Student Matinee Series Learning Guide - The Kansas City Repertory ...

Written by Matthew Lopez 

Directed by Eric Rosen 

March 16-April 8, 2012 

Student Matinee Series 

Learning Guide 

March – April, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

ABOUT THE PLAY 

2 A Letter from the Artistic Director 

4 The Characters & Setting 

5 From the Playwright: The Origins of the Play 

7 Words from the Playwright 

Historical & Cultural Context 

8 Jews and the Civil War 

11 Black Judaism Has Roots in Kansas 

14 A Timeline of Events: The Civil War 

17 Jewish Exodus and Seder 

18 How to Observe a Seder 

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION 

21 The Director 

22 Costume Design 

24 Scenic Design 

26 An Interview with the Cast 

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS 

35 Glossary of Important Terms 

44 Tools for Teaching: Post-Show Lesson Plans 

51 Resources 

52 State & National Standards 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

55 Tips for Your Visit 

59 Education & Outreach Programs 

61 Education Partner: UMKC 

62 2011-2012 Student Matinee Series 

63 Our Sponsors 

The Whipping Man 

1

ABOUT THE PLAY: A LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR 

Dear Friends, 


I remember very well the night, four years ago next month that I drove into Kansas City. It was spring time and a 

storm unlike any I had ever seen toppled trees and spawned tornadoes in nearby towns. I slept on the floor of my 

new and empty house, awake all night watching the trees lurch wildly. 

It was a storm very much like the storm that settled on Richmond, Virginia the night before Lincoln was 

assassinated. The Whipping Man begins that very night, as a wounded soldier finds his way home to discover it in 

ruins – not by the storm but by retreating soldiers who burned Richmond in the days leading up to the surrender 

by General Lee at Appomattox. 

Those twelve days – from the destruction of Richmond on April 2 to the end of the Civil War and the 

assassination of the sixteenth President overlapped, quite fittingly, with the 8 days of Passover, the Jewish 

celebration of the deliverance from Egypt. This historical discovery led Matthew Lopez, one of our most 

promising young writers, to create a story in which the convulsions of a nation in the climax of a storm of history 

are reflected in the lives of three men caught in a now ruined mansion on the fateful nights of April 13, 14, and 

15, 1865. Caleb DeLeon, the only son of a successful and very religious Jewish family, has found his way home, 

gravely wounded. Simon, a former slave of the DeLeon family, has been left to guard what remains of the house 

while the rest of the family fled. John, another former slave sees Caleb arrive, and finds a safe house to wait out 

the various storms. That all three men are practicing Jews – an historical anomaly – gives The Whipping Man its 

context to raise profound questions about what it means to be free, what it means to be a Jew, and what it means 

to be an American in the aftermath of our bloodiest war. 

2

Before the Civil War, there were 150,000 Jews in America; by 1920 there were more than 2 million immigrants 

who fled their native Europe to find safe harbor in this country (my grandparents and great grandparents among 

them.) The Jewish family depicted in this play was representative of small but flourishing communities that 

settled in the United States in the early 19 th century, and Richmond and other major Southern cities had a number 

of prominent Jewish families in their ranks. One in five Southern Jewish families owned slaves, though more 

typically a small number to support an urban household rather than the hundreds or thousands owned by 

plantation owners. In fact, as a character in The Whipping Man points out, the slaves of the DeLeon household 

had never seen a plantation and lived lives in close quarters with their masters. 

For the fictional DeLeon family, those close quarters led the family to impart their Jewish religion to Simon, John, 

and Simon’s wife and daughter. That the slaves clung to their Jewishness with fervor makes sense, as so much of 

Jewish religion focuses on the narrative of the freeing of the Israelite slaves in Egypt by Moses. Our play begins 

just days after Simon and John have been freed because of the end of the war. In the storm of history in which 

they are caught, these two former slaves and their former owner come to terms with the new reality of what the 

terrible legacy of slavery has cost each of them, and what it means to be delivered from bondage to freedom – the 

most profound explication of the annual ritual of the Passover Seder and its instruction that we must each believe 

that we personally were freed in the Exodus from Egypt. 

Directing this play is a real source of joy for me, and working with these three astonishingly great actors has been 

especially meaningful. I hope you enjoy Lopez’s play and these performances, and I hope the play’s larger 

questions inform your celebrations of the rituals of spring, both ancient and new. 

My very best, 

Eric Rosen 

Artistic Director 

3

THE CHARACTERS & SETTING 

CHARACTERS 

SIMON -- 50s, former slave in the DeLeon home 

CALEB -- 20s, only child of the DeLeon family 

JOHN -- 20s, former slave in the DeLeon home 

SETTING 


The ruins of a once grand home in Richmond, Virginia. April, 1865 following the fall of Richmond. 

SCENE BREAKDOWN 

Act 1 

Scene 1: Late night, April 13, 1865 

Scene 2: Morning, April 14, 1865 

Scene 3: Evening, April 14, 1865 

Act 2 

Scene 1: A letter home 

Scene 2: Evening, April 15, 1865 

4

FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT: THE ORIGINS OF THE PLAY 


My challenge, of course, was how to depict a slave who knows the ceremony well enough to perform it. 

Or that it even exists. Who would this person be? In attempting to find the answer to that question, I 

discovered two books that were invaluable to my research: Bertram W. Korn’s American Jewry and the 

Civil War and Robert N. Rosen’s The Jewish Confederates. 

In researching the end of the war and the very 

eventful month of April 1865, I came across a 

reference to the fact that Passover began that year on 

April 10, the day immediately following Lee‘s 

surrender at Appomattox. This meant that as Jews 

across the nation were celebrating this sacred ritual 

commemorating their ancestors ‘freedom’ from 

bondage in Egypt, a new kind of exodus was 

occurring all around them. The parallels were 

irresistible. 

The Whipping Man began in my mind with the image 

of an old man performing a Seder. Recently freed 

from a lifetime of slavery, he speaks the words of the 

Haggadah with a newfound understanding of their 

meaning. The words are hopeful, a promise of justice 

to come. Something ancient and distant suddenly 

becomes immediate. The past and the present 

intermingle as he becomes a part of a history that 

began thousands of years before his birth and that 

arrives finally at the moment he takes his first 

psychological and emotional step towards 

emancipation. The promised justice has finally 

arrived. 

5

The idea of Jewish slave owning had never occurred to me. It seemed completely out of step with 

Jewish history. How could a people whose identity was forged in part by their experience as slaves own 

slaves themselves? How could a family sit every year at their Seder, speaking the words of the 

Hagaddah and look at the faces of the slaves serving their meal and not make the connection between 

what they were saying and what they were practicing? 

From this sprang the DeLeon household of Richmond, Virginia. Upstanding, decent and deeply 

religious, the DeLeons treat their slaves with dignity and respect. They, like many Richmonders, do not 

consider themselves typical slave owners. They don‘t own a great plantation. They don‘t own hundreds 

of slaves. What few they do own, they don‘t even consider to be slaves. They are servants, treated no 

differently than the servants in the homes up north. They even allow and encourage their slaves to adopt 

Judaism, just as so many Christian slave owners allowed and encouraged their slaves to adopt 

Christianity. 

The result, I hope, is an inexorable link between the African- American and Jewish imperatives of 

reminding successive generations about their people‘s past. There has always been a conversation 

between Black and Jewish histories in the United States. It is a conversation based, I believe, on a 

similar history. In The Whipping Man, that similar history becomes a shared one. 

– Matthew Lopez, playwright 

MATTHEW LOPEZ (Playwright) Matthew Lopez’s play, The Whipping Man, premiered Off-Broadway in 2011 at 

Manhattan Theatre Club in a production directed by Doug Hughes and starring Andre Braugher. For this production, 

Matthew was awarded the John Gassner Playwriting Award from the Outer Critics Circle. Prior to New York, the play was 

presented at Luna Stage, Penumbra Theatre Company, Barrington Stage Company and the Old Globe in San Diego, where he 

is currently Artist-in-Residence. It has become one of the more regularly produced new American plays, with productions 

scheduled at over a dozen theatres across the country this year. His play Somewhere received its world premiere production 

last autumn at the Old Globe, directed by Giovanna Sardelli and will be presented at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, CA next 

year with Ms. Sardelli directing again. Other plays include Reverberation, Zoey’s Perfect Wedding and The Legend of 

Georgia McBride. His short play The Sentinels was included in Headlong Theatre Company’s Decade project, a collection of 

plays about 9/11, which ran in London in conjunction with the tenth anniversary of the attacks. In addition to his residency at 

the Globe, he is commissioned by Roundabout Theatre Company, is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect and is a 

recent member of the Ars Nova Play Group. 

Information courtesy of The Old Globe Education Department. 

6

MORE WORDS FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT 


History is an unending sequence of great and calamitous events. To paraphrase Alan Bennett for a 

family audience: history is simply one thing after another. 

But that is the history of kings, nations and armies and it ignores completely the people who are caught 

up in its unyielding progression. To look at it from a different perspective, history is the story of life 

interrupted, suspended momentarily, and then put back differently. History is the constant reshuffling of 

the deck of cards that is the human experience. What fascinate me are the moments that history skips 

over: when calamity subsides and life is free to return to normal. 

Of course, after such events, normal is rarely the state to which life returns. The deck is never shuffled 

the same way twice. A new normal takes the place of the old. How, for example, do you pass through 

the gates of a newly liberated Auschwitz and begin to live again? How, when the machetes are finally 

put away, does a Rwandan return to her quotidian routines? And how, after centuries of bondage, do 

slaves become free people? What is that first morning like? How long does it take to register the 

immensity of that change? What, simply, do you do? For American slaves, in particular, there was no 

normal to return to. Their deck wasn‘t reshuffled. It was replaced entirely. Those are the questions that 

prompted me to write The Whipping Man. 

The Whipping Man could never tell that story in its entirety. No one piece of fiction ever could. My hope 

is that this play tells the story of the first tentative steps of the long, painful, hopeful journey that began 

in April 1865 and continues today. 

And so, in one southern home in April 1865, two slaves and their former master, all self-identifying 

Jews, celebrate the observance of Pesach together. As they do, they each come to realize the immensity 

of the moment they find themselves in and of the tremendous scars, both real and psychological, they 

bear from their encounter with slavery. It is the story about when history ends and life begins again, 

much like the springtime in which the story is set. 


– Matthew Lopez, playwright 

7

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: JEWS AND THE CIVIL WAR 


The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez is set during the alignment of three dates of historical and religious 

significance that occurred within three days in April 1865, at the end of the American Civil War: the surrender at 

Appomattox by Confederate States Army General Robert E. Lee, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln 

(which occurred on Good Friday) and the celebration of the Jewish Passover. 

In the decades between 1800 and 1860, arguments intensified between Northern and Southern states over slavery, 

political power, social structure, economy and states’ rights. Anti-slavery Northern and Midwestern states gained 

more and more political power as their populations increased, while pro-slavery Southern states lost influence 

because their population grew less rapidly. The election of Abraham Lincoln as President in November 1860 was 

a turning point. Lincoln vowed to keep the country united and believed the new western territories should be free 

from slavery, a position the South did not support. Eleven Southern slave states (South Carolina, Mississippi, 

Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina) seceded from 

the United States, formed the Confederate States of America and elected Jefferson Davis as its first 

President. The other 25 states supported the Union. 

The Confederates’ April 12, 1861 attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina dramatically announced the beginning 

of the Civil War. Many believed the conflict wouldn't last more than a few months at the most, but each side 

underestimated the other. Armies were raised and soldiers from varied walks of life and ethnicity, from the North 

and South, fought to maintain their ideals and way of life. 

The Civil War was the first extensive participation of Jews in the American military. Out of around 150,000 Jews 

in the United States at the beginning of the war, approximately 3,000 fought for the Confederacy and 7,000 fought 

for the Union side. 

Leading up to and throughout the war, Jews held positions of power in military, government and business on both 

sides. A few noteworthy examples include: 

Frederick Salomon, a Union Army general who began the war as a captain in the 5 th Missouri Infantry in 

1861. By 1862, he had earned the rank of brigadier general. According to Jewish historian Herb Geduld, 

Jewish officers distinguished themselves by attaining rank through battlefield bravery, rather than through 

political influence, which was the custom. 

8

Judah Phillip Benjamin, referred to as the “brains of the Confederacy,” was the first Jewish appointee to 

a cabinet position and was considered to be the most prominent Jewish citizen in the country. President 

Davis selected Benjamin for his Attorney General on February 25, 1861; in March 1862, he was 

appointed Secretary of State for the Confederacy. 

Phoebe Yates Levy Pember was the first woman to hold a matron’s position at Richmond’s Chimborazo 

Hospital, the largest military hospital in the world in the 1860s. Between 1862 and 1865, more than 

15,000 patients came under her direct care. Her memoirs, A Southern Woman’s Story: Life in 

Confederate Richmond, published in 1879, remain one of the best sources for understanding the 

experiences and ideas of Southern Jewish women before and during the Civil War. 

Moses Ezekiel was the first Jewish candidate at Virginia Military Institute (VMI). He suspended his 

studies at the outbreak of the war to fight against Union forces. Later, back at VMI, Robert E. Lee 

recognized the young soldier's outstanding artistic talent. Ezekiel went on to study art in Europe, 

becoming one of the 19 th century’s greatest sculptors. 

