The Family Activity Guide for our production of THE GIVER is ready for download.  Family Activity Guides will be available for all three of this season’s Family Series plays: THE GIVER, ROMEO AND JULIET, and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.

The Guide includes discussion topics and activities for families to enjoy before and after seeing the productions.  THE GIVER Activity Guide is a four-page PDF file which is almost 2MB.  You can download it here.

The Family Activity Guide was adapted from the Classroom Study Guide prepared by Richard Roberts, IRT Dramaturg, and Milicent Wright, Manager of Outreach Programs.

Newbery Award–winning writer Lois Lowry’s adolescent novels are cautionary tales set in a futurist world predicated on the loss of individuality and memory. Children, educators, and parents alike love these books for their intensity, their immediacy for young readers, and their ability to spark conversation that radiates far beyond the specifics of the stories themselves and into the lives of today’s young people. (For adults who have not read these striking books, a good analogy might be George Orwell’s 1984.) There’s almost no end to the many topics these books touch upon, shedding light on many aspects of society that most American children (and adults for that matter) too often take for granted: the importance of individual choices, of personal expression and creativity, of freedom of speech and emotional expression, even the holistic aspects of nature, seasons, and weather. All these have been eliminated in Lowry’s post-apocalyptic, post-capitalist world. Because the books focus on child characters, their friend and family relationships, and the generational impact of imparted knowledge (and withheld knowledge) across generations, these are perfect lesson-makers for a young reading audience, as evinced by the many schools which include The Giver in their curricula.

There is a wonderful trend at work in today’s theatre community for successful playwrights in the adult field to create artistically satisfying adaptations of excellent pieces of youth fiction—Eric Coble’s stage adaptation of The Giver is a case in point. Eric’s own reputation in the theatre community as a savvy and exciting writer brings excellent cachet to this striking piece of youth theatre. His play requires theatres producing it to think beyond the realm of traditional children’s theatre in order to produce it with integrity. The production requires immense creativity and challenging conversations about what theatre can do best that cannot be replicated in film. Eventually, like many of the pieces that we create for youth and family audiences, it requires our best actors, best thinking, and best creative teams.

We are particularly blessed at the IRT to have deep relationships with amazing youth performers. Through our decade-long Summer Conservatory for Youth and youth classes program, we have nurtured young talent to the place where we can program a piece like The Giver (or last season’s To Kill a Mockingbird), where children occupy the central roles, and know that we will be able to elicit vivid, professional performances from the youth actors whom we cast, many of whom have been through our training programs. And these youth actors will be working every bit as hard as their adult, union counterparts—and going to school at the same time!

We celebrate this work we do for a multi-generational audience, as a central value of the Indiana Repertory Theatre: to create moving, edifying performance work that resonates into conversation long after the drive home, whether that drive is in a school bus or a family minivan. Lois Lowry once described the genesis of this unforgettable story thus:

A spring, perhaps at the beginning, bubbling up from the earth; then a trickle from a glacier; a mountain stream entering further along; and each tributary, bringing with it the collected bits and pieces of the past, from the distant, from the countless Elsewheres: all of it moving, mingled, in the current. For me, the tributaries are memories.

We invite you into the conversation ignited by The Giver.

I was a solitary child, born the middle of three, who lived in the world of books and my own imagination. There are some children, and I was this kind of child, who are introverts and love to read — who prefer to curl up with a book than to hang out with friends or play at the ball field. Children like that begin to develop a feeling for language and for story. And that was true for me — that’s how I became a writer.

My books have varied in content and in style. Yet it seems to me that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, is a fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells of the same things: the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.

The Giver takes place against the background of yet another very different culture and time. Though broader in scope than my earlier books, it nonetheless speaks to the same concern: the vital need for humans to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.

I use the Anastasia books to make myself laugh and to lighten up between serious books. But I also use them to deal with serious topics in a different way, disguised by humor.

I think it is my own children, all of them grown now, who have caused me to expand my view. One of my sons was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force; as a mother during the Gulf War, I was newly stunned into fear for the world and a heightened awareness of the necessity to find a way to end conflict. One of my daughters has become disabled as a result of the disease of the central nervous system; through her, I have a new and passionate awareness of the importance of human connections that transcend physical differences.

