Pablo Felices-Luna
Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster, Qasim Khan, Hailey Gillis, Jennifer Villaverde & Peter Fernandes PHOTO BY Cylla von Tiedemann | DoowahDesign.com
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
ALLIGATOR PIE
Soulpepper Theatre Company • CREATED AND DIRECTED BY Ins Choi, Raquel
Duffy, Ken MacKenzie, Gregory Prest & Mike Ross • POEMS BY Dennis Lee
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Prepared by .BOJUPCB5IFBUSFGPS:PVOH1FPQMF
“An amazing hour of music, poetry & sheer theatrical invention
...This is one pie you’ll want a second slice of.” – TORONTO STAR
Soulpepper Theatre Company, Toronto
Created & Directed by Ins Choi, Raquel Duffy, Ken MacKenzie, Gregory Prest and Mike Ross
Poems by Dennis Lee.
STUDY GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS
Welcome to Alligator Pie ...............................................................................................................................2
About the Production ....................................................................................................................................3
Short Synopsis: ..........................................................................................................................................3
Creative Team: ..........................................................................................................................................3
Dennis Lee Poems in Soulpepper’s Alligator Pie .......................................................................................4
How to Watch a Play......................................................................................................................................5
After the Play .................................................................................................................................................5
About this Study Guide ..................................................................................................................................5
Music .........................................................................................................................................................6
Drama & Dance .........................................................................................................................................6
Exercises in Rhythm, Movement & Imagination ...........................................................................................7
What is Rhythm? .......................................................................................................................................7
Let’s Explore Movement............................................................................................................................7
The Rhythm is in Your Name .....................................................................................................................8
Imaginary Machines ..................................................................................................................................8
Variation and Extension: ...........................................................................................................................9
What it’s Not .............................................................................................................................................9
You Can Write Poetry Too! ......................................................................................................................... 10
Write a New Verse.................................................................................................................................. 10
Create Your Own Poem .......................................................................................................................... 11
The Rhyme & Reason of Alligator Pie: MTYP Workshop ............................................................................ 12
Study Guide prepared by Manitoba Theatre for Young People, October 2016
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WELCOME TO ALLIGATOR PIE
We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it. The recipe is quite simple:
A freshly made piecrust works best, but you’re probably busy, so a store-bought crust will do
just fine.
Add:
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1 cup junk from the dollar store
2 tsp. of desire to play instruments you don’t really know how to play
Your favourite poems by Dennis Lee
67 oz. of friendship
4 cup unfiltered foolishness
As many wigs as you can find
Place gently in a cardboard box, throw it down the stairs, and go outside.
This play was created by five friends. Most of us were parents to young children at the time.
We would all go away, find our favourite Dennis Lee poems and come back to the group with a
proposal, usually half-baked; something like, “I like this one about the turtle. I think we should
somehow make the music with tennis rackets but with like a Beastie Boys vibe.” Then we
would all work together to help realize each other’s ideas. We laughed and broke a lot of
things. We loved rehearsing it and we really loved sharing it with audiences.
Giving the play over to this new and wonderful cast, we were able to see something in the play
that we had taken for granted while making it. This silly little play is about friendship. It’s about
the joy of playing together, singing together, making each other laugh and acting a fool. We
hope Alligator Pie makes you want to call your friends and start playing again.
Thank you for coming and for bringing your little ones.
Raquel, Ins, Mike, Ken, and Gregory
Co-Creators and Co-Directors of Soulpepper’s Alligator Pie
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Soulpepper’s Alligator Pie
Created and Directed by Ins Choi, Raquel Duffy, Ken MacKenzie, Gregory Prest and Mike Ross.
Poems by Dennis Lee.
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
Alligator Pie brings the celebrated children poems of Canadian poet Dennis Lee to vibrant life in
this celebration of the power of imagination. Sing, play and plenty of bubble wrap fun!
CREATIVE TEAM:
CAST
Peter Fernandes
Hailey Gillis
Qasim Khan
Courtney Ch'ng Lancaster
Jennifer Villaverde
SOULPEPPER PRODUCTION
Dennis Lee: Poet
Ins Choi, Raquel Duffy, Ken MacKenzie, Gregory Prest, Mike Ross: Directors & Original Creation
Ensemble
Mike Ross: Music Director
Ken MacKenzie: Production Designer
Adam Harendorf: Original Sound Designer
Robert Harding: Production Stage Manager
Ashlyn Ireland: Stage Manager
Mike Ledermuller: Technical Director
Sarah Noyes: Head of Wardrobe
Lisa Nighswander: Head of Properties
Paul Boddum: Head Scenic Artist
Poems by Dennis Lee are used with the permission of the author and publisher HarperCollins
Canada.
