Ragtime - Shaw Festival Theatre

Ragtime 

Book by TERRENCE McNALLY 

Music by STEPHEN FLAHERTY 

Lyrics by LYNN AHRENS 

Based on the novel Ragtime by E.L. DOCTOROW 

Grades 7+ 

C ONNECTIONS 

Shaw Festival 

Study Guide

EVERYONE LOVES A CELEBRATION 

At the Shaw Festival Theatre, we celebrate the work of the incredibly gifted playwright, George 

Bernard Shaw (he shall henceforth be referred to as Bernard Shaw, as that was his preference). 

HOW TO THINK LIKE A 

SHAVIAN 

Shaw said “… a civilization can not 

progress without criticism.” 

Shaw wrote and educated 

people about the injustices he saw 

in society. 

Sometimes injustice takes place 

because nobody knows about it. 

Sometimes injustice persists because 

people don’t know what to 

do about it. 

Are you aware of some kind of 

injustice in your life or in the world 

around you? If you had unlimited 

power to fix any unjust 

situation, what would 

you do? 

A bachelor, an Irishman, a vegetarian, a fluent liar, a socialdemocrat, 

a lecturer and debater, a lover of music, a fierce 

opponent of the present status of women, an insister on the 

seriousness of art. - Shaw, on Shaw 

Bernard Shaw was a RADICAL REBEL WITH A CAUSE. 

At the Shaw Festival, we admire the spirit in which he wrote. 

He was a master EDUTAINER, writing to educate people about social and 

political issues and to inspire people to DO SOMETHING about injustice 

in the world and passivity about their circumstances—all while entertaining. 

He took great pleasure in ruffling the feathers of the establishment and 

getting people to think about social and political issues: 

a SUBVERSIVE PROVOCATEUR. 

That makes him very COOL in our estimation. 

“ 

Theatre can change the world... 

Theatre can change people 

” 

who can change the world. 

-Jackie Maxwell, 

Artistic Director 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? 

I WOULD_________________________ 

2 

C ONNECTIONS 

Shaw Festival Study Guide

C ONNETIONS 

Study Guide 

A practical, hands-on 

resource for the classroom 

which contains 

background 

information for the 

play, as well as 

suggested themes for 

classroom discussions. 

Ragtime is 

recommended for 

students in grades 7 

and higher. 

This guide was written 

and compiled by 

Amanda Tripp. Additional 

materials were 

provided by Suzanne 

Merriam, Ragtime 

Wardrobe Running 

crew, Paul Bryant, Peter 

Vietgen, Beau 

Dixon, Sue LePage and 

Joanna Falck. 

Cover image by Emily 

Cooper 

Previews: April 10/12 

Opens: May 26/12 

Closes: Oct 14/12 

THE PLAYERS 

Coalhouse THOM ALLISON 

Grandfather GUY BANNERMAN 

Willie Conklin / Ensemble NEIL BARCLAY 

Father BENEDICT CAMPBELL 

Ensemble JEREMY CARVER-JAMES 

Booker T Washington AADIN CHURCH 

Ensemble SACCHA DENNIS 

Ensemble IEJOMA EMESOWUM 

Ensemble ELODIE GILLETT 

Emma Goldman KATE HENNIG 

Sarah ALANA HIBBERT 

Mother PATTY JAMIESON 

Ensemble BILLY LAKE 

Sarah’s Friend / Ensemble NICHOLA LAWRENCE 

JP Morgan / Ensemble ANTHONY MALARKY 

Evelyn Nesbit JULIE MARTELL 

Matthew Henson / Ensemble STEWART ADAM McKENSY 

Ensemble BRANDYN McKINSON 

Ensemble MARLA McLEAN 

Henry Ford / Ensemble PETER MILLARD 

Ensemble LOUIE ROSSETTI 

Ensemble KIERA SANGSTER 

Younger Brother EVAN ALEXANDER SMITH 

Ensemble JIVARO SMITH 

Ensemble JACQUELINE THAIR 

Tateh JAY TURVEY 

Houdini / Ensemble KELLY WONG 

Ensemble JENNY L. WRIGHT 

Little Girl MORGAN HILLIKER / EDEN KENNEDY 

Little Boy JADEN CARMICHAEL / AIDAN TYE 

THE ARTISTIC TEAM 

Director JACKIE MAXWELL 

Musical Director PAUL SPORTELLI 

Choreographer VALERIE MOORE 

Set & Costume Designer SUE LEPAGE 

Lighting Designer ALAN BRODIE 

Projection Designer BETH KATES and BEN CHAISSON 

Sound Designer JOHN LOTT 

3 

C ONNECTIONS 


“ 

It was the 

music of 

something 

beginning, an 

era exploding, 

a century 

” 

spinning... 

-Ragtime 

The Story 

RAGTIME 

The rhythms of ragtime weave their way through this powerful and sweeping 

musical epic about the beginnings of contemporary America. We see the 

struggles and successes of the country through the eyes of three archetypal 

American families—a white, upper-middle class family in New Rochelle, an 

African-American musician in Harlem, an Eastern European immigrant and his 

daughter in the Lower East Side. Intertwined with their stories are the successes, 

scandals and stars of the period—like magician Harry Houdini, civil 

rights leader Booker T. Washington, political activist Emma Goldman, mogul 

J.P. Morgan, inventor Henry Ford, and Evelyn Nesbit, the famous Girl on a 

Swing. 

Through each of the families and the rise and fall of these characters, the 

musical reveals how they all connect, with each other and with history. The 

family in New Rochelle—we only know them as Mother, Father, Younger 

Brother and Little Boy—learn to cope as Father leaves to travel to the Arctic 

with explorer Admiral Robert Peary. When Mother finds an African-American 

baby abandoned in her garden, she meets Sarah, the mother who can’t or 

won’t speak. Coalhouse Walker, a ragtime musician in New York, searches for 

Sarah, the woman he loved and when he finds her and his son, he sets out to 

win them back. Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia, comes to New York 

with his daughter and a dream—but life is harder than this artist expected, 

until he creates a little ‘movie’ and becomes part of the burgeoning movie 

business. 

We experience this America through the hope of immigrants to a new 

country, the magic of Harry Houdini, the amazing financial success of J.P. 

