UE
Upper Elementary | Performance Guide
The Odyssey
Experience
Photo Credit:Marina Levitina
After the carnage of the Trojan War, clever Odysseus, a Grecian
general responsible for the Trojan horse and the Greeks victory, makes
his way home from Troy to Ithaca and encounters many obstacles
along the way. The Odyssey Experience is an abridged telling that
actively involves the audience as performers in the story. This
experiential theater style, the hallmark of Northwest Arkansas’ Trike
Theatre, deeply engages learners in the content of Homer’s epic poem.
Ideas for Curriculum Connections
CCSS: RL.3.2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9; RL.4.1, 2, 3, 5, 7
and 9; RL.5.1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7; SL.3.1c and d and
3; SL.4.1d and 4; SL.5.1c and d and 4; L.3.3; L.4.6;
L.5.3 and 6. Middle School: RL.6.2, 3, 6 and 7;
RL.7.2, 3, 5, 6 and 7; RL.7. 2, 3, 6 and 7; SL.61d and
2; SL.7.1c and d, 2 and 5; SL.81a and d, 2 and 5;
L.6.4 and 5; L.7.4 and 5 and L.8.1 and 5.
Photo Credit: Marina Levitina
The Story
The Odyssey Experience retells Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. After the
Trojan war ends, the Greek hero, Odysseus, plans to return home to
Ithaca. His great ally, Athena, goddess of wisdom, asks her father,
Zeus, to protect Odysseus along his way. Zeus refuses because
Odysseus has angered many other gods. Back in Ithaca, Penelope, the
faithful wife of Odysseus and his son Telemachus, defend their home
aganist an invasion of unwanted suitors, who believe Odysseus is dead.
Odysseus and his band of sailors begin their perilous journey home.
They meet the Cyclops, anger Poseidon and are thrown off course.
They are helped by the god of the Winds, Aiolia, but fail to keep their
promise and are delayed. Odysseus travels to the underworld and asks
the blind soothsayer, Tiresias, how to get home. After many narrow
escapes, Odysseus returns home, vanquishes the unworthy suitors and
is reunited with his family. He plants an oar as a peace offering to
Poseidon and his adventure is over.
The Performance
The performance is a completely interactive experience.The play begins
when the adult actors invite the Muse (a daughter of Zeus
and Memory who inspires learning in the arts) to aid them. These four
actors and musician both perform characters and events and invite
students to participate in the storytelling. The style of theatre is called
The Odyssey Experience/ Performance Guide
“experiential theater” and allows students to act out stories without
rehearsals using general knowledge of character and storytelling.
Through a series of adult actor lead prompts, students physically assume
characters and speak lines they invent on the spot. Every performance
is unique and students’ excitement is apparent when they are given the
opportunity to make creative decisions about their characters based upon
their understanding of the imagined situation.
The Artists
The Odyssey Experience was written and directed by Christopher T. Parks,
and created by Christoper Parks, Lorna Howley and James Murtha.
His company, the Experiential Theater Company, has been touring the
show in the US and in Ireland. Trike Theatre worked with Christopher
on their play, Bear State of Mind, and asked to produce The Odyssey Experience
in Arkansas. He proposed bringing an actor and musician from New
York and performing himself, with two roles performed by Trike Theatre
artists: Jason Suel (Director of Partnerships & Community Engagement)
and Kassie Misiewicz (Executive Artistic Director and founder.)
The Experiential Theatre Company philosophy is, “if you’re in the
room, you’re in the show!” and Trike Theatre agrees. All involved hope
that educators make use of the techniques used in the performance to
create their own productions back in the classroom.
Learning Activities
Thinking before the show
Acting the Part
Ask students questions to get them thinking
> Have you ever gotten lost and had to
Four actors, a musician and your students
about the world of an epic hero. Odysseus
find your way home?
will play all of the parts. The characters
is the hero of Homer’s epic poem. As the
> Have you depended on your friends to
include:
hero, he must overcome many problems
reach your goals?
> Odysseus - Greek Hero on a journey home
that are encountered on a journey. The
> Do you have special skills that help you
epic hero is honorable and faithful to family,
solve problems?
> Athena - Goddess of Wisdom
country and has the courage to overcome
> What would your journey back home be
> Penelope - loyal wife of Odysseus
his natural fear. Ask simple questions like:
like?
> Telemachus - son of Odysseus
after the Trojan war
> Sailors - friends of Odysseus
> Cyclops - savage one-eyed giant
> Poseidon - God of the sea
> Sirens - maidens who lure sailors to death
> Charybdis - a violent whirlpool
> Scylla - a six-headed monster
Scripts for Interaction
Craft a script to be narrated by the teacher. Include key lines and
gestures for interactions or sound effects from the classroom of actors.
The example below is adapted from Mary Pope Osborne’s The One-Eyed
Giant (Book One of Tales from the Odyssey), 2002. See a script developed
by The Experiential Theater with stage directions and explanations in
italics: www.mccarter.org/Education/odyssey-experience/html/4.html
It was in a dark cave in which Odysseus and his men took shelter from
the storm. (Teacher cups hands next to her ear and uses her other hand to invite the
students to makes the sound of a storm.)
