Download The Lightning Thief - Alberta Bair Theater

EDUCATION GUIDE The Lightning Thief
Wednesday, February 11, 2016
9:30am and 12:30pm Tickets: $5.50 per person Recommended for Grades 2 through 6 ABT Student Matinee series sponsored by Alberta Bair Theater for the Performing Arts 2801 Third Avenue North ▪ Billings, Montana 59103 406‐256‐8915 www.albertabairtheater.org THE LIGHTTNING THIEFF Based on the book by Rick Riordan Dear Te
eacher, We havve created the follow
wing study gguide to heelp make yyour students’ theatrre experience with the musical, The Lightning Thieff as meaningful as po
ossible. For heir first tim
me viewingg a theatriccal producction. We h
have learneed many, itt will be th
that wh
hen teachers discuss the play w
with their sttudents beefore and aafter the producttion, the exxperience is more siggnificant and long lassting. Our study guid
de provide
es pre and post‐produ
uction disccussion toppics, as weell as relateed activities. These aare just sugggestions; please feel free to crreate your own activities and areas for discussion. We hope yo
W
ou enjoy th
he show!
Authorr: Rick Riord
dan Born:: June 5, 19664 Place of Birrth: San Antoonio, TX Rick was influenced e
early on by JJ.R.R. Tolkien
n when he r ead ‘The Lorrd of the Rin
ngs’, noting h
he probablyy read it ten times. He also admits to
o liking Greeek and Norsee mythology since he waas in middle scchool. He taught mythology almost every year tthat he was a teacher, admitting “It was always m
my favorite th
hing, and the students liiked it, too!”” For more
e facts aboutt Greek myth
hology or for a teacher’ss guide for TThe Lightning
g Thief, checck out his Rick’s website
e at www.ricckriordan.co
om. Com
mposer/Lyricist Robert Rokicki and
Book W
Writer, Joe Trracz omposer/lyrricist and perrformer from
m Colorado w
who now livves in New Yo
ork. Robert Rokicki is a co
member of th
he Dramatistts Guild, Actor’s Equity aand alumni o
of the Tony aaward winniing He is a m
BMI Mussical Theatre
e Workshop. His musical, Love, NY (cco‐written w
with Mike Ruby) won thee 2009 Am
merican Harm
mony Award and was pre
esented at N
New World SStages. For more
e information on Robert visit his web
bsite at www
w.robertrokicki.com/pagge1/index.html Joe Traczz is a Book W
Writer and playwright fro
om Northvill e, MI who reesides in Bro
ooklyn, New
w York. He wrote the p
play, Up Nortth and workss with Blue SSky Studios w
writing an action fantasy film calle
ed Leafmen. Lisst of Greekk Gods & M
Mythical Crreatures In the book The Lightning Thiief, main charracter, Percy Jackson disco
overs he’s not completely human. H
He’s part God
d, or a Demigod. Througho
out the book, author Rick Riordann references Greek Mytho
ology. Below iis a list of Gods and mythical creaatures that arre mentioned
d in Theatrew
works USA
A’s new musiccal based on the book. Greek God/ Mythical WHAT THEY REPRESENTT: Creature Names APOLLO e sun and mussic The youthful God of the
ARES God of war The fierce G
ATHENA The Goddess of wisdom and arts
R CENTAUR
Mythical crreature with h
head and torsso of a man aand body of a horse CHIRON Eldest and wisest of the centaurs
CYCLOPS One‐eyed ggiant FURIES Avenging sp
pirits controllled by Hades HADES God of the underworld aand brother tto Poseidon aand Zeus HARPIES onsters in the form of birdss with human
n faces Female mo
HERCULESS Son of Zeuss — Mortal he
ero HERMES God of the trade
KRONOS Titian God of time and the ages Sired the Gods and Goddesses of Mt . Olympus MEDUSA Gorgon sistter who braggged about he r beauty and was turned
d into a monstter by Athenaa. UR MINOTAU
Monster with body of a man and heaad and tail of a bull ODYSSEUS he Trojan Waar Leader in th
PAN God of the wild, shepherds and flockks N POSEIDON
Hades and Faather of Percyy Jackson God of the sea, brother of Zeus and H
PROMETH
HEUS Titan God o
of Forethough
ht Entrusted w
with task of m
molding mankkind out of claay SATYRS Poets and ccompanions tto Pan TITANS The Elder G
Gods who rule
ed the earth bbefore the Ollympians overthrew them
ZEUS King of the Gods, ruler o
of mankind For more information on Greek mytthology, checck out these w
websites: www.greekmy
w
ythology.com
m/ www.theoi.co
w
Activity: U
Using the P
Power of th
he Gods Percy Jackson
n is pretty shoocked when h
he finds out tthat he’s a Demigod and
d the son of PPoseidon, the God of the sea. The Greeks believed the Gods had thee power to ch
hange the fate of mortals, which is what makes Greeek mythologyy so intriguingg. The tales arre also great examples of stoories with meessages. For eexample, perh
haps Medusa wou
uld still be beaautiful had sh
he not braggeed about her llooks in a publicc place, challe
enging her ap
ppearance agaainst that of A
Athena. To prrove that beaauty is only skkin deep, Ath
hena turned M
Medusa into aa hideous monster who coouldn’t view h
her reflection without turn
ning herself to stone. No wo
onder her snaake hair was sso out of con trol. It was neever wise to aanger a God, with all those p
powers they h
had, why risk it? What pow
wers would yyou choose? 
