Pacific Conservatory Theatre Student Matinee Program Presents

Transcription

1 Pacific Conservatory Theatre Student Matinee Program Presents The Whipping Man By Matthew Lopez Generously sponsored by Tim Bennett A Study Guide for Educators 1

2 Welcome to PCPA A NOTE TO THE TEACHER Thank you for bringing your students to PCPA. Here are some helpful hints for your visit to the Severson Theatre. The top priority of our staff is to provide an enjoyable experience of live theatre for you and your students. Use the study guide to prepare your students prior to the performance. Each study guide has grade level notations that will help you navigate to material you can use in your curriculum. SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDENT ETIQUETTE Notable behavior is a vital part of theater for youth. Going to the theater is not a casual event. It is a special occasion. If students are prepared properly, it will be a memorable, educational experience for all. 1. Have students enter the theater in a single file. We suggest you have one adult for every ten to fifteen students. Our ushers will assist you with locating your seats. Please wait until the usher has seated your party before any rearranging of seats to avoid injury and confusion. While seated, teachers should space themselves so they are visible, between every ten to fifteen students. Teachers and adults must remain with their group during the entire performance. 2. Once seated in the theater, students may go to the bathroom in small groups and with the teacher s permission. Please chaperone younger students. It s important to know that due to the intimacy of our theater space, should you exit while the show is in progress, you will not be allowed to reenter the theatre until a moment within the performance that would allow you to be reseated with minimal distraction. There are some shows that won t allow you to re-enter until intermission or not at all during the second act. Once the show is over, please have students remain seated until the lead instructor / chaperone dismisses your students. 3. Please remind your students that we do not permit: food, gum, drinks, backpacks or large purses disruptive talking. disorderly and inappropriate behavior (stepping on/over seats, throwing objects, etc.) cameras, radios, cell phones, audio recorders or electronics games. (Adults are asked to put cell phones on silent or vibrate.) In cases of disorderly behavior, groups may be asked to leave the theater without ticket refunds. 2

3 4. Teachers should take time to remind students before attending the show of the following about a live performance: Sometimes we forget when we come into a theatre that we are one of the most important parts of the production. Without an audience there would be no performance. Your contribution of laughter, quiet attention and applause is part of the play. When we watch movies or television we are watching images on a screen, and what we say or do cannot affect them. In the theatre the actors are real people who are present and creating an experience with us at that very moment. They see and hear us and are sensitive to our response. They know how we feel about the play by how we watch and listen. An invisible bond is formed between actors and a good audience, and it enables the actors to do their best for you. A good audience helps make a good performance. 5. Photographs and / or recording of any kind is forbidden in our theatre. However, there is a Photo Opportunity to be found in front of the theatre, with the show billboard on display. Feel free to take as many selfies or group pictures as you d like. The Education and Outreach department of PCPA welcomes you as a partner in the live theatre experience from the moment you take your seats. We hope that your visit will be a highlight of your school year. Matt Koenig and Derrick Lee Weeden 3

4 HOW TO USE THIS STUDY GUIDE The Study Guide is a companion piece designed to explore many ideas depicted in the stage production of The Whipping Man. Although the guide s intent is to enhance the student s theatrical experience, it can also be used as an introduction to the elements of a play, and the production elements involved in the play s presentation. Although many students are familiar with the general storyline, this specific stage adaptation presents a wealth of new questions for this generation to answer. Teachers and group leaders will want to select portions of the guide for their specific usage. Discussion questions are meant to provoke a line of thought about a particular topic. The answers to the discussion questions in many instances will initiate the process of exploration and discovery of varied interpretations by everyone involved. This can be as rewarding as the wonderful experience of sight and sound that The Whipping Man creates on-stage. It is recommended that the play (available at either your local bookstore or for purchase online), be used in conjunction with discussion of the theatrical elements of the production. Antwon D. Mason Jr. and Matt Koenig 4

