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Work
Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright
by Eric Simonson and Jeffery Hatcher
March 8 - March 30, 2002
Work Song documents the long life of legendary architect Frank Lloyd
Wright (1867-1959) as he evolves from apprentice to American icon.
Through shifts in time and place, playwrights Hatcher and Simonson
have woven a rich, well-rounded story of this complicated, tenacious
maverick who pursued his artistic vision whatever the personal costs.
The play offers a rich examination of forces and events, including
Wright's unconventional social thinking and artistic vision,
his troubled relationship with his mentor Louis Sullivan, a marriage
strained by financial troubles, the creation of the Taliesin Fellowship,
betrayal by a trusted employee, and the creation of Wright's
masterpiece of domestic design, Falling Water. Examples of Wright's
architecture and drawings are projected throughout the play.
Teachers of art, design, American history, social studies, mathematics,
and architecture will find that Work Song offers a variety of material
to provoke writing and discussion: the role of architecture in our
daily environments; the characteristic trademarks of Wright's
esthetic and the development of the "Prairie Style"; the
creative process of invention; the effects of work on family life
and personal relationships; and the role of mentors, patrons, and
rivals. Kansas City lays claim to a 1940s Wright building, the Kansas
City Christian Community Church at 4601 Main Street. In Wichita, Kansas,
one can find other Wright works at the Wichita State University College
of Education (1957) and the Henry Allen Residence (1915).
Recommended for High School and older students.
Student matinee: Wednesday, March 20, 2002, 10:30am
Joe Turner's Come and Gone
by August Wilson
May 3 - May 26, 2002
In Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Tony-award winning
playwright August Wilson tells the story of Herald Loomis, a black farmer who was captured by a bounty hunter as he sought to move north to a new life and compelled to work incommunicado for seven years on a
Tennessee plantation. After his long forced labor, Loomis appears at a Pittsburgh boarding house in search of his wife, who he mistakenly thinks has abandoned him. He seeks to rebuild his family and to create a life
that he can truly understand and possess. In Loomis and in other characters, the playwright reveals the disorientation suffered by African Americans in the northern hubs of new migration following the turn of the century – especially by those who left the rural South in search of factory jobs. Escaped from the outer chains of Joe Turner, Loomis comes to learn that he must turn inward to find his own place in the world.
Teachers of civics, sociology, history, literature, psychology, and African-American studies will find this play evocative of a variety of themes for writing and discussion: the relationship between
self-identity and cultural identity; racism and post-Civil War laws of segregation; the roles of family, community, and religion in black American life; mysticism and Christianity in the African-American community;
urban identity and survival; the lingering effects of slavery; and the reclamation of personal heritage. Teachers may also wish to compare Joe Turner's Come and Gone to Wilson's Fences, a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that explores African-American experiences in the 1950s.
Recommended for Middle, High School and older students.
Student matinee: Thursday, May 9 and 16, 2002, 10:30am
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