Morgan, the politics of Emma Goldman, the fight for freedom of Booker T. 

Washington—but also through the music that this Tony Award-winning score 

- from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the 

Lower East Side. And while this musical may have been written sixteen years 

ago, the themes in it feel almost more true, more important, more relevant 

now—hope and hardship, the possibilities of great economic success and the 

realities of those who don’t have enough; celebrity scandals and the hope 

that an African-American leader can bring to a country. 

TEACHERS, PLEASE NOTE: 

This play deals head-on with the problem of racism in the early 19th century. You 

and/or your students may find some of the language in this play uncomfortable to 

hear. 

Click on http://www.shawfest.com/education/study-guides/ragtime/ to hear Shaw 

Festival Company members discussing the power of racist language. You could use 

this as a springboard for a class discussion. 

C 

4 

ONNECTIONS 

Shaw Festival Study Guide 

ONNECTIONS 


Production History 

RAGTIME 

This musical had its world premiere in Toronto in 1996 and opened on 

Broadway on January 18, 1998. It led the 1998 Tony Awards with 13 Tony 

Award nominations and won for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations, and 

won both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical 

and Best Score. Recently, book writer and playwright Terence McNally 

(Master Class, Love! Valor! Compassion!) talked about the continuing 

importance of this kind of musical – “Ragtime is in the tradition of 

Showboat and South Pacific, stories with a lot of plot, a moral fabric to the 

center of them and a real involvement with the society we live in,” Mr 

McNally said. “This is not musical comedy, but we are part of a very long 

tradition with this show.” Directed by Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell, the 

cast features Thom Allison as Coalhouse Walker, Patty Jamieson as Mother 

and Jay Turvey as Tateh. 

ACTIVITY 

ASK: What other musicals can the class name that deal with issues of 

morality and challenging social themes? 

Why might a creative team choose the musical format to explore difficult 

social topics and themes? 

Pictured above: Posters from the original Broadway (left) and Toronto (right) 

productions of Ragtime 

5 

C ONNECTIONS 


WHO’S WHO? 

In RAGTIME 

In Ragtime, the stories of fictional American families are blended with the lives of 

actual historical figures. The principal fictional characters are: 

COALHOUSE WALKER JR 

A Harlem ragtime composer-pianist 

struggling for dignity and justice. 

MOTHER 

When Father leaves the family to go 

on an expedition to the North Pole, 

Mother becomes head of the household 

and of the family business. 

Both she, and her family go through 

many changes. She represents the 

ideals of the Progressive Era, 

inclusiveness and embracing change. 

SARAH 

A young washerwoman who has a 

child with Coalhouse and who 

becomes the innocent victim of 

Conklin’s racist act. 

WILLIE CONKLIN 

Racist and bigoted, fire chief Conklin 

acts hostilely toward Coalhouse. His 

behavior endangers those around 

him and is a catalyst for violence 

which occurs in the story. 

TATEH & THE LITTLE GIRL 

A Latvian Jewish immigrant and his 

daughter who travel to the United 

States in search of the American 

Dream. 

MOTHER, FATHER and MOTHER’S YOUNGER BROTHER 

The family represents the status quo (white-upper-middle-class America) that is being challenged by radical changes in 

society in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. 

Each member of the family responds to the sweeping changes of the period differently. 

FATHER 

Represents the traditional Victorian 

norms of a late 19th century white 

upper-middle-class family man. He 

seems challenged and somewhat lost 

as to how to cope with the changes 

taking place in society at large and in 

his own home. 

Their fictional lives become entwined with these actual historical figures 

MOTHER’S YOUNGER BROTHER 

An idealistic young man with little 

self direction. He falls in love with 

Evelyn Nesbit, but eventually 

becomes disillusioned with her. 

Later he joins Coalhouse’s group of 

revolutionaries, battling injustice and 

comes to feel that his life has a sense 

of purpose. 

6

EMMA GOLDMAN 

Anarchist Emma Goldman immigrated 

to the US from Russia and began a life 

of political dissent. 

She fought for women’s right to be 

financially independent from men. 

Having suffered with other women in 

harsh ‘sweat shops’ in the garment district of New York 

City, she helped organize labour unions to fight for 

workers’ rights. As a feminist, she persuaded women to 

use birth control and to take control of their bodies. As 

a pacifist, she protested the draft when the U.S. entered 

WWI. She rejected societal institutions such as 

wage slavery, religion, marriage, private property and 

militarism. She spent a lot of time in jail! She was deported 

back to the USSR in 1919, became a British subject 

through a fake marriage. The final years of her life 

were spent in Toronto. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFoMfoQSCh8 

BOOKER T. 

WASHINGTON 

America's most 

prominent African 

American orator 

and educator. 

He was born a slave on a Virginia plantation. After 

Emancipation, he laboured as a coal miner by day and 

at night was taught to read and write by a local school 

teacher. He worked his way through college as a janitor 

and went on to advocate for black rights, political and 

legal change through peaceful means. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hsd55AK53U 

HARRY HOUDINI 

Born Ehrich Weiss, Houdini became 

a professional magician in 1891. 

Among his most sensational illusions 

were "The Vanishing Elephant" 

and his escape from a milk 

can in a strait jacket. This amazing 

feat will be performed in Ragtime. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch? 

v=XMuh-l-Eqfs 

EVELYN NESBIT 

Model and chorus girl, Evelyn Nesbit 

married the jealous, volatile Henry 

Thaw. Her romantic entanglement with 

the famous architect, Stanford White, 

ended with White’s murder at the hands 

of Thaw. The press labeled it "The Crime 

of the Century." The original Gibson Girl, 

Nesbit was the era's living definition of what was beautiful 

and fashionable. The Gibson Girl personified beauty, independence, 

personal fulfillment (she was depicted attending 

college and vying for a good mate, but she was never depicted 

as part of the suffrage movement). 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z04robb91Z8 

J.P. MORGAN 

Capitalist and financial mogul. He 

was the most powerful figure in 

American finance and industry. 

