Performance Notes for White Tiger THREE WAYS THAT STUDENTS AND TEACHERS CAN UTILIZE THIS PLAY 1. Students can read the play aloud while sitting in the classroom. Ask the readers to skip all bracketed stage directions. You may prefer to rotate your actors to give all students a chance to read the speaking parts. 2. Students can perform the play in the classroom. Clear an area that can be used as the stage. Have the audience sit on the floor in front of the stage. Students in the play can make simple costumes and/or sets as described below. When the scene change, the characters "on stage" simply walk to the back of the room where they wait until their next appearance "on stage." 3. Students can perform the play on stage. Refer to the production notes that follow. Ask the actors to enter from the back of the room and move through the audience as they approach the stage. COSTUMES KI Modest plain clothing, such as tan pants and white shirt, with a warm fur-like coat overtop, and a fur hat. This does not have to be real fur, and can be some type of faux-fur or any fuzzy material. You can make the fur hat by starting with a regular baseball hat and covering it with the fur-like material. MOTHER Any sort of dull-coloured kimono or kimono-like garment. FATHER Similar to Kim, but with a big beard to show age. 1
WHITE TIGER The White Tiger is portrayed with a pair of actors under a white tiger-print sheet with a large cardboard cut out of a tiger head as the face. It is operated similar to a Chinese dragon / lion costume the body sways and moves while the head remains largely still. The actor playing Father is one of the actors beneath the sheet, so that he can be pulled from it when the tiger is slain. You can use this link, but just substitute the colors and the face for those of the white tiger: http://www.instructables.com/id/quick-easy-chinese-parade-dragon/ 1. For example, a simplified version of this KWANG All gray with dog ears. Optional: Face paint, to look like a gray dog. INNKEEPER Dull, simple clothes and an apron. HAG Brown or gray rags, with a gray wig and a hooded cloak or sweater. CHUN A shiny, though somewhat tattered, dress. 2
PROPS Scene 1 False gun for FATHER, made from plastic or cardboard. False gun for KI, made from plastic or cardboard. Jug with a detachable handle for KWANG to hold up and KI to shoot. This can be made of cardboard. Cut the shape of a jug from cardboard and paint it white, then cut the handle off of the jug. Use Velcro to make the handle attachable/detachable. When KI shoots the handle off, KWANG can just pull the handle off. Scene 2 A needle for KWANG to hold up and KI to shoot. This can just be imaginary, or you can make an oversized needle from cardboard. For the latter, the needle must have a detachable eye. Cut the shape of a needle from cardboard, and cut out the eye. Paint the needle black or gray. Cut the needle in half, at the eye, and use Velcro to hold the pieces together. When KI shoots the eye, KWANG pulls the pieces apart. Rice balls for INNKEEPER to give to KI. These can be represented by scrunched up white paper with some black tape around it. 2. An example of rice balls 3
Scene 3 Rice balls, same ones as in previous scene. SETS If you have a backdrop it can be painted a light blue with a few white clouds to show a clear sky, with trees in the foreground and mountains in the distance. Scene 1 Ki s Home. Create an interior wall of a log cabin. This can be a long piece of cardboard painted to resemble a log cabin wall. The wall can be braced with chairs, stools, milk crates, or other sturdy objects, so that it can stand freely. You can also paint a window into the wall, showing the mountains and snow in the background outside. You can have cardboard cut outs of animal heads stuck in various places on the wall. These can be medium sized and colourful depictions of various creatures. Heads can be made the same way the WHITE TIGER head is made (See Costume Notes) and glued or taped to the cardboard wall. Creating these can be a fun session for children involved in the play or otherwise. In front of the wall there is a small table and on the table is a jug (see prop notes for instructions on making the jug). Scene 2 Village Inn. STAGE HANDS remove the table and interior wall and bring on the entrance to the inn. This can be made form a tall piece of cardboard, such as a refrigerator box. Paint it to look like the outside wall of a log cabin. Paint a door in the middle with a sign that says INN. The wall can be braced with chairs, stools, milk crates, or other sturdy objects, so that it can stand freely. Or, you can use an empty refrigerator box, painted on all sides to resemble the outside of a cabin, with a door painted in the front and a sign that says INN. STAGE HANDS also lay a white sheet out on the ground at the far front of the stage to simulate snow. Scene 3 Mountaintop. STAGE HANDS remove the entrance to the inn and bring on cardboard cut out fir trees. For each fir tree, draw and cut the same shape twice. Slit one fir down the middle, starting at the top and stopping about 6 inches from the bottom. Slit the other fir at the bottom, starting at the base and going up about 6 inches. The one tree will slide into the other, the two shapes being perpendicular to 4
each other. Paint green. See images for example: A) B) B slides over on top of A STAGE HANDS also bring on a mountain peak. To make the mountain peak, stack several short boxes in a staircase-like pile and glue together. Cover with a white sheet or cloth, gluing or taping it down to the boxes. 5