers to create a group tableau to show this part of the story. Suggest that each student explain what they are doing, for example, “I am the friend telling a secret,” “I am the friend listening to the secret,” and “I am the sad friend who is feeling left out.”
4. Using the drama convention of voices-in-the-head, call up a volunteer to stand by one character in the tableau and express out loud what they might really be thinking or feeling.
5. Repeat for each of the characters in the tableau.

Part Three:

1. Divide the class into groups of four or five. Ask them to choose an example of a friendship problem (i.e. arguing over a toy, telling secrets, exclusion etc.). Once they have chosen the issue, challenge them to create a tableau to show this problem. Encourage them to create dynamic tableaux using levels, showing emotion and frozen in mid action. 
2. Now direct students to create a second tableau to represent how they would solve this problem (the solution).
3. Prompt students to deepen the drama using the thought-tracking convention, as they rehearse their scenes.
4. Share the tableaux stories.

Debriefing Discussion Questions

Ask students:

• How did you choose your part in the tableau?
• Were there any challenges and if so, what were they and how did you work it out?
• How did your partners’ choices affect your choice?
• What did the performers do to help make their stories clear?
• What did you learn about friendships from others’ scenes? Could you make a different choice?
• What are some of the ways you can work to solve problems both by yourself and with your friends?

Extensions

• Repeat the voices in the head activity with the group tableaux.
• Repeat the tableau activity with various themes included in the study guide or other areas of the curriculum (i.e. environment, community etc.).
• Add dialogue to create improvised scenes.
• Write or draw stories from tableaux.
• Add music and movement between tableau to influence and enhance choices and story.

RESOURCES

The Ontario Curriculum, Grade 1-8, The Arts
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf

*Dream Bedroom activity inspired by Raeme Lockington and Katie Tranter

APPENDIX A