Joseph Seligman was a prominent U.S. banker and businessman responsible for providing valuable 

financial aid for the North. 

Philip Speyer and Co. negotiated credit for America during the war and participated in the development 

of American railroads. 

Battlefield bravery and political leadership could not diminish growing tensions over ethnicity and immigration, 

or the economic competition between Jews and non-Jews. The result was an outbreak of anti-Semitism with 

Americans from the North and South denouncing Jews as disloyal war profiteers, and accusing them of driving 

Christians out of business and of aiding and abetting the enemy. 

Union General Ulysses S. Grant was influenced by these sentiments and, on December 17, 1862, issued one of the 

most flagrant anti-Jewish decrees in American history. His General Order No. 11 expelled all Jews from areas 

under his control in western Tennessee. The order was quickly rescinded by President Lincoln, but not until it had 

been enforced in a number of towns. 

Grant later issued another order "that no Jews are to be permitted to travel on the road southward" and his aide, 

Colonel John V. DuBois, followed, ordering "all cotton speculators, Jews, and all vagabonds with no honest 

means of support" to leave the district. While Grant issued anti-Jewish orders, Confederate General Robert E. Lee 

allowed Jewish soldiers under his command to observe all holy days. 

After four long and bloody years and approximately 1,030,000 casualties (including 620,000 soldier deaths), the 

Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia at 

9

Appomattox Court House. More than 10,000 people of Jewish faith had fought for the Confederacy, and about 

8,400 for the Union, with Jews fighting on both sides in numbers greater than their percentage in the general 

population. Six Jews are recognized by the Jewish War Veterans of America as earning the Congressional Medal 

of Honor during the war. 

Abraham Myers (1833-1889), a Jewish military officer and graduate of West Point wrote, "We were not fighting 

for the perpetuation of slavery, but for the principle of States Rights and Free Trade, and in defense of our homes 

which were being ruthlessly invaded." 

Written by Laura Muir 

Director of Communications, Kansas City Repertory Theatre 

Works consulted 

Robert N. Rosen. The Jewish Confederates, University of South Carolina Press, 2000. 

Sarna, Jonathan D. and Mendelsohn, Adam, ed. Jews and the Civil War, A Reader, New York University Press, 2010. 

And the following online sources: 

PBS.org 

Brody, Seymour, “The Civil War: Creates Jewish Soldiers and Heroes.” Florida Atlantic University Libraries, fau.edu/library/brody27.htm 

thejewishchronicle.net 

americancivilwar.com 

10

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: BLACK JUDAISM HAS ROOTS IN KANSAS 


Perhaps you read that First Lady Michelle Obama’s first cousin is Rabbi Capers Funnye of Chicago’s 

Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation. Or maybe you heard Joshua Nelson, “the 

prince of kosher gospel music,” belt out “Adon Olam” at one of the Jewish Arts Festivals here. 

But did you know that “Black Judaism,” as it’s come to be known, has its roots right here in Kansas over 

a century ago? Or that it influenced such later religious developments as Rastafarianism and even the 

Nation of Islam? 

It’s true, according to numerous sources. 

They point to the arrival of former slave and railroad cook William Saunders Crowdy in Lawrence, 

Kan., in 1896 and his establishment there of the Church of God and Saints of Christ as perhaps the 

watershed event in the movement that identifies African-Americans with the biblical Hebrews. 

Within a couple of years, Crowdy had established satellite tabernacles all across Kansas, from Atchison 

to Topeka to Winfield. The COGASOC eventually withered away here, but it still exists. It has its 

headquarters in Virginia and is headed by one of Crowdy’s descendants. 

Saints of Christ? 

Today, tens of thousands of people consider themselves Black Jews, even if the mainstream Jewish 

community doesn’t completely accept them. At this point, the contentious issues are more theological 

than racial, and Rabbi Funnye has made it his business to bridge those gaps, according to an article in 

the July-August edition of Moment magazine titled “Post-Racial Rabbis.” 

Writer Jeremy Gillick says that Funnye is succeeding, to the extent that he has “been almost universally 

accepted as a rabbi by liberal Jewish movements, as well as by many more traditional groups.” 

That’s apparently so in large part because the segment of Black Judaism to which Rabbi Funnye adheres 

has moved much closer to mainstream Judaism than others, including the COGASOC 

It’s doubtful that the rabbis of his day would have recognized William Crowdy as a peer, much less the 

prophet that COGASOC considers him today. There is that “Christ” business, although the COGASOC 

Web site has an explanation for that in its FAQ section: 

“We interpret this name to mean that we are a religious organization which is directed by God, ‘Church 

of God,’ and we are followers of the anointed of God, ‘Saints of Christ.’ Our congregation should not be 

mistaken for Messianic Jews or Jews for Jesus, because we do not believe that Jesus is our Lord and 

Savior. … We believe in the religion of Jesus and not the religion about Jesus.” 

Nonetheless, it continues, “We believe that Jesus was a prophet, and we accept all biblical prophets of 

God who taught the laws of God.” 

It is this sort of duality that led writers including James E. Landing in “Black Judaism,” (Carolina 

11

Academic Press, 2002) and Yvonne Chireau in “Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters 

with Judaism,” (Oxford University Press, 2000) to call COGASOC an admixture of Jewish and 

Christian theological concepts. 

Still, congregants at Temple Beth El, the COGASAC headquarters in Belleville, Va., will celebrate Rosh 

Hashanah tonight, just as at every other synagogue and temple in the world. In fact, they observe most 

of the major holidays with the exception of Chanukah. The Festival of Lights, of course, is post-biblical, 

and COGSAC consider themselves biblical Jews. 

And that gets to the heart of the split between the Black Jewish community and the normative one: 

Black Jews have their own interpretations of the Bible, and don’t necessarily follow the rabbinic 

tradition. 

Crowdy in Kansas 

And while in the 19th century many black Christians found the biblical Israelites an inspiring allegory 

for their own enslavement, it was Crowdy who first popularized the literal identification of black 

Americans with Israelites, or Jews. 

Born a slave in 1847 in Maryland, Crowdy served in the Union Army during the Civil War. After the 

war, he moved to Guthrie, Okla., and later to Kansas City, Mo., where he established a family and 

worked on the Santa Fe Railroad as a cook. 

According to a history of COGASOC written by his daughter, it was William Crowdy’s powerful 

singing voice that first attracted people to him. He was said to have arrived in Lawrence in 1896 and 

begun to sing and preach on the street. That led to a public meeting at the Douglas County Courthouse, 

attended by both whites and blacks, and to the incorporation of the COGASOC. 

According to records reproduced by former University of Kansas student Elly Wynia in her book, “The 

Church of God and Saints of Christ: The Rise of Black Jews.” (Routledge, 1994) COGASOC’s “First 

General Annual Assembly Meeting” occurred in Lawrence on Oct. 10, 1899 

During Crowdy’s time in Lawrence, COGASOC records showed a “tabernacle” at 1239 New Jersey St., 

where a private home stands today. Henry Street, the location of the other Lawrence tabernacle, no 

longer exists today. Likewise, the address given for the Topeka tabernacle, 910 S.E. 12th St., is today 

merely the side yard of a rundown house in a historically black neighborhood. 

If William Crowdy, the father of “Black Judaism,” is still regarded a prophet in some circles, he’s 

almost unknown in his old Kansas stomping grounds. 

What are Black Jews? 

Yvonne Chireau writes in “Black Zion” that “One of the first communities to which the designation 

‘black Jews’ was applied was the Church of God and Saints of Christ (also known as the Temple Beth-el 

congregations), established in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1896 by William Saunders Crowdy. Crowdy, a 

former Baptist preacher, called his congregations ‘tabernacles’ and embedded select Jewish beliefs and 

practices within a format that was similar to that of a Christian church. The group’s appropriation of 

Judaism constituted what for some writers have characterized as a Hebraic-Christian or Judeo-Christian 

formation, in which aspects of Old Testament tradition were integrated with Christian elements…. The 

12

Church of God adopted Jewish customs that may have been based on a literal interpretation of Old 

Testament rites. 

“The Church of God, for instance, maintained the office of the rabbinate, celebrated Passover, and 

observed a Saturday Sabbath while incorporating new Testament principles, emphasizing the works of 

Jesus Christ and his teachings, and practicing such rituals as Baptism. This pattern of selecting 

components of Judaism and preserving theological and doctrinal perspectives from Christianity was 

typical of a number of groups in the early establishment of black Jewish communities in the United 

States.” 

by Rick Hellman 

Date published: September 18, 2009 

Publication: The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle 

Link: http://www.kcjc.com/200909188749/news/black-judaism-has-roots-in-kansas.html 

13

A TIMELINE OF EVENTS: THE CIVIL WAR 

1861 

January 

The South secedes from the Union. 

March 

Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated. 

April 

The attack on Fort Sumter marks the start 

of the Civil War. 

July 

The first Battle of Bull Run. 

1862 

January 


President Lincoln declares war on the 

Confederacy. 

May 

Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson defeats 

Union forces at Shenandoah. 

September 

Confederacy yields to Union forces at 

Antietam, the bloodiest battle of the war. 

Left: Confederate flag flying over Fort Sumter. Image is a detail from a stereoscopic photograph taken by Alma A. 

Pelot on the morning of April 15, 1861. Right: Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson (1824 – 1863). 

14


1863 

January 

The Emancipation Proclamation declares all 

slaves free in the eyes of the federal 

government. 

July 

The Battle of Gettysburg is fought. 

November 

On November 19, President Lincoln delivers 

what is now known as “The Gettysburg 

Address” at the dedication of the Soldiers’ 

National Cemetery in Gettysburg, 

Pennsylvania. 

1864 

April - June 

The Siege on Petersburg. 

(It is in this battle that The 

Whipping Man’s Caleb gets 

injured). 

August 

Union General Sherman takes 

control of Atlanta. 

November 

Lincoln is re-elected. 


Left: Photograph of a reproduction of the Emancipation Proclamation. Date: 1864. 

Engraving by W. Roberts. Below: The “Dictator” siege mortar at Petersburg in 1864. 

From The Photographic History of the Civil War in Ten Volumes: Volume Three, The 

Decisive Battles. The Review of Reviews Co., New York. 1911, p. 186. 

15


1865 

April 2-3 

Richmond, Virginia is evacuated by 

Confederates who set fire to their own bridges, 

armory and supply warehouses. Union troops 

enter Richmond and raise the Stars and Stripes. 

April 4 

President Lincoln visits Richmond, including the 

Confederate White House, battle sites and 

prison. 

April 10 

General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 

Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. 

Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, and the Civil 

War officially ends. It is the first evening of 

Passover. 

April 14 

President Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes 

Booth at 10:13 p.m. while at Ford’s Theatre. 

This date was the evening of the fifth day of 

Passover in 1865. This was also the date 

Christians observed Good Friday. 

April 15 

Lincoln dies at 7:30 a.m. This day had already 

been scheduled as a national day of prayer 

for those of Jewish faith. Many Jews arrived 

at synagogues that morning to learn of the 

President’s death. 

April 16 

Easter Sunday. 


Damage to Richmond, Virginia from the American Civil War. Albumen print. 

April 1865. Source: Library of Congress Photo: Andrew J. Russell 

Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., site of the assassination of President 

Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Photo: Mathew Brady. 

Below: President Lincoln’s funeral car, which carried his body from 

Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Illinois. Photo: National Park Service. 

16

CULTURAL CONTEXT: JEWISH EXODUS AND SEDER 

President Barack Obama and his family hosted a Passover Seder at the White House in March 2010. 


The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It 

is held on the evening of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, which corresponds to late March 

or April in the Gregorian calendar. The Seder is a ritual performed by a community or by multiple 

generations of a family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery 

in ancient Egypt. This story is in the Book of Exodus (Shemot) in the Hebrew Bible. The Seder itself is 

based on the Biblical verse commanding Jews to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt: "And you 

shall tell it to your son on that day, saying, 'Because of this God did for us when He took me out of 

Egypt.'" (Exodus 13:8) Traditionally, families and friends gather in the evening to read the text of the 

Haggadah, which contains the narrative of the Israelite exodus from Egypt, special blessings and rituals, 

commentaries from the Talmud, and special Passover songs. Seder customs include drinking four cups 

of wine, eating matzo and partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder Plate. The Seder is 

performed in much the same way by Jews all over the world. 


17

CULTURAL CONTEXT: HOW TO OBSERVE A SEDER 


The Passover Seder Plate (ke'ara) is a special plate containing six symbolic foods used during the 

Passover Seder. Each of the six items arranged on the plate have special significance to the retelling of 

the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The seventh symbolic item used during the meal—a stack of three 

matzohs—is placed on its own plate on the Seder table. 

The six items on the Seder Plate are: 

Maror and Chazeret: Two types of bitter herbs, symbolizing the bitterness and harshness of the slavery 

which the Jews endured in Ancient Egypt. For maror, many people use freshly grated horseradish or 

whole horseradish root. Chazeret is typically romaine lettuce, whose roots are bitter-tasting. Either the 

horseradish or romaine lettuce may be eaten in fulfillment of the mitzvah of eating bitter herbs during 

the Seder. 

Charoset: A sweet, brown, pebbly paste of fruits and nuts, representing the mortar used by the Jewish 

slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt. 