5 The Whipping Man Creative Team and Cast Director Mark Booher Scenic Designer Abby Hogan Costume Designer Arnold Bueso Lighting Designer Jennifer Z Zornow Sound Designer Elisabeth Weidner The Cast Simon Derrick Weeden* Caleb Matt Koenig John Antwon D. Mason Jr. * Member, Actors Equity Association 5

6 A note from the Director of The Whipping Man Director of The Whipping Man, Mark Booher The incredibly layered story touches on a multitude of themes including race, history, religion and family. PCPA s Artistic Director Mark Booher is drawn to the play s deep humanity. In all the awful, painful, brokenness of it, there are feelings that we humans are bound to one another, even when we don t want to be, even when there are profound realities and highly charged energies that would make our separation understandable. The reality that we are a family in many forms and that we re going to have to reckon with what that implies. I enjoy and respect the historical specificity which is different from historical accuracy of the setting. It is so particular, and there is so much information available to us about this critical moment in American history, but it is not a historical record. The big pictures of history that we know about are full of fascinating anomalistic individual experiences that are often lost to History. It is a play of rich and brutal situational context, but it is a play about the inner man dignity, decency, hate, longing, brutality, honesty, goodness, love, devotion. It stands in the midst of many difficult questions about faith and family, war and slavery and freedom, wrong and forgiveness, body and spirit- and is brave enough not to offer simplistic answers or trite resolutions. 6

7 ELEMENTS OF THE STORY A SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY The play begins on Thursday, April 13, 1865, just five days after the American Civil War has ended. A wounded young Confederate soldier (Caleb DeLeon) has returned home, to find his family home in ruins. Ravaged by the war, it is now an empty shell of what was once a fine estate. Scorched and demolished by fire, all it s riches ransacked by looters. His family has fled to safer territory, but Simon, an elder and faithful former slave of the family s, is staying with the house until the DeLeon family returns. Simon immediately notices the week-old bullet wound festering on Caleb s leg and insists that amputation will be necessary, much to Caleb s fear and disapproval. He refuses to be taken to a hospital, and insists Simon be the one to perform the amputation. Against his better judgment and full of doubt, Simon agrees. As Simon begins to ply Caleb with whiskey and making preparation for the improvised surgery, a hooded figure presents itself in the broken doorway. This is John, another former slave of the DeLeon family and childhood companion of Caleb s. John has taken to looting the abandoned houses around town and upon his return is surprised to find Caleb home. Simon returns with a toolbox and more whiskey. Knowing that the amputation will take more then one man to perform, Simon asks John to help. But John is not as keen to help now that he is a freed man, claiming that the care of the DeLeon family is no longer his concern. With some persuasion from Simon, John agrees to help in the grisly operation. As the scene comes to a close, John holds a panicked and distraught Caleb down as Simon takes a saw to his infected leg. The next morning, as Caleb convalesces, evidence of John s looting is lays scattered about the ruined home. He offers Simon stolen coffee and eggs to put a breakfast together for them. At this time, Simon reveals to John that he is waiting for Caleb s father to return with his wife and daughter, because Mr. DeLeon had promised he d give him money to start a new life if they were emancipated. 7

8 That evening when Caleb wakes up in a great deal of pain, but he comes to terms with the events of the night before. They sup on a meal Simon has prepared, cooking up Caleb s horse that died on his trek home. John informs the other two that it is the Sabbath and that it is almost Passover. As they pray before their meal, Simon and John notice Caleb does not join in prayer. This leads to a heated conversation that informs us, the DeLeon slaves have adopted the Jewish faith of their former owners. Now a freed man, John challenges the idea of Jewish slaveholders by citing the Torah, while Simon remains loyal to the DeLeon s, insisting they were all a family slave and master. John brings the discussion to a close by recounting they day he was taken to the Whipping Man to be disciplined. He reveals to Simon that on that day, Caleb asked to be the one to whip John. As the tension dies down, Caleb and Simon begin to prepare for their improvised Passover seder. As the first act comes to a close, we discover that Caleb in fact on the run for desertion from the army, and that his father did not take Simon s wife and daughter with him into hiding, but instead has sold them. The act concludes with the revelation that Caleb was in love with Simon s daughter, Sarah, and John s announcement that she was sold because she was pregnant with Caleb s child. The second act opens with Caleb reciting one of the many love letters he wrote to Sarah while at war. He expresses his love for her and his longing to return to her safely. As the next scene begins, Caleb awakes up to John reading this same letter aloud. Angered that John has found his private letters, he asks how long he will keep silent about Simon s wife and daughter have been sold. John is a bit duplicitous in his response, that if Simon finds out, he will go off to search for his family. This would leave nobody to tend to Caleb, and he would certainly die or be arrested by the officers when they come looking for him. When Simon returns with the items for the seder he informs Caleb and John that President Lincoln has been assassinated. This effects Caleb deeply and in a fit of grief and guilt apologizes to Simon, who assures him there is nothing to be sorry about. The seder is then celebrated, with Simon leading the proceedings. As the seder progresses, Caleb can no longer hold back the truth and tells Simon of what really happened to his family. 8