Special Thanks to the Slaight Family whose support makes possible all of Soulpepper’s music
programming, including Mike Ross’s position as Soulpepper’s Slaight Family Director of Music.
Soulpepper On the Road is generously supported by the Government of Ontario.
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DENNIS LEE POEMS IN SOULPEPPER’S ALLIGATOR PIE
The creators of this play found their favourite poems from some of Dennis Lee’s famous books
of poetry, including:
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Alligator Pie
Melvis and Elvis
Garbage Delight
The Ice Cream Store
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Nicholas Knock and Other People
Bubblegum Delicious
The Cat and the Wizard
Jelly Belly
You will hear the following poems by Dennis Lee in Soulpepper’s Alligator Pie:
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“Alligator Pie”
“Melvis and Elvis”
“The Bratty Brother”
“Hammy, the Escape Hamster”
“Mulligan Stew”
“Garbage Delight”
“The Muddy Puddle”
“Tricking”
“Worm”
“I Put a Penny”
“With my Foot in my Mouth”
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“Bump on Your Thumb”
“Two Mighty Hunters”
“A Wonderful Trip in a Rocket ship”
“The Cat and the Wizard”
“Psychapoo”
“What Will You Be”
“The Bedtime Concert”
“If Lonesome was a Pot of Gold”
“I Remember”
“Good Morning”
Jennifer Villaverde, Hailey Gillis, Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster & Peter Fernandes PHOTO BY Cylla von Tiedemann
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HOW TO WATCH A PLAY
Live theatre is very different than the world children live in on a regular basis. Theirs is a world
of video - fast forwards, replays, and breaks when they want them. Before attending a live
theatre event with your class, talk to them about what they can expect to find and about how
they are expected to behave. It will be more fun for everyone if you do this first. An audience
makes a real contribution to a play. Each audience member affects those around them as well
as the performers. The more the audience gives to a performance the more the performers can
also give. Brainstorm with your class how they can “give” to the performance.
Discuss ideas such as:
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Give your entire concentration and energy to the performance
Don’t talk or comment or draw attention to yourself during the show
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Remain in your seat until the end of the performance
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Respond to what is happening in the play (you can laugh if something is funny)
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Clap at the end of the show to show your appreciation
AFTER THE PLAY
It’s always a good idea to debrief with the students after seeing a performance. It’s a perfect
opportunity to help your students express what they think and feel succinctly. Instead of
saying “it was good” or “I liked it”, ask them to be specific about what they liked and didn’t
like. What was their favourite part, their least favourite part? Work with the class to generate
some questions that could be asked after the play. You might want to turn it into a bit of role
play activity with the teacher or some of the students acting as reporters interviewing people
as they come out of the theatre. The class could follow this up by writing the news review of
the play.
ABOUT THIS STUDY GUIDE
This play is a wonderful opportunity to explore the world of music, movement, rhythm and
chanting poetry with your students. This guide will give you some jumping off points to get you
started on activities that you can do before and/or after the performance. One thing you can be
sure of is that your class will be inspired to create rhythm and sound after seeing this play. And
one thing is a must. You must read as much of Dennis Lee’s poetry to your class and with your
class and any other rhythmic poetry you can find. Enjoy, have fun, loosen up, create, play, and
above all: participate together.
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Take a poem from any of Dennis Lee’s books and add rhythm instruments and actions. A
challenge: When your class is very familiar with several Dennis Lee poems - beat out the
rhythm pattern of one and see if they can name it.
While you’re having all this fun, you can complement your curriculum! For example:
MUSIC
Students will:
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Identify rhythms in language
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Identify different tempi
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Create rhythmic patterns using a variety of sounds
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Demonstrate understanding of beat and rhythm
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Create or arrange rhythmic accompaniment for a reading using appropriate rhythm
instruments, body percussion or “found” instruments
DRAMA & DANCE
Students will:
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Demonstrate ways in which the body can be used in space and time
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Communicate their response to poetry by using elements of drama and dance
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Interpret the meaning of poems from a variety of sources and cultures using simple
drama and dance techniques.
Hailey Gillis, Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster, Qasim Khan, Jennifer Villaverde & Peter Fernandes PHOTO BY Cylla von Tiedemann
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EXERCISES IN RHYTHM, MOVEMENT & IMAGINATION
WHAT IS RHYTHM?
The dictionary defines it as “any regular, reoccurring, vibrating motion”. The root word is
“rheo” meaning to flow. Rhythm flows out of us.