FUN FACT: The Monopoly guy, 

“Rich Uncle Pennybags” was 

modeled on J.P. Morgan! 

http://www.youtube.com/ 

watchv=st3_8LEQvck&feature=related 

http://www.biography.com/people/john-pierpontmorgan-9414735 

HENRY FORD 

Automobile inventor and innovator. Introduced 

the first moving automobile assembly 

line. 

http://www.biography.com/people/henry-ford-9298747/ 

videos/henry-ford-a-car-for-the-people-2087064480 

ADMIRAL ROBERT PEARY 

An American explorer. He’s best known for 

his claim to be the first man who reached 

the North Pole in 1909. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtT5Zj_9vo 

ACTIVITIES - In preparation for the performance, ask your students to research the significance of each of these 

historical characters and share their findings with the class. 

7 

C ONNECTIONS 

- Have students choose a historical character to incorporate into their own work of fiction. Discuss why 

they chose this person. What did they change about them? Why? What attributes remained true to life 

or historical accounts? 


RAGTIME 

WRITERS 

PLAYWRIGHT Terence McNally (b.1939) was born in Florida, grew up in Texas and went to school in 

New York City. After graduating from Columbia University he took a writing fellowship in Mexico, 

came back to New York to do an apprenticeship at the Actor’s Studio and became a tutor to author 

John Steinbeck’s children. As a playwright, his first major success came with Frankie and Johnny in the 

Clair de Lune (1987) which he adapted into a film featuring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. Other 

plays include Lips Together, Teeth Apart (1991), Love! Valour! Compassion! (1995) and Master Class 

(1996) – the latter two winning the Tony Award for Best New Play. In 1997, McNally stirred controversy 

with his play Corpus Christi, which imagines Jesus and his Apostles as gay men living in modernday 

Texas. His work on musicals includes librettos for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993, Tony Award, 

Best Book of a Musical) and Ragtime (1998, Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical), The Full Monty, The 

Rink, The Visit, A Man of No Importance and the opera Dead Man Walking. Recently, his new play 

Golden Age was featured in a Kennedy Center celebration of his work and his new musical, Catch Me 

If You Can, opened on Broadway in 2011. 

LYRICIST Lynn Ahrens (b.1948) was born in New York City. She began her career as a lyricist when she 

worked on a children's television show and began writing songs for Schoolhouse Rock (including A 

Noun is a Person, Place or Thing). Ahrens met COMPOSER Stephen Flaherty (b.1960) at a musical 

theatre workshop in 1982 and they started working together the following year. Born in Pittsburgh, 

Flaherty studied music at NYU and played ragtime piano in a dance band. Their first musical together 

was Lucky Stiff (1989), and premiered Off-Broadway. Their next musical, Once on This Island (1990) 

premiered on Broadway and was nominated for eight Tony Awards. Ragtime followed, opening on 

Broadway in January 1998 and running for 834 performances. They followed this with Seussical: The 

Musical which opened on Broadway on November 2000, and it became one of the most performed 

musicals in the U.S. Ahrens and Flaherty's next musicals, A Man of No Importance (2002), Dessa Rose 

(2005), and The Glorious Ones (2007) were produced at the Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center and 

they wrote original songs for the Chita Rivera autobiographical show, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life. 

They also collaborated on songs for the animated movie Anastasia, receiving Academy Award and 

Golden Globe nominations for Best Song and Best Score. Currently they are at work on two new musicals: 

one based on the film Rocky and another based on the painter Edgar Degas. 

NOVELIST E.L. Doctorow (b.1931) is known for blending fiction and fact in his novels about the 

history of America, combining real and fictional characters. Selected books include: The Book of 

Daniel (1971), based on the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case; Ragtime (1975), named one of the hundred 

best novels of the 20th century; World's Fair (1985; National Book Award), a semiautobiographical 

work set in the Bronx of the 1930s; Billy Bathgate (1989), a tale of Prohibition-era 

gangsters; The March (2005), a fictionalized account of General Sherman's Civil War march through 

Georgia; and Homer & Langley (2009), his version of the lives of two New York hoarder-hermit brothers. 

8 C ONNECTIONS 


“ 

The Tony 

winning score 

of Lynn Ahrens 

and Stephen 

Flaherty is just 

as diverse as 

the melting pot 

of America 

itself. 

-Music Theatre 

International 

Musical Notes ” 

RAGTIME 

Ragtime is both the name of the musical and the name of a particular style of 

music. Ragtime music developed in the U.S. towards the end of the 19th century 

and was extremely popular right up until 1917, the start of World War I. 

This style of music combines elements from both African-American and European-American 

musical traditions. At the time, this was a ‘new sound’ and it 

created quite a sensation! The meeting of different cultures that was taking 

place on American soil around the turn of the century was reflected in the 

meeting of African and European musical traditions that made up ragtime. It 

was one of the first musical styles invented in the United States to have an important 

impact on music abroad and on musical history. 

The name ‘ragtime’ refers to the ‘ragged’, or off-the-beat, syncopated rhythm. 

It is believed that its name is a contraction of the term ’ragged time’ which refers 

to the rhythmically broken up melodies. To ‘rag’ a piece of music is to 

play with its rhythms. This is one of the most important characteristics of ragtime. 

It has a strong steady ‘boom-chick-boom-chick’ rhythm, like a march. 

Against this strong, steady rhythm, there is a ragged melody of syncopated 

rhythms. 

The best-known and most easily found ragtime pieces are by Scott Joplin, such 

as Maple Leaf Rag and The Entertainer were reintroduced to society in the 

movie “The Sting”. 

Click here to learn more about ragtime music with Shaw Festival Music 

Interns, Beau Dixon and Scott Christian: 

http://www.shawfest.com/education/study-guides/ragtime/ 

ACTIVITIES 

DISCUSS Why do you think the author chose the title “Ragtime” for this work? 

What is ragtime music? What are its origins and how does it relate to other 

genres of music? What does it reveal about the society in which it was created? 

LISTEN to ragtime music with your class. 

DISCUSS how this style of music reflects the society in which it was created 

and the issues of the day. 

1) Ask your students to choose a few contemporary songs. Discuss how they 

relate to these songs and how they reflect our society and our experiences. 

Examine style, rhythm and tempo, instrumentation, lyrics, etc. 

2) Examine examples of music that are tools for social commentary/criticism, 

such as folk music and the protest songs of the ‘60s, punk, rap, etc. 

