Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit Yellow Brick Ballads: Study Guide

YELLOW BRICK

A STUDY GUIDE

Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit

Student Matinees  May 9th and 16th

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• A Note of Gratitude

• Discussion Questions

• Writing your own songs and poems

• Young Poets

• Road to a New World

• Coloring Page

• Mirror Talk

• Start with a Dream

• Next Steps

• Mosaic Programs

• Bibliography

A NOTE OF GRATITUDE

Thank you so much for attending Yellow Brick Ballads. In our performance we hope to engage the audience with original songs, written by our own young artists, thought provoking poetry and high energy scenes.  The themes of dreams, hope, growth and friendship are ones we found very impactful to our lives and themes that people from all backgrounds can relate to. We hope you enjoy(ed) our performance of Yellow Brick Ballads.

-Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1

2

There is a character called “Dream” that occurs throughout the performance. They are played by different actors, but all have something in common.  What costume element is present every time Dream is represented?  Why do you think that choice is made?

There are many ways that the show represents dreams.  sometimes we have our own dreams and sometimes others have dreams of things they want for us. How do Dreams (ours or others) propel us forward in life or hold us back?

3

In the show, Dream is often guided or influenced to move forward in their journey.  Do you know of any examples of people guiding and helping you throughout your life?  What are ways that you might guide someone else on their journey?

WRITING YOUR OWN SONGS AND POEMS

All of the songs and many of the poems in this production were written by the young people in the company. You do not need to be a scholar or even an adult to be a writer.  All you need is something important to talk about and a few tricks of the trade.

Name: Poete writing

RHYMING POEMS

There are three main types of rhyming poetry:

COUPLET

2 LINES

TRIPLET

3 LINES

QUATRAIN

4 LINES

Unfamiliar soup Threw me for a loop.

My favorite parrot Ate a carrot With my ferret.

I went to the beach Flost my hat It sailed out of my reach Just like that!

DIRECTIONS: Write a couplet, a triplet, and a quatrain about nature:

COUPLET

TRIPLET

QUATRAIN

Name: Poete writing

A BALLAD

A ballad is a poem that tells a story. A ballad usually has a rhyme scheme, is divided into four-line stanzas, and its rhythm is more like a song than other kinds of poems. Sometimes a ballad uses a refrain, a line that keeps recurring throughout the poem

DIRECTIONS:

Study the picture. Think of a story to go with the picture. Use the Brainstorm Box to write down your ideas. Then write a ballad that tells your story. Use the back of the page for more room.

YOUNG POETS

There are many young poets already making their voice heard in the world. Take some time and check out the work of some of these young poets.

AMANDA GORMAN

Amanda Gorman is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, as well as an award-winning writer and cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied Sociology. She has written for the New York Times and has three books forthcoming with Penguin Random House.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began writing at only a few years of age. Now her words have won her invitations to the Obama White House and to perform for Lin-Manuel Miranda, Al Gore, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, and others.  In 2017, Amanda Gorman was appointed the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate by Urban Word – a program that supports Youth Poets Laureate in more than 60 cities, regions and states nationally. She is the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.

OCEAN VUONG

Ocean’s buzzy new collection, Night Sky With Exit Wounds, is being published this year by Copper Canyon Press (which is a big deal, btw). But he’s already published two acclaimed chapbooks, won a Ruth Lilly fellowship and a Pushcart Prize, and been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Poetry Magazine, and the American Poetry Review. He tells Teen Vogue about his work, “I often say that when I write, I write to the terrified versions of myself. We all have weird and awkward and strange thoughts that deserve to be shared because [those] things make us who we are as unique individuals. The value of poetry, not only for young people, but for all of us, is that it gives us a space to be vulnerable, afraid, weird — and more fully ourselves.”

-Kate Dwyer for Teen Vogue

SARAH KAY

The Founder and Co-Director of Project VOICE, an educational program that makes poetry accessible for elementary, middle, and high school students, Sarah is an accomplished spoken-word poet who’s also published an illustrated single-poem volume, “B” and a collection, No Matter the Wreckage. Check out her viral TEDTalk on spoken word poetry for proof that yes, anyone can be a poet.

-Kate Dwyer for Teen Vogue

NANDI COMER

Did you know that Michigan has its own Poet Laureate!?

Nandi Comer is the Poet Laureate of Michigan. She is the author of American Family: A Syndrome (Finishing Line Press) and Tapping Out (Triquarterly), which was awarded the 2020 Society of Midland Authors Award and the 2020 Julie Suk Award. She is a Cave Canem Fellow, a Callaloo Fellow, and a 2019 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow. She is the co-director of Detroit Lit.

ROAD TO A NEW WORLD

Following a new road (yellow bricks or not) can lead to new places and new adventures. Draw in a cool new land you might want to visit.  What is at the end of the road? Draw a unique new destination there.

COLORING PAGE

This image was created by one of our young artists. As you color it and decorate it, think about what it might symbolize. What feelings, thoughts, or ideas come to mind when you are looking at it?

MIRROR TALK

The way we talk to ourselves can affect the way we live our lives and pursue our dreams. Write some positive things in the mirror that you can say to yourself to help motivate you.

START WITH A DREAM

Goals often begin with a dream or a vision. Think of what things you would like to do or to have or to be.

