Final Production: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters and Maggie's Handsome Sons
Song Lyrics for Maggie's Handsome Sons
Max's SongIf Ruby picks you, I’ll be happy
Because you are my only brother If Ruby picks you, I’ll be happy Because their will always be another. If Ruby picks you, I’ll be happy Because you are the coolest in the school If Ruby picks you, I’ll be happy Because you will always rule If Ruby picks you, I’ll be happy Because you are my friend too! If Ruby picks you, I’ll be happy Because I Love You |
Manny’s Song
Ruby will pick me And I’m cool and I’m cool Ruby will pick me And Max will be the fool. Ruby will pick me And he will start to cry Ruby will pick me And Max will say but Why Ruby will pick me And Max may never rest Ruby will pick me And I’m the very best! Ruby will pick me And Max will lose his breath Ruby will pick me And she will always love me until death |
Max Our Friend
|
Session Seven: How can costume, prop, and set design help students identify the message of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters?
Students mimed everyday activities; created a backdrop, design costumes, and source props for the pantomime from Hansel and Gretel; incorporated design elements into their performance of the pantomime from Hansel and Gretel, and compared their design choices to the Met’s; worked in center groups to create a backdrop, costumes, and props for their class opera; and shared the design elements they’ve created with one another.
Session Six: How can exploring staging and movement help students identify the message of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters?
Students created a character walk for the character they're playing in the class opera; students will watched and analyzed examples of staged arias and then staged Nyasha and Manyara's arias; students will watched and analyzed an example of a staged ensemble number and then staged the Towering Trees' ensemble number.
|
|
|
Song Lyrics for Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters
I'll Finally Be Queen
|
If You Become Queen
|
Nyasha, Nyasha
|
Session Five: How can composing music for the characters in
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters help students identify the story’s message?
Students created and performed a soundscape to evoke the setting of the forest from Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters; students composed music as a whole group for the Towering Trees’ song from Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters; students analyzed the music of Pamina (the heroine) and The Queen of the Night (the evil mother) from The Magic Flute; students composed music in small groups for Nyasha and Manyara’s songs from Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.
Soundscape
Towering Trees
Nyasha and Manyara Songs
|
|
|
Session Four: How can writing libretto/lyrics for the characters in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters help students identify the story’s message?
Students shared their work-in-progress with Anna and identified key lines of dialogue for the characters Manyara and Nyasha; students analyzed a libretto sample using movement and identified characteristics of a libretto (lines, economy of words, descriptive language, imagery, expressiveness); as a class, students wrote libretto/lyrics for the Towering Trees to perform in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters; in small groups, students wrote libretto/lyrics for either Nyasha or Manyara to perform in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters; students shared and reflected on their libretti or libretti-in-progress.
Libretto Writing
Towering Trees
|
Manyara's Song: "I'll Finally Be Queen"
|
Nyasha's Song: "If You Become Queen"
|
|
|
Libretto Share
|
|
|
Classwork: How can we use Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters message to write an adaptive play?
In class, we thought what a wonderful idea it would be to use what we learned from Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters to write an adaptive play. Of course, making the story more modern and relevant to our lives, as well as keeping the theme of kindness. In class, we thought of different scenarios or topics to write about, deciding on the idea of a young girl choosing a boy to take to the school dance. Each student went home to write his/her version of the story. Picking and choosing, characters, scenes, and lines from the twenty six stories, I compiled all the wonderful ideas into one story called Maggie's Handsome Sons (Thanks Anna for the brilliant idea). After that, we followed Anna's objectives and process in each of her sessions to develop our characters, turning points, and theme.
The Adaptive Story: Maggie's Beautiful Sons
Once upon a time deep inside the small town of Jackson Heights there lived two twin brothers Max and Manny. The year was 2015 and both boys attended the fourth grade at the Renaissance Charter School. As a reward for winning the SouperBowl, a dance was held for the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. It was two days until the special dance and Ruby Smith,the prettiest girl in the fourth grade class, did not have a friend to take to the dance. She was excited to go. But she didn’t know with who?
Max and Manny both wanted to go with Ruby. The boys were arguing over who would bring Ruby to the dance. Manny thought he would be the better choice because he was more handsome and tougher, “Ruby will pick me; UNDERSTAND, I AM GOING WITH HER!” bragged Manny. Manny and Max’s mother Maggie heard them bickering in kitchen. “Oh my handsome sons, either of you would be so lucky to go to the dance with Ruby, let her choose who she wants to go with.”