SOURCES 

http://cnx.org/content/m11619/latest/ 

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/teachers_guides/9780812978186.pdf 

9 

C ONNECTIONS 


Directors’ Notes 

JACKIE MAXWELL 

talks about directing Ragtime 

One of the signature songs of Ragtime is Wheels of a Dream, sung by Coalhouse 

and Sarah as they hold their tiny baby and look into his glowing future. 

As I have delved further and further into this beautiful, complex piece, the notion 

of dreams...the need for them and their fulfillment, has revealed itself in 

different ways. 

There is the personal dream of doing Ragtime at the Shaw Festival with a cast 

of ensemble members old and new, all wrestling with its joy, despair and 

hope together. A dream of telling this potent story of the beginning of contemporary 

America—with its mix of myth and cold, hard reality—here on 

America’s doorstep. A dream that has resulted in a creative process more collaborative 

than any I have previously experienced, as we untwine the deeply 

intimate stories within and feed them through our vision of the kaleidoscopic 

world they all inhabit. 

But always, just as we do at the end of the play, we come back to Coalhouse 

and Sarah’s dream—a bright, new future for their son. How wonderful then 

that since this musical was written in 1996, that dream has been realized in a 

way that neither character could have possibly imagined. Even the musical’s 

creators would have been hard put to project that, in November 2008, Barack 

Obama would become the first African-American President of the United 

States. Wheels of a Dream indeed—a dream we salute and celebrate with this 

production. 

10 

C ONNECTIONS 


Design Notes 

SUE LePAGE 

talks about Designing Ragtime 

Ragtime is easily one of the most complex plays that Jackie Maxwell and I have 

encountered in our many years of working together. The musical has many settings 

and our challenge was to depict the different locations in a dynamic way. 

To avoid constantly changing scenery, we decided to use people, costumes, 

and a backdrop of projected imagery to capture the flow of the story and to 

indicate changes in location. The set is an open, simple structure - with a series 

of levels and lots of exits and entrances to allow flexibility of movement 

and staging. 

There are many characters in Ragtime and the use of colour in the costumes 

will help the audience identify the various family/societal groups. For instance, 

the immigrants’ palette is cool and drab while the Harlem group is made up of 

much more rich, earthy tones. 

Click here for clips of Sue explaining the set and costume design: 

http://www.shawfest.com/education/study-guides/ragtime/ 

FUN DESIGN FACTS 

� over 80 hours of discussion were spent between designer Sue LePage and 

director Jackie Maxwell to develop the design and staging to the play 

� over 200 costumes were designed for 28 actors 

� more than 50% of the costumes come from our costume warehouse and 

have been re-worked for this show 

� 17 racks were needed to store the costumes during rehearsals 

� the set is a multi-level series of platforms and bridges which scale the 

height of the Festival Theatre 

� 176 quick changes (a costume change in under 3 minutes) occur during the 

first act alone! 

� one inspiration for the design came from model train tracks 

ACTIVITIES 

See pp 27 - 33 

Before the show: 

Post copies of these sketches around the classroom or distribute them to the 

class. Ask the students to write a mini bio about one of the characters based 

on what they can glean about that person by looking at them. 

After the show: 

ASK: How much of what you deduced based on the character’s appearance 

was true? How might costumes help to tell the story of the play? 

11 

C ONNECTIONS 


FUN FACTS from WARDROBE RUNNING 

Once a production is on stage, all the costumes need to be maintained on a daily basis. Laundry, 

small repairs, ironing, sorting, resetting costumes into dressing rooms, and assisting with quick costume 

changes - these are the responsibilities of Wardrobe Running. 

RAGTIME has 180 costume 

changes in the first act alone; 80 

of these are 3 minutes or less, 

including a few that are only 30 

seconds long! Many of the actors 

looking calm and collected on 

stage, have just frantically had 

their clothing ripped off and an 

entire new outfit put on in less 

time than it would take someone 

to turn on a cell phone and 

make a call. 

Ragtime uses approximately 24 full wigs and 25 different 

moustaches. None of the actors have their own facial hair and 

change their moustaches and side burns with their characters. 

They are mostly secured with toupee tape. Every moustache has 

to be cleaned and set for every show. Nothing is worse than 

when a moustache goes missing backstage because it can 

accidentally become stuck to anything and travel out on stage 

when it’s not supposed to (sometimes sticking to a jacket, skirt or boot!). Extra care is always taken 

to place facial hair in a specific spot during quick changes to avoid ‘unplanned stage appearances’. 

While the audience watches the show in front of the curtain, there is a well-choreographed ‘silent 

dance’ going on between the actors and stage crew behind the scenes. Major set pieces are silently 

rolled around, props are removed, carried about and pre-set, costumes are laid out or returned to 

the dressing rooms, and around all of this commotion actors are getting changed or moving into 

position to prepare for their next entrance. One wrong move could throw the entire rhythm off. 

The action backstage has to occur quietly so as not to disturb the action on stage, often during a 

musical like Ragtime, the actor’s body microphones are switched on and they are singing while they 

are moving about behind the curtain to provide background vocal to the music/singing that the audience 

sees happening onstage. There is a lot of communication that happens using hand signals 

and body language—all of which is done in very dim light! 

Contributed by the Shaw Festival’s Ragtime Wardrboe Running crew 

When all three shows at the Festival Theatre are up and 

running, each day Wardrobe Running’s staff of 5 will press and 

fold approximately 60 dress shirts, 40 pairs of socks, not to 

mention hosiery, hankies and other ’unmentionables’ that will 

be returned to the dressing rooms in time for the next 

performance. It’s at this time that repairs are done, shoes 

shined, suits and gowns touched up and a variety of other bits 

and pieces spruced up from the show the night before. 

After every Ragtime performance, 7 loads of laundry are done, 

plus a large basket of hand washing. Long after the audience 

members are in their cars and on their way home, Wardrobe 

Running is at work, preparing for the next show. 

12

“The tumultuous early years of the 20th century in America were marked by 

confidence, energy, and ambition. 

These were years of social change, immigration, exploration, 

and technological progress, 

alongside class warfare, racial discrimination, and anarchy”. 

