Digging Up Dessa

Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences

WELCOME to Digging Up Dessa, a new play commissioned by the Kennedy Center about 12-year-old Dessa’s efforts to dig through the past and answer some tough questions. Here are some ideas for extending your young theatergoers’ experience.

Teacher Guide

2

Before the ShowIf you have 5 to 20 minutes:n Use the Cuesheet! The Digging Up Dessa Cuesheet performance guide

(https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/students/kc-connections) is written to help audiences learn about and enjoy the performance. Please review it together to make sure young theatergoers understand the play and the characters, and discuss the questions and activities (and return to some of them after the show). If time is short, review pages 3 and 12 first, and then try to read pages 6–7 about Mary Anning.

n Discuss visiting the Kennedy Center and how to be good audience members. Take the short virtual tour of the Family Theater (have students especially watch for the spotlights above and on the sides of the stage and think about how lighting might enhance the story): http://www.kennedy-center.org/Pages/VirtualTour/Familytheater

n Brainstorm what the title of the play might mean. Some questions to consider include: What are other ways Dessa might be “buried”? Have you ever heard someone talk about digging up memories or digging up past experiences? How do we “dig” within ourselves to solve a problem or understand something better?

If you have 30 to 60 minutes:n Explore more about Mary Anning. After reading pages 6–7 of the Cuesheet, work with

students to find out more about Mary Anning and discuss why her discoveries might have been overlooked for so long. The BBC television’s Primary History site offers a quick and kid-friendly resource (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/famouspeople/ mary_anning/) and we’ve included other resources at the end of this guide.

n Locate Lyme Regis (Mary Anning’s hometown) and the Jurassic Coast of England on a map or globe. Discuss a few facts: We all might easily associate the name “Jurassic” with the dinosaur movies Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, but the name actually refers to a geologic time period known for large reptiles and dinosaurs (though the large predator Tyrannosaurus rex actually came later).

The coastline of southern England, which includes Mary Anning’s town of Lyme Regis, received that name because it is home to many fossils from the Jurassic period along with two other time periods—in all covering more than 185 million years of Earth’s history. The location also helps people discover the fossils because the waves crashing into the coast erode the dirt, constantly exposing new rocks and finds. Fossil hunters like Mary often rushed to explore the coastline after strong storms caused especially dramatic erosion. For its “outstanding evidence of the natural history of the earth,” the Jurassic Coast was declared a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site (a protected international landmark) in 2001.

3

n Discuss some of the scientific words in the story (see page 5 of the Cuesheet), and help students with some of the trickier pronunciations like hyperbole (hahy-PUR-buh-lee), continuum (kuh n-TIN-yoo-uh m), polemic (puh-LEM-ik), Mesozoic (mez-uh-ZOH-ik), and Pleistocene (PLAHY-stuh-seen). Encourage students to use these words (and add others) as they discuss the performance.

Also review the definition of a “fact” (something that actually exists or is true) and compare that with the word “hyperbole” (obvious exaggeration). Ask why it is important to see through hyperbole and find facts—but also consider whether there are times, as Esther suggests, when a little hyperbole is okay.

After the Show As you leave the theater, explore students’ first impressions of the show with these questions to discuss on the ride back.

n What story did you see being told on stage?

n What are some moments from the play you are still thinking about? Were there times when the story made you laugh? Or feel sad? When?

n How would you describe Dessa, Mary Anning, Esther, and Nilo? In what ways are you similar to one (or more) of these characters?

n What surprised you the most about the performance? Why?

n How did Dessa and Mary use science to solve problems and find answers? How could you use scientific methods to solve problems?

n What was your favorite sound effect? How might you create or record a similar sound?

n Why is it important to learn about people like Mary Anning? What historical person would you like to learn more about?

On the following pages, you’ll find some other questions and extended activities you might explore together with your students.

4

The Story and StorytellingQuestions: Why do you think Dessa felt it was so important that Mary Anning’s portrait be in the natural history museum? What did Mary teach Dessa and Esther? Why was this important? In what ways does our culture favor men over women? What does Dessa mean when she says “topple the patriarchy” and why does Mary find that amusing?

Go Deeper: n Work together with students to summarize the story and its characters and main ideas,

and then write a short review of the play, describing the story, themes, performances, lighting, sets, costumes, and sounds as well as what worked and what didn’t.

n Review metaphors—comparing two unlike things or using an idea of one thing to mean something else, such as “blanket of snow” (comparing snow to a blanket), “bubbly personality” (comparing a personality to a fizzy drink), or “this classroom is a zoo” (your students will probably get this one!). Point out that writers use metaphors as a literary device to help readers and audiences think about things, places, or happenings in a different way or help them imagine a picture (visualizing the snow as a soft blanket covering everything, for example). Next discuss the use of metaphors in Dessa, such as:

• a walking tower of emotion (comparing Esther’s many emotions to a tall building),

• a voice in the bleachers (comparing Dessa’s dad to a cheering fan), and

• a ship in a bottle (comparing Dessa’s dad to a fast ship that can’t go anywhere because it is trapped).