Read a few of the Greek myyths found on
n Rick Riordann’s website.

hink about what powers yyou would want if you werre a God or a Goddess. Wh
hat would you
u look Th
likke as a God/G
Goddess and what would yyour powers bbe? 
Name your Go
od/Goddess. 
Draw a picture
e of yourself in action. For example, so many picturees of Zeus include him with
h his ligghtning bolt, or Poseidon is often seen rising out of the sea. 
Fo
or older stude
ents, write a short story ass the God/Gooddess you crreate for yourrself using thee Greek myths aas a guide. Activityy: Create yyour own C
Camp Half Blood Percy goe
es to Camp Haalf Blood and learns more about the Grreek Gods and Goddesses tthan he ever tthought possible. After creating yyour God or G
Goddess, thin
nk about whatt events would take place
e if you and yyour friends w
were attendin
ng Camp Half Blood. Think about whhat powers yo
ou created for your God orr ople Goddess aand what acttivities would be useful forr teaching peo
to use tho
ose powers?

Design a poste
er for your ow
wn Camp Halff Blood. 
Make a schedu
M
ule of events for one day aat the camp.

If you could haave one of the
e Gods or God
ddesses in Grreek Mytholo
ogy visit your camp, who would it b
w
be? Activityy: Studyingg Ancient G
Greece There is a line in the m
musical where they sing, “W
We were geekking out on an
ncient Greek at the New YYork Metropolitan Museum
m of Art. We stopped by alll the statues aand learned aabout the Gods.” No need tto ‘geek out’ if you can’t get to New York to see the exhibit. The New York Meetropolitan Museum of Art has a faascinating we
ebsite which aallows studennts to browsee some of thee exhibits. Cheeck out www..metmuseum
m.org to learn more. More actiivities: 
Th
he Greek langguage is over 2500 years o
old and has innfluenced many other langguages including En
nglish. Can yo
ou list ten wo
ords with Gree
ek origin? 
Besides the alp
phabet and m
mythology, wh
hat other thinngs are the Grreeks known for? See how
w many you can m
list. Here’s a clue for yourr first one: Th e symbol for this has five rings adjoinin
ng eaach other. 
Check out a map of ancientt Greece by lo
ooking online . How does itt compare to Greece todayy? 
Make a Greek M
mythology timeline 
Hold a mock ve
ersion of the Olympics using your imagginary powerss you selected
d from an earrlier acctivity in the sstudy guide. W
What kinds of activities arre in your Olympics? Greek Myth
G
hology Wo
ord Find Aphrodite Dionysus Hera
Moun
nt
Titans Apollo God Hydra
Olym
mpus
Troy Artemis Goddesss Jackson
Percyy
Zeus Demeter Hades Lightning
Poseiidon Demigod Hephae
estus
Medusa
Thieff
Activities for Teachers: Songwriting tells a story The Lightning Thief (the musical) is based on the book of the same name. When you see the performance you’ll notice that much of the story is summed up succinctly in the lyrics. Here is a sample of the lyrics from the opening number, ‘The Day I Got Expelled (Part 1).’ (PERCY) I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED WAS THAT ALL A CREEPY, CRAZY DREAM MY TEACHER WAS A CREATURE, THEN SHE VANISHED IN THE ETHER WITH A SCARY SCREAM THE NEXT THING THAT I KNEW I WAS WHERE DETENTION WAS HELD THE DAY IT ALL GOT REAL THE DAY I GOT (Expelled) While the songs fly by effortlessly, writing lyrics isn’t as easy as it seems. Have your students try their hand at writing a verse by using this basic rhyme scheme. A – sentence stands on its own and introduces subject matter B – sentence has a different ending sound than the first line A – end of this sentence rhymes with the first line B – end of this sentence rhymes with the second line Here is an example: PERCY JACKSON IS A DEMIGOD WHO GOT EXPELLED FROM SCHOOL HIS STORY IS A BIT FLAWED BUT THE RESULTS ARE REALLY COOL! Once students have mastered this style of writing, have them try adding “a hook” which is a repetitive line at the beginning or end of each verse. In the above example from the show, the hook would be the line “The Day I Got Expelled” which is also the title of the song (as hooks usually are). Reading Activities: 
Have students read the book before seeing the musical and then discuss the differences. Was the musical how you imagined it from the book? Then compare it to the film. How are the three mediums different? Discuss what versions they liked best and why. 