- Lois Kivesto 

UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD OF THE PLAY 

Ragtime tells the story of three families struggling to adapt in a rapidly changing society. Early 20th 

century America was booming with technological innovation and industrialization, faced with civil 

rights struggles, injustice, and social unrest. On the stage, we see the beginning of a number of social 

movements: feminism, radicalism, the civil rights and labour movements, as well as other components 

of the struggle for reform. To paint a picture of the times: 

- In July 1900 the US census totals 76 million 

- There are more telephones than bathtubs 

- There are more blacksmiths than doctors 

- There are eight thousand cars, and less than 10 miles of concrete road in the entire United States of 

America 

- Most Americans still live in rural areas without running water, indoor plumbing, or electricity 

- Machines begin to replace farm workers 

- Trains provide transportation 

- Seven million people move to cities nationwide 

- The wealth of the country is in the hands of a small number of financiers who have established 

monopolies. Among the most prominent of these men were John D. Rockefeller, Andrew 

Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, and the most powerful of them all, John Pierpont Morgan—a real historical 

figure who appears as a character in Ragtime. 

SOCIAL CHANGE 

Refers to a significant change in the behavior patterns and cultural values or norms of a society— 

changes that have profound sociological consequences. Examples of significant social changes having 

long-term effects include the industrial revolution, the abolition of slavery, and the feminist 

movement. Social change can be driven by a number of forces, including: culture, religion, economy, 

science, and technology. 

SOURCES: 

http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/index-flash.html— continue research here 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/1900/tguide/tguideprogram.html 


13 

C ONNECTIONS 


Turn of the century feminism was an important 

movement for social change. At this time, the feminist 

movement was focused on women’s suffrage, securing 

the right for women to vote and run for office. 

At the same time in history, the fantasy of the “Gibson 

Girl” (a stylish, independent woman) is created by 

magazine illustrator Charles Dana Gibson (Ragtime’s 

real life character, Evelyn Nesbit is the original Gibson 

Girl). In reality, most women in 1900 are still very 

dependent upon men. Many women hope to “marry 

Feminist Suffrage Parade. NYC, May 6, 1912 well” in order to better their lives, yet some women 

choose careers instead of husbands. Not an easy decision as many high-paying careers were closed 

to women at this time. 

ACTIVITIES 

RESEARCH: What kinds of jobs did women typically hold in 1900? What roles did women have at 

home, at work, and in society in 1900? What groups in society benefited from denying women the 

right to own property, belong to a union, or vote? When did women gain the right to vote in Canada? 

Are you surprised by the answer? 

What rights have women achieved by 1900? What rights will women still have to fight for? Make a 

class list. What rights do women still have to fight for today? 

Write a monologue or dialogue contrasting the life of a nurse, teacher, factory worker, or secretary 

around 1900 with the life of a woman in that job today. Have students do an oral presentation of 

their work to the class. 

IMMIGRATION 

Immigrants land in New York at Ellis Island, where people are sorted, re-named, detained and even 

sent home if they are old or ill. The frustrations of poverty and illness greet and overwhelm many 

newcomers who struggle just to survive in a country that they believed was the answer to their 

prayers. 

- Half a million immigrants arrive during 1900, part of the largest wave of immigration in American 

history. 

- Nearly one-third of these immigrants return home. 

- Millions of people move west looking for a better life and many immigrants become workers in 

America’s industrial revolution. They work 12-16 hours a day, 6 days a week, for as little as $1.35 a 

day. Thousands of people each year are maimed by machines, burned by molten steel, or buried by 

coal mine explosions. 

- America runs on coal. Fuel companies recruit workers from Europe, paying their way to America in 

exchange for work in the coal mines. There are no federal mine regulations and few state laws to protect 

workers and their families. 

SOURCE: http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/immigration/topic7.html 

14 

C ONNECTIONS 


THE WORLD OF THE PLAY cont’d 

TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS 

1900 is a time of technological, scientific, and industrial advances. Trains allow citizens to vacation in 

any part of the country. Household electricity and indoor plumbing revolutionize the way people live. 

New inventions include movie projectors, electric fans, phonographs, light bulbs, automobiles and 

telephones. Americans believe these inventions will make them smarter, happier and healthier. 

Henry Ford introduces the innovative model of assembly line manufacturing, seeing that it is more 

efficient for one worker to do one task repeatedly as opposed to trying to manage several tasks. This 

assembly line organization limits decision-making for workers and improves productivity, making Mr. 

Ford a very wealthy man—although not the wealthiest. That distinction belongs to J.P. Morgan, the 

legendary Wall Street financier. 

These developments had consequences for the average American worker. Ford’s assembly line style 

of manufacturing, for example, was based on the principle that the parts of the finished product 

were interchangeable, but that the people who built the products were also interchangeable. Each 

person a cog in a machine. The implication being that this devalues the individual and his abilities. 

Anyone could do the job. 

Source: 

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/ragtime/themes.html 

ACTIVITIES 

KEEP A 24-HOUR RECORD of all the mechanical devices that you use in an ordinary day. 

Find out how many of the devices on your list were invented throughout the 1900s. 

(refer to timeline of inventions on the following page, or have students research and create their own 

timeline) 

DISCUSS: Of the following technological advances—railroads, mechanized farm tools, factory machines, 

cars, or telephones—which do you feel changed the lives of Americans the most? Specifically, 

what did the inventions change in people’s lives and how did these changes alter America as a country? 

How did these changes alter the lives of women? 

Far left: Ford Model T Assembly Line 

Left: Tea Bag Patent, 1903 

Above: early paper towels 

C 

15 

ONNECTIONS 


1890 Smoke detector 

TIMELINE OF INVENTIONS (1890 - 1917) 

1891 Tesla coil—transmits electrical energy without wires for communications, broadcasting 

Zipper 

1892 Dimmer 

Padded Bicycle Seat 

Tractor 

1897 Muffler 

Ice Cream Scoop 

1898 Remote Control 

Filing Cabinet 

1900 Nickel– zinc battery (a rechargeable battery) 

Thumbtack 

1901 Assembly line 

Safety razor 

Windowed envelope 

1902 Air conditioning 

1903 Tea bag 

Airplane 

Windshield wipers 

1904 Automatic transmission 

AC power plugs and sockets 

Banana split 

1906 Flushometer—water pressure system using a handle to flush toilets/urinals 

1907 Curtain rod 

Paper towel 

1910 Telephone headset 

1911 Road surface marking (i.e. painting a yellow line down the centre of the road) 

1912 Autopilot 

Electric blanket 

Traffic light 

1916 Supermarket (self-service store. Previously, customers shopped at a general 

store where a clerk would fetch inventory for customers to purchase) 

Light switch 




CLASS WARFARE 

Throughout 1900, workers demand better working conditions and higher pay, resulting in labour 

disputes. Uniting workers proves to be an enormous challenge because the workers are divided along 

racial and ethnic lines. 

