The Arkansaw Bear - A One-Act Play

The Arkansaw Bear - A One-Act Play In The Arkansaw Bear, Tish, a little girl, is upset over the impending death of her beloved grandfather. Her mother and great aunt, both voiceover roles, do not want her to see her grandfather dying in a hospital bed. She runs away from them and reaches a beautiful tree where she makes a wish on a star called Star Bright. Star Bright arranges for Tish to meet two members of a traveling circus- a Mime and the World’s Greatest Dancing Bear. The Bear is old and fleeing from something neither Tish nor the Mime can see. It turns out that The Ringmaster, an incarnation of death, is searching for the World’s Greatest Dancing Bear to take him to the â€Å"center ring.† Together the characters learn that death does not have to be final. The skills and stories that one generation passes on to the next, generation after generation, become a form of immortality. Aurand Harris (1915-1996) was a prolific children’s playwright. He specialized in tackling difficult topics, such as the death of a loved one in The Arkansaw Bear, and discussing those topics on stage. His characters use gentle language and many of his productions notes are about making costumes, sets, and lighting non-threatening. For example, a lighting note in The Arkansas Bear is, â€Å"Never is the stage dark, eerie, or frightening.† For the Mime character, he notes, â€Å"He is not in white face, but his face is natural, friendly, and expressive.† In the notes in his 29-page play, Harris instructs directors that there should be no masks or grotesque make-up. The young audience members should find the whole experience a welcoming, gentle, and encouraging place. Harris’s does not want a child’s fear of and confusion about death compounded with a scary mask or dark stage. Setting: Somewhere in Arkansas Time: The present Cast Size: This play can accommodate 6 actors plus 3 voiceover roles. Male Characters: 5* Female Characters: 1 Female Voiceover Roles: 2 Characters that may be played by either males or females: 3* *The script denotes the male roles as him/he, but it may be possible to have females play the roles of Star Bright, The Ring Master, or Mime. Roles Tish is a little girl who is confused and frightened for her grandfather. She is his â€Å"chip off the old block.† She is seeking a way to make peace with this major event in her life. Star Bright is the first star out in the night. He takes pride in granting wishes. Sometimes he must be subtle about granting the wish, as in helping Tish see that she keeps her grandfather alive by being his chip off the old block. Sometimes he can grant a wish through sheer power as when he traps death in a tree until the World’s Greatest Dancing Bear can teach all his dances to Little Bear. Mime is the friend and assistant of the World’s Greatest Dancing Bear. He speaks no words but is understood by everyone. He is sad to see his best friend go to the center ring and to know that Tish is losing her grandfather, but he is determined to help them both through to the end. World’s Greatest Dancing Bear is the descendant of a prima ballerina bear from Spain and his father was Russia’s greatest dancing bear. He has earned medals for his dancing and has danced for presidents and royalty all over the world. He is scared of The Ringmaster/death but more scared of seeing his life’s work disappear. The Ring Master is a grand figure. He is not evil or biased in any way. He even allows the group a few spare hours to train Little Bear. In the end, he has a show to put on and it is the World’s Greatest Dancing Bear’s cue. Little Bear is a young bear that has lost both his father and grandfather. His mother has urged him to keep on living since that is the best way to say goodbye to loved ones. He agrees to learn the older bear’s dances in order to honor all of his loved ones and become The Arkansaw Bear. Voiceovers: Mother, Aunt Ellen, Announcer Content Issues: Death In this video, see some clips of a production that used child actors. The Arkansaw Bear and many of Aurand Harris’s other plays may be ordered through Dramatic Publishing. It can also be found in the book, Theatre for Youth: Twelve Plays with Mature Themes, edited by Coleman A. Jennings and Gretta Berghammer.

Mothers Who Kill Their Children

Mothers Who Kill Their Children The nation is always shocked by criminal cases such as Andrea Yates, a mother of five who methodically drowned her children in a bathtub then calmly called the police to report it, but mothers who kill their children is a more common crime than we might think. According to the American Anthropological Association, more than 200 women kill their children in the United States each year. Three to five children a day are killed by their parents. Homicide is one of the leading causes of death of children under age four, Yet we continue to persist with the unrealistic view that this is rare behavior, says Jill Korbin, an expert on child abuse, who has studied at length about mothers who killed their children. We should detach from the idea of universal motherhood as natural and see it as a social response, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, medical anthropologist says. Theres a collective denial even when mothers come right out and say, I really shouldnt be trusted with my kids. The three major factors that often play a role when mothers have killed their children are - postpartum psychosis, psychotic breakdowns brought on by factors such as jealousy and abandonment and domestic violence. Postpartum Depression and Postpartum Psychosis Postpartum depression is a common problem that can occur within four weeks of delivery of a baby. It can affect both mothers and fathers, although only a small percentage of fathers experience it. Common symptoms include depression, feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, fear, guilt, the inability to bond with the new baby, and a feeling of worthlessness. If left untreated, it can lead to postpartum psychosis. Postpartum psychosis is much more severe and dangerous. Symptoms include extreme insomnia, obsessive behavior, and auditory hallucinations where voices instruct the mother to commit suicide or to mutilate and/or murder her child/children. Often the mother believes such acts will save the child from a life of misery. Psychotic Breakdowns In some cases, children are murdered as a result of the mother experiencing a psychotic breakdown brought on by an intense feeling of abandonment and jealousy in cases where the father of the children has left the home. In some cases, the need to seek revenge overtakes reason. A look at the roles of women who are currently on death row, and the crimes that put them there, shows that women who kill their children are indeed not as rare as we would like to believe. Patricia Blackmon was 29 years old when she killed her 2-year-old adopted daughter in Dothan, AL in May 1999. Kenisha Berry at age 20, covered her 4-day-old son with duct tape resulting in his death. Debra Jean Milke was 25 when she killed her 4-year-old son in Arizona in 1989. Dora Luz Durenrostro killed her two daughters, age 4 and 9, and her son, age 8 when she was 34 years old in San Jacinto, California in 1994. Caro Socorro was 42 years old when she killed her three sons, ages 5, 8 and 11, in Santa Rosa Valley, California in 1999. Susan Eubanks murdered her four sons, ages 4, 6, 7 and 14, in San Marcos, California, in 1996 when she was 33. Caroline Young was 49 in Haywood, California when she killed her 4-year-old granddaughter and 6-year-old grandson. Robin Lee Row was 35 years old when she killed her husband, her 10-year-old son and her 8-year-old daughter in Boise, Idaho in 1992. Michelle Sue Tharp was 29 years old in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania when she killed her 7-year-old daughter. Frances Elaine Newton was 21 when she murdered her husband, 7-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter in Houston, Texas. Update: Frances Elaine Newton was executed on September 14, 2005. Darlie Lynn Routier was 26 in Rowlett, Texas when she was convicted of killing her 5-year-old son. Teresa Michelle Lewis killed her 51-year-old husband and 26-year-old stepson in Keeling, Virgina when she was 33 years old. Korbin said that there are usually clues that are obvious to those who are around parents who end up killing their children. Prior to a homicide, lots of lay people know these men and women are having difficulty parenting. The public has to be better educated in recognizing how to intervene and how to support child abuse prevention, she said.