9 Simon is infuriated with that John did not tell him about it when it occurred, but John explains he had been brought to the Whipping Man for trying to oppose the sale of Simon s family. Only this time, John go loose from the straps and in a fit of rage, turned the whip on the whipping man, to the point of killing him. He turns to Simon for help, not knowing what to do next. Afraid to leave, and afraid a stay, he is in the same situation as Caleb, who is unable to run but knows his capture is inevitable. As Simon prepares to leave to find his family, he describes Caleb and John as two peas in a pod. Simon rushes out of the house and John and Caleb are left alone in the house, enslaved together by their own deceit with nobody to free them. Matt Koenig, Derrick Lee Weeden and Antwon D. Mason Jr. 9

10 ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT MATTHEW LOPEZ In researching the end of the war and the very eventful month of April 1865, I came across a reference to the fact that Passover began that year on April 10, the day immediately following Lee s surrender at Appomattox. This meant that as Jews across the nation were celebrating this sacred ritual commemorating their ancestors freedom from bondage in Egypt, a new kind of exodus was occurring all around them. The result, I hope, is an inexorable link between the African- American and Jewish imperatives of reminding successive generations about their people s past. There has always been a conversation between Black and Jewish histories in the United States. It is a conversation based, I believe, on a similar history. In The Whipping Man, that similar history becomes a shared one. Matthew Lopez, author of The Whipping Man Matthew Lopez, author of The Whipping Man 10

11 Matthew Lopez is the author of The Whipping Man, one of the most widely produced new American plays of the last several years. The play premiered at Luna Stage in Montclair, NJ and debuted in New York at Manhattan Theatre Club. That production was directed by Doug Hughes and starred Andre Braugher. The sold-out production extended four times, ultimately running 101 performances off-broadway and garnering Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards. Matthew was awarded the John Gassner New Play Award from the New York Outer Critics Circle for the play. Since then, it has been received over 40 productions worldwide. His play Somewhere has been produced at the Old Globe, TheatreWorks in Palo Alto and most recently at Hartford Stage Company, where his play Reverberation will receive its world premiere in His newest play, The Legend of Georgia McBride, premiered recently at the Denver Theatre Center for the Performing Arts. His play The Sentinels premiered in London at Headlong Theatre Company in Matthew currently holds new play commissions from Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Hartford Stage, and South Coast Rep. Matthew was a staff writer on HBO s The Newsroom and is currently adapting Javier Marias trilogy Your Face Tomorrow for the screen. 11