Working conditions are, in many cases, intolerable; pay is inadequate; life in the tenements is 

unbearable; violence and poverty run rampant. As a result, workers begin to organize and strike; 

demanding that business pay attention to the health and safety of workers. 

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION 

After the Civil war (1865), African Americans voted, sent representatives to Congress, and served as 

sheriffs and justices of the peace. By 1900 all of that comes to an end. In the South, segregation and 

“Jim Crow” regulations restrict civil rights and prevent African Americans from voting. Hostility 

toward people of colour, religious minorities and immigrants grows along with organizations such as 

the Ku Klux Klan. Klan members resort to lynching and other acts of terrorism. The last remaining 

African American congressman, George White, introduces a bill to make lynching a federal crime, but 

the motion is defeated. In his farewell speech, White challenges colleagues about the injustice African 

Americans suffer. It is the last speech that any black man gives to Congress for the next 28 years! 

Booker T. Washington, author of the well-known autobiography Up From Slavery, creates the 

Tuskegee Institute in 1881, dedicated to teaching African Americans practical, marketable skills. 

Washington urges his followers to create businesses and to become self-reliant people. He mentors a 

new African American leader, W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois believes that without political power African 

Americans will never achieve equality and aims to fight injustice with scholarship and reason. By 

1899 he is a professor at Atlanta University. However, he witnesses a vicious crime—the lynching of 

African American Sam Hose— and this changes his mind about fighting bigotry through reason and 

writing, causing a split between himself and his mentor, Washington. 

In Ragtime, the struggle against racial discrimination is told through the story of Coalhouse Walker 

Junior, who is horribly abused and bullied by members of the Emerald Isle firehouse. Police repeatedly 

ignore his petition for help and, as a result, Coalhouse takes matters into his own hands. 

ACTIVITIES 

Post-Show 

ASK: Why do you think the men from the firehouse destroyed Coalhouse’s car? 

Have students collect examples of how different ethnic groups are portrayed in today’s media from 

newspapers, magazines or from commercials and sitcoms. What messages do these images send? 

Have students select an image of an ethnic or racial minority from contemporary culture and write a 

personal essay about what the image conveys—positive or negative. Were any images hard to find? 

What would students like to see depicted? Was it different than what they found? 

How do modern images of African Americans in popular culture compare to the images from America 

in 1900? Has there been an improvement in this depiction? Why or why not? 

17 

C ONNECTIONS 


Anarchists agree: big business and government are 

harmful, unnecessary and oppressive, 

And that the main evil in society is economic 

EMMA GOLDMAN: a revolutionary and a pivotal figure in the development of anarchist political 

philosophy in North America and in Europe in the first half of the 20th century. She was one of the 

most prominent and respected representatives of anarchist communism—a means of reconciling the 

opposition between the individual and society. She advocated for an economy based on the guiding 

principle: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need”. 

She fought for the rights of women and workers - and against government, big business and war. 

Eventually, she was deported to Russia. 

Can you see why government and 

big business found emma goldman 

so Threatening? 

“… the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every 

written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, 

killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has 

come to an absolutely standstill in coping with crime. It 

has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible 

scourge of its own creation (crime)”. 

SOURCES 

commons.wikimedia.org 

http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/business/topic14.html 

http://ucblibrary3.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Writings/ 

Anarchism/anarchism.html 

pbs http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/immigration/ 

topic7.html 

ANARCHY: “… really stands for the liberation of the 

human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the 

human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the 

shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a 

social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the 

purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will 

guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and 

full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual 

desires, tastes and inclinations”. 

Goldman quotes Bernard Shaw in 

an essay 

entitled 

Anarchism: 

What It 

Really 

Stands 

For 

(1917) 

“Even George Bernard Shaw, who 

hopes for the miraculous from the 

State … admits that ‘it is at present 

a huge machine for robbing and 

slave-driving of the poor by brute 

force’”. 

18 

C ONNECTIONS 



While immigrants may not have believed the streets in America were paved with gold, few were prepared 

for the difficult life that awaited them on the Lower East Side. Get sick, no pay; no pay, no food 

or rent; no food/rent, get evicted and go hungry. Life on the Lower East Side was a daily fight for survival. 

Most immigrants hoped to work and save their way out of the ghetto. Many placed their hopes in 

education for their children. But a few had a bigger vision -- to lift everyone out of poverty. 

They were called radicals - because they wanted to change society completely -- get rid of profit, 

private property, and exploitation. Everyone would own everything and all would share. Some, like 

Emma Goldman, were anarchists. They saw a society free of oppressive laws and government. Others 

were socialists. They wanted a society where workers ran the government and wrote the laws. 

These radicals put out flyers, led strikes, and marched in protests. The rich and powerful did not like 

their message. They put radicals in jail. When that didn't stop them, the government exiled thousands 

to communist Russia. 

These radical immigrants made many Americans nervous— already convinced that immigrants held 

too much political power or were responsible for violence and industrial strife, they feared the new 

immigrants could not easily be assimilated into American society. Pressure to limit the number of 

immigrants eligible for admission to the United States led to quota laws favouring immigrants from 

northern and western Europe. 

The immigrant’s struggle in Ragtime is told through the story of Tateh and his daughter. 

SOURCES 

http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/life/topic4b.html 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/616563/United-States/77809/Industrialization-of-the- 

US-economy 

ACTIVITIES 

RESEARCH In what ways did the influx of immigrants affect and challenge ideas of national unity and 

American identity? 

DISCUSS: What factors might motivate someone to leave his/her country of origin and emigrate to a 

foreign land? 

RESEARCH some of the reasons people came to America around the turn of the century from Europe 

and Asia. What kind of life did they find when in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or other cities? 

