Educators Packet

-The Shape of Things was written by Neil LaBute in 2001 in the english language. It has a total of four main characters consisting of two male and two female roles.

-The story centers around the main character, Adam, who is a student at a liberal arts college. His life changes dramatically when he meets a young woman named Evelyn. She is an art major working on her final project and the two quickly hit it off. With the passing of time it soon becomes apparent that Evelyn is changing Adam's appearance by using simple suggestions knowing how much he cares for her. Things get worst as Adam's best friend, Phillip, ends up hating Evelyn and her feeling the same way about Phillip. Soon Evelyn has Adam choose between his best friend Phillip and his fiancee Jenny. In the end Adam is a changed man without his friends and without his love because of his blind love that he had for Evelyn who puts fourth a fake connection with him to complete her project.

-Brief Bio Of Author- LaBute was originally a playwright. He attended Brigham Young University and took theater as his major. Many say that Pulitzer-Prize winner David Mamet was a strong influence on him. He chose to attack subjects that many don't really want to talk about and showed the way that people really talk amongst themselves. His piece entitled "Filthy Talk for Troubled Times" featured two guys just sitting around and making small talk and ridiculing homosexuals and their ways, in a manner not unlike the conversations in his In the Company of Men (1997). The play was not, unsurprisingly, a hit with the critics.After LaBute graduated from the University of Kansas and New York University, he got a scholarship to London's Royal Court Theatre in the US in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. Then he got into cinema. He made his films like his plays: just characters talking and revealing how evil, scared, ignorant, wounded, delusional, disillusioned and cynical they are.
'http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001438/bio'

-The Shape of Things opened in London in 2001. From there it went to New York and from there made its appearence in film.

-"Neil La Bute's The Shape of Things, about the cruel games a more powerful partner can play with a smitten weaker one, had a successful run in London's West End. It has arrived for a limited stay in midtown Manhattan at the Off-Broadway Promenade with the director, actors and designers in place. The main update in the credits below are the theater address and performance schedule. The story is as deliberately and disturbingly attention grabbing as ever. The performances remain outstanding. Paul Rudd is downright amazing in the things he does to make us accept his Adam as shapeless lump, the loser who doesn't ever get the pretty girl -- a shy college boy ripe to be seduced and transformed by the play's Eve, here called Evelyn. (Just in case you miss the metaphoric implications of the name, there's a scene when Eve bites into a juicy red apple). Rachel Weisz is properly chilling as the villain of the piece and her outfits, courtesy of Lynette Meyer, are the ultimate in chic à la thrift shop boutiques -- a dress and coat in clashing greens and prints being particularly memorable. Gretchen Mol and Frederick Weller are no mere secondary characters but add to the complications of relationships and issues of control and art that LaBute addresses. " - Elyse Sommer-
-www.curtainup.com-
The following game is a game that the class should play before attending this play. Take the key points in the following example and change them to modern day art. What is it? What makes it special? Is there ever a time when the artist crosses the line in how he or she presents people they may or may not know.

-Ask your teen what issues he's passionate about. Chances are there is something in his community, his nation or the world that has him fired up. It doesn't have to be world peace or funding the cure for cancer. Your teen can start small, as long as it's something which resonates with him. Maybe he's sick of getting busted for skateboarding downtown and wants to see his municipal government invest in a skate park. Instill in him that there is a way to make a difference, it just takes a bit of work. Encourage your teen to:
Find out everything she possibly can about the issue from all sides. There's no way to argue her position if she doesn't do the research. Following the skate park example, get a copy of the town budget. If she can point out that $3,000 was spent this year on repairing turf for the football field, it can be used later as leverage.
Find out the right governmental body with which to raise the issue: Is it town council? The planning commission? The mayor's office? Attend a meeting of town officials to present the issue when they open the floor to the public.
Start a petition. It may be hard-work, but it's also quite literally a hands-on lesson in the democratic process.
-http://www.freechild.org/politics.htm-

- Questions for the director-
1) What key points of the script are you trying to touch on?
2) What type of music are you looking for?
3) Are you setting it in present day or just modern times?
4) What type of clothing? T-Shirts, Jeans, shirt and tie, Athletic clothing...ect?
5) Will there be nudity?