12 Excerpts from an interview with Matthew Lopez As a writer, Lopez says, I ve always been fascinated by moments in history when the history ends the quiet after the storm of those big, grand, calamity moments. I m interested in the period of adjustment, of psychological shift, when the real work begins. The next morning, you wake up and the world is different. How do you take those first steps for Part Two of your life? Slavery always fascinated me, the playwright continues. It was America s Original Sin, filled with hypocrisies and moral twisting to excuse the practice. I wanted to explore that in my work. Then, it was a happy accident, a Eureka! moment, when I discovered that Lee surrendered just a few days before Passover. I couldn t believe that no one had thought to write about and dramatize that. I took all those elements and put them into this play. Lopez, a 33- year- old Brooklyn resident grew up in the Florida Panhandle, what he calls the real South. His Puerto Rican father moved to the States in early childhood and later served in the U.S. Air Force. Lopez s mother, a native of Queens, came from a Polish/ Russian Orthodox background. Young Matthew was baptized as a Lutheran and raised Episcopalian. He s currently at work on a play about a Lutheran minister who questions his faith in God. It has made me question my own beliefs, Lopez says. During his adolescence, his parents, both schoolteachers, were amateur historians and Civil War reenactors. The whole family became Civil War buffs. Lopez got the inspiration for The Whipping Man when he was an acting student in a playwriting class at the University of South Florida. From the beginning, I wanted to have a Seder in the play, he says. I got a Haggadah, and I found that the parallels between that story and the story of African Americans were unending. It could just as well have been written by former slaves, coming out of the South. My goal was to turn a common history into a shared history. Throughout his multi- year writing process, Lopez has had input from Jews, consulting with scholars, rabbis and Jewish theater- makers. He did both historical research and spiritual research. I had known a little about Passover. My uncle s wife is Jewish. When I wrote the play, I hadn t been to a Seder. But now, I ve been to several. Excerpt from an interview Slavery and Freedom by Pat Launer (May 2010) 12

13 SCENIC DESIGN Scenic designer Abby Hogan was faced with the challenge of creating a singular unit set that depicts the remaining ruins of a once thriving and opulent plantation home in the American south, of the 1800 s. Each scene has its unique challenges. The play takes place over the course of a few days, and time changes from day light hours through late evening. There is also the challenge of filling the gutted home with furnishings that indicate the former slave, John, has been rummaging surrounding homes to fill the empty shell of the DeLeon estate. Ms. Hogan s design is a cut away view of a home devastated by bombing and fire, in which our three characters reunite after a devastating war. The Scale Model is the final design approved by the director, which will be built for our production. Set design by Abby Hogan. 13

14 These are front elevations that will help define the finished look of the home interior. Take note of the various design options that effect the doors and windows. The choice of wall treatment is also explored. These partial wall elevations are also how scenic painters develop the intricate details when painting the finished set pieces. Design by Abby Hogan. 14

15 COSTUME DESIGN Costume designer Arnold Bueso was faced with the challenge of costuming a cast of three actors in the fashion of the American South of One of which as a Confederate Soldier and two that are former slaves of the DeLeon plantation. Mr. Bueso met the challenge with a series of costume designs and renderings that help the director and cast understand the look and it s significance to the play and character. Costume rendering for Simon (actor Derrick Lee Weeden) in The Whipping Man. Design by Arnold Bueso 15

16 Costume rendering for John (actor Antwon D. Mason Jr.) in The Whipping Man. Design by Arnold Bueso Costume rendering for Caleb (actor Matt Koenig) in The Whipping Man. Design by Arnold Bueso 16

