California State University, Northridge
HANSEL
AND GRETEL
1/
A
thesis production of a children's play
dramatized by Madge I'1iller
An abstract submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in
Drama
by
Toni Anne Schmidt
Production
July, 1972
Degree Awarded
January. \q74
The thesis of Toni Anne Schmidt is approved:
California State University, Northridge
July, 1972
it
-ABSTRACT
HANSEL AND GRETEL
A thesis production of a children's play
dramatized by Madge Miller
by
Toni Anne Schmidt
Master of Arts in Drama
i·
July, 1972
Each summer the Drama Department and the Foundation
of California State University at Northridge sponsor a
six-week Teenage Drama Workshop.
Its program includes
drama classes and the production of four plays for children.
During the 1972 Teenage Drama Workshop season I
directed a production of Madge Miller's Hansel and Gretel
as partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master
of Arts degree in Drama.
. i
Hansel and Gretel is a stage dramatization for children of the classic fairytale.
Madge Miller has utilized.
the basic plot of the folktale and the characters of
Hansel, Gretel, their Father and Stepmother, and the
Witch from the original story.
She has added a Forest
Fs.try and a Cat to enhance dramatic quality.
I further
added a Storyteller for continuity.
The dramatic metaphor I chose for this production
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2
of Hansel and Gretel was the coming to life of a classic
fairytale.
Several different techniques were utilized
to convey this metaphor to the child audience.
Great care was taken to see that the visual elements
of the production were of high artistic quality.
Since
this was a storybook come to life, the scenery and lighting were designed in a whimsical fairytale book style.
The costumes of Hansel and Gretel, their parents and
the children lost in the forest were of a Black Forest
peasant mode.
The Forest Fairy and the Cat were costumed
as a child would visualize such unreal characters.
In
order to keep the witch from becoming too real and frightening to the younger children in the audience, she was
costumed as an old peasant lady in earth colors rather
than in black with a pointed hat.
The major pieces of scenery were enclosed in two
large books which opened to reveal appropriate sets for
each scene.
All of the scene changes were done in full
view of the audience so that the action was continuous.
The play was introduced and narrated by a Storyteller who
appeared every time a scene change was made; thus the
scenery and narrator worked together to reinforce the
storybook qualtty of the production as well as to maintain uninterrupted action.
All of the music used in the
production was original, composed by Robert Szuch, and in
the whimsical fairytale vein.
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The cast was chosen from the workshop group, which
consisted of eleven to eighteen-year-old students.
this- is an
educ~tional
Since
program, the majority of the stu-
dent actors lacked theatrical experience.
The rehearsal
period, therefore, had to include basic instruction as
well as traditional stage direction.
Time and emphasis
was evenly divided between work on acting
fun~amentals
and on characterization and ensemble.
Rehearsals, which were scheduled for three hours
each day, lasted four weeks.
The first week was spent in
final casting, read-through, and basic blocking.
The
second and third weeks were devoted to developing characterization.
The fourth week was reserved for technical
and dress rehearsals.
I felt it necessary for the young acto-rs to work all
rehearsals in act blocks.
Although we did not run the
entire play until the first technical rehearsal, we ran
through an act each day in order to provide the cast with
a strong feeling of continuity from the earliest rehearsal.
A great deal of physical movement was incorporated
into the blocking of the show.
Constantly shifting stage
pictures help to keep the attention of children in the
audience, and the abundance of movement helped the actors
gain stage presence and added motivational stimulus to
the dialogue they were speaking.
Since the actors were relatively inexperienced, I
felt it necessary to provide them with concrete character
descriptions and motivations.
At the first rehearsal
I discussed my concept of the various characters and
their interrelationships.
Throughout the characteriza-
tion rehearsal period I made frequent use of corresponding images from everyday life as an additional directing
technique.
Giving the actors familiar situations and
emotions to draw on was a successful method for working
with problem action and. dialogue.
It also increased the
believability of character portrayals.
The audience response appeared to be highly favorable.
The entire show ran one hour and ten minutes with-
out intermissio:ns.
The children became restless several
times, but a set change or the entrance of the Witch
would renew their attention.
The Forest Fairy and the
Cat brought verbal comments from children in the audience
at almost every performance.
Hansel and Gretel provided a theatrical experience
for the children who attended the production, and it
provided a theatrical learning experience for the teenagers who engaged in bringing it to life for
th_f~l1lo
For
myself I found that working with inexperienced teenage
actors requires a director to function as a director
and an acting teacher
simultaneously~
Because of the
added time needed for instruction in basic acting skills
.5
l feel an additional two weeks of rehearsal time was
neededo
The additional time would have enhanced the
lea~ning
experience of the teenage actors and provided
a more polished and believable production.
Being inexperienced actors the greatest problem all
of the teenagers had was remembering their lines and
blocking.
As a director my greatest problem was remain-
ing patient enough to allow the actors to completely
master their lines and blocking before I encouraged them
to work on characterization and motivation.
Although
the corresponding images technique did work very well in
' helping the actors find motivations for lines and actions
I feel more time was needed.