How do these metaphors help you better understand and picture what is happening or what characters are feeling?

n Discuss the play’s biggest metaphor of all, its title. Ask: What does it mean? What two things are being compared? How does the title fit the play? Can you come up with an alternative title?

n Review these lyrics that Esther sings for her commercial about playing cards. Discuss how these words relate to themes of the play. How is playing cards a metaphor for life and how is this song Esther’s reflection on her own situation?

I deal with my right hand,

You deal with your left.

Some cards leave us laughing,

Some leave us… bereft.

But whether I deal with my right hand

Or you deal with your left,

We all play the hand we’ve been dealt.

5

ScienceQuestions: How does scientific thinking help Dessa? Why are fossils important? What do you think it means to “challenge the assumptions,” as Mary advises Esther to do? Do you think Dessa is correct that women still struggle to be scientists and be recognized for their work? How does Nilo come to support Dessa’s mission?

Go Deeper: n Research/discuss the types of fossils that can be found in North America, and choose

one type to further research. Find out when and where the plant or animal lived, how it interacted with its environment, and what it ate or was eaten by. If possible, include photos or sketches of the fossil. Discuss how human interaction with the environment—by activities such as constructing buildings as well as simply searching for fossils—helps reveal fossils that have been preserved in sediment and rock. Standard: Earth’s Systems—Biogeology (ESS2.E)

n Ask students to choose and research a female scientist from history and share their findings with the class, including whether they think the scientist has received proper credit for her work.

TheaterQuestions: What do you think the play would have been like without the songs and sound effects? Discuss how creating a play is a rewarding, creative, collaborative, and exciting way to tell a story (see p. 11 of the Cuesheet). Which jobs on the creative team would you like to do, and why?

Go Deeper: n Brainstorm what the play revealed about history, paleontology, and female scientists.

Imagine that a person from history could visit the present, as Mary does Dessa. Discuss: What do they think that person would tell you? How could that story be told on stage? Standard: Theater—Connecting (CN.11)

n Work with students to identify a sound effect from the play, like a rainstorm, a car crash, or the sounds of digging, and find ways to recreate these sounds using items from home or school. Have students share the sounds with the class.

6

John F. Kennedy Center Citizen ArtistQuestions: President John F. Kennedy (who the Center is named after and who was born 100 years ago in 1917), championed five ideals. One of those is justice, or seeking what is right, fair, and true. How did Digging for Dessa playwright Laura Schellhardt draw attention to the lack of justice for women scientists through history? How does the play try to change that? How does Dessa embody this ideal?

Go Deeper: n Help students identify something in their communities that they believe is not fair or

right. Work with them to come up with ways to help people learn more about the issue or bring about change.

n Discuss all of President Kennedy’s ideals—courage, freedom, justice, service, and gratitude—and how the arts can enrich our society through those ideals. Encourage students to take the Citizen Artist Challenge. Check out:

https://www.kennedy-center.org/jfkc/

https://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/students/kc-connections/festivals/jfkc.aspx

More ResourcesThese resources may help you in creating your own lessons or activities or compiling more information to share with your students.

WebsitesThe National Park Service Junior Paleontologist page (with downloadable activity booklet): https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossils/junior-paleontologist.htm

National Geographic’s Paleontology Encyclopedia:https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/paleontology/

BooksThe Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World (a book chronicling the life of Mary Anning, by Shelly Emling)

7

Articles“Northwestern Faculty Member’s Play to Premiere at The Kennedy Center” (an article about playwright Laura Schellhardt):https://dailynorthwestern.com/2017/10/25/ae/northwestern-faculty-members-play-premiere-kennedy-center/

“Mary Anning” (an overview from the Lyme Regis Museum, also featuring links about the fossils of Lyme Regis):http://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/collection/mary-anning/

“Ten Historic Female Scientists You Should Know” (an overview of some remarkable women scientists and their contributions):https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ten-historic-female-scientists-you-should-know-84028788/

“The 50 Most important Women in Science” (a look at women making contributions to more recent science):http://discovermagazine.com/2002/nov/feat50/

“Ask a Dinosaur Expert” (a Scholastic Teacher’s Guide interview with field paleontologist and marine archaeologist Sue Hendrickson, who discovered a nearly whole Tyrannosaurus rex fossil—named, accordingly, Sue!):http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/dinosaurs/expert/transcript.htm

The National Park Service’s Fossil Day “Frequently Asked Questions” about Fossils:https://www.nps.gov/subjects/fossilday/faq.htm

“Mammoths and Mastodons: All American Monsters” (an article about how discovering these North American fossils became intertwined with early American pride and identity):https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/mammoths-and-mastodons-all-american-monsters-8898672/

“List of U.S. State Fossils”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_fossils

Videos“The Foley Artist” from the Los Angeles Times (a one-minute clip showing a few techniques of the Foley artists):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNvKhe2npMM

“The Magic of Sound: That’s Amazing” (a six-minute video more broadly exploring the use of sound to help tell stories on film):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO3N_PRIgX0

8

David M. Rubenstein Chairman

Deborah F. RutterPresident

Mario R. RosseroSenior Vice PresidentEducation

Additional support for Digging Up Dessa is provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Funding for Access and Accommodation Programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts and the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts.

The contents of this Cuesheet have been developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education. You should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

© 2018 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts