The Lion King Study Guide (PDF) - Disney On Broadway

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who?Connecting the Human and the Animalin THE LION KING“The cut of the fabrics, their decorations, tones and patterns, would evoke animalcontours and surfaces without sacrificing the character’s human qualities.”- Julie Taymor (from The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway)Sometimes bigger is better! Along with the individual actors playing single characters, THE LION KING featureshuge creatures – elephants, hippos and rhinos – that are brought to life by several actors working together in one largecostume: a breathtaking collective living work of art! Large scale puppets and costumes have been a part of theatricalevents and celebrations for centuries. Now it’s your turn to create huge animal puppet/costumes!STEP ONE! Split your class into groups of 3 or 4. Eachgroup will choose one of the animals from THE LIONKING or another large African animal.STEP TWO! Hit the books (or the Internet, the videostore, or the zoo)! Research your animal. How does itmove? How do its different body parts work together?What does it look like? What are the colors and patternson its skin or fur?STEP THREE! With your group, brainstorm how youcan work together as a team to ACT OUT your animal.How will you work together to move your creature’sface and all the parts of its body? Will your animal showfacial expressions? If so, how will you portray this?STEP FOUR! Now that you’ve decided how youranimal will move, think about what it will look like. Hereare some suggestions on materials to use:hot seat:In THE LION KING, the large characterslike the elephant or the rhino aresilent. Give your largecreature a voice and anattitude. What doesyour creaturesound like? Whatdoes yourcreature think ofthe turning pointsin THE LION KING?Develop a walk, a tempoand an attitude for youranimal. The other students mayoffer constructive criticism. Howrealistic is your creature? Howrealistic does it NEED to be?photo by T.Thayer· Paper mache· Chicken wire· Cloth/bed sheets· Brooms· Tree branches· Paint· Your choice! How could you use everydayitems you might find in your classroom orhome? Be creative!Geoff Hoyle, Zazu,Original Broadway Companyphoto by Per BriehagenNOW THAT YOU’VELEARNED WHO’S WHO INTHE PRIDELANDS, LET METELL YOU WHAT’SWHAT!24LEARNING OBJECTIVES:• THEATRE: Students will know how culture affects the content of dramatic performances• VISUAL ARTS: Students will understand what makes various organizational structures effective in the communication of ideas• VISUAL ARTS: Students will know ways in which different art forms evoke emotional responses
what?what happens in THE LION KING?“Movies, although they are full of fantasy, have a concrete reality to them;you may be experiencing something that’s fantastic, but the movies make it seemabsolutely concrete. The stage and the musical format ask the audience toparticipate in fantasy all the way. They ask you to pretend along with us.”- Roger Allers, co-bookwriter for the stageplay (from The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway)Get up on your feet and jump into THE LION KING story!Break your class or group into smaller groups of 2 or 3 people. Each group will be assigned, or choose on their own,one of the events in THE LION KING (to refresh your memory, check out the plot summary on pages 4 and 5)CREATE AN EMOTIONALPORTRAIT: Usinggestures, facialexpressions, bodylanguage, and sounds– but no words –express the emotionsof your event from THELION KING. Can theaudience guess whatevent you areportraying?HIRE A PLAYWRIGHT:Assign one student tobe the playwright. It’sher or his job to writeout the lines after theimprovisations inproper dramaticformat, complete withcharacter names andstage directions.CREATE A TABLEAU:Create a tableau, orfrozen moment intime, from your event– with no words. Canthe audience guesswhat event you areportraying?HIRE A DIRECTOR: Afterthe initial round ofimprovisations,another student canbe assigned to eachscene as a director. Itwill be his or her job tolead the scene,advising the actors onthe best way to makethe story clear for theaudience.Create an improvisation: Each group will have two minutes to improvise their events fromTHE LION KING with full use of language, facial expression, gesture and body language.Don’t worry about recreating lines from the musical – the idea is to reveal the emotionsbehind that moment in the story to your audience.ZEBRA: A member of thehorse family, the zebrais native to central,eastern and southernAfrica. The zebra’sdistinctive black andwhite stripes are usedto confuse predators.Use the masks you created on page 23in your improvisations. Ask theaudience – how does the use of masksaffect the performance? Are you ableto see Taymor’s “double event”?VARIATION S :LEARNING OBJECTIVES:• ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS: Students will narrate a sequence of events• ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS: Students will write in response to literature• THEATRE: Students will recognize and create a variety of vivid characters in improvisation, scenework and plays• THEATRE: Students will create appropriate physical gestures and facial expressions that serve a character25
Page 4: INFO SHEETSTORY SYNOPSIS“WHERE HA
Page 9 and 10: INFO SHEETafrican musicIn many Afri
Page 12 and 13: class projectbring THE LION KING to
Page 14 and 15: who?roots: who’s got YOUR back?
Page 16 and 17: who?the listening circle“NIGHTAND
Page 18 and 19: who?who are we?“Just as the sun r
Page 20 and 21: who?Characters reveal who they are
Page 22 and 23: who?Connecting the Human andthe Ani
Page 26 and 27: what?what else might have happenedZ
Page 28 and 29: where?create the world of the story
Page 30 and 31: where?30
Page 32 and 33: when?when do we sing?the emotions b
Page 34 and 35: why?what can music tell us?Even wit
Page 36 and 37: why?ideas helps us to decide the be
Page 38 and 39: community connectionsHow does THE L
Page 40: Music Credits:p. 4, p. 8 “Endless

The Lion King Study Guide (PDF) - Disney On Broadway

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