Download POST-SHOW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND

POST-SHOW
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
AND ACTIVITIES
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2012.
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2012.
Post-Show Materials
POST-SHOW DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Following their attendance at the performance of Are You There, McPhee?, ask your students to reflect on the
questions below. You might choose to have them answer each individually or you may divide students into
groups for round-table discussions. Have them consider each question, record their answers and then share
their responses with the rest of the class.
ARE YOU THERE, MCPHEE?: PERFORMANCE REFLECTION
AND
DISCUSSION.
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Play in Production
 What was your overall reaction to John Guare’s Are You There, McPhee? Did you find the production
compelling? Stimulating? Intriguing? Challenging? Memorable? Confusing? Evocative? Unique?
Delightful? Meaningful? Explain your reactions.

What themes of the play especially stood out in production? [Themes might include: The stories we tell
and how we tell them; making sense of one’s experience through the telling of stories; the end (or
death) of childhood, stolen childhoods/the traumas of childhood; the delusion of infinite youth; what it
means to be an adult; obsession vs. true love; the chaos and dysfunction of real life; change via
intrusion/invasion; the lies we tell others and ourselves; the tricks memory plays; etc.] What themes
were made even more apparent or especially provocative in production/performance? Explain your
responses.

Is there a moment in the play that specifically resonated with you either intellectually or emotionally?
Which moment was it and why do you think it affected you?

Describe the pace and tempo of the production. Did it feel like the pace of the production matched the
inherent tempo of the story? Why or why not?
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Characters
 Did you personally identify with any of the characters in Are You There, McPhee? Who? Why? If no,
why not?

What character did you find most interesting or engaging? Why were you intrigued or attracted to this
particular character?

What qualities were revealed by the actions/objectives and speech of the characters?

Did anything about the doubling of characters (i.e., the casting of one actor in more than one role) strike
you as particularly meaningful, appropriate, symbolic, impactful, or ironic?

Did any characters develop or undergo a transformation during the course of the play? Who? How?
Why?

In what ways did the characters reveal the themes of the play? Explain your responses.
Questions to Ask Your Students About the Style and Design of the Production
 Was there a moment in Are You There, McPhee? that was so compelling, intriguing, or engaging that it
remains with you in your mind’s eye? Write a vivid description of that moment. As you write your
description, pretend that you are writing about the moment for someone who was unable to experience
the performance.
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
How did the style and design elements of the production, unified under the directorial vision of Sam
Buntrock enhance the performance? Did anything specifically stand out to you? Explain your reactions.

How did the overall production style and design reflect the central themes of the story of Are You There,
McPhee? Explain your response.
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2012.
Post-Show Materials

What did you notice about David Farley’s scenic design? Did it provide an appropriate and/or evocative
setting for the story of Are You There, McPhee? How and why, or why not?

What mood, atmosphere, or impact did Ken Billington’s lighting design establish or achieve? Explain
your experience.

What did you notice about the costumes, also designed by David Farley, worn by the actors? What do
you think were the artistic and practical decisions that went into the conception of the costumes?

How did Jill BC Du Boff’s sound design and composer Justin Ellington’s music enhance your overall
experience of the play in performance?
ADDITIONAL POST-SHOW QUESTIONS
AND
DISCUSSION POINTS
FOR
ARE YOU THERE,
MCPHEE?
The Vocabulary and Style of Dramatic and Theatrical Storytelling in Are You There, McPhee?
The theatrical construct that John has written is of a story told to us by somebody in his
sixties/early seventies, about something that happened to him when he was in his midthirties. He is telling a tale and, as he's doing so, he’s actually acting it out and reliving it.
It’s always happening in this dual way, so we’ve had to develop a vocabulary that allows
it to be both things at the same time. The play flips between scenes and direct address in
the middle of sentences, it flips back and forth in this fantastic and uncompromising way.
It’s never naturalistic—it’s constantly heightened, so the design concept is very specific to
allowing the style to exist in a seamless yet rooted way.
—Sam Buntrock
The first time I ever heard of Sam was Stephen Sondheim telling me about this revival
that was being done in London at the Chocolate Factory of Sunday in the Park with
George, directed by this wonderful young guy named Sam Buntrock. And then I loved
Sunday in the Park with George. I loved it for its comfort with not being conventionally
musical theater, but the way it told a story. This was a director who did not fall back on
the tricks of naturalism to tell to a story, who felt very comfortable telling a story in a very
bold physical way. Sam has a right arm in a designer who understands the way he
works, in David Farley. So many directors today concentrate just on the text, the script,
getting it just sounding right, but that’s more naturalistic theater. I love that Sam has
David Farley who is his visual extension and they think in very large visual terms, stage
pictures.
—John Guare
Utilize the above quotations by Sam Buntrock and John Guare as a basis for a discussion on Guare’s
theatrical storytelling construct for Are You There, McPhee? and director Buntrock’s and designer David
Farley’s bold physical and visual approach to production. Questions for discussion may include:
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
How did you receive or view Guare’s “theatrical construct[ion]” of Are You There, McPhee? as
described by Buntrock?

Could you appreciate in performance the “dual way” that Mundie tells his tale and relives the tale he
tells? Do any specific moments remain in your memory?

Were there moments in your experience of Are You There, McPhee? when the non-naturalistic and
dualistic theatrical vocabulary of the play in performance was most engaging? Were there times when
it was confusing?
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2012.
Post-Show Materials

Did you find that the way the play “flips between scenes and direct address” to be an entertaining and/or
effective way to tell the story at the heart of Are You There, McPhee?