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Brainstorm with your class ways in which our bodies make rhythm without us even
trying: heartbeat, blinking, breath
Now list some ways in which rhythm exists in nature: wind, waves, crickets, bird songs
Think of ways in which rhythms are all around you at home: the hum of the refrigerator,
clocks ticking, phones ringing
Finally, think how rhythms are a part of the world we create: police sirens, chain saws,
lawn mowers
Focus on each types of rhythm and see if you can create the pattern it makes.
LET’S EXPLORE MOVEMENT
Movements come in different categories. In a large open space have your students demonstrate
their own response to movement words that you call out. Some ideas:
• Stopping and Balancing - settle, hover, perch, stay, freeze, rest, sink, fall, stop
• Travelling - trot, stride, stamp, march, creep, slither, gallop, crawl, tiptoe, scurry, slide
• Jumping - fly, leap, explode, hurl, hop, bounce, soar, shoot, expand, contract, cascade
• Turning - spiral, twirl, whirl, swirl, spin, whip, curl, roll, twist
• Gesturing - reach, grab, stretch, scatter, press, gather, kick, dab, jerk, bend, unfold
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Try working with sequences of words. Examples:
curl – twist – unfold
expand – contract – explode
stretch – curl – roll – grab
gather – swirl – spiral – scatter
kick – curl – roll – reach
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Try working with contrasting movements. Examples:
run – bend
creep – bounce
march – halt
stamp – swirl
For all of the above try finding the rhythm pattern that accompanies the movements. Use rhythm
instruments to beat out the patterns or simply to accompany the motions. Which instruments
sound best for each movement? Encourage the students to bring found objects from home (like
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in the play!) for rhythmic instruments while you’re doing this work. The kitchen has a wealth
of materials that work really well.
As you are doing movement and rhythm activities, try some of these concepts:
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Changes in speed
Changes in strength
Changes in direction - left/right, forward/backward
Combining travelling and turning
Isolating various body parts to move in contrast - leg jump with arms outstretched; march
with feet and spin arms
Add sound to accompany any of the above
THE RHYTHM IS IN YOUR NAME
Two ideas to use with names:
1. The teacher selects 4 students at a time to come to the front of the room and arranges
them in a row so that their first names create an interesting rhythm pattern. Example: Ella/
Stephen/ Sophie/ Dustin. Give each name two beats and have them say their names one after
the other with the rhythm they create. Say the names and clap the rhythm at the same time.
Think the names and clap the rhythm. Use rhythm instruments to provide the accompanying
beat or to create the rhythm pattern. Repeat the above with as many different combinations
of students as you can and continue to create more complex rhythm patterns.
2. Have each child choose which part or parts of their name they will work with. What they
choose must have more than one syllable to make it interesting. For example Jennifer could
use only her first name, but Mark would need to use his first and last (or even first and middle)
names to create more than one syllable.
Each student practices the rhythm pattern that is created by their own name, saying it over
and over and clapping the patterns too. As they are doing this the teacher creates the steady
2/4 or 4/4 beat in the background (whichever is most appropriate at the time). Standing in a
circle, with the teacher again keeping the steady beat, the students say their names in rhythm
one at a time going around the circle.
Extension: Along with saying their name to a rhythm pattern, ask each student to create a
movement sequence to accompany their name. Example: Jennifer - (3 syllables) - crouch, jump
up, arms outstretched. These are performed by each student and then repeated by the whole
class as you go around the circle.
IMAGINARY MACHINES
One of the best ways to get young children (and older ones too) to use movement and sound
together is to create imaginary machines that include a whole lot of people. Ask one child to
stand in the middle of a wide open space and begin a simple movement (example: arm out and
in) that they can continue for some time. Ask them also to add a sound to accompany the
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rhythm of the motion. Choose another child and tell them that they must connect to the first
child in some way or other (example: a foot touching or alternating sound with the first
child), adding another simple motion and a sound.
Continue in this way until as many children as are manageable are included in the machine.
To “stop” the machine, tell the students that you will tap them on the shoulder and they are
to stop their motion and their sound. Do this in any order you see fit. Repeat the above if the
whole class was not used in the first machine.
VARIATION AND EXTENSION:
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Work in small groups to create the moving parts of well-known machines - example:
popcorn maker, blender, washing machine. Each child must be a part of the group’s
machine and add a motion and a sound. Work in secret and have the rest of the class
guess which machine it is.
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Work in small groups to create an imaginary machine that has a specific function.
o Examples: one that removes all garbage from the earth; one that makes
angry people calm or sad people happy. Again, each child in the group
must have a motion and a sound.