Things I would like to do:

Things I would like to be:

Things i would like to have:

NEXT STEPS

“We’ve Heard it from the cast, but what of the rest? Each of you is armed with light and a dream in your chest.  What’s the one thing you’ll do to forge a New Path – to liberate yourself, your neighbor, and those to come – to make this moment last?”

-Yellow Brick Ballads

Write down on thing you can do to help your dreams, or the dreams of someone you care about, come true?

PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG

PEOPLE WANTING TO

GET  INVOLVED WITH MOSAIC

Ensemble Program:

With arts as the motivating catalyst Mosaic’s Ensemble program develops and inspires the behaviors and critical life and learning skills youth need to have successful, empowered lives through adulthood. Young artists (Grades 7-12) transform as they engage in intensive training, workshopping tried and true, as well as experimental works and cultivating their artistic voice through the creation of original work. The Ensemble program is comprised of Acting, Singing, and Technical Theatre companies. Runs September-May.

Jr Ensemble Program:

Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit’s Junior Ensemble is comprised of young artists between 5th and 8th grade. Junior ensemble rehearsals emphasize growing young artists’ confidence and skills, technical and interpretive, fostering emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills, and providing them with developmentally appropriate performance and community service opportunities.  Runs October-March.

Summer Camp:

Through theater & music games, craft projects, dance breaks, mindfulness moments, and play rehearsals, each session will provide young artists with an opportunity to create incredible memories that will surely last a lifetime. Scholarships available. To register, visit: https://mosaicdetroit.org/our-programs/ summercamp/ Summer camp fees are $300 for two weeks, plus a non-refundable $25 registration fee.

New Voices Detroit:

This is a six-week paid mentorship experience for young composers and playwrights in 8th through 12th grade.  Students will submit an idea or rough draft for a play or a musical composition.  16 young artists will be chosen to participate in professional workshops, field trips and individual mentoring sessions where they will take their ideas and develop them into full-fledged works of art.  The pieces will then be performed at our New Voices Detroit Festival on August 2nd.  Please apply at https://mosaicdetroit.org/new-voicesdetroit/ Compensation for participants is $15 per hour.

Summer Ambassador Ensemble:

Mosaic’s Summer Ambassador Ensemble will consist of 16 paid young artists (aged 14 and up) hailing from all around the metro Detroit area. These young actors, singers, and technicians will work collaboratively with professional theatre and music directors to mount a play geared toward 3rd-8th grade audience members. The young technicians will design and build the technical elements of the play while the actors and singers rehearse and perform it.  The play will tour recreational centers, summer camps, and other settings in communities throughout Detroit. Compensation for performers is $15 per hour.

Summer Teaching Interns:

Summer Teaching Interns will  be paid to work alongside seasoned teaching artists and arts administrators to offer a safe, high-quality summer artistic experience for youth in grades 3-8. Interns will become proficient in: Program delivery & evaluation, student evaluation, and classroom management. Compensation for teaching interns is $15 per hour.

PROGRAMS FOR TEACHERS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS THAT WANT MOSAIC TO BE INVOLVED WITH  THEIR PROGRAMS

Summer Ambassador Touring Show:

Mosaic’s Summer Ambassador Ensemble will consist of 16 young artists (aged 14 and up) hailing from all around the metro area. These young actors, singers, and technicians will work collaboratively with professional theatre and music directors to mount a play geared toward 3rd-8th grade audience members. The young technicians will design and build the technical elements of the play while the actors and singers rehearse and perform it.  The play will tour recreational centers, summer camps, and other settings in communities throughout Detroit. It will engage audience members with talkback discussions following each performance, during which young audience members will have the chance to connect with the Mosaic ensemble members. The show will last about 45 minutes. If you are interested in hiring us to come out to your community function, please email me at aspencer@mosaicdetroit. org. $1,000 non-profit, $1,500 corporate

Mosaic Mobile:

Mosaic Mobiles are dynamic one-off microworkshops that engage young people in the metro-Detroit community who have not encountered Mosaic before. It also serves as a training opportunity for our Youth Ambassador Ensemble members. Mosaic young artists in the Mosaic Ambassador Ensemble conduct a workshop full of collaborative games and activities to expose young people (3rd-8th graders) to musical and theatrical skill building and exploration. The workshop culminates in a short sharing of what the young people learned and created. $500

Acting and Singing Residency:

Young people in the Mosaic’s Acting and Singing Residency will take part in beginning level acting and singing exercises. Participants will learn the basics of playwriting and songwriting, then write their own show.  In addition to this they will learn important acting and vocal techniques. Through the rehearsal process, participants practice reading skills and gain an understanding of literary elements, such as character, setting, and plot. By the conclusion of the class, participants have been exposed to a sample of the Mosaic experience. They will have a lot of fun while acting, singing, and feeling the sense of achievement that is the result of working together as an ensemble to make art. ($2,000-8,000 depending on length of classes)

Empower Hour Tour:

We would love to invite you all to a tour of our space. You will receive a brief history of mosaic programs and gain insight into the work we do with the young artist we serve.  You can register as a group here: https:// www.eventbrite.com/e/in-person-empowerhour-tours-tickets-429314289597

www.supercoloring.com/paper-crafts/mirror-printable-template

www.teenvogue.com/gallery/9-young-poets-making-genre-cool