17 The Civil War Timeline Note casualties listed generally include those killed, wounded, captured, and missing November 6: Lincoln elected December 1860-May 1861: Eleven Southern states secede and form the Confederate States of America, appointing Jefferson Davis president on February 4, March 4: President Abraham Lincoln inaugurated April 12-14: Confederates take Fort Sumter and begin the Civil War July 21: First Battle of Bull Run, Virginia; Confederate victory; nearly 5,000 casualties altogether. April 6-7: Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee; Union victory, nearly 24,000 casualties altogether. April 18-28: Union forces take Fort Jackson, Fort St. Philip, and New Orleans. May 31-June 1: Battle of Seven Pines, Virginia; inconclusive, nearly 12,000 dead. April-July: Numerous other battles in the Richmond area, including Burnt Chimneys, Williamsburg, Front Royal; Seven Days Battles around Richmond (June 25-July 1); Mechanicsville, Gaines s Mill, Malvern Hill. August 28-30: Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), Virginia; September 12-15: Battle of Harpers Ferry, (West) Virginia; September 17: Battle of Antietam, Maryland; 10,000 Confederate soldiers and 12,000 Federal soldiers left dead on the bloodiest day of the war. Lee withdraws from Maryland on Sept , but the battle is indecisive. December 13: Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia; January 1: Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect (announced Sep. 22). May 1-4, 1863: Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia; Confederate victory. Stonewall Jackson shot by his own men (dies of pneumonia on May 10). July 1-3, 1863: Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Lee retreats to Virginia after a Confederate defeat. About 50,000 casualties altogether. November 19, 1863: Dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, at which President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address. September 19-20, 1863: Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia; Union army retreats to Chattanooga while Confederate forces put that city under siege. Altogether, over 30,000 casualties. November 23-25, 1863: Battle of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Union victory; pivotal battle that made the 1864 Atlanta campaign possible by opening the gateway to the Deep South. March 9, 1864: Grant promoted to lieutenant general. June 9, 1864-March 25, 1865: Richmond-Petersburg campaign, in which Grant s troops constructed trenches from Richmond to Petersburg in an attempt to cut off supply lines and put the cities under siege. July 30, 1864: Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, Virginia; March 3, 1865: Freedman s Bureau formed. April 8-9, 1865: Battle of Appomattox Court House, Virginia; surrenders. December 18, 1865: Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery. 17

18 President Lincoln s Assassination Currier and Ives depiction of Lincoln s assassination Left to right; Major Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary Todd Lincoln, Pres. Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated while watching a production of Our American Cousin at the Ford s Theatre in Washington, D. C. This was the first assassination of an American president. This happened to be during Passover and was also on Good Friday (the Friday before Easter in the Christian religions). He was shot by a well known actor, John Wilkes Booth. Booth s assassination was the only successful part of a conspiracy aimed at impelling the remaining confederate soldiers to take up arms despite Robert E. Lee s surrender on April 9th. The plot included plans to simultaneously assassinate the Secretary of State, William H. Seward, and the vice-president, Andrew Johnson, but Seward was merely wounded and Johnson s would-be assassin abandoned the plan. After sneaking into the Presidential box, Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head, right behind the left ear. Major Henry Rathbone, who was attending the play with the president and his wife, attempted to prevent Booth from escaping and suffered two stab wounds at his hands. Booth jumped from the box to the stage, breaking his leg, and shouted, Sic semper tyrannis! which is Latin for Thus always to tyrants! The president survived until the next morning, but his wound was certainly mortal. He died around 7:20 am on April 15th. Booth and one of his conspirators fled to Maryland. They remained in hiding at a local farm until the Union soldiers on a manhunt for the presidential assassin arrived. They surrounded the barn in which Booth and his cohort were hiding. When Booth refused to come out, the soldiers set fire to barn. Booth scrambled out of the barn. A soldier named Boston Corbett was behind Booth and shot him in the back of the neck, severing his spinal cord. He died two hours later 18

19 Jews in the Confederacy Although we rarely hear this and it certainly isn t in most of our history books, the largest ethnic group to serve the Confederacy was made up of first-, second- and third-generation Jewish lads. Old Jewish families had settled in the South generations before the war. Jews had lived in Charleston, S.C. since By 1800, the largest Jewish community in America lived in Charleston, where America s oldest synagogue - K.K. Beth Elohim - was founded. By 1861, a third of all the Jews in America lived in Louisiana. In the end, more than 10,000 people of Jewish faith fought for the Confederacy. As Rabbi Korn of Charleston related, Nowhere else in America certainly not in the Antebellum North - had Jews been accorded such an opportunity to be complete equals as in the old South. For example, General Robert E. Lee allowed his Jewish soldiers to observe all holy days, while Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman issued anti-jewish orders. Many Southern Jews became world-renowned during this period. Moses Jacob Ezekiel from Richmond fought at New Market with his fellow cadets from the Virginia Military Institute and became a noted sculptor. His mother, Catherine Ezekiel, said she would not tolerate a son who declined to fight for the Confederacy. Some of the more notable among the officer corps also included Abraham Myers, a West Point graduate and a classmate of Lee s in the class of Myers served as quartermaster general and, before the war, fought the Indians in Florida. The city of Fort Myers was named after him. Abraham Myers wrote in his memoirs, We were not fighting for the perpetuation of slavery, but for the principle of States Rights and Free Trade, and in defense of our homes which were being ruthlessly invaded. The Hebrew Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia has an assigned plot known as the Soldier s Section. It contains the graves of 30 Jewish Confederate soldiers who died in or near Richmond. It is the only Jewish military cemetery outside of the State of Israel. 19