Karpas: A vegetable other than bitter herbs, usually parsley but sometimes something such as celery or 

cooked potato, which is dipped into salt water (Ashkenazi custom), vinegar (Sephardi custom), or 

charoset (older custom, still common amongst Yemenite Jews) at the beginning of the Seder. 

18

Zeroa: A roasted lamb bone, symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb 

offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and was then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. 

Beitzah: A roasted egg, symbolizing the korban chagigah (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the 

Temple in Jerusalem and was then eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. 

Steps to Observing a Seder: 

Step 1: Light the festival candles, either at the start of the Seder or earlier, just before sunset (either is 

correct). Recite two blessings over the candles as you light them. 

Step 2: Bless the wine that all will drink during the Seder, and then pour a cup for each guest and one for 

the prophet Elijah. After everyone has drunk the first cup, pour the second. (Each participant drinks four 

cups of wine at specified points in the service; Elijah's cup remains untouched throughout the Seder.) 

Step 3: Wash your hands, with no blessing, in preparation for eating the Karpas, which is a vegetable - 

usually parsley - dipped in salt water. The green vegetable symbolizes rebirth of spring; the salt water 

represents the tears shed by Jews in slavery. 

Step 4: Break the middle one of the three matzohs on the table. Return half to the pile. The other half 

becomes the afikomen, the part hidden away for children to find later and consume at the end of dinner. 

The afikomen can also be ransomed back to the adults by the children for a prize. 

Step 5: Tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the first Pesach (Passover). Begin by having the 

youngest child (or youngest adult if there are no children present) ask the traditional Four Questions. At 

the end of the story ("Maggid" in Hebrew) recite a blessing over the second cup of wine and drink it. 

Step 6: Wash your hands, saying a blessing, in preparation for eating the matzoh. Then recite two 

blessings over the matzoh: one, the ha-motzi, is a generic blessing for grain products used as a meal; the 

other is a blessing specific to matzoh. Eat a bit of matzoh after saying the blessings. 

19

Step 7: Recite a blessing over the maror, a bitter vegetable (usually raw horseradish) that symbolizes the 

bitterness of slavery. Dip the maror into charoset and eat it. Then make and eat a sandwich of another 

piece of maror and charoset between small pieces of matzoh. 

Step 8: Eat a festive meal. Anything goes here - except, of course, chametz, the leavened foods 

forbidden during Passover. At the end, reward the children who find the afikomen and then eat the 

afikomen. 

Step 9: Pour the third cup of wine, recite birkat ha-mazon (grace after meals), then bless and drink the 

wine. Pour a fourth cup of wine for everyone. Then have someone (a child if possible) open the door for 

the prophet Elijah, who is supposed to arrive on Pesach to herald the Messiah. 

Step 10: Recite a series of psalms and a blessing over the last cup of wine and drink it. 

Step 11: Close with a statement that the Seder has been completed and a wish to celebrate next year's 

Pesach in Jerusalem (i.e., that the Messiah will come within the coming year). 

Information courtesy of The Old Globe Education Department. Research and activity designs by Teaching Artist, Radhika 

Rao and Education Intern, Maddie Shea Baldwin. 

20

THE DIRECTOR 


ERIC ROSEN (Director) is a nationally recognized playwright, director and producer and the fourth artistic 

director in the 47-year history of Kansas City Repertory Theatre. He is also co-founder and former artistic director 

of Chicago’s acclaimed About Face Theatre, where he developed nearly 30 world premieres in his thirteen 

seasons there. Rep credits include direction of Metamorphoses (also Australia and regional tour) and The Trip 

to Bountiful prior to his appointment, and direction of Clay (prior to N.Y. premiere at Lincoln Center 

Theater/LCT3, winner of Chicago’s Jefferson Award and nominee for the Drama Desk Award in N.Y.); 

Winesburg, Ohio (for which he also wrote book and lyrics, winner of the Jeff Award for Best New Work and 

Philadelphia’s Barrymore Award for Best Musical); the world premiere of A Christmas Story, The Musical! 

(transfer to 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle); the world premiere of Venice, a new musical he co-wrote with Matt Sax 

(co-production with CTG in Los Angeles, Fall of 2010; currently in development for a N.Y. premiere in 2012, 

named Best Musical of the Year in TIME magazine) and the acclaimed hits Cabaret and August: Osage County. 

He recently directed The Fairy Tale Lives of Russian Girls at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Other plays include 

Dream Boy (Jeff Award for best direction and production, produced nationally) and Wedding Play (Jeff 

nomination for best new work, produced at Steppenwolf), Dancer from the Dance, Whitman and Undone (About 

Face). 

Other directing credits include the world premieres of M. Proust by Mary Zimmerman (Jeff nomination for best 

new play) and Theater District (Jeff Award for best new play), and the Chicago premiere of Take Me Out, all in 

About Face/Steppenwolf co-productions. Regional credits include work at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles; 

Steppenwolf, the Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago; 

the Prince Music Theater; Hartford Stage; Cincinnati Playhouse; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; 7 Stages in 

Atlanta; and workshops at the Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, the O’Neill, and Sundance Theatre Lab. 

Rosen produced the pre-N.Y. premiere of Doug Wright’s play I Am My Own Wife, winner of the Tony Award for 

best play and the Pulitzer Prize; Eleven Rooms of Proust created by Mary Zimmerman; and was dramaturg 

for Frank Galati and Stephen Flaherty’s Loving Repeating at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Moisés 

Kaufman's One Arm at Steppenwolf Theatre and Kaufman’s Tony nominated 33 Variations at Sundance Theatre 

Lab. 

Rosen earned his Ph.D. in performance studies from Northwestern University, and held a National Endowment 

for the Arts (NEA)/Theatre Communication Group (TCG) Career Development Fellowship for Directors. He has 

twice served as a theatre panelist for the NEA and has participated in the TCG/Pew Charitable Trusts’ National 

Theatre Artists Residency Program. Rosen has taught at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, 

Brooklyn College and the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, his alma mater. 

21

DESIGN ELEMENTS: COSTUME DESIGN 


Alison Heryer is making her Rep debut as costume designer for The Whipping Man. Alison, who holds a MFA 

from the University of Texas at Austin, is on the faculty at Kansas City Art Institute. Alison took a moment out of 

the rehearsal process to talk to us about her design. 

Can you tell us a little bit about the design process for this production? 

For this show, I began by doing lots of research on the Civil War, specifically the 

events in the final weeks of the war in Richmond, Virginia. Most of my initial 

research was not focused as much on the clothing, but understanding the historical 

and social context surrounding the characters. 

What were some of your inspirations? 

The costumes were largely inspired by photographic portraits from the 

period. Photography was becoming more accessible in the mid-nineteenth century 

and the Civil War was one of the first wars to be photographed. From a costuming 

standpoint this is exciting because it is the first time we have images of real people 

in clothing rather than relying on fashion plates or illustrations, so a designer not 

only has an idea of what people were wearing but how they were wearing 

it. Matthew Brady and George S. Cook were photographers whose work is 

referenced. 

Are there any particular challenges you faced when designing this production? 

The most challenging thing for me in this production was researching the gangrene 

bullet wound. You have to sift through some pretty disturbing images to ensure 

accuracy. 

What have you learned from working on this production? 

The first time I read this play, I was not very familiar with history and symbolism 

behind the Passover seder. The layering of the Exodus narrative with the 

culmination of the war now is my favorite part of this story. 

Left: Alison Heryer’s costume design sketch and fabric samples for the character of Simon 

DeLeon. 

22

From left: Alison Heryer’s costume sketches for Caleb, John and Simon. 

Questions for Discussion 

What expectations did you have for the costumes before seeing the production? Did they look like what 

you expected? Why or why not? 

What do you think were the strengths of the design? What would you have done differently? 

Upon seeing the costumes, what kinds of feelings did they evoke? Did those feelings support the world 

of the play and its events? Why or why not? 

ALISON HERYER (Costume Design) KC Rep: debut. New York: The Bluest Eye (New Victory). Regional: The Fall to 

Earth, A Lesson Before Dying, Orange Flower Water, Things Being What They Are, and World Set Free (Steppenwolf 

Theatre); RENT and Doubt (ZACH Theatre); Six Characters in Search of an Author (The Hypocrites); Twilight Orchard and 

Seagull (Redmoon Theater); Sueno, Woyzeck, The House of Bernarda Alba, and The Lady From the Sea (Greasy Joan); Red 

Scare (Second City); The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, Trojan Women, The Idiot, Summer People, and 410 [Gone] 

(University of Texas at Austin). TV & Film: Dance with the One and Fatakra. Exhibition: Calorie Count (Paragraph 

Gallery); Triiibe: In Search of Eden (808 Gallery, Boston); Santiago Forero: The Olympic Games (Austin Museum of 

Modern Art); 2011 Prague Quadrennial of Design and Space. Awards: Austin Critics Table Award for Costume Design; 

Michael Philippi Emerging Designer Award. Upcoming: The Picnic Project, an interactive installation coming July 2012 to 

the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. Education: MFA, University of Texas at Austin. Ms. Heryer is faculty in Fiber at Kansas 

City Art Institute. To view more of her work, please visit www.alisonheryerdesign.com. 

23

DESIGN ELEMENTS: SCENIC DESIGN 

Set model courtesy of Jack Magaw. 


The scenic designer is responsible for collaborating with the director and other members of the design 

team to create an environment for the production. Scenic designers create models of the scenery (like the 

one above and those on the following page), renderings, paint elevations and scale construction 

drawings as part of their communication with the Rep’s production staff. 

The Whipping Man is set in the DeLeon home in Richmond, Virginia over a period of three days at the 

end of the Civil War. Once a grand town home, the house is now in ruins, almost fully destroyed by fire 

and the conflict of war. Set designer Jack Magaw created a set with the appearance of destruction to 

convey the world of Union-occupied Richmond in April of 1865. Note the projections that are used in 

the model on the following page to indicate the world outside the home. 

Questions for Discussion 

What expectations did you have for the scenic design before seeing the production? Did the set look like 

what you expected? Why or why not? 

What do you think were the strengths of the design? What would you have done differently? 

Upon seeing the set, what kinds of feelings did it evoke? Did those feelings support the world of the play 

and its events? Why or why not? 

24

Set models courtesy of Jack Magaw. 

JACK MAGAW (Scenic Design) previously designed Cabaret, A Flea In Her Ear and Winesburg, Ohio at Kansas City 

Repertory Theatre. Other Chicago and regional theatre credits include I Just Stopped By To See The Man (Alliance Theatre), 

the world premiere of Disgraced (American Theater Company), Circle Mirror Transformation (Repertory Theatre of St. 

Louis), Gee’s Bend (Cincinnati Playhouse), Samuel J & K (Steppenwolf Theatre Co.), Sizwe Banzi is Dead and Home (Court 

Theatre), Black Pearl Sings and Eclipsed (Northlight Theatre), A Few Good (Peninsula Players Theatre), In the Next Room 

(Victory Gardens Theater), She Loves Me and The Caretaker (WritersTheatre) and Radio Golf (Pittsburgh Public Theater). 

He received Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for Picnic and Bus Stop (Writers’ Theatre), Fences (Court Theatre) and 

Seven Guitars (Congo Square Theatre). Upcoming projects include Superior Donuts (Geva Theatre) and Jitney (Court 

Theatre). Jack lives in Evanston with director Kimberly Senior and teaches design at both DePaul and Northwestern 

universities. Visit www.jackmagaw.com.to see more of his work. 

25

THE CAST 


The Rep’s production of The Whipping Man features Josh Breckenridge as John, Michael Genet as 

Simon and Kyle Hatley as Caleb. Each actor took a moment during the rehearsal period to speak with us 

about what it’s like to be a part of this powerful production. 

Can you talk a bit about your role as John and what it is like to perform such a role night after night? 

I truly believe that, often, roles somehow seek out and find the actors. I, at least, have found that to be true with 

the role of John. I feel so blessed to be able to jump into his skin every night because I can sympathize and relate 

to a lot about him that is under the surface. Of course, I have absolutely no comprehension of what it was like to 

be a slave, commit the acts he commits, or even to live in 1865 America, but there are a lot of parallels between 

the two of us that I think are necessary for any actor to bring truth to a performance. 

John is a very complicated individual but at the same time he’s not. He is the prime example of African- 

Americans living in that time, especially at the end of the Civil War. Broken, bitter, joyous and embodying a 

feeling of pure and unstoppable entitlement. Although I find the journey of this character exciting and engaging, 

doing it eight times a week is quite exhausting. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the nature of this piece and by 

each of the character’s stories, but I find it most helpful to avoid this by leaving the story and John at the theatre, 

making sure Josh is the one going back home at night. The compilation of rage, vulnerability, betrayal and the 

constant, overall need for survival, makes this show quite an emotional event! I'm just glad Eric [Rosen, the 

director] chose the option of adding an intermission. 

What have you learned from The Whipping Man? 

JOSH BRECKENRIDGE 

“As actors we are human beings 

reminding other human beings what 

it's like to be human.” 

I've learned a lot about myself in the preparation of this character, such as hidden fears and sensorial conditions 

that affect me in a way I never knew. I've also learned how important specificity and clarity are with a story like 

this. There are a lot of twists and turns and developments in the plot that are not necessarily easy for the audience 

to pick up. It's been an interesting process in adjusting to the director’s notes we would receive on storytelling in 

general. We forget, sometimes, as actors, that, although it is part of our job to put up that fourth wall and forget 

26

about the audience, it is also our job to do our best in painting a clear picture for our viewers. Sometimes this 

means over emphasizing words or moments to the point where we, as actors, may feel it's over the top, but for the 

audience it's just what they might need to connect the dots. 