The next day in school. Max saw Ruby hanging out by her locker. He thought it was the perfect time to see if she would want to accompany him to the dance. “Hey Ruby…umm..uh… would you want… “ Before Max could get his question out, Manny interrupts and demanded that she go with me. Ruby felt surprised, and a bit bombarded. She was friends with both of them and was too nice to hurt either of their feelings. She always thought Manny was the cuter one, but Max always helped her with homework. It was a tough decision. “I’ll think about it and let you know at the park, after school.”
Manny was aggravated that Ruby had to think about it. On his way to Math class, Manny passes a nerd in the hallway, pushes him to the side “Get out of the way weasel, you are making me late!” The nerds books go flying and Manny snatches him and shoves him into the locker. Max quickly runs to the locker to rescue the nerd, apologizes for his brother’s actions, and helped him organize his books. Ruby was happy, when she noticed Max helping the nerd.
After lunch, Ms. Matisha, the new science teacher was walking down the hallway with her lesson plans, late for class. Manny slammed the door to the stairwell in her face, insulted her with a comment about her glasses, and tore up the stairs before she could see how late he was to class. He bolted past the Pre- K class finishing up recess in the play area. He stuck out his tongue at the little kids playing as he bolted through the recess area, ruining a game the young Renaissance students were playing.
Max was walking and reading a biography about “Darnell The Basketball Star” when he noticed Ms. Matisha struggling to get the door open due to her handful of stacked papers. Oh, Ms. Matisha, I will get that!” As she thanked him, they struck up a nice conversation. Max noticed her glasses and told her how much he loved them. Ruby happened to be behind them in the stairwell, and overheard Ms. Matisha and Max’s conversation. She clenched her books with a smile as she continued to listen.
Walking past the recess area, Ricky a small preschooler notices Max. “Can you play with us Max? Max looks over to Ms Mastisha, “Do you mind if I am late to class? Ricky is a really great friend of mine. He lives in my building.” Max questions. Ms. Matisha thought it was so sweet and she didn’t have a problem. Ms. Matisha was not the only one who thought Max was so kind.
“Of course I will play!” Ricky told Max how nervous he was about his ABC test. They practiced a bit while throwing the ball back and forth. A few minutes later, recess was over for the Pre- K. “I wish you luck on your ABC test. You’ll be great!” Max whispered into Ricky’s ear as he walked him back into his class.
At that moment, Ruby knew who she wanted to take to the dance. She saw how kind, fair, patient and sweet Max was and how rude and mean Manny was. Ruby met both boys by the Mural at Traver’s Park to make the big announcement after school. “ I pick Max to come to the dance with me, I realized it’s not the outside that matters but the inside. You are beautiful Max. Ruby hinted towards Manny to be nicer to people. “Being tough and more handsome doesn’t make you better.”
At the dance, Max was very shy. “Stop staring at the ceiling and lets have some fun!” Ruby demanded. Max and Ruby danced the night away. They laughed a lot and enjoyed one another’s company.
Max and Manny both wanted to go with Ruby. The boys were arguing over who would bring Ruby to the dance. Manny thought he would be the better choice because he was more handsome and tougher, “Ruby will pick me; UNDERSTAND, I AM GOING WITH HER!” bragged Manny. Manny and Max’s mother Maggie heard them bickering in kitchen. “Oh my handsome sons, either of you would be so lucky to go to the dance with Ruby, let her choose who she wants to go with.”
The next day in school. Max saw Ruby hanging out by her locker. He thought it was the perfect time to see if she would want to accompany him to the dance. “Hey Ruby…umm..uh… would you want… “ Before Max could get his question out, Manny interrupts and demanded that she go with me. Ruby felt surprised, and a bit bombarded. She was friends with both of them and was too nice to hurt either of their feelings. She always thought Manny was the cuter one, but Max always helped her with homework. It was a tough decision. “I’ll think about it and let you know at the park, after school.”
Manny was aggravated that Ruby had to think about it. On his way to Math class, Manny passes a nerd in the hallway, pushes him to the side “Get out of the way weasel, you are making me late!” The nerds books go flying and Manny snatches him and shoves him into the locker. Max quickly runs to the locker to rescue the nerd, apologizes for his brother’s actions, and helped him organize his books. Ruby was happy, when she noticed Max helping the nerd.