In all of the above activities, make sure that each student is connected to at least one other
student. Also encourage the use of different levels - some on the floor, squatting, standing,
leaning, etc.
WHAT IT’S NOT
In Soulpepper's Alligator Pie different objects are used as what they are not. For example,
in the poem “A Wonderful Trip in a Rocket Ship,” bouncing balls are used as planets.
Choose any object and ask the students to pretend to use it as something that it's not. For
example, a wooden spoon can be a telephone if you hold it up to your ear and have a
conversation, or a microphone if you sing into it.
Here are two ways to perform this exercise:
1. Make a circle and have one student go in the middle with the object using it as
something that it's not. When the class guesses what it is, the next student will take the
place of the student in the centre and use the object as something else that it's not.
2. Divide the class into small groups. Give each group an object to use altogether as
something that it's not. Work in secret and then have the groups perform for each other
and have the rest of the class guess what the object is.
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YOU CAN WRITE POETRY TOO!
WRITE A NEW VERSE
Many of Dennis Lee’s poems lend themselves well to this activity. Search through the books
and find others that have a very simple repeated pattern that you and your students can
work with.
“Alligator Pie” is a good one to start with. All the verses follow the same pattern. Let’s look at
verse one to see what that is.
Alligator Pie, alligator Pie,
If I don’t get some I think I’m gonna die.
Give away the green grass, give away the sky,
But don’t give away my alligator pie.
Note the 4 rhyming lines - with the first and last lines repeating the same word. All the things
mentioned in the verses are real - but the combinations are silly, so you can have fun with
this. Here’s the rhythm pattern:
Alligator
(single syllable), alligator
(Rhyme A)
If I don’t get some I think I’m gonna/I don’t know what I’ll ___(Rhyme A - single syllable)
Give away the/my ____(2/3 syllables), give away the/my__ __(Rhyme A - single syllable)
But don’t give away my alligator
(repeat of first line word).
Work individually or in small groups or as a whole class to create new verses for this poem.
Here are some examples of Rhyme A words you can try, or make up your own!
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Alligator cake
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Alligator bread
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Alligator juice
Extension: Lose your inhibitions and try putting this one to a tune. It’s easy! Use a familiar tune
or create one on the spot.
Simple Variation: Do the same with The Ice Cream Store. This would be a good start for younger
students. Simply replace the names of the ice cream flavours in the original poem.
Challenging Variation: Add some more verses to The Perfect Pets. Here’s one verse to have a
look at the pattern.
So - I got a cat,
And her name was Bing
And I don’t know why
But she liked to sing.
So - I got a
And her/his name was
And I don’t know why,
But she/he liked to
,
. (verb)
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CREATE YOUR OWN POEM
Ask the students to write down one describing word (adjective) each and put these in a
box. Now do the same with one thing/object (noun) and place in a separate box. Pull one
from each box and see if you can come up with a rhyme of three lines with the first and
third rhyming. Remember that this is a silly exercise and the ideas do not have to make
perfect sense!
Example:
adjective: slippery
noun: broom
Slippery broom in my hand
Tried to sweep
And joined a band.
Jennifer Villaverde, Hailey Gillis, Qasim Khan, Peter Fernandes & Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster PHOTO BY Cylla von Tiedemann
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THE RHYME & REASON OF ALLIGATOR PIE: MTYP WORKSHOP
If you'd like to make your experience at MTYP even more dynamic, think about enhancing
your students' comprehension and enjoyment of the show with our play-related workshop:
THE RHYME & REASON OF ALLIGATOR PIE
Practice bringing a poem to life in this exciting workshop. Have so much fun enacting the
lines that you won’t want to stop!
Price: $94.50 (including GST) for a 75 min workshop
Location: MTYP, or at your school
Here’s part one of a sample exercise to get your students excited:
Instructions: The teacher and students clap to a steady 4/4 beat. Within this beat, the
teacher says a word 4 times (“Gold, gold, gold, gold”). On the fourth word repetition/beat,
the teacher points to a student who responds with a rhyming word (“Told, told, told, told”).
On the fourth word repetition/beat, that student points to another student who responds
with a rhyming word (“Bold, bold, bold, bold”). And so on, until the group can’t come up
with any more rhymes.
Some tips:
• Made up words are totally okay- the sillier the better!
• A slow beat will make the game simpler for younger students, and a fast beat will
challenge older students.
• Create a box of suitable rhyming words beforehand so you can pull one out at any
time.
For parts two and three of this exercise, and many more creative drama activities, book
an Alligator Pie workshop today.
Contact Heather Russell-Smith, Drama Outreach Coordinator at MTYP at
[email protected] or call (204) 947-0394 ext. 227.
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