20 Passover (or Pesach): Ritual and Tradition in The Whipping Man What is Passover? Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which is in spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and is celebrated for seven or eight days. It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays. Traditionally, families gather for dinner on the first night of Passover, a meal which is called a seder. What Happens during a Seder? The story of the Exodus from Egypt is retold during this meal using a special text called the Haggadah. Seder means order, and the ritual is, indeed, quite structured. The dinner consists of 15 steps, each with important significance for the commemoration of the end of the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt. Some of the steps featured in The Whipping Man include: - The eating of Karpas (parsley or celery) which are dipped in salt water. - The salt water symbolizes the tears shed by Jews while enslaved in Egypt. - The eating of Matzo (unleavened bread). We see Simon substitute military issued hardtack for matzo in their seder ceremony in The Whipping Man. - The eating of Maror (bitter herbs) - like horseradish or endive. 20

21 Discussion Questions 1) What are some similarities and differences between the enslavement of Jews and the enslavement of Africans in America? 2) What are some of the ironic implications of Jewish slaveholders? 3) What is gained from the irony inherent in the simultaneity of the emancipation of American slaves and the celebration of Passover between former slaves and their owner? How does this force us, as an audience, to reflect differently on these events? 4) How does linking African American history and Jewish history affect the relationships within the play? 5) How do you think the play wants us to feel about Jewish slaveholders? About slavery in general? 6) Why might a play like The Whipping Man be important and relevant for contemporary society? What current issues in politics, ethics, and international relations are paralleled or echoed by events and themes in The Whipping Man? On the other hand, how is this play ill-suited for the present moment? Derrick Lee Weeden and Antwon D. Mason Jr. 21

22 Vocabulary Artillery shells projectile weapons. Gangrene tissue necrosis (cell death) caused by infection, or insufficient blood circulation. The dead tissue would be removed by amputation. Now, antibiotics are commonly used to cure it. Spindle a rounded rod tapered toward each end, suggestive of a spindle used in spinning thread. Ingratiating establishing (oneself) in the favor or good graces of others. Shabbat Shalom May you have peace on your day of rest Pesach the Hebrew word for Passover, the Jewish festival commemorating the Exodus of the Jewish people out of slavery in ancient Egypt. It lasts for seven or eight days. Leviticus the third book (out of five) of the Torah, the Jewish scriptures. Bondman/bondmaid a male/female slave. Bullwhip a rawhide whip with a short handle and long, plaited lash. Seder a ritual feast that marks the beginning of Passover. Haggadah a Jewish text written between CE that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder and is meant to be read during the meal. Charoset a sweet paste representing the mortar which the Jewish slaves used to cement bricks. It s made from fruits and nuts, often walnuts and apples. Matzah unleavened bread eaten during Passover, when leavened bread is forbidden. Hardtack a simple cracker made from flour, water given as food to Civil War soldiers. Unleavened bread that contains no leavening agent, such as yeast, and much more dense. Reveille a signal sounded early in the morning to awake military personnel for duty. Brio liveliness; vivacity. Minyan the number of persons required by Jewish law to be present to conduct a communal religious service, traditionally a minimum of 10 Jewish males over 13 years of age. Frederick Douglass an escaped slave who became a leader in the abolitionist movement, and published three autobiographies (1845, 1855, and 1881). Caleb Legree a reference to Simon Legree, a cruel, greedy slave owner depicted in the novel Uncle Tom s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852). Appomattox refers to the location where the major Eastern campaign of the Civil War ended, when Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9,