What would you like young people to take away from this production? 

I think, if anything, I would want people, young and older, to just walk away from our piece with the need to start 

a conversation. That's what we are doing with pieces like this - starting a dialogue. If a young person can walk 

away thinking, "Wow...this is what I want to do...act!" or "I never knew this part of history told from this angle 

before," that would be fantastic. But just to know that someone can leave this piece being affected, in whatever 

way, and moved enough to get to talking about it with someone - maybe even finding parallels in their own lives 

and our present society - that would be enough to know I've done my job. 

Could you share some advice for young people hoping to go into theatre as a career? 

My only advice is: make sure you love it. It's such a rewarding and fantastic profession. But it can also be a 

challenging one. If your heart is in it (if you've been bitten by the bug), then it makes all the training, auditioning 

and work involved in becoming an actor worth it! It's a wonderful thing that we get to do and I feel so blessed and 

honored to be finding success in it. As actors we are human beings reminding other human beings what it's like to 

be human. When you get to do deep, truthful, moving theater like The Whipping Man, there's no better feeling 

than living on that stage, moment by moment, telling that story and taking the journey. 

JOSH BRECKENRIDGE (John) KC Rep: debut. Broadway: The Scottsboro Boys (Lyceum Theatre); The Ritz (Studio 54). 

Off-Broadway: The Scottsboro Boys (Vineyard Theatre); Saved! (Playwrights Horizons). Readings/Workshops: Thunder and 

Lightning (Stageplays Theatre Company); Langston in Harlem (Kent Gash, director); Rocket Boys (Universal Pictures); Trip: 

A Musical Tall Tale (Playwrights Horizons). Regional: Tales of the City (A.C.T. San Francisco, O’Neill Theatre Center); 

Scottsboro Boys (Guthrie Theater); Hairspray (Marriot Lincolnshire Theatre); Smokey Joe’s Café (Cape Playhouse); High 

School Musical 2 and Dreamgirls (North Carolina Theatre); Memphis (La Jolla Playhouse, 5 th Avenue Theatre); The Civil 

War (Majestic Theatre); Storyville (Galveston Island Musicals); The Pirates of Penzance and My One and Only (Moonlight 

Amphitheatre); TV & Film: “Take Me to the River”, “Smart Alecs” (Pilot); Finding Me: Truth and Invisible Man. 

Training: University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music. 

27

THE CAST 

MICHAEL GENET 

"Hard work always beats talent, when 

talent doesn't work hard." 


Can you talk a bit about your role as Simon and what it is like to perform such a role night after night? 

To be quite honest with you, and I don't think I've ever said this to anyone before (in fact, I doubt I've ever 

admitted this to myself about any "role" before, either) but playing Simon every night; stepping into his skin, his 

soul, his truth and taking the painful steps that I know will encompass the full arc of his journey, scares me to 

death! There's a responsibility that comes with playing Simon that is so heavy on so many levels. 

The responsibility as an "actor" to shine a light on his personal truth, the truth that most, if not all of our African- 

American ancestors from that time were faced with. That life was hard! Harder than anything most of us in 

America today can even remotely comprehend. We live in a world of modern technology - Twitter and Facebook, 

smart phones and 500-channel TVs. We're free to come and go as we please, free to "see and love" whomever we 

please regardless of the color of their skin or the name of the God they may or may not serve. 

Simon, up until just days or moments before our play opens, was a slave. He had no rights at all. He's a black 

man in the South, owned by a family of Jews. That's not a picture you see every day. Not even in history 

books. I grew up in the Methodist church and went to Catholic school. So to portray a man of Simon's stature 

and hold the responsibility of being truthful to the pain and degradation he suffered as a slave, while also 

accurately painting a true representation of his Jewish heritage, is, to say the least, for me a daunting 

task. Because the greatest sin any actor who plays this role can make is to not "bring it" every night to a level that 

makes people think. Makes people feel the pain of this man's soul, but also uplifts them with the joy of his inner 

spirit and remarkable strength that sees him through his daily struggles. And then, of course, (and without giving 

away the crucial reveal at the end) Simon "goes off" in this play. The playwright, Matthew Lopez has written an 

excruciating explosion of pain, fear and rage into Simon. And to have to find my way there every night and be 

truthful to that pain and feel it deeply, while at the same time making it new and fresh for the audience each and 

every night… well, that's sheer terror for me. But that's what acting is. Facing the truth, no matter how terrifying 

it may be. The scariest things we face in our lives are not the bogeymen hiding beneath our beds, or the monster 

we see up on a screen, or the stranger walking in the shadows. The scariest thing we face in our life is the truth 

of who we are as a people. Sadly, throughout history that hasn't always been a pretty sight. But as an actor you 

can't be pretty all the time. And you can't run from the truth. You have to commit to it. However ugly or painful 

28

it may be, you have to be willing to face it and to go there eight shows a week. There's a heavy cost to doing 

that. A physical, emotional and spiritual cost. But anyone who steps into the role of Simon will have to "bring it" 

each and every night. Because if he doesn't he won't make it past the first scene. If an actor doesn't come correct, 

this play will swallow him whole and the audience will turn their backs in shame. I know I would. 


Okay, I'm not going to give you the standard "what have I learned" answer here. The many socio-political lessons 

to be gleaned from this play kinda speak for themselves. We're all created equal. Don't oppress thy brother. War 

is bad and man is a cruel animal etc., etc. But beyond all that... Kansas City's a jazz town. It's so appropriate that 

we should be doing this play here. Because what I've learned from working on The Whipping Man is that you 

have to be a jazz musician to do this play. In fact, you have to be a GREAT jazz musician to do this 

play! Anything less and you'll fail miserably. The levels of humanity run so deep in The Whipping Man, and the 

questions of morality, spirituality, right and wrong, race, religion, war and peace are so deftly framed within its 

pages, that you have to be ready to make some music to be able to bring all that together. But you can't just 

"play" the notes that are written on the page. Jazz musicians don't do that. Jazz men (and women) are always 

searching. They're trying to find new rhythms and deeper meanings to each musical phrase. They wanna know 

how to take this tune and make it newer tomorrow than it was the night before. And that's what I'm trying to do 

as Simon in The Whipping Man. I'm searching for a deeper meaning to each line, and trying to find a way to say 

it anew every night, while at the same time staying true to the framework of the play itself. The Whipping Man 

forces you to search inside yourself. It's inescapable. Because there truly is a treasure buried deep within the soul 

of this play. And the only way to reach it, find it and ultimately hold onto it is to search deep inside yourself; to 

be willing to play some jazz each night so that you can find a richer meaning to the story and give the audience a 

more profound, and yes, to a great extent, more painful connection to the journey that's unfolding before 

them. That might seem like a lot to go through just to do a simple play. But honestly, any actor who isn't willing 

to go on that search each night in The Whipping Man probably shouldn't be in this play to begin with. 


Know our history. OUR history. White, black, red, yellow, brown or pink polka dot. It's our history and it's 

worth knowing. It's sweeping and nuanced. It's filled with lots of tears and lots of pain. But also filled with joy 

and triumph. I'd like for everyone, young people especially, to realize that the one who talks loudest or wears the 

prettiest clothes or even has the most power, isn't always (if ever), when the moment of crisis comes, the strongest 

or the most brave. I'd like for them to realize that we're all a by-product of the bravery and sacrifices of our 

ancestors. They were by far a stronger people than we. They had to be. But we can honor their legacies by 

knowing the paths they forged that allowed us all to walk through. Hard times happen. They've happened before 

and they will again. The Whipping Man tells of the spirit of man, to be able to rise above the struggles and sit 

down together at a table and celebrate the life that we've been given. I'd like young people to be able to see past 

the scars that we will all suffer at some point in our lives, and keep their eyes on the prize; whatever that prize 

may be for them personally. If Simon, a former slave who couldn't read or write, who probably had never been 

ten miles away from his Master's front door ever in his life, if he could summon the courage to go off into the 

dark of night in search of his dream (to find his wife and child) without a cent in his pocket at a time when 

animals in the barnyard were held in higher regard than a person of color… if he can walk out the door and go 

29

after his dream, than so can they. So can we all. In our play, Simon wasn't the man of so-called "talent." John 

was. But Simon was the man who knew the value of "hard work." I'd like for all the young people who see this 

show to realize that "Hard work always beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard." 


I'm not one to play around with this question. Ever. So I'm not gonna give you the smiley face, politically correct 

answer you probably usually hear from other people in this industry. Truth? SHOW BUSINESS IS THE 

HARDEST CAREER CHOICE ANYONE COULD EVER MAKE! You won't like reading this, but I would 

never tell anyone to go into this business. My daughter's doing her acting thing now, and, honestly, I wish she'd 

gone another route. And she's talented!! It's just that it's sooo hard! And so many times your talent and your skill 

set has absolutely nothing to do with whether you get a job or not. So if you really want to be a part of this 

industry, I suggest you ask yourself two questions: 

1) Do you want to be a star? 

Or, 2) Do you want to be an actor/director/writer? 

If you want to be a star, then there's certain things you can do to try and make that happen. Dye your hair a bright 

weird color, record an auto-tuned CD and upload it on YouTube, or go the Kim Kardashian/Paris Hilton route and 

become famous for being famous. You may become a star, but you'll probably be out of this business in 15 

minutes. 

On the other hand, if you want to be an actor, a director, or a writer, you have to do the work! Period! Do the 

work. There are no short cuts in life. And show business is no exception. Study. Do the work. Hone your 

craft. Learn all you can about the area of the industry you want to be a part of. Become a student of the industry 

as a whole, because you may want to venture into another area of the game after a time. Those who are versatile 

greatly increase their chances of having long careers. But the best advice I can give anyone wanting to get into 

show business is take time to find out what the rules are – and then break them! You have to break the rules if 

you want to get ahead. Just be careful to do so with respect. Remember, this industry is set up to tell all who try 

to come through the door one thing: "NO!" If you want a career in theater, film, TV or the literary world, you 

have to make it impossible for them to tell you "No." That's not an easy task. Sadly, the industry has changed so 

much since I started out. You used to be able to call up an agent and get them to agree to see you about possibly 

representing you. But now you almost have to have an Academy Award nomination by your name in order for an 

agent to agree to see you. Everywhere you look, the signs read: DON'T PHONE, DON'T VISIT. But if you don't 

do any of those things how do you get a shot? 

AGAIN I SAY, BREAK THE RULES! 

Make them tell you "no" to your face. That's what I always do and what I always believe. Because if you send in 

your picture and resumé and they just stack them in a corner with the other 2,000 pictures and resumés they 

received that week, they've just told you "no." Only you weren't there to hear it. So break the rules. Walk into 

their office and try to get someone to see you, to take a meeting with you. If they tell you “no” then, they will at 

30

least have "seen" you for who you are. And believe me, you may just get them to pull your photo out of that pile 

and hold it for another day. 

Arguably the greatest American playwright we've ever produced, the late, great August Wilson, was a mentor of 

mine. And he once told me, "Michael, someone is always watching." It's one of the most profound things I've 

ever heard, because it's true. Someone IS always watching. So if you want to be in show business, remember that 

fact. Do the work. Learn all you can. And put on your rhino skin! Basically this industry is a giant card 

game. You're just trying to keep a place at the table until you have a good enough hand to play! That means 

you're gonna have to learn how to bluff a lot. But if you can do that, eventually you'll be dealt a great hand of 

cards. And when that happens… it's magic time! And for anyone who's thinking of being a writer: WRITE! Tell 

your stories. The world will always listen to great storytellers. Words have power. Words can heal a soul or 

cause a war. The one who tells the stories, and tells them well, has true power in this world. Why? Because 

words last! And unlike acting, or directing, if you're a writer, you control whether you work today or 

not! Because no one can tell you, "No, you can't write today." If you want to write, you can write whenever or 

wherever you like. My advice to anyone thinking of becoming a writer would be this: whatever you start… 

finish! Writing is hard! Sooo hard. It will humble you without a doubt. And believe me, not everyone can do 

it. But if you're brave enough to put your words and feelings on the page, finish what you start. Don't worry 

about whether it's good or bad or whatever. Just finish it. You can correct the problem spots later. But, if you 

finish it, you'll find that you'll be able to finish anything else you start for the rest of your life! If, however, you 

should walk away from it, you'll leave the door open to your walking away from anything else the rest of your life 

as well. 

MICHAEL GENET (Simon) KC Rep: debut. Broadway: Lestat (Palace Theatre); A Few Good Men (Music Box Theatre); 

Hamlet (Roundabout Theatre); Northeast Local (Lincoln Center). Off-Broadway: Rosa Parks (Queens Theatre in the Park); A 

Soldiers Play and Earth and Sky (Second Stage); The Colored Museum (The Public Theatre); Inked Baby (Playwrights 

Horizons). Regional: Honk! A Musical Tale of the Ugly Duckling (Two River Theatre Company); Resurrection (Arena Stage, 

Hartford Stage); The Oedipus Plays and Timon of Athens (Shakespeare Theatre); Blues for an Alabama Sky (Old Globe 

Theatre); Bailey’s Cafe (Hartford Stage); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Ford’s Theatre); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Trinity Repertory 

Theatre); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Alliance Theatre); Seven Guitars (Philadelphia Theater Company); Much Ado About 

Nothing (Long Wharf Theatre); Death of a Salesman (Solvang); Roads of the Mountain Top (Crossroads Theatre); Happy 

End (Arena Stage); A Raisin in the Sun (Philadelphia Drama Guild); Twice Removed (Sharon Stage). TV & Film: “SVU”, 

“Ugly Betty”, “One Life to Live”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”, “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”, “Journey’s 

End’, “Law & Order”, “Deadline”, “Another World”, “All My Children”, “As the World Turns”, “Guiding Light”, “N.Y. 