How do you think Buntrock’s celebrated “bold physical style” as described by Guare above, manifested
itself in the production of Are You There, McPhee?

What moments of or stage pictures in Are You There, McPhee? stuck out to you as particularly large, visual, bold, and/or physical? How did these moment or pictures affect you and your reception of the story of
the play?

Do you think/feel that Buntrock’s and Farley’s unconventional and bold visual style served/complimented
Guare’s non-naturalistic and heightened dramatic sensibilities?

When experiencing a play in performance, how does/might one distinguish between the work of the playwright and the director? How does/might one distinguish between the work and ideas of the director and
those of the designer? Is there a way to parse out the work of the collaborative team?
Childhood, Children, and Children’s Stories
…when [John Guare and I] first sat down, I will never forget this exchange, [he] said, “One of
the things the play’s about is the death of childhood, the end of childhood." And I said, “But
the main character’s 35, John. “ “But that’s when your childhood ends." Which was a nice
relief to hear at 35…This is almost a children’s story, but the child happens to be in his midthirties.
—Sam Buntrock
Although story of Are You There, McPhee? centers on the tale Edmund “Mundie” Gowery tells about the most
bizarre series of events in his adult life, as director Sam Buntrock explains in the quotation above, John Guare
wanted specifically to explore the theme of the end of childhood. Use the quotation as a jumping off point into a
discussion of how childhood, children, children’s stories/ literature are utilized, referenced, and manipulated textually, thematically, and visually in the play and production of Are You There, McPhee? Questions for discussion
may include:
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
In what ways is McPhee’s protagonist, Mundie, a “child [who] happens to be in his mid-thirties?” What
childlike or childish qualities or behaviors does he exhibit in the course of the play?

What moment, event, or occurrence in the play do you think signals the end of Mundie’s childhood (i.e., the
beginning of his adulthood)? What accounts for this change? Who do you think Mundie is, could be, or
will be as an “adult?”

Consider the following thematic permutations of “the end of childhood”—the death of childhood, losing
one’s childhood, stolen childhood—in relation to the tale that Mundie tells and the people with whom he
interacts in the course of the play. What do we learn of the various adult characters’—including
Mundie’s—childhoods? Whose childhood died or was lost or was stolen and how or why did this happen?

How do characters whose childhoods were lost or stolen fare/manage in Are You There, McPhee? What
is the impact of a lost or stolen childhood? In this landscape designed by John Guare can a lost or stolen
childhood be overcome? What evidence in the play supports your position?

What did you think about the portrayal of actual children—that is, Poe and Lilac—in the play? How would
you describe them as characters? Do you think they are important to the central story of the play? If so,
why? If not, why not?

How many textual or thematic references to children’s stories or literature can you recall from your experience of the play?
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2012.
Post-Show Materials

How did Buntrock and the design team visually incorporate the theme of childhood and references to
children’s stories and literature in the production?

What do you think John Guare and this production is saying about childhood? Adulthood? Do you
agree with this view/message?
Miscellany: On Mundie and Memory and Meaning

What words would you use to describe the character of Edmund Gowery? Have you ever met anyone
like him before?

How would you describe Mundie as a narrator/storyteller? What particular personality, attitude and/or
idiosyncrasies (i.e., distinctions, habits, mannerisms, affectations, eccentricities/quirks) did he exhibit as
a storyteller? Do you view him as a reliable or unreliable narrator? What evidence from the play could
you cite to support your opinion?

And what about Mundie’s memory? Were there any idiosyncratic and/or peculiar things that you noticed
about his memory or about his telling of his tale?

What do you think the play says about memory?

In the course of Are You There, McPhee? various characters deliver parts of the same speech from
Mundie’s play, The Internal Structure of Stars—including at the very end of the play when Elsie appears
and says:
Stars are in this constant pull me push me—expanding contracting—needing to grow to
fill out all this infinity of space—needing to contract to keep their identity. You’re out of
the sea—you don’t know if evolution has taken place and this is your new home or
whether going back into the sea is giving up. Contract. Expand. Fire at the heart of everything. That’s the story of all our lives.
What do you think this speech ultimately means in relation to the overall story of Are You There, McPhee?
and Mundie’s journey as a character?
ARE YOU THERE, MCPHEE?: THE REVIEW.
Have your students take on the role of theater critic by writing a review of the McCarter Theatre production of
Are You There, McPhee? A theater critic or reviewer is essentially a “professional audience member,” whose
job is to provide reportage of a play’s production and performance through active and descriptive language for
a target audience of readers (e.g., their peers, their community, or those interested in the arts). Critics/
reviewers analyze the theatrical event to provide a clearer understanding of the artistic ambitions and intentions of a play and its production; reviewers often ask themselves, “What is the playwright and this production
attempting to do?” Finally, the critic offers personal judgment as to whether the artistic intentions of a production were achieved, effective and worthwhile. Things to consider before writing:
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
Theater critics/reviewers should always back up their opinions with reasons, evidence and details.

The elements of production that can be discussed in a theatrical review are the play text or script (and
its themes, plot, characters, etc.), scenic elements, costumes, lighting, sound, music, acting and direction (i.e., how all of these elements are put together). [See Theater Reviewer’s Checklist.]

Educators may want to provide their students with sample theater reviews from a variety of newspapers.

Encourage your students to submit their reviews to the school newspaper for publication.
Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2012.
Post-Show Materials
We hope you’ve enjoyed your experience of
Are You There, McPhee? by John Guare,
produced by McCarter Theatre Center.
Have a wonderful
summer
and see you next season!
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Created by the McCarter Theatre Education Department. 2012.