23 FOOD TALK The holiday of Passover has been celebrated annually by Jewish families for thousands of years. The Passover seder is a special ceremony performed before the festive meal. The purpose of the seder is to teach Jewish children the story of the Israelites Exodus from Egypt. Certain prayers, certain blessings, certain questions and answers are always spoken at the Passover seder. Each of the foods arranged on the seder plate are symbolic and help the parents tell the story of how God rescue his people from slavery and brought them into the Promised Land. Mazzot When the Israelites fled Egypt they left in such a hurry that there was no time to allow the bread to rise so the bread they ate was a flat, hard bread (kind of like a cracker). Today this kind of bread is called mazzot. Jewish families eat only mazzot during the seder ceremony. Shankbone The shankbone on the seder plate represents the sacrificial lamb which can no longer be offered at the Temple. The shankbone or forearm of the animal is used because it gives the opportunity to tell the story of how God s outstretched arm brought the Israelites out of Egypt. Roasted Egg The roundness of the egg symbolizes the life cycle. It was a food traditionally eaten by mourners after returning from a funeral. On the seder plate the egg is a symbol of mourning for the destruction of the Temple. However, the egg can also symbolize the Jewish people themselves. Because the more an egg is cooked the harder it becomes, it is a reminder that the persecution the Jews endured made them a strong people. Bitter Herbs The bitter herbs on the seder plate commemorate the condition of the Israelites in Egypt. The words from the Jewish Mishnah read: Because the Egyptians made the lives of our forefathers bitter in Egypt, as it is said: And they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and bricks, and in all kinds of work in the field; in all their work they made them serve with rigor. Charoset or Haroset A paste made from fruit, spices, wine and mazzah meal. The charoset is the only sweet food on the seder plate. The mixture is supposed to resemble the color of clay. It represents the mortar that the Jews used to make bricks in Egypt. Karpas Vegetables such as potatoes, celery or parsley may be used for this part of the seder. The vegetable is dipped in salt water and then eaten to remind the participants of the tears of slavery. 23

24 CIVIL WAR RECIPE: HARDTACK (1861) Hardtack. The Ancient Romans had them. Nelson s troops kept barrels of them in their naval vessels. And these cracker-like squares were a staple ration for American soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. Though they re called different things in different cultures, this basic recipe has been a staple for militaries around the world for centuries. Made of flour and water, and sometimes a bit of salt or sugar, they are sturdy, filling and will last a long time if kept dry. Indeed, some soldiers kept a few as souvenirs after the war, and they are commonly on display in Civil War museums over 150 years later. A naval blockade kept wheat imports from reaching Confederate states, and so much of the hardtack rationed to soldiers earlier in the war was leftover from the Mexican-American War ( ). Meanwhile, government bakeries in the north were supplying hardtacks to Union troops, who were rationed nine to ten each, per day. Eating one will make it difficult to imagine how any human being could consume that many hardtacks each day. The dryness sucks out any moisture from your mouth. The heavy wafer in your hand feels just as heavy in the stomach. They are so dense, soldiers used to use them as small plates. And, of course, the flavor is incredibly uninteresting you re basically just eating flour. And that, of course, is the point of making them. Where other food blogs often just post old recipes, I ve always insisted on making whatever I post firmly believing that much about what you can learn about the history of the food comes from the actual making and eating of it. 24

25 Thanks to John Billings memoir of his life as a Union soldier, Hardtack and Coffee (1887), we have a very accurate description of what Civil War hardtack rations were like: What was hardtack? It was a plain flour-and-water biscuit. Two which I have in my possession as mementos measure three and one-eighth by two and seven-eighths inches, and are nearly half an inch thick. Although these biscuits were furnished to organizations by weight, they were dealt out to the men by number, nine constituting a ration in some regiments, and ten in others; but there were usually enough for those who wanted more, as some men would not draw them. While hardtack was nutritious, yet a hungry man could eat his ten in a short time and still be hungry. When they were poor and fit objects for the soldiers wrath, it was due to one of three conditions: first, they may have been so hard that they could not be bitten; it then required a very strong blow of the fist to break them; the second condition was when they were moldy or wet, as sometimes happened, and should not have been given to the soldiers: the third condition was when from storage they had become infested with maggots. 25

