A Christmas Carol Curriculum Guide

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens Adapted by Michael Wilson About the play: The magic of Dickens' heart-warming classic like you've never seen it before! Michael Wilson returns to collaborate with Director Maxwell Williams as we freshen up the show for the 50th Anniversary Season. The tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, the heartless miser who discovers the true meaning of the holiday season after a Christmas Eve haunting, features all of Charles Dickens’ beloved characters: Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit and the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Select redesigned costumes, enhanced special effects and dazzling new lighting will bring new life to the holiday classic that has thrilled more than 250,000 families for the past 15 years.

Grade Recommendation: 4th grade and up Content Advisory: Contains spooky characters and imagery that may be frightening for very young audience members.

Topics:  Victorian England  Industrial Revolution  Holiday Traditions  Charles Dickens  Adaptations of Literature Student Performance Series dates (all at 10:30 a.m.):  Tuesday, Dec. 3  Thursday, Dec. 5  Friday, Dec. 6  Tuesday, Dec. 10  Wednesday, Dec. 11

Themes:  Redemption and Free Will  Responsibility to Others  Greed and Capitalism  Time and Memory

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Thursday, Dec. 12 Friday, Dec. 13 Tuesday, Dec. 17 Wednesday, Dec. 18 Friday, December 14

Curriculum Standards Student Performance Series performances and workshops provide unique opportunities for experiential learning and support various combinations of Common Core standards in English Language Arts. They may also support standards in other subject areas such as Social Studies and History, depending on each play’s subject matter.

The experience of seeing and discussing A Christmas Carol provides classroom links to the following Common Core standards in English Language Arts: Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details  Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions). (Grade 4)  Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges. (Grade 5)  Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text. (Grades 6-8)

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Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the themes (Grades 9-10).

Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. (Grades 11-12).

Reading Literature: Craft and Structure  Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about the text. (Grade 4-5)  Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure contributes to its meaning. (Grade 7).  Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise. (Grades 9-10).

Reading Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas  Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors. (Grades 6-8)  Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. (Grades 11-12) Student Performance Series workshops also support the following Connecticut state standards in Theatre for grades 9-12:  5: Researching and Interpreting. Students will research, evaluate and apply cultural and historical information to make artistic choices.  6: Connections. Students will make connections between theatre, other disciplines and daily life.  7: Analysis, Criticism and Meaning. Students will analyze, critique, and construct meanings from works of theatre.

About the Student Performance Series: Our Student Performance Series packages include  1 free chaperone ticket for every 20 student tickets  Free study guides that include historical context, thematic analysis, questions for discussion, and suggestions for learning activities (emailed to you in PDF format).  A talk back immediately following the performance. Hosted by a member of our education department staff and featuring actors from the play, the talk back provides students with the opportunity to ask questions and express their initial reactions to the play-going experience through dialogue with artists and each other.

Pre- and post-show workshops are also available for an additional fee. Designed to help integrate the play into your curriculum, our interactive workshops are led by a Hartford Stage teaching artist who visits your classroom and gets students on their feet to explore the play’s major themes, plot points, and connections to history and culture.

To book tickets for the Student Performance Series, please contact Chelsea Caplan, Education Sales Coordinator at (860) 520-7244 or ccaplan@hartfordstage.org