Worksheet #4

810 Lake Grove Ct.
San Diego, CA 92131-8112
12/1/2009



Ms. Barbara Knight
2010 Rosewood Pl.
Riverside, CA 92506-6528

Dear Barbara

Can you believe that we will be in London in less than three months? London is one of my favorite places to visit.

I’ve done some checking on London’s theatres. Do any of the three plays I’ve listed below interest you? If so, let me know, and I’ll make the arrangements.

Les Miserables: Story revolves around nineteenth-century French Revolution with its struggles, passion, and love.

Starlight Miserables: Musical be Andrew Lloyd Weber with lyrics by Richard Stilgoe.

Les Miserables is being performed at the Palace Theatre, Amadeus at the Old Vic, and Starlight Express at the Apollo Victoria. The Palace Theatre and The Old Vic were both built in the 1800s.

I’ve confirmed our reservations at the Copthorne Tara. If there is anything else that you would like me to check, let me know.

Sincerely



Jessica C. Holloway



Jw


THEATRE



Tonight the house lights will din and another performance will begin on Broadway. Perhaps it will be another performance of Cats, a play that had accumulated 7,225 performances as of January 23, 2000. Or perhaps it will be the play that replaces Cats.

Somewhere, sometime today, another enactment of one of Shakespeare’s plays will take place. It may be in a high school auditorium, or it may be at a professional Shakespearean playhouse.

Theatre has enriched the lives of people for many years. No one really knows when the first play production was performed. However, historians say, “Theatre is as old as mankind. There have been primitive forms of it since man’s beginnings.” (Berthold, 1991, 1) The more commonly recognized form of theatre, the plat, dates back to what is referred to as “Greek Theatre” and “Roman Theatre.”

Greek Theatre

Greek Theatre started around 500 B.C. Sophocles and Aristophanes are two of the well-known Greek playwrights whose works are still being performed today.

Religious festivals that honored the Greek god of wine and fertility (Dionysus) were part of the culture of Greece around this time. The Greeks felt that if they honored Dionysus, he would in turn bless them with many children, rich land, and abundant crops. Plays were performed as part of these festivals.

To accommodate the large number of people who attend the plays (as many as 14,000 to 17,000 people, according to historians), theaters were built into a hillside. The plays were staged in the morning and lasted until sunset, since there was no electricity for lighting. (Prince and Jackson, 19997, 35)

Roman Theatre

The Roman Theatre was the next widely recognized form of the theatre. The first Roman theatrical performance, historians believe, was performed around 365 B.C. Seneca, Plautus, and Terentius are the best known of the early Roman playwrights. Seneca was known for his tragedies, while the other two were known for their comedies.
The Roman plays were similar to those of the Greeks. Unlike the Greeks, however, the Romans did not limit the number of actors in each play. Another major difference between the Greek and Roman theatres was the theatre buildings. The Romans were great engineers and architects. They built theatres that were unified, freestanding structures several stories high. (Prince and Jackson, 1997, 44)


































AMERICAN LITERATURE - 1900’S
Literature
Author
A Rose for Emily (1930)
William Faulkner
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
John Steinbeck
The Scotty Who Knew Too Much (1940)
James Thurber
House Make of Dawn (1968)
N. Scotty Momaday
Everyday Use (1973)
Alice Walker
The Wife’s Story (1932)
Ursula K. Le Guin
I Ask Me Mother to Sing ( 1986)
Li-Young Lee
The Phone Booth at the Corner (1989)
Juan Delgado





























183 Lennox St.
Portland, ME 04103-5282
12/1/2009



Ms. Suzzanne Hamlin, President
Portland Historical Society
1821 Island View Rd.
Portland, ME 04107-3712

After doing research on possible historical destinations for our Annual Portland Historical Society trip, I narrowed our choices to the Hildene House in Manchester, Vermont, and The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island. The Hildene House was built in 1902 for Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln; The Breakers was built for Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1895.
I met with our planning committee yesterday to share the information I was able to obtain. After discussing the merits of both places, our recommendation is The Beakers for this year’s trip. Even though we liked both places, the committee felt that many of our members would have already visited the Hildene House since it is so close to Portland.
I’ve attached some information on The Beakers. As soon as I receive the additional information I requested about expenses. I will send it to you. You should have it in plenty of time for the June meeting.