Make a family tree for Percy Jackson using the references in the book to Greek mythology. 
Have students each draw a name of one of the Greek Gods/Goddesses out of a hat. Then have them research the name they picked and give a short presentation on their God/Goddess. 
Percy Jackson often feels like an outsider, or like he’s not “normal” until he finds out the reason why and discovers he’s a demigod. Have students write about a time when they felt different. Did it make them feel special? Did they feel alone? How did they deal with their feelings? 
Percy has special powers along with the Gods on his side but often when students see trouble at school like bullying they don’t know who to turn to. Have students write down one or two incidents when this happened to them at school or with friends. Then, have them put their answers in a hat so it’s anonymous. Draw from the hat and talk about each scenario. Then, if students are comfortable, role‐play solutions. Theatree Etiquettee: We want your studentts to have the
e best experie
ence when theey see a perfo
ormance live so below is aa list of remind
ders of how to
o behave whe
en they see th
he show. 
Ke
eep in mind tthat the actorrs on stage caan hear you iff you talk, so aalways be courteous to th
he acctors and oth
her audience m
members aro
ound you by ppaying attentiion during thee performancce an
nd not talkingg or texting. 
Arrive early; se
eeing a show is a special exxperience an d you don’t w
want to miss aany of it. 
Remember not to bring anyy food, beveraages or gum iinto the theater or where you’re seeingg the sh
how unless yo
ou’re told its okay. 
No taking pictu
ures or record
ding during th
he performannce. 
Be sure to lauggh and applau
ud when apprropriate and remember to
o have fun! See you
u at the sh
how! The Lightning Thief STUDENT EVALUATION NAME: TEACHER: SCHOOL: CLASS: 1. If you could be a mythological Greek demigod, which of the major twelve gods and goddesses would you want to be related to and why? 2. With the information that you gave from question number one, describe the “special powers” that you would have. 3. Imagine that you’ve been given a job to write a play like The Lightning Thief. Which of the Greek gods would be the parent of the demigod in your play and why? 4. Now, explain what kind of songs or music would go with your play. If you would like to, give the titles and the poetic verses of your songs, like “The Shield of Ares.” The Lig
ghtning Th
hief TEEACHER EV
VALUATIO
ON FORM
NAME: POSITION: SCHOOL: AREA: SUBJECT A
1. Was the study
W
guide particu
ularly useful tto you and yoour students?? Y ☐ N ☐ (If it was not, p
please state the reason, an
nd list the speecific compon
nents that cou
uld have been
n im
mproved.) 2. As a follow‐up to question n
number one, do you thinkk that The Lighhtning Thief sstage play waas helpful in reinfforcing your literary materrials on the toopic of Greek Myths? Y ☐ N ☐ If the answer is “no” please
e elaborate an
nd/or give exaamples of past or future p
programs thatt would serve yo
w
ou and your sstudents better. 3. Given the oppo
ortunity to exxpose your students to a ccondensed myythological drama, which one would you cho
w
oose and whyy? (For examp
ple, “I would cchoose ‘The Iliad’ becausee it portrays Aeneas as a po
ossible founder of Rome. TThis is relevannt because…””) Pllease return tthis evaluatio
on and your sstudent evalu
uations to: Dr. W
William Mouaat Directo
or of the ABTT Departmentt of Educatio n and Community Outreaach P.O
O. Box 1556
Billings, Montana 599103