Have students CREATE a brochure that describes life in the country of origin on one panel and describes 

the expectations of immigrants as they travel to America on two other panels. The interior of 

the brochure should describe the reality of life in America in 1900 for these immigrants. 

C ONNECTIONS 

Shaw Festival Study Guide 

19

ACTIVITIES cont’d 

SEGREGATION ACTIVITY 

ASK: Who among you are immigrants? Who might have parents who are immigrants? Discuss. 

EXPLAIN: because the US was growing, immigrants were encouraged to America to take jobs 

Americans did not want. People who came to America during this time flocked to the cities for jobs. 

ASK: What do you think might be outcomes of many people from different backgrounds living 

together in a small amount of space? 

INSTRUCT: spread chairs in a random pattern throughout the room. Sit in chair. Select one person to 

move to opposite side of the room from their chair. 

INSTRUCT: The person standing must try to sit in an empty chair. The people seated must prevent 

that person from sitting in a chair. If one person allows the standing person to sit – they are placed in 

the tenement – an area in the room (a corner) that is small with not a lot of space (hula hoop). Once 

a person is placed in the tenement their chair is removed. NO running allowed. NO talking. If you run 

or talk you are put in the tenement . 

INSTRUCT: (Option: play mood music). Continue playing the game until there are lots of people overcrowded 

in the tenement and only one person left sitting. As the tenement population is increased 

the teacher takes on the role of a critical, mean, berating guard. At times, the teacher as guard, could 

choose to let one person out of the tenement to return to the game. The goal is to make the 

tenement very uncomfortable and create a distinction between the people playing the game (the 

haves) and the people confined in the tenement (the have-nots). 

Reflection: Discussion – 10 minutes 

ASK: How did it feel to work together against one person? How did it feel to be the one person? 

ASK: How did it feel when in the tenement? What was the group dynamic? How did you feel towards 

the people still playing? 

EXPLAIN: these feelings of segregation and oppression are central to story in Ragtime - for blacks, 

immigrants, and women. 

20 

C ONNECTIONS 


“ 

People 

” 

love to see 

what people 

do. 

-Tateh, Ragtime 

The World of the Play 

EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN MOVIE INDUSTRY 

A Friday night at the movie theatre in the late 1800s, might be playing a film 

like "A Train Pulling Out of the Station" or "Traffic at the Local Intersection" - 

which simply showed a moving picture of a train pulling out of a station or traffic 

at the local intersection! 

For New York's first film audiences—moving pictures of anything—including 

normal, everyday occurrences —were magical! You could see things happening 

that had actually happened somewhere else. New York audiences flocked 

to see the 10-minute movies of everyday life, paying five cents at storefront 

theaters called nickelodeons. By the early 1900s, New York had dozens of 

these theatres. Most had little more than a projector, a screen, some camp 

chairs, and a piano. Ordinary scenes, when captured on film, were entertainment 

enough—at least at first. 

Soon big moving picture cameras could be seen in the stations on a subway 

line, on a traffic island on Lower Broadway, and atop the city's first skyscrapers. 

Of course, the novelty of everyday films eventually wore off. Soon people 

wanted longer movies with stories. The first was the "Passion Play," a biblical 

story shot on a New York rooftop in 1897. 

Audiences also wanted more comfortable places to watch the longer movies. 

The city's first real movie theater -- the 1,800-seat Regency -- opened in 1913. 

Within a few years, New York was home to dozens of movie palaces, showcase 

theaters designed to look like exotic Egypt, India, China, and Spain. In them, 

audiences of thousands watched movies and also vaudeville shows, comedians, 

and even orchestras. 

In Ragtime, Tateh finds himself in the right place at the right time, at the merging 

point of technology and entertainment at the dawn of America’s very profitable 

motion picture industry. 

SOURCES http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/arts/topic13.html 

Ragtime novelist, E.L. Doctorow, was fascinated by people’s preoccupation 

with documenting reality. In the novel Ragtime, he documents a fictional 

account of American history. 

DISCUSS: 

Do you document reality? In what ways? Talk about how people use 

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and the phenomenon of reality TV. 

All have regular folks documenting mundane daily activities. It seems nearly 

everyone is documenting reality every moment. 

Why do you think that is? 

C 

21 

ONNECTIONS 


THUMB CINEMA 

The first flip book appeared in September, 1868, when it was patented by John Barnes Linnett under 

the name kineograph or “moving picture”. The German word for flip book – Daumenkino, literally 

means “thumb cinema” as the animation process of a flip book is created by the viewer flipping 

through the book using their thumb! 

In Ragtime, the artist Tateh transitions from the world of flipbook-making into the world of film. 

How to Make Your Own Flipbook 

Instructions: 

Measure and cut out 10 - 20 pieces of paper for your flip book. A comfortable working size is 5 

cm x 10 cm but sizes can vary. “Post-It” notepads can also be used for this activity. If you are using 

“Post-Its”, divide the pad in half or in quarters to total 10 – 20 pieces of paper (depending on 

how long your flip book will be). Neatly stack the pages on top of each other when using either 

loose pieces of paper or “Post-Its”. 

Select a subject for your flip book keeping in mind that each page is considered a “cell”, just like in 

real animation. It is the flipping through of all the cells, or pages, that makes the animation. 

Using a pencil, draw the first picture on the first page of your flip book. All drawing must be done 

on one half of the book so that when you flip through your book, the animation is visible. 

Remember, you want to show action, so keep the idea of movement in mind when deciding what 

to draw, e.g. A person running or a butterfly flying. 

Go to the second page and show the next step of your drawing. This second image should be 

slightly different than the first drawing. Keep moving from one page to the next, making sure that 

each page is a slightly different action. Throughout this process, flip through your book, erasing 

and making changes to any pages that do not flow well with the animation. 

When your book is complete, make a cover page for your flip book. Don’t forget to give your flip 

book a title and write “directed by” or “produced by” with your name. You can go now go back 

and add colour to your drawings using magic markers and pencil crayons. 

Once your flip book drawings and title page are complete, neatly stack the pages on top of each 

other in their proper order. Tap the stack on a hard surface a few times to make sure the edges 

line up evenly. 

Staple the narrow end of your flip book (opposite side from your drawings) so that the pages will 

stay together when flipped. Staple the stack so that staples are vertical and close to the edge. 