After lunch, Ms. Matisha, the new science teacher was walking down the hallway with her lesson plans, late for class. Manny slammed the door to the stairwell in her face, insulted her with a comment about her glasses, and tore up the stairs before she could see how late he was to class. He bolted past the Pre- K class finishing up recess in the play area. He stuck out his tongue at the little kids playing as he bolted through the recess area, ruining a game the young Renaissance students were playing.
Max was walking and reading a biography about “Darnell The Basketball Star” when he noticed Ms. Matisha struggling to get the door open due to her handful of stacked papers. Oh, Ms. Matisha, I will get that!” As she thanked him, they struck up a nice conversation. Max noticed her glasses and told her how much he loved them. Ruby happened to be behind them in the stairwell, and overheard Ms. Matisha and Max’s conversation. She clenched her books with a smile as she continued to listen.
Walking past the recess area, Ricky a small preschooler notices Max. “Can you play with us Max? Max looks over to Ms Mastisha, “Do you mind if I am late to class? Ricky is a really great friend of mine. He lives in my building.” Max questions. Ms. Matisha thought it was so sweet and she didn’t have a problem. Ms. Matisha was not the only one who thought Max was so kind.
“Of course I will play!” Ricky told Max how nervous he was about his ABC test. They practiced a bit while throwing the ball back and forth. A few minutes later, recess was over for the Pre- K. “I wish you luck on your ABC test. You’ll be great!” Max whispered into Ricky’s ear as he walked him back into his class.
At that moment, Ruby knew who she wanted to take to the dance. She saw how kind, fair, patient and sweet Max was and how rude and mean Manny was. Ruby met both boys by the Mural at Traver’s Park to make the big announcement after school. “ I pick Max to come to the dance with me, I realized it’s not the outside that matters but the inside. You are beautiful Max. Ruby hinted towards Manny to be nicer to people. “Being tough and more handsome doesn’t make you better.”
At the dance, Max was very shy. “Stop staring at the ceiling and lets have some fun!” Ruby demanded. Max and Ruby danced the night away. They laughed a lot and enjoyed one another’s company.
Statues
|
|
|
|
Tableau
Max's Fantasy
|
Manny's Fantasy
|
Session Three: How can writing recitative for the characters in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters help students identify the story’s message?
In our third session, students improvised words through association, while simultaneously building their listening skills; understood the meaning of “recitative” and recognized its key elements; sequenced multiple turning points from a 3-act adaptation of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters and expressed what characters might be thinking or saying in each of these turning points; used their voices to animate characters from Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters; performed Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters as a silent play; wrote recitative for each scene of their play; incorporated lines of recitative into the staging of their play; and discussed strategies for eliminating the narrator role in their adaptation of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.
In our third session, students improvised words through association, while simultaneously building their listening skills; understood the meaning of “recitative” and recognized its key elements; sequenced multiple turning points from a 3-act adaptation of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters and expressed what characters might be thinking or saying in each of these turning points; used their voices to animate characters from Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters; performed Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters as a silent play; wrote recitative for each scene of their play; incorporated lines of recitative into the staging of their play; and discussed strategies for eliminating the narrator role in their adaptation of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.
Story Board and Turning Points
|
|
Silent Plays- Turning Points
Recitative Writing
|
|
|
Session Two: How can exploring narrative turning points in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters help students identify the story’s message?
In our second session with Anna, students expressed the qualities of different characters using physical gesture; learned about the elements of tableau (proximity, focus, levels, facial expression, physical posture); applied the elements of tableau to a scene from Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters; learned about the elements of a silent play (story sequence, entrances/exits, cues); and created silent plays for each of the scenes from Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.
The Warm Up- Physical Gestures
Tableau
|
|
|
|
Silent Plays- Humpty Dumpty Style
Before |
Then |
|
|
|
Silent Plays- Mufaro Style
|
|
|
Creative Movement with Rebekah: Students explored characters in Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters through dance.
Session One: How can exploring the characters in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters help students identify the story’s message?
In our first session with Anna, students introduced themselves using gestures; mimed a selfless deed; created statues of the characters Manyara and Nyasha (or their male counterparts, Manyaro and Nyasho); created additive tableaux to illustrate how Manyara and Nyasha might imagine their futures as Queen; wrote monologues for the characters of Manyara and Nyasha, in which they describe how they imagine their futures as Queen; and viewed examples of female protagonists and antagonists in opera. Nonetheless, a busy first session, but lots of fun, productive, and successful!
Selfless Deeds
|
|
|
Statues
|
|
|
|
Tableau
Nyasha As Queen
|
Manyara As Queen
|
Monologues
|
|
|
|
|