Undercover”, “Janick”, and “Hallelujah” (Writer, American Playhouse); Wall Street 2, She Hate Me (Writer), 25th Hour, 

Booty Call, Let It Be Me, Stranger Among Us, Presumed Innocent, Simple Justice and One Fine Day. As a writer: Pork Pie 

(Sundance Screenwriter Selective, Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Award, winner of the Kennedy Center Award for New 

American Plays); Talk to Me (Focus Features, winner NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture). 

Training: The Julliard School, Carnegie Mellon University, California Institute of the Arts. 

31

THE CAST 


Can you talk a bit about your role as Caleb and what it is like to perform such a role night after night? 

Caleb is complicated, as are the other two characters, but not so complicated that he’s a mystery, which makes the 

attempt of interpreting him both fascinating and terrifying. What’s most difficult is his emotional narrative: the 

story that is going on within him. There’s the pain of his leg, there’s the fear of not being a complete human being 

any more, there’s the fear of being found out (that he’s a deserter), there’s the fear of losing Sarah and 

withholding precious information from Simon. There’s all this and there’s the friction in the relationships with his 

former slaves in the wake of their emancipation. It’s easy to immediately recognize the ugliness of slavery today, 

but to play a man who lived within an economic system based on slavery and not shed too much light on a 

modern sympathy – that’s difficult. As a human being in 2012, I don’t enjoy saying some of the ignorant things 

Caleb says – because I know better - but Caleb didn’t. He should’ve. But he didn’t. It’s stories like this that 

transform people’s perspectives. 

Do you ever get overwhelmed with the role? 

Yes. It takes a lot out of each of us to fully realize the emotional level with which these three men are living. It’s 

like the end of the world. There are no phones, no computers, no fast publications to alert the masses with global 

or national news. When the Civil War ended, in some cases, people went months before they heard it was over. 

So these men are living in extremis. That is to say, they are in hell. They are living in what literally looks and 

feels like the end of the world. Remember, there were no cars either. So transportation was also slow, VERY 

slow. Escape wasn’t really an intelligent option. Trying to keep all these details inside while playing secrets and 

lies and severe leg trauma can run its course on your body, heart, soul and voice. We scream a lot. So we have to 

take care of our voices as best we can. 

KYLE HATLEY 

“Be ready to RISK. Then be ready to FAIL. 

Then, and this is the most important part, 

be ready to RISK AGAIN.” 

I get overcome with this role in several places. But my job isn’t to allow me, the actor, to show myself, my job is 

to honestly tell Caleb’s story without getting in the way of the other two stories on stage. There are some 

moments that hit a little close to home. I look at Michael Genet (Simon) in some scenes, who is kind of a father 

figure to John and Caleb, and I swear to God he looks just like my own father, who I lost last year. It’s amazing 

32

what a simple glance can do. It’s amazing how keyed into each other we are from the first line of the play to the 

final moments. I get overwhelmed when I see my other cast members find something new, discover something 

new, learn something that they hadn’t considered … that informs and inspires me. If ever I’m lost, all I need to do 

is find their eyes and I’m right back in it. 


I’ve learned quite a bit about Jewish theology, history and practice. I was raised Catholic and was never very 

familiar with other religious practices, but this play has been very informative and inspirational and very moving 

to understand, realize and portray the thoughts and practices of another perspective. Likewise, this is not a typical 

slave play. It offers an entirely different perspective, while realizing the horribleness we’ve read about and seen in 

pictures or movies or other plays. This play has made me stop, look at the historical timeline of the emancipation 

of the slaves and understand in a very detailed way, how they came to be free – not just in the literal term, but also 

in terms of their psychology, in terms of their very real, heartbreaking sacrifices. That when you turn the page 

on horribleness, the slate is never just simply wiped clean … there is still much to solve, save and sacrifice. What 

happened to these men, women and children was and is unforgivable. And what it means to be free is so much 

more complicated than signing a document. It takes a social understanding, a collective way of thinking and living 

and knowing what is right and what is wrong, rather than slipping into ignorance. 


That different perspectives make for a richer community, rather than a complicated one. That neither race, nor 

religion sets up barriers, but rather, celebrates the diversity of humanity. We have nothing to lose from 

understanding different perspectives, but we have everything to gain. The line that I hope people always 

remember is Simon’s line in Act 2: “You don’t GET to be free. You WORK to be free!” 

You are also the Rep’s Associate Artistic Director. How does being a director inform your process as an 

actor? 

I am, first and foremost, a director. I came into the theatre as an actor, and it was my first theatrical love, but my 

passion and excitement did not stop there. I became fascinated with design and direction and, ultimately, I wanted 

to be the one who managed how people experience the story. So over time, I transitioned into directing. However, 

this show has reminded me of several things. One, performing in it reminds me of why I fell madly in love with 

this art form, thus vigorously reigniting that love. Two, I’ve learned it is good for me to return to acting on a 

relatively frequent basis in order to remember how to communicate with my actors as a director. It also helps me 

understand how everything in our company works from the perspective of an actor. And let me tell you how 

fortunate actors are at KC Rep. We take damn good care of them. 


If you want it, and I mean really want it, do it. But keep your eyes and ears open. Theatre is an imperfect art form, 

and we, as theatre artists, chase perfection through realization knowing it will never happen. Why? Because 

human beings are fallible. We’re not capable of continuous, ongoing perfection. It is the attempt that is rewarding 

and exciting for both the artist and the audience. It reminds me of how we congregate around music concerts or 

sporting events; we show up to watch the attempt. I say all of this because this field is not for the weak of heart. If 

33

it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. So if you embark on a career in the arts, be ready to RISK. Then be ready 

to FAIL. Then, and this is the most important part, be ready to RISK AGAIN. We learn from our mistakes and we 

grow. This art form is literally a never-ending siege of trial and error, rigorous investigation and being thoughtful 

100% of the time. We cannot assume. We cannot impose. We can ONLY interpret. 

KYLE HATLEY (Caleb) KC Rep: The Glass Menagerie. KC Rep Directing: The Borderland, Broke-ology, 

Circle Mirror Transformation, A Christmas Carol (2010 & 2011); August: Osage County(Associate Director). Local 

Directing: Carousel (The Living Room); Ben Franklin’s Apprentice (Coterie Theatre); Hamlet (Two Thirds). Local Writing 

and Directing: Head, The Death of Cupid, Six, and Watering The Grave (Kansas City Fringe Festival). Regional: Take Me 

Out (Steppenwolf Theatre); The Last Supper (World Premiere, InFusion Theatre Company); Picasso At The Lapin Agile, 

Twelfth Night (Noble Fool Theatre); Picasso At The Lapin Agile, Romeo and Juliet, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Gross 

Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Hamlet (title role), The Woman In Black (Playhouse on the Square). TV & Film: 

“Prison Break”, “As the World Turns”. Awards: Best Director (2009, The Pitch); a 2011 Charlotte Street Foundation 

Generative Artist Fellow. Training: Rhodes College. Mr. Hatley is the Associate Artistic Director of Kansas City Repertory 

Theatre. He is also the Artistic Director and a co-founder of Chatterbox Audio Theater, a non-profit, web-based theatre that 

produces fully soundscaped audio plays for free streaming or download at www.chatterboxtheater.org. 

34

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS: GLOSSARY OF IMPORTANT TERMS 


Abolitionists Supporters of the project to end racial slavery and liberate black Americans. 

The movement gained momentum after the British Parliament outlawed the 

African slave trade in 1807 and incorporated people from various ethnicities 

and cultural backgrounds including but not limited to free blacks and liberal 

whites such as the Quakers. In 1863 slavery was outlawed in the United 

States with the formal declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation. 

American 

Confederacy 

Also known as the Confederate States of America was the government 

formed by eleven southern states of the United States of America between 

1861 and 1865 in response to the push for abolition of slavery within the 

Union. They elected their own president, Jefferson Davis, and even printed 

their own currency—both treasonous crimes according to the Union. The 

capital of the CSA was Richmond, VA where today monuments still stand to 

honor its legacy. The Confederacy fell after the surrender of Robert E. Lee to 

Ulysses S. Grant at Fort Sumter in the spring of 1865. 

Antebellum The period of time before or existing before the American Civil War during 

which slavery, the slave trade and the sale and purchase of slaves was legal 

and protected by local and federal governments. 

Appomattox The site of the final engagement of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's 

Army of Northern Virginia before it surrendered to the Union Army under Lt. 

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865 signaling the end of the American 

Civil War. 

Battle of Fort Sumter 

Booth, John Wilkes 

Brown, William 

Wells 

(April 12, 1861 – April 13, 1861). The Battle of Fort Sumter was the 

bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Confederate Army near Charleston, 

South Carolina. The battle started the American Civil War. 

(May 10, 1838– April 26, 1865) An American stage actor who assassinated 

President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 

14, 1865 

(November 6, 1814 – November 6, 1884) William Wells Brown was a 

prominent abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian. Born into 

slavery in the Southern United States, Brown escaped to the North, where he 

worked for abolitionist causes and was a prolific writer. Brown was a pioneer 

in several different literary genres, including travel writing, fiction, and 

drama, and wrote what is considered to be the first novel by an African- 

American. 

Cash Crops Crops grown for money versus the sustenance of those farming them. 

Information courtesy of Penumbra Theatre Company. © 2008. Terms compiled by high school teachers and curriculum consultants Kimberly Colbert and 

Kaye Peters Please see the full guide located here: http://penumbratheatre.org/content/view/366/8/#WM. Additional information courtesy of The Old 

Globe Education Department. 

35

Chattel Slavery The type of slavery that dominated the American slave system. Chattel slaves 

existed as living commodities and were considered their masters’ property. 

On the market, chattel slaves were exchanged for goods or money. In addition 

to their labor, masters had control over slaves’ bodies and their children. 

Chattel slavery is most often based on race. 

Cotton Gin The abbreviated name for the cotton engine, a machine that quickly and easily 

separates the cotton fibers from the seedpods and the sometimes sticky seeds, 

a process previously achieved through slave labor. With the invention of the 

cotton engine, expectations for production skyrocketed, making work even 

more demanding for laborers. 

Davis, Jefferson 

Deserter 

Douglas, Frederick 

Egypt & Pharaohs: 

Emancipation 

Proclamation 

Epistemological 

(June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889). Jefferson Davis was a slaveholding 

politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for 

its entire history from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. His 

insistence on independence, even in the face of crushing defeat, prolonged the 

difficult war. Davis was captured in 1865 and charged (though never 

convicted) with treason against the United States of America. 

In the context of the Civil War, a deserter was a person who abandoned the 

war effort, either from the Union or the Confederate side. Many blame the 

deserters for the Confederacy defeat in the Civil War. Reasons for desertion 

included poor living conditions for soldiers, insufficient food and clothing, 

poor pay, homesickness, depression. 

(1818 – February 20, 1895). One of the most prominent figures in African- 

American and United States history. He was a historian, abolitionist, women's 

suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman, minister and reformer. Escaping 

from slavery, he made strong contributions to the abolitionist movement, and 

achieved a prominent public career. 

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian 

rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who 

was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, a country 

located in North East Africa. 

The document, issued on September 22, 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln 

that declared all slaves held in captivity in the Confederate States of America 

were free. 

The philosophical investigation of the origin, nature, methods, and limits of 

human knowledge. 

36

Exiles of Zion 

Exodus 

Fourteenth 

Amendment 

French Revolution 

Gangrene 

In addition to its literal geographical meaning (Jerusalem), the term Zion has 

often been used as a metaphor for the Biblical land of Israel, any other 

Promised Land, or any other distant but much wanted goal. The Jewish 

longing for Zion, starting with the deportation and enslavement of Jews 

during the Babylonian captivity, was adopted as a metaphor by Christian 

Black slaves in the United States, and after the Civil War by blacks who were 

still oppressed. Thus, Zion symbolizes a longing by wandering peoples for a 

safe homeland. 

The exiting from Egypt is the story of the departure of the Israelites from 

ancient Egypt described in the Hebrew Bible. Exodus 12:37 refers to 600,000 

adult Israelite men leaving Egypt with Moses, plus an unspecified but 

apparently large "mixed multitude" of non-Israelites. If taken literally the total 

number involved, the 600,000 "fighting men" plus wives, children, and the 

elderly. 

One of the post-Civil War amendments (also known as the Reconstruction 

Amendments), first intended to secure rights for former slaves. It includes the 

Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses, among others. The amendment 

provides a broad definition of United States citizenship, superseding the U.S. 

Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford that had excluded slaves 

imported from Africa and their descendants. The amendment requires states 

to provide equal protection under the law to all persons within their 

jurisdictions and was used in the mid-20th century to dismantle racial 

segregation in the United States. 