Make sure all the pages are stapled together or your book could fall apart. 

Flip Book topic ideas: 

Diver, gymnast, dancer or other athlete (e.g. hockey player or basketball player making a shot), life 

cycle flip books in science (e.g. illustrating the growth and change of a plant or animal as it goes 

through its life cycle – i.e. egg hatching into a chick, caterpillar into a butterfly, a flower growing) 

SOURCES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_book 

www.exploringnature.org 

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum website 

22 

C ONNECTIONS 


DISCUSSION QUESTIONS—POST SHOW 

1. Why do you think the characters were named as they were? Why do some of the characters have 

general names, such as Mother and Mother’s Younger Brother, while others have proper names 

like Coalhouse Walker, Jr? Does this affect the way we relate to them? 

2. The story opens with a musical number describing life in New Rochelle in the early 1900s. The 

people of New Rochelle state that “There were no negroes and there were no immigrants.” Is this 

description accurate? What might this statement propose about the accuracy of historical 

accounts? 

3. When is Ragtime set? What was happening at the time? Do you think Ragtime is simply a 

historical narrative or does the story reveal something about contemporary society? 

4. Why do you think Younger Brother chose to help Coalhouse Walker, Jr.? 

5. The story takes place during a time of technological progress and industrialization. What are some 

of the innovations represented in the play? How does their presence affect the characters? Is the 

impact good or bad? Explain. 

6. The quest for freedom and peace is a key theme of Ragtime. How is Harry Houdini’s character 

used to illuminate the complexity of this quest? 

7. Although the characters represent different classes and races, they share much in common. 

Discuss some of these commonalities. How are the characters different? 

8. What changes occur since Father left home? How does he adapt to these changes? 

9. The notion of value is prominent. What do each of the characters value? What consequences 

does this have for them? 

10. Does Coalhouse Walker, Jr. obtain justice? What does he sacrifice in the process? How do his 

actions affect those around him? How does this scenario relate to the justice system and civil 

rights struggles in today’s society? 

11. Why does Tateh reinvent himself as a baron? What does it mean for his identity? How does the 

invention of cinema change our perception of history? 

12. Many of the characters struggle for what they believe is right. Are they successful? How are these 

struggles tied in to the notion of identity or societal definitions of identity? 

13. Why do you think that Mother and Tateh end up together? What draws them together? How 

would this relationship have been viewed in the early 1900s? How would it be viewed today? 

14. Timeless questions are at the heart of Ragtime: Is peace possible? Are freedom, justice and 

equality possible? If so, is there a cost? If yes, what is it? 

SOURCE: 


23 

C ONNECTIONS 


Say What? 

TERMS FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION 

Nigger is probably the most disparaging and offensive word in the English 

language. It has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary 

War. The word is generally used when the speaker aims to hurt or offend. 

The word originated as a neutral term to refer to people with black skin, 

as a variation of the Spanish/Portuguese noun negro, but evolved into an 

ethnic slur. However, it is sometimes used among African-American/ 

Canadians as another word for ‘friend’. 

Click this link http://www.shawfest.com/education/study-guides/ragtime/ for video of 

Shaw Festival professionals weighing in on whether and when it is appropriate to 

use the word in a production. 

Ragtime the first distinctly American music form, considered to be a synthesis 

of African syncopation and European classical music 

Accoutrements accessory items of clothing or equipment 

Patriotism love of or devotion to one’s country 

Rag ship term used to describe immigrant ships 

Anarchism the philosophy of a new social order based on liberty unrestricted 

by man-made law 

American capitalism an economic system that includes private ownership of 

the means of production, creation of goods or services for profit or income, 

the accumulation of capital, competitive markets, voluntary exchange, and 

wage labor 

Trade union an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve 

common goals such as better working conditions 

Tenements a substandard multi-family dwelling in the urban core, usually old 

and occupied by the poor 

Stevedore someone who works on the docks or a dock labourer 

American Dream an American belief that life should be better and richer and 

fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement 

regardless of social class or circumstances of birth 

Assembly line a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product 

in a sequential manner to create a finished product much faster than with 

handcrafting-type methods 

24 

C ONNECTIONS 


Sweatshop any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous 

Model T an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from September 

1908 to October 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile and the car that 

opened travel to the common middle-class American. 

Coon song a genre of music popular in the United States and around the English-speaking world from 

1880 to 1920 that presented a racist and stereotyped image of blacks 

Vaudeville a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 

1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts 

grouped together on a common bill like a contemporary day talent show 

Bourgeois a member of the middle class 

Forbearance the act of refraining from something 

Complacent pleased, especially with oneself or one's merits often without awareness of some 

potential danger or defect 

Impertinent intrusive or presumptuous. Rude or uncivil. 

Emiliano Zapta a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was 

initially directed against the president Porfirio Díaz 

Tuskegee Institute a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States 

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in 

Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the central 

powers to declare war on each other, starting World War I. 

Socialism an economic system that favours social ownership over the means of production as 

opposed to one person controlling everything and making huge profits for themselves 

Lusitania a British Ocean liner which was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank in eight minutes in 

September 1915. This event brought the United States into World War. 

Stanford White an American architect who was murdered in 1906 by millionaire Harry Thaw over 

White’s affair with Thaw’s wife, Evelyn Nesbit. 

Invention of the Moving Picture first machine patented in the United States that showed animated 

pictures or movies was a device called the "wheel of life" or "zoopraxiscope". Patented in 1867 by 

William Lincoln, moving drawings or photographs were watched through a slit in the zoopraxiscope. 

The Frenchman Louis Lumiere is often credited as inventing the first motion picture camera in 1895. 

Lumiere invented a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector called the 

Cinematographe. 



ACTIVITY 

(pre-show) 

This is the Shaw Festival’s image to promote the musical Ragtime. Why might the artist, Emily Cooper, choose 

these specific images to represent Ragtime? 

ASK students to give their response to the image as a whole. Then look at specifics. ASK: What do you see? 

What is the significance of fireworks? Wheel? American flag? Who are the people represented? 

ACTIVITY: Using images from magazines or internet, students select 3—5 images and create a COLLAGE that 

expresses who they are; their personality. 

26

Ragtime - Shaw Festival Theatre

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?