. . . A hideous giant lumbered into the clearing. He carried nearly half a
forest’s worth of wood on his back. (Teacher makes eye contact with a student
and presents hand to invite that student to come into the playing area and enter as
Polyphemus carrying wood.)
Photo Credit: Marina Levitina
Plot and Conflict
“He threw off his rags, which fell like leaves from a tree. To tell true, this man never
was a beggar, he was the lost king disguised by Athena’s magic. In that moment, the suitors
knew their opponent was the long lost lord of this land. And with derision, they yelled his
name. Odysseus!” - The Odysseus Experience
The action in a story is often caused by characters trying to get
something they want and usually in conflict with one another.
> What did Odysseus want?
> What did the Posdidon, Cyclops or Aiolia want?
> What was keeping these characters from getting what they wanted?
> What were some of their strategies that they used to get what they
wanted?
His monstrous head jutted from his body like a shaggy mountain peak.
A single eye bulged in the center of his forehead. The sailors gasped.
(Teacher cues a group of students to make the sound of the sailor’s gasp.)
The Monster was Polyphemus. . . the most savage of all the Cyclops,
a race of fierce one-eyed giants who lived without laws. The Cyclopes
were known to capture and devour any sailors who happened near their
shore. He threw down his pile of wood. (Cue sound effect of wood.)
As it crashed to the ground, Odysseus and his men fled to the darkest
corners of the cave. (Teachers gestures to the darkest corner, then cues the movement
of Odysseus and the sailors.)
[email protected] / www.waltonartscenter.org
Volume 12 Number 6
Colgate Classroom Series performances
help students meet Common Core
Photo credit: Marina Levitina
Reflect and Assess
Standards.
Shar your ideas at the Learning Blog
www.waltonartscenter/LearningBlog?TBD
Journeys and Homecomings
The Odyssey Experience is the story of a person on a journey trying to get home.
Every journey has a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is the reason for
Learn more at:
www.waltonartscenter.org
going. The Middle journey has different roads, places on the way, people who help
or hinder the hero. The end of the journey is the arrival home.
>Discuss the beginning, middle and end of The Odyssey Experience.
>What events mark the beginning of the journey home?
Walton Arts Center
>Chart the places the hero stops along the way. What obstacles were overcome?
Learning & Engagement
>Describe the end of their journey.
Laura Goodwin, Vice President
Connect to the world
Dr. Patricia Relph, Arts Learning Specialist
>Describe a journey you or someone you know has taken
Sara Broome, Manager
Connect to characters
Sallie Zazal, Schools Coordinator
>What thoughts and feelings were in the character’s mind? How did they show it
Mallory Barker, Schools Concierge
with the body?
>What must Odysseus do now that he has arrived home and reclaimed his family?
This performance guide was developed in
>How will the lives of Telemachus and Penelope change now that Odysseus has
partnership with Trike Theatre, a resident
returned?
company of Walton Arts Center.
Websites
> Learn more about Trike Theatre at: www.triketheatre.org
Walton Arts Center 2014-2015 Learning
programming is generously supported by
these funders, sponsors and benefactors:
Northwest Arkansas Education
Service Cooperative
Peter Leer and family
Neal and Gina Pendergraft
Center for Children & Youth
Mary Lynn Reese
Colgate-Palmolive
Walmart Foundation
Education Benefactors:
Imelda and J.T. Rose
Crayola
The Walton Family
Patty and Serrhel Adams
Jeff and Eileen Schomburger
JB Hunt Transport
Foundation
Ted and Leslie Belden
Mark and Diane Simmons
Prairie Grove Telephone Co.
Northwest Arkansas
J.B. and Rachel Blankenship
Mechelle and Jack Sinclair
Shipley Motor Company
Development District
Chip and Susan Chambers
Kirk Thompson
Tyson Foods
supported by Sen. Uvalde Lindsey,
John and Caroline Clarke
Jerry and Brenda Walton
Unilever
Sen. Jon Woods,
Marybeth Cornwell and
Jim and Lynne Walton
Walmart Foundation
Rep. Charlie Collins,
Rick Hays
Dr. & Mrs. John B. Weiss
Education Grantors:
Rep. Justin Harris,
Nick and Carolyn Cole
Buddy and Linda Wray
Arkansas Arts Council
Rep. David Whitaker and
Jon and Joanie Dyer
Arkansas Arts Council is an
Arkansas Community
Rep. Greg Leding
Murray and Judy Harris
agency of the Department of
Foundation
Education Partners:
Malcolm and Ellen Hayward
Arkansas Heritage and the
The John F. Kennedy Center
Crystal Bridges Museum of
Rich and Kristin Kley
National Endowment for the
Greg and Hannah Lee
Arts
for the Performing Arts
American Art
The Odyssey Experience / Performance Guide