FY18_SGAirplay

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School

University of Massachusetts, Amherst *

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Course

100

Subject

Arts Humanities

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

pdf

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1 Air Play Tuesday, March 20, 2018 at 10 a.m. Fine Arts Center Concert Hall The University of Massachusetts Fine Arts Center Global Arts Performances for Schools Program is underwritten in part by PeoplesBank, A passion for what is possible. Study Guides for Teachers are also available on our website at www.fineartscenter.com - under On Stage select Global Arts—Performances for Schools, then select Resource Room.

2 Welcome Information for Teachers and Parents Our goal is to offer high quality performances for young people in a safe and comfortable setting. Please help us by following the below guidelines. Please arrive early. Arrive at the theatre 30 minutes prior to the noted start time. Allow for travel time, parking, being seated and bathroom visits. It is important that we begin our performances on time so that all schools can meet their lunch and dismissal times. Be sure to check the location of the performance when making your bus reservations. Performances take place in the Fine Arts Center Concert Hall or Bowker Auditorium in Stockbridge Hall. Please see the map at the end of this guide for driving and drop-off instructions. Upon arrival your group will be greeted by an usher either at your bus or in the lobby. We do not issue individual tickets for performances. Your usher will direct your group to their reserved seats. Both theaters are accessible for Mobility Impaired members. An infrared listening system is available in both theaters. Access parking is available adjacent to the theaters. An Access permit should be clearly visible in the parked vehicle. To better meet your needs, please inform us of any special seating requirements one month prior to the performance by calling 413-545-2116. For the comfort of all our seated patrons, we request that backpacks, lunches and other gear be left on the bus. Also, please remove all hats when seated in the theater. Food, drinks other than water, smoking, candy and gum are all not allowed in the theater. The use of cell phones, portable music players, cameras or any other recording device, including non-flash photography and cell phone cameras, is strictly prohibited. PLEASE BE SURE TO TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES. Any teasing, disruptive and rude behavior by students towards each other or to others seated close-by during a performance is not acceptable. Teachers and chaperones will be held responsible for any such incident reported to the Fine Arts Center staff. All complaints received will be forwarded to the schools involved. Repeated offences from the same school/s may result in cancellation of future reservations for shows.

3 Please review the following information with your students. We expect everyone to be a good audience member. Good audience members...  Are good listeners  Keep their hands and feet to themselves  Do not talk or whisper during the performance  Do not eat gum, candy, food or drink in the theater  Turn off all cell phones and do not use portable music players, cameras or any other recording devices  Stay in their seats during the performance  Do not disturb their neighbors or other schools in attendance “Theatre is not theatre without an audience.” Live theatre differs from watching television or movies. Remember that performers can see and hear you. As an audience member you are a vital contributor to the performance experience that you and those around you will have. How you behave and how you react to the show will affect the artists’ performances. That is why each performance is a unique experience, it will never be repeated exactly the same. Talking to your neighbor, sending text messages, and other similar behaviors are distracting to the rest of the audience and to the artists. Please be respectful of the artists on stage performing for you by listening quietly. Of course, it is appropriate to react to what you are seeing – some things may make you laugh, gasp out loud, or you may be asked to respond by answering questions from the performers, singing along or clapping. Most of all, it is important to be present “in the moment” by being attentive and enjoy the performance. And of course – show your enthusiastic appreciation with applause at the end! Curriculum Frameworks This performance and guide provide opportunities for your students to explore a variety of topics. For your convenience we’ve listed applicable Massachusetts learning standards. This list is by no means exhaustive. Please use this list as a guide to assist with creating lesson plans. Curriculum Connections: Technical Theater, Pantomime, Earth & Space Science, Weather, Physical Sciences, Equilibrium and Kinetics, Motion and Forces Theater Etiquette Arts Connections 6. Purposes & Meanings in the Arts. Connections 7. Roles of Artists in Communities. Connections 8. Concepts of Style, Stylistic Influence, and Stylistic Change. Connections 9 . Inventions, Technologies and the Arts Connections 10. Interdisciplinary Connections