And I have grandchildren now. For them, I feel a greater urgency to do what I can to convey the knowledge that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future as human beings depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another.

As a team, we began this project with several things in mind. The Sameness of Ms. Lowry’s world is not a prison, even though it must be escaped. It is not actual Sameness; there are small differences, shades and gradations. People have different talents; some people are valued more than other people. The Sameness is not boring, it is somehow inviting. The village is a safe place, a place of order and calm; a place where all know their place and what is expected of them. The world that evolved out of our discussions is clean, ordered, and geometric. It is a world of limited choices: squares and rectangles, circles and triangles, limited materials, limited color. I have used only stained or painted wood and the fabrics of the carpet. The walls and the floor are covered in the same carpets. This ordered world is contrasted with the Giver’s room. The room of books is a place of chaos. It is cluttered. It is not safe. The chaos of the Giver’s room contains as many different materials as we could find: metal, glass, and plastics; bone, horn, and fur; leather, paper, and fabrics of many kinds. It also contains items that represent the sum of our knowledge: science and art, history and culture, sport and war. I have enjoyed the challenges of this play. I hope you do too.

Linda Pisano Costume Designer

The costumes for The Giver are designed to reflect the unified and stagnant world of this community. There is a lack of anything truly individual in the clothing except some reflection of age. Children of a common age wear identical clothing that enhances the uniformity of their existence. The younger child, Lily, has an ensemble that reflects a slightly younger age group but still defines her as part of this very specific world. The fabrics were selected to represent the mass production of similar and utilitarian fabric styles. Ultimately the costumes engage a simplicity and commonality that at first glance seem logical and in theory should produce a sense of unity and equality. However, once Jonas begins to see color, he quickly recognizes the lack of appreciation in his community for the differences, unique behaviors, and varying appearances of each person, as well as his or her potential for great individual contributions to the collective.

Betsy Cooprider-Bernstein Lighting Designer

Lighting will play an important role in telling the story of The Giver by first revealing the gray, utilitarian set and costumes within an atmosphere of neutralized, artificial-looking light—a world without the sun. As the play progresses, lighting will help the audience see the environment transform as Jonas does. The world of the play will evolve into a more colorful environment, highlighted with textures, variety in intensity, angles, and increasingly staccato movements, moving away from a world of Sameness. The play provides big challenges for the design team in the Upperstage Theatre, but also offers a rich landscape for stretching our imaginations!

Eric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and grew up on Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. He earned his B.A. in English from Fort Lewis College in Colorado and his M.F.A. in acting from Ohio University. His play Bright Ideas was produced off-Broadway in 2001 and has since had dozens of productions across the United States. Other works include Natural Selection (2006 Humana Festival), The Dead Guy, Virtual Devotion, Cinderella Confidential, and Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede. His plays have been produced throughout the United States and on four continents, including productions at the Kennedy Center, Actors Studio, Playwrights Horizons, Laguna Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Play House, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Awards include the AT&T Onstage Award, National Theatre Conference Playwriting Award, an NEA Playwright in Residence Grant, two TCG Extended Collaboration Grants, and the Aristophanes Award for Best Off-Broadway Comedy. Eric is a member of the Cleveland Play House Playwrights Unit, as well as a writer for several nationally broadcast radio programs.

Richard J Roberts Director

Richard has directed Twelfth Night and The Power of One at the IRT; later this season he will direct Pretty Fire. Other directing credits include The Musical of Musicals at the Phoenix Theatre; My Fair Lady, Godspell, The Sound of Music, Sunday in the Park with George, and Romeo and Juliet at the Edyvean Repertory Theatre; The King and I and Kiss Me, Kate at the Indianapolis Civic Theatre; and Much Ado about Nothing and The Music Man at Anderson University. Richard has been the IRT’s dramaturg for 12 of his 20 seasons with the company; he has also been a dramaturg for the New Harmony Project and the Bonderman Symposium. He was editor-in-chief of Arts Indiana magazine and taught theatre courses at Butler University and IUPUI. He studied music at DePauw University and theatre at Indiana University. In 2003 he was awarded a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis.

