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1 This section is part of a full New Victory School Tool TM Resource Guide. For the complete guide, including information about the New Victory Education Department check out: NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOLS COMMON CORE STANDARDS Reading: 1; 7 Writing: 3; 4 Speaking and Listening: 1; 2; 4; 6 Language: 1; 2; 3 NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS The Arts: 1; 3; 4 ELA: 1; 4 BLUEPRINT FOR THE ARTS Theater: Theater Making; Developing Theater Literacy; Making Connections THE NEW VICTORY THEATER / NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOLS 7

2 SYNOPSIS Charlie Ashanti, a boy who can speak to cats, comes home one day to find that his parents have disappeared. Rafi, who works for the Corporacy, a company that manufactures prescription drugs, attempts to kidnap Charlie, but Charlie manages to escape. Lost and alone, he befriends Sergei, a cat who was genetically modified by the Corporacy to make people suffer from allergies. Soon after, Charlie heads out to sea to look for his parents. He joins a circus ship where he is able to speak to the lions on board and is dubbed "Lionboy". When the ship arrives in Paris, Rafi comes to the show to try and capture Charlie, but Charlie and the lions escape on the train, the Orient Express. Knowing he needs to bring the lions to safety before he can rescue his parents, Charlie and the lions take off in a hot air balloon and wind up in a jungle, where the lions are reunited with their families. Charlie says goodbye and is continuing his journey when he hears a knocking from within a tin he was given aboard the circus boat. Inside the tin he finds Ninu, a chameleon who absorbs languages. The two of them then run into Sergei, who tells them that Charlie's parents are imprisoned inside the Corporacy. Charlie sends Ninu to break into the Corporacy's hard drive so they can shut down the company. Will Charlie and Ninu save Charlie's parents and succeed in bringing down the Corporacy...? THE NEW VICTORY THEATER / NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOLS 8

3 ACTIVITY 1: BREAKING NEWS! ***Note: This activity is inspired by Complicite s classroom teacher resource, KIDNAPPED*** Charlie Ashanti s parents have been kidnapped! Give your students the basic facts of the story and then have them act as news reporters, telling them to give the exclusive scoop on this event. 1. Inform your students that the parents of a kid by the name of Charlie Ashanti have been kidnapped. Charlie s not from this time, he s from the future. He lives on Earth, in a world that looks similar to our own, but with some marked differences. There is an increase in the Earth s average temperature and oil (i.e. petroleum) is scarce, so people must use alternative energy in their everyday lives. 2. Give your students the following facts about Charlie and his parents: a. Charlie s from London, England. b. Charlie is 10-years-old. c. Charlie can speak to cats. While on a trip to Africa with his parents when he was younger, Charlie s blood became mixed with a leopard cub s blood, and ever since, he has been able to talk to cats of all kinds. d. Charlie has severe asthma. e. Charlie s parents are scientists who do very important research. f. Charlie came home one day to find his parents missing. A boy named Rafi, who works for an organization called the Corporacy, is after him. The Corporacy is a large corporation which sells pharmaceutical drugs, including the drug used to help alleviate asthma. 3. Next, assign your students to break the news! First, ask your students what they think makes a good news story. Some key things to mention are that a good live news story is short, the voice is active and it contains as many facts and as much information as possible. 4. Put students into groups of four and have them answer the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How, of the news event. If the group is unable to answer any of these aspects of the story, they should proclaim the information to be inconclusive and under investigation. 5. Have your students shape the story. Ask them to figure out why this story needs to be broken and what it means to the public. Ask them to convey this through their live report. 6. When presenting, two students can take on the roles of news anchors, while the other two can be the interview subjects (neighbors, employees of the Corporacy, etc.) 7. Present the breaking news! REFLECTION QUESTIONS We all started with the same facts. How and why were the new stories we shared different? Have you ever noticed differences in how the same news story is broken by various news stations? Do you remember specific examples? What do you think happened to Charlie s parents? Why? THE NEW VICTORY THEATER / NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOLS 9

4 ACTIVITY 2: (DYSTOPIAN) CLASS PICTURE DAY is set in a dystopian future. The world is hot, oil (i.e. petroleum) is almost non-existent and there is a widespread asthma epidemic. The rules of this world are irrational and magical. Design a dystopian world with your class using the activity below. Then, decide what YOU would look like in this world and take a picture of your future selves. 1. Ask your students what dystopia means. Contrast this term with utopia. 2. Ask your students if they have ever read or seen any dystopian novels or movies (i.e. Hunger Games, Divergent, Legend, Brave New World, etc.). Ask, What is common about these stories? What are the rules of these worlds? 3. Inform your students that they will create a new dystopia. Facilitate the brainstorm with the following questions: a. What do you think are the biggest problems in our world today? b. (Choose one problem of focus) What if one of those problems grows exponentially and affects the world at large? What would the world look like? c. Who or what has the power in this new world? Why? d. How do people survive in this world? Where do they live? What do they eat? What do they wear? e. Let s focus on New York City (or your hometown). What would the streets of New York City look like? Who would live here? Would it still be called New York City? f. Are there any safe places in our dystopia? What are they like? g. What is our sign of hope in this new dystopia? 4. Next, ask your students what their classroom is like in this dystopia. Direct the class to make adjustments to the room to reflect what it would look like in this new dystopia. 5. Give your students 5 minutes to transform themselves to fit this new world. For example, have them switch the direction of their clothing, change their hair style, and decorate themselves with interesting "jewelry" or accessories. 6. Take a class picture as your dystopian selves! REFLECTION QUESTIONS Why do you think people regularly write and perform dystopian stories? Do you think our dystopia could ever come true? Do you think that if our dystopia came true, the world and humanity would continue to live on? THE NEW VICTORY THEATER / NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOLS 10

5 NEW VICTORY THEATER CREATIVITY PAGE tend you are the ruler of a by imagining your own, pre or ss cla the by d ate cre ia ster of yourself for the Either using the dystop then draw a promotional po and low be s ion est qu the dystopian world. Answer world to see. What s your name? r? How did you come into powe panies port you? Are there any com Who are the people that sup ect What do your supporters exp in exchange for their loyalt that are sponsoring you? y to you? t cities, in hom ster to be hung throughou Draw your promotional po highways across the world. ys and es, on buildings and in subwa