(1789–1799. The French Revolution was a pivotal period in the history of 

French, European and Western civilization. During this time, republicanism 

replaced the monarchy in France and the Roman Catholic Church underwent 

a radical restructuring. While France would oscillate among republic, empire 

and monarchy, for 75 years after the First Republic fell to a coup d’état, the 

Revolution is widely seen as a major turning point in the history of Western 

democracy--from the age of absolutism and aristocracy, to the age of the 

citizenry as the dominant political force. The slogan of the French Revolution 

was “liberté, egalité, fraternité, ou la mort!" ("Liberty, equality, fraternity, or 

death!"). This slogan outlived the revolution, later becoming the rallying cry 

of activists, both militant and non-violent, who promote democracy or 

overthrow oppressive governments. 

A complication of necrosis (i.e., cell death) characterized by the decay of 

body tissues, which become black (and/or green) and malodorous. It is caused 

by infection or ischemia, such as by the bacteria or by thrombosis (blocked 

blood vessel). It is usually the result of critically insufficient blood supply 

(e.g., peripheral vascular disease) and is often associated with diabetes and 

long-term smoking. The best treatment for gangrene is revascularization (i.e., 

restoration of blood flow) of the affected organ, which can reverse some of 

the effects of necrosis and allow healing. Other treatments include removal of 

infected tissue and surgical amputation. 




37

Good Shabbos 

Grant, General 

Ulysses S. 

Haggadah 

Hardtack 

Haitian Revolution 

Haroseth 

Hebrew 

Traditional Shabbat (Sabbath) salutation, said upon meeting or departing. It 

can be said as early as Thursday, meaning ―Hope you have a Good Shabbos! 

It is also expressed as Shabbat Shalom, meaning a Peaceful Sabbath. (See 

Shabbat below.) 

(April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885). General Ulysses S. Grant was an American 

general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869–1877). He 

was the first president to serve for two full terms since Andrew Jackson forty 

years before. He led Radical Reconstruction and built a powerful patronagebased 

Republican party in the South, with the adroit use of the army. He took 

a hard line that reduced violence by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. On April 

9, 1865, he accepted the surrender of his Confederate opponent Robert E. Lee 

at Appomattox Court House. He is credited as the leading Union general in 

the American Civil War. 

A Jewish religious text that sets out the order of the Passover Seder. Reading 

the Haggadah is a fulfillment of the scriptural commandment to each Jew to 

"tell your son" about the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt as described 

in the Book of Exodus in the Torah. 

A simple type of cracker or biscuit, made from flour, water, and sometimes 

salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it was and is used for sustenance in the 

absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages and military 

campaigns. 

(1791-1804). The Haitian Revolution was the most successful of the many 

African slave rebellions in the Western Hemisphere and established Haiti as a 

free, black republic, the first of its kind. Africans and people of African 

ancestry freed themselves from slavery and colonization by taking advantage 

of the conflict among whites over how to implement the reforms of the 

French Revolution in this slave society. 

Charoset, haroseth, or charoses is a sweet, dark-colored, chunky paste made 

of fruits and nuts served primarily during the Passover Seder. Its color and 

texture are meant to recall the mortar with which the Israelites bonded bricks 

when they were enslaved in Ancient Egypt. 

A Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is 

considered the Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by 

most of the seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been 

used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over two 

thousand years. 




38

Kahal Kadosh Beth 

Shalom 

Lee, General Robert 

E. 

Leviticus 

The first Jewish congregation in Richmond, Virginia. Kahal Kadosh Beth 

Shalom was the sixth congregation in the United States and was the 

westernmost in the United States at the time of its foundation. By 1822, Kahal 

Kadosh Beth Shalom members worshipped in the first synagogue building in 

Virginia. This congregation eventually merged with Beth Ahabah, an offshoot 

of Beth Shalom. 

(January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870. General Robert E. Lee was a career 

United States Army officer who defected to join the secessionist Confederate 

States of America. A slaveholder himself, Lee was the pride of the 

Confederate Army and is still hailed in parts of the South as a gallant soldier. 

His army was defeated at the Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865 by 

Union General Ulysses S. Grant, who reclaimed control of Fort Sumter for 

the US and ended the American Civil War. 

The third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the 

Torah/Pentateuch. Leviticus contains laws and priestly rituals, but in a wider 

sense is about the working out of God's covenant with Israel set out in 

Genesis and Exodus—what is seen in the Torah as the consequences of 

entering into a special relationship with God. These consequences are set out 

in terms of community relationships and behavior. 

Lincoln, Abraham (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865). Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth 

President of the United States, Before his election, he was a lawyer and 

member of the United States House of Representatives. As an outspoken 

opponent of the expansion of slavery in the United States, Lincoln won the 

Republican Party nomination in 1860 and was elected president later that 

year. During his term, he helped preserve the United States by leading the 

defeat of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War. He 

introduced measures that resulted in the abolition of slavery, issuing his 

Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoting the passage of the 

Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. His assassination, only a week 

after the end of the Civil War in 1865, was the first presidential assassination 

in U.S. history and made him a martyr for the ideal of national unity. 




39

Manifest Destiny A phrase that expressed that the belief that the Unites States had a mission to 

expand, spreading its form of democracy and freedom. Advocates of Manifest 

Destiny believed that expansion was not only good, but that it was obvious 

(“manifest”) and certain (“destiny”). Originally a political catch phrase of the 

19 th Century, "Manifest Destiny" eventually became a standard historical 

term, often used as a synonym for the territorial expansion of the United 

States across North America towards the Pacific Ocean and an ideological 

excuse or pardon for the slaughter or forced relocation of vast numbers of 

indigenous peoples. The term fell out of usage by U.S. policy makers early in 

the 20 th Century, but some commentators believe that aspects of Manifest 

Destiny, particularly the belief in an American "mission" to promote and 

defend democracy throughout the world, continued to have an influence on 

American political ideology. 

Manumission 

Matzoh 

Mercantile 

Capitalism 

Miscegenation 

Mitzvah 

The formal emancipation from slavery. 

A cracker-like unleavened bread made of white plain flour and water. The 

dough is pricked in several places and not allowed to rise before or during 

baking, thereby producing a hard, flat bread. 

An economic system of the major trading nations (largely European) during 

the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries based on the premise that their national 

wealth and power were best served by increasing exports from their colonies 

to sell at market in exchange for precious metals such as gold and silver. 

The mixing of different ethnicities or races, especially in marriage, 

cohabitation, or sexual relations. Interracial marriage or interracial dating may 

be more common in contemporary usage. While the English word has a 

history of ethnocentrism and racial superiority, the Spanish, Portuguese and 

French words, mestizaje, miscigenação and métissage, connote a positive 

ethno-cultural melting pot. It was outlawed in the United States until the 

landmark civil rights decision was enacted in 1967 by the US Supreme Court 

and declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "The Racial Integrity 

Act of 1954", unconstitutional, thereby ending all race-based legal restriction 

on marriage in the United States. 

The term mitzvah has also come to express an act of human kindness. 

According to the teachings of Judaism, all moral laws are, or are derived 

from, divine commandments. 




40

Passover 

Pardon 

Paternalism 

Pesach 

Post-bellum 

Rebs 

Reconstruction 

Richmond, Virginia 

An important Jewish holiday commemorating The Exodus from Egypt. On 

the night before leaving Egypt, the final plague inflicted by God on the 

Egyptians was the killing of the first-born. However, to save the Israelites, 

they were instructed to mark their doors with blood, so that the avenging 

angel would see it and know to "pass over" that house. On that night, the 

Israelites were instructed only to eat unleavened bread as they would be 

leaving in haste. 

A piece of paper or letter approving a soldier‘s leave from the army. 

A system under which an authority presence decides to supply needs or 

regulate conduct of those under its control as individuals as well as in their 

relations to the authority and to each other. A paternalistic society is 

organized much in the way of a patriarchal family structure wherein the 

leaders are not only responsible but additionally control and mediate any 

interaction between other members of society. 

Another word for Passover. 

The period of time after or existing after the American Civil War during 

which slavery, the slave trade and the sale and purchase of slaves was illegal. 

Local and federal governments struggled to enforce the new laws and many 

white Americans were opposed to the ruling. During this period, nostalgia for 

the old slave regime became prevalent. 

Johnny Reb or Johnny Rebel was the slang term for any Confederate soldier, 

or the Confederate Army as a whole, during the American Civil War. His 

counterpart in the Union was Billy Yank. 

The period between 1863 or 1865 and 1877 when the federal government 

focused on resolving the consequences and aftermath of the American Civil 

War (1861–1865). It is also the common name for the general history of the 

post-Civil War era in the former Confederacy between 1865 and 1877. The 

start of the period is often dated to the capitulation of the Confederacy in 

1865, shortly after which the practice of slavery was brought to an end after 

the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Currently the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. 

During the American Civil War, Richmond served as the capital of the 

Confederate States of America, and many important American Civil War 

landmarks remain in the city today, including the Virginia State Capitol and 

the White House of the Confederacy, among others. 




41

Saint Domingue 

Colony 

Seasoning 

Shabbat 

Sharecropping 

Siege of Petersburg 

A French colony from 1659 to 1804, when it became the independent nation 

of Haiti. This island of the Greater Antilles was “discovered” by Christopher 

Columbus in the winter of 1492. He named it Hispaniola. The people of 

culture Arawak, the Caribbean and Tainos occupied the island before the 

arrival of the Spaniards. In 1767, it exported 72 million pounds of raw sugar 

and 51 million pounds of refined sugar, one million pounds of indigo, and 

two million pounds of cotton. Saint-Domingue became known as the "Pearl of 

the West Indies" — one of the richest colonies in the 18th century French 

empire. By the 1780s, Saint-Domingue produced about 40 percent of all the 

sugar and 60 percent of all the coffee consumed in Europe. This single 

colony, roughly the size of the state of Maryland, produced more sugar and 

coffee than all of Britain's West Indian colonies combined. In 1804, Saint 

Domingue became the independent nation of Haiti. 

The forced acclimation of newly arrived slaves. The goals of seasoning were 

twofold: the first was to acclimate new slaves to their surroundings including 

basic language acquisition, lay of the land and laws to abide; the second goal 

was to break any rebellious spirit that would encourage newcomers to incite 

trouble amongst the senior populations. Seasoning was a brutal, confusing 

and critical feature of the slave system. 

The seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is 

observed from sundown Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky 

on Saturday night. The exact time, therefore, differs from week to week and 

from place to place, depending on the time of sunset at each location. Shabbat 

recalls the Biblical Creation account in the Genesis, describing God creating 

the Heavens and the Earth in six days, and resting on and sanctifying the 

seventh (Genesis 1:1-2:3). 

A leasing system in which laborers could use a portion of the land owned by 

another to farm for a living in return for a share of the crop produced. 

The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around 

Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the 

American Civil War. After nearly ten months of siege, the loss at Fort 

Stedman was a devastating blow for Lee‘s army, setting up the Confederate 

defeat at Five Forks on April 1, the Union breakthrough at Petersburg on 

April 2, the surrender of the City of Petersburg, at dawn on April 3, and 

Richmond that same evening. 




42

Subsistence Self-sufficient farming in which farmers grow only enough food to feed the 

family and to pay taxes or feudal dues. The typical subsistence farm has a 

range of crops and animals needed by the family to eat during the year. 

Planting decisions are made with an eye toward what the family will need 

during the coming year, rather than market prices. 

Trail of Tears 

Turner, Nat 

Underground 

Railroad 

Union States 

The forced relocation of Native Americans from their homelands to Indian 

Territory (present day Oklahoma) in the Western United States. The phrase 

originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 

1831.The removals were motivated by U.S. desire for expansion, the desire to 

"save" Native Americans from extinction, and to profit from the acquisition 

of their assets and resources. Many Native Americans suffered from 

exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their destinations. 

Nathaniel "Nat" Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an 

American slave who led a slave rebellion in Virginia on August 21, 1831 that 

resulted in 56 deaths including the largest number of white fatalities to occur 

in one uprising in the antebellum southern United States. He gathered 

supporters in Southampton County, Virginia. For his actions, Turner, as well 

as 56 blacks accused of being part of the rebellion, were convicted, sentenced 

to death, and executed. 

A network of clandestine routes by which African slaves in the 19 th Century 

United States attempted to escape to free states, or as far north as Canada, 

with the aid of abolitionists. Other routes led to Mexico or overseas. It's 

estimated that at its height between 1810 and 1850, between 30,000 and 

100,000 people escaped enslavement via the Underground Railroad, though 

U.S. Census figures only account for 6,000. The Underground Railroad has 

captured public imagination as a symbol of freedom, and figures prominently 

in African-American history. 

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the 

federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty 

free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by eleven Southern 

slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the 

Confederacy. Although the Union states included the Western states of 

California, Oregon, and (after 1864) Nevada, as well as states generally 

considered to be part of the Midwest, the Union has been also often loosely 

referred to as "the North," both then and now. 




43

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS: TOOLS FOR TEACHING 

LESSON PLAN: A LIFESKILLS PERSPECTIVE 

Improvisation Lesson Plan: Freedom 


“Though the sacrifice be great and the hardships many, we shall not rest until the chains that enslave 

all men be broken.” 