4 Air Play has no words. It’s part comedy, part sculpture, part circus, part theater. We think of it as a visual poem, a world that lets you make your own ideas inside of large “air sculptures” of flying fabric, umbrellas, and balloons. Though it looks simple, Air Play is a very detailed and takes a lot more work than what you just see on stage! Every theater has unique invisible wind currents, so Air Play has invented fan systems to control the sculptures. For now, check out some fun backstage facts: • Air Play was created by two clowns, Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone, and one sculptor , Daniel Wurtzel. You’ll read more about them on the next page. • Air Play ’s director , West Hyler, has worked with Cirque du Soleil, Jersey Boys, and Big Apple Circus. • Air Play ’s technical director , Todd Little, managed a record-breaking hot air balloon that traveled half-way around the world! His balloon module is now in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. • Air Play ’s stage manager , Flora Vassar, controls all of the lights, sounds, and fans simultaneously. She has over 250 cues, and is considered the third “performer” in the show. • Seth and Daniel went to the same university, Wesleyan. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton , was a fellow student at Wesleyan with Seth. • Air Play uses over 200 feet of fabric, longer than 4 school buses. • Air Play uses 67 balloons each show. • While Air Play looks light, the entire show weighs 1,675 pounds. • Air Play has traveled around the world on a plane, a truck, a van, and a boat. • Climbing inside the giant balloons is the most dangerous part of the show. We bring a sharp object to pop them in case of an emergency. It also gets very hot inside the balloons. About Air Play

5 Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone met at a circus in Afghanistan, became engaged while street performing in Scotland, and married in China. Since becoming clown partners in 2006, they have created 6 shows together, competed in international circus festivals, juggled on Letterman, were featured in the New York Times, and headlined at the Big Apple Circus. They live in New York City. See more at acrobuffos.com or airplayshow.com. Before becoming clowns, Seth was a professional juggler, and Christina was a professional ballet dancer. Seth also graduated from three clown schools and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Wesleyan and a Master’s Degree in Theater from London. Christina went to one clown school and graduated from Princeton University. Yes, even clowns have to study hard. Daniel Wurtzel is a sculptor who also lives in New York City. His early work was with huge and heavy pieces of stone, wood, bronze, and silicone. His most recent work has been with making invisible air streams visible and transforming humble materials into beautiful art with air. Unexpectedly, his air sculptures became fascinating to an entirely different profession than his own: theater! Daniel has worked with famous directors all over the world including at the Sochi Olympics, on Broadway stages, and in Cirque du Soleil. He is well-known for a video of one of his air sculptures which has had millions of views. See more at danielwurtzel.com. How do clowns and a sculptor work together? We didn’ t know what Air Play would be when we started together. It took months of experimenting and brainstorming to develop enough new sculptures to use in a full-length show, and then more rehearsal to find out how we as characters related to the sculptures. Only at the end of the process did we make the story. Quite the opposite of most theater development, where the story comes first. Air Play is structured as a secret circus . In the circus, amazing acrobats and jugglers and animal trainers take your breath away. The clowns recuperate the audience by doing something simple and funny. Daniel’s sculptu res are like the acrobats: they are so beautiful and breathtakingly high. We are disguised clowns, jugglers, and air tamers in his spectacle. About The Artists

6 About the work: (Performance) Theatrical actors are trained to ignore the audience. Of course, actors can always hear an audience reacting, but they never look directly at the public. If a spectator sneezes, for instance, an actor on stage will not break the scene to say “Bless you!” But clowns are taught the opposite , because they originally came from circus and street performing. In circus, an acrobat must be able to do difficult tricks: an acrobat doesn’t pretend to do a handstand the way an actor does pretend to be a character. Likewise, clowns don’t pretend the audience isn’t there. Instead, clowns look right at the audience, and often go into the audience. When you see Air Play, watch for: -Do the performers look directly at the audience? -Do they go into the audience? -Does the audience come on stage? Plus, it’s funny. One of the biggest tricks in a clown’s bag is looking at the audience and sharing their emotional reaction with the public. It’s one thing to put your hand in the cookie jar. It’s quite a different thing to put your hand in the cookie jar and then look up and realize someone is watching you. That “uh - oh!” moment - if the audience can see it - is what is funny. Clown Show & Tell The clowns in this activity might want to “dress up.”  -Collect a variety of small objects from the room: anything boring, odd, tasty,  smelly… Find objects that diversify emotional reactions.  - Have one desk that is the “hot seat” for the clown.  -The clown sits down with their eyes closed.  -Place one of the objects on the desk and count to three.  -On three, the clown opens their eyes and looks at the surprise object.  - Immediately, the clown does a “take” to the audience, expressing how they feel:  happy? disgusted? scared? mad? bored? The bolder an d bigger the “take,” the funnier the response! Clowns have many words for looking at someone: checking in , take , double take, triple take, focus , and slow burn are some.

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