RL.6.1 — Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. This show is presented through both text and mime. There are numerous opportunities to infer the action or emotion of the story from the mime and movement information in the living text. For example, at the end of the play, the shrinking box is used as a metaphor for the mental blocks that the character faces, and he manipulates the box as he describes how he can change his life. There is both verbal and non-verbal evidence that must be inferred in order to understand the central theme of the show. RL.7.2 — Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. The central theme of this play is described in one of the closing monologues. Mime action supports the text. Worksheet #5 in the study-guide asks the students to interpret what the walls represent, where they came from and what it means that Trent manipulates them. Given a transcript of the text, students are asked to describe in their own words the theme of the play. RL.8.3 — Analyze how particular lines of dialogue of incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision. Worksheet #2 in the study-guide allows students to fill in a graphic organizer that outlines plot development through the events of the story. This will help students to see how conflict and rising action leads to a climax and resolution.  

This show has many obvious tie-ins to language arts and theatre, but I think, more uniquely, it serves as a model for exploring the Guidance issues of self-awareness and personal responsibility. This show helps students examine influences on them from significant adults, peers, pop culture, media and technology. It encourages students to explore the nature of relationships with others, their values, the consequences of their choices, and how they respond to pressures around them. Guidance RED.CR.1 — Understand the meaning and importance of career self-awareness and career goals. This show contrasts my search for a “rewarding” career versus a “respectable” career. It is an inspirational story, in that I was finally able to muster the vision and courage necessary to follow a non-traditional career path. This occurred only when I became more self-aware, and began to take responsibility for my own success. Guidance EEE.CR.2 — Understand the relationship among career goals and interests, personal interests, aptitudes, and abilities. This show recounts failed attempts at two different career trajectories for which I was interested, but had no real aptitude. It also traces my endeavors in pre-med for which I had the aptitude, but no real interest. Eventually I found a career path for which I had both the ability and the enthusiasm to pursue. Guidance RED. CR.3 — Understand the relationship among personal and academic decisions, career expectations, and future life decisions. I struggled with conflicts, both internal and external, in my search for a career. Ultimately I realized that these conflicts were really of my own making — my own mental blocks — and that with a positive attitude, I was able to integrate my conflicting desires and make good choices, even if they involved some risk. This discovery has led to a four-decade career that has given me personal success and satisfaction in ways that I recount in the show.