Simon in The Whipping Man 

The Whipping Man deals with the topic of slavery and freedom. To explore this, the class may play an 

improv game to relate this abstract idea to their own lives. 

The group sits in a circle. The word “Freedom” is the subject of discussion and the leader asks the group 

to reflect for a few minutes on what freedom means to them. 

A word bubble is created where different definitions or connections to “Freedom” are made (e.g., 

liberty, choice, independence, trust). 

Then, on a post-it or piece of paper, each person writes one ”freedom” they have that is extremely 

important to them (e.g., freedom to speak, freedom to walk, freedom to choose my friends, freedom to 

come home when I want to, freedom to drive, etc.). 

Next, the post-its/pieces of paper are put into a basket/container and one person comes and picks up one 

‘freedom' from the basket and reads it. Based on what they read, they take on a role, and point to 

someone in the circle and say, “I am ________ and I am taking away your freedom to _____!” For 

instance, if the person picks up a post-it that says, “Freedom to Drive,” they could pretend to be a police 

officer that has suspended the person‘s license or a parent that has taken away the keys to their car. If a 

person gets “Freedom to Walk.” they could be a person that crashed his car into you and left you 

paralyzed, or they could be a criminal court judge who has placed the other person in solitary 

confinement for a year. The person whose freedom was taken away then has to respond to the person 

who took their freedom away by saying something that would help them get their freedom back. 

44

The leader then opens questions to the group: How would you feel if that freedom were taken away? 

How would you respond to the person who took your freedom away? Why? Is there anything else you 

would do to get that freedom back? Why are some freedoms taken away? Participants should be 

encouraged to speak from experience and share clear points of view. 

The process could be repeated multiple times to explore different scenarios and circumstances under 

which different kinds of freedoms might be taken away. Remember to consider the concept that some 

freedoms are taken away for just cause while others are taken away unfairly. 

Information courtesy of The Old Globe Education Department. Research and activity designs by Teaching Artist, Radhika 

Rao and Education Intern, Maddie Shea Baldwin. 

45

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS: TOOLS FOR TEACHING 

LESSON PLAN: SLAVERY AND EXODUS 

Sample Lesson: Research Lesson (3-5 days) 


This lesson is designed as a foundation for study or attendance of the play to deepen student 

understanding of the play’s plot and themes. It may be followed by a seminar discussion or other 

forms of analysis after attending the play to draw comparisons between the De Leon’s ancestors’ 

experiences and that of Simon and John. 

Guiding Questions: 

1. What were the circumstances surrounding the enslavement of Jews in Ancient Egypt? 

2. How were they set free? 

3. What is Passover and its significance to the Jewish people? 

4. What are the lessons of the stories of Exodus and Passover? 

5. How do they relate to Simon and John? 

Materials: 

Markers 

Poster paper 

Preparatory Set: 

“And Moses said unto the people. Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, 

out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this 

place:” (Exodus, 13). 

Write quote on the board and ask students: 

• What do they know of the story of Moses and the Israelites? 

• Does the story of the exodus of the Israelites have parallels to other historical events they can 

think of? 

• What do the Israelites have in common with others who have fled persecution? 

or oppression? 

Information courtesy of Penumbra Theatre Company. © 2008. Lesson plan developed by high school teachers and curriculum consultants 

Kimberly Colbert and Kaye Peters. Please see the full guide located here: http://penumbratheatre.org/content/view/366/8/#WM. 

46

You can suggest possibilities for them to consider: the Puritans, the American Revolution, American 

slaves, the Mariel boat people from Cuba. Brainstorm and write ideas on the board. 

Lesson Plan: 

1. Divide students into five groups or more, as class size demands. 

2. Assign each group a topic to research. Be sure that one group researches the Exodus including the 

celebration of Passover. Others may come from the brainstorming or teacher selection. 

3. Students will research the topic individually at home and return to class the next day with notes about 

the topic assigned. 

4. Each group will meet for 15-20 minutes and collect their research, establishing subtopics: What 

happened, who was affected, who was the oppressor and oppressed, for example. Students will write 

subtopics and details from their topic on a piece of poster paper and put on wall when finished. 

5. Class will then get up and look over each posted paper for connections between the 

experiences. (May add comments to the papers.) 

6. Class will take seats. Discuss what the similarities and differences are. Revisit guiding questions. 

7. Have students journal on the connections between the various experiences and what Exodus, as an 

allegory, might tell us about oppression and liberation. Why might African Americans, for example, 

relate to the Israelites? 

8. Final reflection: After seeing or studying the play, ask students to analyze the 

parallels of the Exodus story to Simon’s departure at the end of the play. 

Work Cited: 

Walzer, Michael. Exodus and Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 1985. 



47

TOOLS FOR TEACHING 

LESSON PLAN: THE TIES THAT BIND-LOVE IN THE WHIPPING MAN 

Sample Lesson in 3 days 


Humans have wrestled with defining love ever since time began. The ancient Greeks classified four 

types of love (phileo, eros, storge and agape), and these definitions remain as guides in psychology and 

humanities study today. In The Whipping Man, Lopez provokes his audience to define love. 

In addition to love, other possible themes for exploration in The Whipping Man are: 

• Oppression: The effect of slavery on the oppressed as well as the oppressor. 

• Betrayal: De Leon selling Simon’s family, and John and Caleb keeping it a secret. 

This lesson is designed to follow viewing or study of the play. Through studying the various 

literary elements of character, setting and plot, students will interpret what the play teaches 

them about human’s capacity for love. 

Guiding questions: 

1. How can someone who owns another individual love them as a family member or partner? 

2. How could someone who is owned by another individual love the person who owns them? 

3. Can people “own” their families in a literal or figurative sense? 

4. What is the effect of power on love? 

5. What provokes Caleb to tell Simon the truth about his family and why is his confession significant to 

the play? 

6. What kind of love can transcend ownership, if any? 

Preparatory Set: 

1. Students will do a quick journal from memory of their interpretation of each of the main characters, 

one at a time: Simon, Caleb, John. Teacher may provide guiding questions on the board such as: 

a. What motivates the character? 

b. Who is the character’s family? 

c. Does this character have power? How? 

d. Who does the character love? 

Suggestion: Give students five minutes for each character and then announce to begin on next 

character so that each is given equal attention. 



48

2. Place students into discussion groups of 4 and have them share their interpretations. 

3. Provide each group with a large piece of paper and have them map the character’s relationships, 

adding in Caleb’s father and Simon’s family. Draw lines between characters and note the type of 

relationship. Here, different color markers could differentiate types of relationships or just a written 

summary of the relationship could be written along the lines. (If using markers or colored pencils, have 

students create a key for the meaning of each color in a corner of the map.) For example: love, 

ownership, family. Students may draw as many lines between any two characters as they think relevant. 

4. Discuss the map in groups and each group will choose a presenter to share with class. 

5. Share. 

Lesson Plan: Padeia Seminar 

1. Ask students: 

a. What kinds of relationships bind these characters? 

b. Is love possible between the three characters in the play? Why? How? 

2. Ask student to define love. 

3. Share the following definitions of love from the Greeks: 

Eros Love - It meant physical passion; its gratification and fulfillment. 

Storge Love - Storge is the natural bond between mother and infant, father, children, and kin. 

Phileo Love - Phileo love is a love of the affections. It is delighting to be in the presence of 

another, a warm feeling that comes and goes with intensity. 

Agape Love - Agape love is God's kind of love. It is seeking the welfare and betterment of 

another regardless of how we feel. Agape does not have the primary meaning of feelings or 

affection. (“Paxvobisca”) 

4. Ask students to label on their charts from preparatory activity which kind of love, if any, exists 

between each of the characters. 

5. In the previously formed groups, have students work together to answer the lesson’s guiding 

questions. Each student should take notes to be able to participate in seminar. 



49

6. Establish rules of Padeia Seminar: 

a. Each student must have written responses to guiding questions. 

b. Students will respect each other’s opinions. 

c. Sitting in a circle, if possible, students will self-facilitate, with the current speaker calling on 

the next. 

d. Responses must remain connected to the guiding questions or in response to a point made by 

another student. 

Teachers may require participation or offer points for participation. 

7. At conclusion of the seminar, allow 10 minutes for students to write a reflection 

that summarizes their interpretation of what the play tells them about love. 

Work Cited: 

“Four Loves.” 29 August 2008. http://paxvobisca.tripod.com/literature/fourLoves.html. 



50

RESOURCES 


BOOKS: 

Korn, Bertram. American Jewry and the Civil War, The Jewish Publication Society, 2009. 

Pember, Phoebe Y.L. A Southern Woman's Story: Life in Confederate Richmond, McCowat-Mercer Press, 1959. 

Rosen, Robert. The Jewish Confederates. University of South Carolina Press, 2000. 

Sarna, Jonathan D. When General Grant Expelled the Jews. Schocken, 2012. 

Sarna, Jonathan D. and Mendelsohn, Adam, ed. Jews and the Civil War, A Reader, New York University Press, 2010. 

Ward, Geoffrey. The Civil War: An Illustrated History, Knopf, 1992. 

WEBSITES: 

http://theoldglobe.org/_pdf/studyguides/WhippingManStudyGuide_May2010.pdf - The Old Globe study guide for The 

Whipping Man. Includes history and context essays, critical reflection activities and a glossary of terms. 

http://penumbratheatre.org/content/view/366/8/#WM - Penumbra Theatre’s study guide for The Whipping Man, written by 

Sarah Bellamy. This detailed guide contains an exploratory essay on how art gets made and circulated in culture, an 

overview of the African-American contribution to American theatre, descriptions of the characters, setting and scenes in the 

play, a contextual essay analyzing themes and ideas in The Whipping Man, an intimate interview with playwright Matthew 

Lopez, and standardized curricula for teaching the play, including innovative lesson plans and important vocabulary terms. 

www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/gender/spotlight.html - A website on the slave experience. 

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schooladventures/slavery/index.html - Discovery Education’s guide to understanding 

slavery. Includes teacher tips and resources. 

http://www.history.com/interactives/civil-war-150 - Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. 

Includes detailed information about soldiers on both sides, battles, weapons and significant places and events. 

http://civilwar150.kansascity.com/ - Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War & the Missouri-Kansas border 

region's unique place in the bloody four-year conflict. Includes letters from soldiers, a timeline and a glossary. 

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/pesach_cdo/aid/1735/jewish/The-Haggadah.htm - The complete Haggadah in 

Hebrew and English (printable). Includes instructional guides and Haggadah insights. 

http://bechollashon.org/database/index.php?/article/3403 - Article by Rick Hellman about the roots of “Black Judiasm,.” 

Originally published in The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. 

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/index.html - The Jewish Virtual Library is the most comprehensive online Jewish 

encyclopedia in the world. 

MEDIA: 

Voices from the Days of Slavery. Library of Congress American Memory Project (includes audio recordings as well as 

transcripts). http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/voices/ 

PBS special: Africans in America. America’s journey through slavery is presented in four parts. For each era, there is a 

historical narrative, a resource bank of images, documents, stories, biographies, commentaries, and a teacher’s guide for 

using the content of the web site and television series in U.S. history courses. 

www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html 

Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Grey. Dir. Jonathan Gruber, 2011. This documentary reveals an unknown chapter in American 

history when allegiances during the War Between the States deeply split the Jewish community Available for order: 

http://www.jewishsoldiersinblueandgray.com/ 

51

STATE AND NATIONAL STANDARDS 

The Whipping Man meets the following state and national standards: 

KANSAS 

Civics/Government 

5 The student understands various systems of governments and how nations and international 

organizations interact. 


Geography 

4 The student understands how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape 

patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation, and conflict. 

Economics 

2 The student understands how limited resources require choices. 

Reading 

1 The student reads and comprehends text across the curriculum. 

3 The student expands vocabulary. 

4 The student comprehends a variety of texts (narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive). 

Literature 

1 The student uses literary concepts to interpret and respond to text. 

2 The student understands the significance of literature and its contributions to various cultures. 

Theatre 

1 The student knows the basic elements of a story. 

5 The student evaluates and reflects on the characteristics and merits of dramatic content and theatrical 

forms in their work and that of others. 

6 The student integrates theatre with other arts, disciplines, and the community. 

Listening, Viewing Speaking 

1 Learners will participate effectively as listeners in formal and informal groups. 

2 Learners will demonstrate skills in viewing for a variety of purposes. 

3 Learners speak effectively for a variety of audiences, purposes, occasions, and contexts. 

4 The communicator will retrieve information from a variety of appropriate sources. 

United State History 

5 The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of significant individuals, groups, ideas, events, 

eras and developments in the history of Kansas, the United States, and the world, utilizing essential 

analytical and research skills. 

World History 

6 The student uses a working knowledge and understanding of individuals, groups, ideas, developments, 

and turning points of the Age of Revolutions (1650-1920). 

52




MISSOURI 

GOAL 1: Students in Missouri public schools will acquire the knowledge and skills to gather, analyze and apply 

information and ideas. 

5 comprehend and evaluate written, visual and oral presentations and works. 

9 identify, analyze and compare the institutions, traditions and art forms of past and present societies. 

GOAL 2: Students in Missouri public schools will acquire the knowledge and skills to communicate effectively 

within and beyond the classroom. 

3 exchange information, questions and ideas while recognizing the perspectives of others. 

4 present perceptions and ideas regarding works of the arts, humanities and sciences. 

