SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING AND VIEWING
5-MINUTE PLAY Divides students into pairs to plan and rehearse a summary of Topdog/Underdog. Each pair must identify 5-6 key moments in the play to recreate. Students may use tableau (frozen image that tells a story), pantomime (storytelling with all movement), or dialogue. Discuss: What similarities and differences were there amongst the performances? What key moments did each pair share? How did each group determine which elements of the story to keep in their performance?
CHARACTER COLLAGE
Playwright and educator James Baldwin, who played an important role in inspiring Parks to become a playwright
WORKS BY SUZAN-LORI PARKS • The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1992) • The America Play (1994) • Venus (1996) • In the Blood (1999) • Fucking A (2000) • 365 Days/365 Plays (2006) • Porgy and Bess (2011 — adaptation with Deirdre L. Murray) • Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 (2014) • Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College (2001): www.mtholyoke.edu/media/commencement-speech VIDEO • Watch Me Work: http://howlround.com/search?search_api_views_ fulltext=watch%20me%20work&f%5B0%5D=field_ post_type%3A355 WORKS BY JAMES BALDWIN • Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) • The Amen Corner (1954) • Blues for Mister Charlie (1964) • If Beale Could Talk (1974) • The Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985)
16
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE
Ask students to choose one character from Topdog/Underdog (characters who are spoken about and not seen are options as well) and create a character collage. Students can use paper, sketches, paint, fabric pieces, photographs, magazine and newspaper clippings and quotes from the play that express the character’s conflicts, relationships and emotions. Encourage students to consider texture and color when making decisions to best represent their chosen character. Have students share their work with the class without naming the character. By picking out the qualities of each collage, ask the class to guess which character the collage represents.
CHARACTER SOUNDTRACK Ask students to create a playlist for either Lincoln or Booth. Students may choose songs they think the characters would like, songs that remind them of the character or songs that speak to the character’s role in the play. Ask students to choose one song from the playlist that they think is a good theme song for their selected character and explain how it reflects the character’s personality or circumstances.