26 2 cups flour 1/2 tablespoon salt (optional) 1/2 to 3/4 cup water Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Combine flour with salt in a mixing bowl. Add water and mix with hands until the dough comes together. Roll out on a table to about 1/3 inch thickness. Use a knife to cut 3 3 squares from the dough. Place on baking sheet, and use a dowel (see note above) to make 16 evenly-spaced holes in each square. Bake for at least four hours, turning over once half-way through baking. Cool on a rack in a dry room. Mix until dough comes together Roll out dough to 1/3 inch thickness Cut into squares Poke holes in square Bake in oven Remove to cooling rack Hardtack 26

27 SLAVE WHIPPING AS A BUSINESS Slavery, is defined and referred to as a business practice in which individuals are owned by others, who control the general conditions of their lives, including where they live, what they eat, their work, daily duties etc. Slavery has been in existence throughout history, spreading through almost every culture, nationality and religion, from ancient times to the present day. The practice of the slave trade is associated with the most cruel and dehumanizing treatments. Since the enslaved people are considered nothing less then properties in the custody of their owner, they ware treated in the most bizarre manners that has no human consideration attached. Controlling the behavior of slaves was a priority in the slave trade business. In order to secure a large profit at a public sale, the buyer would be assured the slave had been broken or stripped of independent will. The main method used to break or control the behavior of slaves was to have them whipped. The whippings and beatings were mostly horrific and as bad as you could imagine. The number of lashes depended on the seriousness of the offence. It was common practice for slaves to be whipped daily; whippings and other torture acts were a form of mind and body control. A way to re- assert the dominance of their masters and also demoralize the slaves, keeping them subservient and bent on their labor. No condition made an exception for any slave, the young, old, male, female, even pregnant women were lashed whenever occasion called for it. In the case of pregnancy, a hole might be dug for the pregnant woman to rest her belly while being whipped. Whipping grew so common during slavery that it became a business, whereby there were commercial and professional whipping men to whom offending slaves were sent to receive as many strokes as instructed by the owner. The Whipping business was mostly done within the slavers market and slave traders. Slave owners that did not possess the constitution to discipline their own slaves, mostly women and refined gentlemen, would send their slave to the yard with a note explaining the offence and discipline requested. For this service the owner was charged a certain sum for each slave, and the earnings of the traders from this source formed a very large part of the profits of his business. 27

28 PRESHOW DISCUSSIONS FREEDOM - Slavery and freedom are major themes of The Whipping Man. What does freedom mean to you? What would it be like if your freedom was taken away? What would you be willing to do to restore your freedom? RELIGION - It was common for slave owners to teach religion to their slaves in the 1800s. In The Whipping Man, Judaism is practiced by everyone in the DeLeon household. How do you think having a shared religion affected the relationships between slave owner and slave? TRADITION - The characters in The Whipping Man honor the Passover Holiday by organizing a Seder, which serves as a symbolic Celebration of freedom. How do you celebrate freedom in your life? POSTSHOW DISCUSSIONS DESIGN - What did you think of the over all design of the show? Consider each element; set, costumes, lighting, sound, Props. How did they inform your understanding of the play? What themes did the design help suggest or establish? CHOICES - At the end of the play each character must choose what to do with their new sense of freedom. What kinds of choices do you think each man will make? Why? Who might be the best equipped to survive? LIES - Why did both John and Caleb resort to lying to the other characters? Was their lying justified? Why or why not? How would you behave in their set of circumstances? POST SHOW ACTIVIES NARRATIVE Write a journal entry from the perspective of a recently freed slave. What does freedom mean to you? What do you wish to do with your freedom? What are your fears? What are your dreams? INFORMATIVE Research the Passover Seder and explain the significance behind the language, the food and each step of this annual Jewish celebration. ARGUMENTATIVE Review and consider the challenges recently freed slaves would Have encountered after the Civil War. Select one challenge and explain why you think this challenge would be the largest, most substantial obstacle facing recently freed slaves. Offer evidence and examples to support why your argument is the strongest. 28