James Schumacher Scenic Designer

Jim has been designing scenery and working in theatre in Indianapolis for 14 years. He has designed And Then They Came for Me and A Woman Called Truth at the IRT, although over the past 10 seasons he has worked for the company as a props artisan and scenic carpenter and currently as a scenic artist. Jim was born and raised in Milbank, South Dakota. He was the resident scenic designer and technical director for the Indianapolis Civic Theatre from 1995 through 2000. In Indiana, he has designed scenery for the Edyvean Repertory Theatre, the Ruth Allison Lilly Theatre at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Anderson University Lyric Theatre, and the Indianapolis and Fort Wayne Civic Theatres.

Linda Pisano Costume Designer

Linda has designed To Kill a Mockingbird, Tuesdays with Morrie, Young Lady from Rwanda, Old Wicked Songs, Painting Churches, and Romeo and Juliet (2004) for the IRT; later this season, she will design the IRT’s new production of Romeo and Juliet. She is on faculty at IU–Bloomington where she heads the costume design program and directs the overseas theatre program in London. She is a four-time winner of the Peggy Ezekiel Award for Excellence in Design and a three-time jury winner of the National Design Exposition. Her work was also featured at the Quadrennial World Design Exposition in Prague. She has designed more than 80 productions around the United States for such theatres as the Utah Shakespearean Festival, BalletMet, Lyric Repertory Company, CATCO, IU Opera Theatre and many others. Many of her ballet designs continue to tour throughout England, Canada, and the United States. She is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

Betsy Cooprider-Bernstein Lighting Designer

This is Betsy’s 29th production at the IRT, including Macbeth, The Power of One, Romeo and Juliet, The Miracle Worker, Candida, and 10 seasons as associate lighting designer for A Christmas Carol; later this season she will design Love Letters. She has also designed many productions for the Indianapolis Opera, most recently Falstaff. With her husband, Chef Alan Bernstein, Betsy owns Alan’s Catered Events; they have created sumptuous fare for a wide array of events in the Indianapolis area since 1993.

Todd Mack Reischman Sound Designer

Todd returns for his eighth season as resident sound designer here at the IRT. His original music was heard in last season’s Macbeth, This Wonderful Life, and To Kill a Mockingbird. He also recently composed the 37th season of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. Todd owns LostSound recording studio where he creates original works. He occasionally still tries his hand as a playwright, actor, musician, and tri-athlete, and he is working to pioneer a new professional sport which combines auto racing and sport fishing.

Amy Denkmann Stage Manager

This is Amy’s ninth production as a stage manager at the IRT. Her Broadway credits include Ah, Wilderness! (1998 Tony Award Nomination, Lincoln Center Theatre), Ivanov (Lincoln Center Theatre), The Rehearsal (Roundabout Theatre Company), The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1997 Tony Award Winner, Best Play), and Master Class (1996 Tony Award Winner, Best Play). She has also worked at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles Music Center (Three Hotels and Smokey Joe’s Café), and the Actors Theatre of Indiana (My Way, Cole, and Forever Plaid). Amy holds a B.F.A. in stage management from the University of Southern California.

Jennifer Johansen Mother, the Chief Elder
Jen has appeared at the IRT as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Viola in Twelfth Night, as well as in The Ladies Man, A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Most Valuable Player. She played Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet at the Human Race Theatre in Dayton, where she will return to perform A Christmas Carol for the second season. Jen is a member of ShadowApe Theatre Company, where she has performed in Transformations, Welcome to the Monkey House, Gorey Stories, The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Life Is a Dream. She has trained with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company and studied aerial arts at the Actors Gymnasium, and she is a certified yoga instructor. ”Everlasting love to my best friend, Rob. I dedicate my performance to him, and to all of my family and friends, who teach me to live in color.”