Communication Arts: In Communication Arts, students in Missouri public schools will acquire a solid 

foundation which includes knowledge of and proficiency in: 

2 reading and evaluating fiction, poetry and drama. 

5 comprehending and evaluating the content and artistic aspects of oral and visual presentations (such as 

story-telling, debates, lectures, multi-media productions). 

6 participating in formal and informal presentations and discussions of issues and ideas. 

7 identifying and evaluating relationships between language and culture. 

Fine Arts: In Fine Arts, students in Missouri public schools will acquire a solid foundation which includes 

knowledge of: 

1 process and techniques for the production, exhibition or performance of one or more of the visual or 

performed arts. 

2 the principles and elements of different art forms. 

3 the vocabulary to explain perceptions about and evaluations of works in dance, music, theater and visual 

arts. 

4 interrelationships of visual and performing arts and the relationships of the arts to other disciplines. 

5 visual and performing arts in historical and cultural contexts. 

Social Studies: In Social Studies, students in Missouri public schools will acquire a solid foundation which 

includes knowledge of: 

2 continuity and change in the history of Missouri, the United States and the world 

3 principles and processes of governance systems 

4 economic concepts (including productivity and the market system) and principles (including the laws of 

supply and demand) 

5 the major elements of geographical study and analysis (such as location, place, movement, regions) and their 

relationships to changes in society and environment. 

6 relationships of the individual and groups to institutions and cultural traditions. 

53




NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR ARTS EDUCATION 

6 Comparing and integrating art forms by analyzing traditional theatre, dance, music, visual arts, and new 

art forms. 

7 Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from informal and formal theatre, film, television, and 

electronic media productions. 

8 Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the past 

and the present. 

54

TIPS FOR YOUR VISIT 


Where are you located? 

Kansas City Repertory Theatre is located at the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, Spencer Theatre, 4949 

Cherry, Kansas City, MO, 64110 on the UMKC Campus. (The building marked #23, under the star, on the map 

above.) 

When should we arrive? 

Please arrive at the theatre between 9:20-9:40am. Performances begin promptly at 10:00am. We don’t want you 

to miss anything! 

Where should we go when we arrive? 

Your bus should enter the parking area from Rockhill Road and merge into the drive in front of the Performing 

Arts Center (marked Bixby Lane). When you arrive at the theatre, please stay on your buses! A staff member will 

greet your bus and let you know how to proceed. 

What if we are late? 

If you have an emergency after 9:00am on the day you are scheduled for performance, please call Amy Tonyes, 

Education Associate, on her personal cell phone at 816-204-1807. This is the best way to reach a staff person on 

performance days. Please also ensure that Amy has your cell phone number prior to your visit in case of 

emergency! 

How long is the performance? 

Approximately two hours, including intermission. 

We want you to enjoy your time at 

the theatre, so here are some tips to 

make your experience at the Rep 

successful. 

Please review this page prior to 

attending the performance. 

Can we take photos or videos of the performance? 

The use of cameras and other recording devices is a violation of the actors’ contracts. We ask that you refrain 

from taking photos or videos during the production. However, you are welcome to take photos of students in the 

lobby or in the theatre before the performance begins. It is also important to remember that electronic and 

recording devices should not be brought inside the theatre. This includes pen lights, hand-held games, virtual 

pets, cell phones, mp3 players, pagers, iPods and bright or noisy jewelry. 

What about cell phones? 

The use of cell phones (including text messaging), cameras or any other recording device is not allowed in the 

theatre at any time! All cell phones should be completely turned off and put away during the performance. 

Cell phones left on “vibrate” give off a glow that can distract actors and audience members. 

55



Where are the restrooms located? 

Restrooms are located at either end of the lobby. The best time to use the restroom is before the show. Once the 

show starts, we request that audience members do not leave their seats. Water fountains are located near the 

restrooms. 

Can we take food or drinks into the theatre? 

No. There is no food, drinks or gum allowed in the theatre during the performance. 

Can we bring sack lunches? 

Sack lunches can be stored by the House Management staff until after the performance. They cannot be 

consumed in the lobby before or during the production. If lunches are to be stored, it would be helpful if they 

were grouped together in a large box or tub. 

What about backpacks? 

Please do not have your students bring backpacks or large bags as they are not allowed in the theatre and there is 

no room for storage. 

Is there a concession stand? 

Snacks will be sold at intermission but cannot be taken into the theatre. Please alert students to this policy so that 

they will not buy more than they can enjoy during intermission. Please let your students know to bring one dollar 

bills if they would like to purchase concessions. This will insure the line moves swiftly. 

What nearby lunch options are available? 

The UMKC University Center is typically open following student matinee performances. To make reservations at 

the University Center, please call 816-235-1417 prior to your visit. There are also several fast food restaurants 

near the theatre. 

I have a student with special needs. What should I do? 

We require a minimum of two weeks notice in order to accommodate your student’s needs. This includes 

accommodations for students who use wheelchairs as well as for students with hearing or vision impairments. 

Please note that tickets for para-professionals should be included in your ticket count. Everyone entering the 

theatre will need a ticket. 

How are we seated? 

Theatre seating is assigned and based on sequence in which reservations and payments are received, talkback 

attendance, disability considerations, and group size. 

56



Where should teachers and chaperones sit? 

We ask that the teacher/chaperones sit among their students in various areas in order to encourage positive 

behavior. We ask that there be one adult seated between every ten students. You will be seated in the order you 

are standing in line to enter the theatre; please ensure your chaperones are spaced accordingly. Actors appreciate 

audience response that is appropriate to the play. By no means does the Rep want to discourage laughter or 

applause during a performance. However, talking, whispering, shouting or any inappropriate responses which are 

disruptive to the actors or to the rest of the audience is not tolerated. If behavior problems arise, we ask that a 

teacher or chaperone accompany the student to the theatre lobby and remain with the student until the end 

of the play. 

What if there is bad weather? 

Please note that Kansas City Repertory Theatre shall be under no liability for failure of the group to attend in the 

event that such failure is caused by, or due to, inclement weather, interruption or delay of transportation services, 

or any other similar or dissimilar cause beyond the control of the company. Due to the nature of live theater, 

performances may be cancelled without notice. Should this occur, the Education Department will make every 

effort to notify you and will attempt to move your group into another student matinee performance whenever 

possible. Once final payment has been received, per the Rep's ticket policy, we are unable to refund 

payment made for reservations. 

Is it possible to talk with the cast? 

There is a 20-minute Q. & A. discussion with the actors following the performance. If your group needs to leave 

after the play, we understand, and need to know beforehand. However, we encourage you to stay for this unique 

learning experience. . 

My bus driver wants to see the show. Does she/he need a ticket? 

Yes! Each person planning to see the play will need a ticket to give the ushers in order to enter the theatre. This 

includes all students, chaperones, para-professionals and drivers. If your bus driver will be attending the 

performance, please remember to give them their ticket prior to entering the theatre. 

Are tickets available for purchase at the door? 

Extra tickets will not be available on the day of performance. If you need to increase your seat count prior to the 

performance day, please contact Amy Tonyes, Education Associate, at 816-235-2707 or tonyesal@kcrep.org, and 

she can let you know if additional seats are available for purchase. 

I have chaperones arriving by car. Where are they allowed to park? 

Since we are on a university campus, we cannot control parking. If your group is arriving in cars, please be sure to 

bring quarters for the metered lot on the east side of the theatre. The cost is $1.00 per hour. Please plan 

accordingly. Please note that due to increased student enrollment, visitor parking may be limited. 

57



What should we wear? 

Dress for the weather. You may wear dress clothes in order to make the theatre field trip a special one, but it is not 

required. Please be advised that, at times, it may be chilly in the theatre. 

How can we let the performers and artists know what we thought? 

After your visit, take time to discuss and reflect with your students and tell us about your experiences. We can 

share your feedback with artists and funders who make these productions possible. Please send your letters to: 

Melinda McCrary, Director of Education, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, 4825 Troost, #209, Kansas City, MO 

64110 or mccrarym@kcrep.org. 

58

EDUCATION & OUTREACH PROGRAMS: REP ON THE ROAD 

Students from Schlagle High School participate in Rep on the Road. Photo: Charles Stonewall. 


Our team of teaching artists will visit your school each day for one week leading your students in the discovery of 

classic and contemporary plays through the process of rehearsal and performance. The team can teach all day for 

numerous classes in various disciplines or for an abbreviated day of fewer classes. 

For students approaching these texts for the first or repeated times, Rep on the Road introduces and immerses young 

scholars and performers in the process and skills used to make the words and the literary terms they study in class 

come to life. This workshop is an ideal way to enliven and enhance a Literature, Arts, Speech, English, History, or 

Drama class. We can customize the program content based on what you are exploring in any class or discipline or you 

can choose from the texts we have prepared. Daily schedule correspond to teachers’ schedules within each school— 

whether on block or regular schedule (including daily planning time). 

NOTE: Each residency is custom designed with educators to meet students’ needs on a school-specific basis and 

includes 1-2 advance planning sessions. 

Location: Your school 

Grades: 6-8, 9-12 

Availability: Fall and Winter semesters 

Fee: Fee varies with schedule. Call for more information! 

Opportunities: Mix and Match from these workshops or choose one. 

Shakespeare in the Wings: King Lear, Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, A Midsummer 

Night’s Dream. American Masterworks: The Crucible, The Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, To Kill A 

Mockingbird, Animal Farm, Raisin in the Sun, Our Town. Discoveries and Techniques: Acting Techniques, 

Improvisation, Audition Skills, Musical Theatre, Technical Theatre, and Arts Marketing. 

TO BOOK REP ON THE ROAD: 

Contact Melinda McCrary, Director of Education & Community Programs, at 

816-235-5708 or mccrarym@kcrep.org 

59

EDUCATION & OUTREACH PROGRAMS: IN-CLASS POST-SHOW DISCUSSION 

Students from Wyandotte High School participate in an in-school arts residency program. Photo: David Riffel. 

Let the learning continue after the curtain goes down. We are offering you the opportunity to have a 

member of the Education staff lead a post-show discussion in your classroom after attending a student 

matinee performance at the Rep. This guided discussion will enable students to delve deeper into the 

context and themes of the play, giving them a chance for their thoughts and opinions to be heard. 

Engaging and collaborative, this discussion encourages students to utilize higher levels of thinking to 

connect the central issues in the play to their own lives. 

Location: Your school 

Availability: All season, as scheduled, after attending a student matinee performance. 

Length: 45 minutes 

Maximum number of students: 40 

Fee: $1 per student. 

To book an In Class Post-Show Discussion 

Contact Melinda McCrary, 

Director of Education & Community Programs, at 

816-235-5708 or mccrarym@kcrep.org 


60

EDUCATION PARTNER: UMKC 


UMKC is a great place to get to start a new adventure and open your mind to knowledge, diverse people 

and outstanding experiences. So what makes UMKC worth looking at? 

· Over 120 degree programs including Art, Business, Biology, Education, Engineering, Medicine, 

Music, Nursing, Pharmacy, Spanish, Theater and many more. 

· Personal attention from faculty and staff. Average class size is 24 students and there is a 14:1 student 

to faculty ratio. 

· Affordable! UMKC has great scholarships ranging from $250 to full paid expenses per year based on 

academic performance and leadership. 

· Great location! Based in the heart of the city of Kansas City, opportunities for internships, jobs, 

community service are at a student’s fingertips. 

· Find your fit at UMKC. There are over 300 student organizations for students ranging from 

academics, religion, multicultural, intramurals and more. 

Check us out! 

For more information, contact 

UMKC Office of Admissions 

admit@umkc.edu 

816-235-UMKC 

www.umkcgetalife.com 

61

Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s production of The Whipping Man is 

produced in partnership with 

The Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust, 

Daniel C. Weary and Bank of America, Trustees 

The Louis and Frances Swinken 

Supporting Foundation of 

The Jewish Community Foundation of 

Greater Kansas City 

Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s educational programs receive generous support from the 

following: 

The ArtsKC Fund 

Arvin Gottlieb Charitable Foundation 

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City 

Francis Family Foundation 

Hall Family Foundation 

Hallmark Corporate Foundation 

The Jackson County Missouri Chapter of The Links, Inc. 

Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation 

Oppenstein Brothers Foundation 

Theater League 

William Randolph Hearst Foundation 

Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s Conversation Series is sponsored by: 

The Copaken Family Foundation 

Financial assistance for this project has been 

provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state 

agency. Also, this project is supported in part 

by an award from the National Endowment for 

the Arts, which believes that a great nation 

deserves great art. 

Special thanks to Sarah Bellamy from Penumbra Theatre Company for use of some of the information found in 

this guide. Lesson plans developed by high school teachers and curriculum consultants Kimberly Colbert and 

Kaye Peters. 

Special thanks to The Old Globe Education Department for some of the information found in this guide. Research 

and activity designs by Teaching Artist, Radhika Rao and Education Intern, Maddie Shea Baldwin. 

CONTACT US: 

We invite you to email any comments, questions or ideas about The Whipping Man and/or this Learning Guide to Melinda 

McCrary, Director of Education at: mccrarym@kcrep.org, 816-235-5708 or Amy Tonyes, Education Associate at: 

tonyesal@kcrep.org, 816-235-2707. 

63

Student Matinee Series Learning Guide - The Kansas City Repertory ...

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