Robert K Johansen Father
This is Robert’s 14th season with the IRT, where he has appeared in the one-man show Underneath the Lintel as well as such shows as To Kill a Mockingbird, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, The Fantasticks, The Unexpected Guest, Twelfth Night, Inherit the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, The Turn of the Screw, As You Like It, Cyrano, and A Christmas Carol. He is also a teacher and director in the IRT’s Summer Youth Conservatory. He is a member of the ShadowApe Theatre Company, which produced Welcome to the Monkey House on the IRT Upperstage. He performed another one-man show, After Paul McCartney by David Hoppe, at the Edinburgh Festival two years ago, and will do so again on the Upperstage this season. “So much love and thanks to my best friend and best love, my wife, Jen.”

Frederick Marshall the Giver
Frederick has appeared at the IRT in To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, Inherit the Wind, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pride and Prejudice, Arcadia, As You Like It, and A Christmas Carol. He received his B.A. in theatre arts from Hanover College and has studied with Dr. Tom Evans, Barbara Farrar, and Rose Kleiman. He was the recipient of the American College Theatre Festival Award of Excellence for his performance in Brecht’s A Man’s a Man at the Kennedy Center. Locally he has appeared with ShadowApe, Edyvean Rep, and Indianapolis Civic. He has also performed at South Carolina Repertory Company in Hilton Head, Kaleidoscope Players in Raton, New Mexico, and Hollywood Actors Theatre and Burbank Playhouse, both in Los Angeles.

Garrett McKenna Jonas
Garret McKenna is an eighth grader at St. Lawrence Catholic School. This is his first major role at the IRT, although he has appeared in A Christmas Carol in 2006 and 2008, understudied the role of Jem in To Kill a Mockingbird, and has participated for three years in the Summer Conservatory. Garrett discovered acting as a Mud Creek Barn Rat under the direction of Lynn Perkins and Matt Socey. He has also appeared at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, the Artist’s Studio, and Footlight Musicals. “I would like to thank my mom, dad, brother, and grandparents for supporting me, and my school for allowing me to take part in this production.”

Anna Miller Lily
Anna is thrilled to be joining the cast of The Giver and performing at the IRT for the first time. She is nine years old and in fourth grade at Lantern Road Elementary in Fishers. Anna loves acting and creative play, but also enjoys competitive swimming, art, gymnastics, and reading. “I would like to thank my IRT theatre family for welcoming me, and a special thank you to my school, coaches, and teachers for all their support. Love and thanks to Mom and Dad for all the driving to downtown!”

Maggie Williams Fiona, Rosemary
Maggie is thrilled to be returning to IRT after recently performing as Belinda Cratchit in A Christmas Carol. Other credits include: the title role in Annie, Young Jane in Jane Eyre, Snoopy in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Marta Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Baby June in Gypsy, Shprintze in Fiddler on the Roof, and ensemble in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Maggie is 13 years old and has been performing since the age of 8. “Thanks to Richard Roberts and Priscilla Lindsay for this opportunity, and to my mom and dad for all their support.”

Richard J Roberts

by Richard J Roberts, Director of The Giver

“I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.”

Over the past few months, I have mentioned to various people, young and not so young, that I am directing The Giver. And every time the reaction has been the same. First: “Oh, I love that book!” And next: “How are you going to do that on stage?”

The Giver is a magical book, filled with astonishing flights of vivid imagination. The world Lois Lowry creates is very different from ours, but she doesn’t explain it to us. Rather, she tells us what happens in the community, and lets us fill in the blanks for ourselves. Because we must work to figure things out as we read, the world we create in our minds is infinitely richer than anything that could be put on paper. Perhaps it is this act of co-creation with the author that makes reading the book such a fulfilling experience.

A movie version of The Giver has been in development for years. When and if it is finally produced, it is sure to have a multi-million-dollar budget and loads of special effects. It may turn out to be a wonderful movie, but like all movies, it will not leave much to the imagination. This is why I feel the stage is the perfect place for The Giver. Just as Lois Lowry asks her readers, we ask you, our audience, to use your imagination to help create the wonders that Jonas experiences. Just as the Giver helps Jonas discover there is a world beyond what he knows, so the theatre offers us infinite opportunities to discover stories, lives, worlds beyond our own.

“I thought there was only us. I thought there was only now.”

There’s more. There’s so much more.