Study Guide for Fish and the Ring
The Centre Theater at the Montgomery County Cultural Center

Part 1: Folktales

What is a folktale?

Folktales are prose narratives that are regarded as fiction…may be set in any time and any place.

A good definition for children is this: A folktale is a story told by adults to their children over many generations to teach a history of their people or to teach the children how to behave.

People like folktales because they allow one to fantasize about a fictional world. In some cultures, there is often a moral lesson to the tale. But people don’t mind hearing the lesson because folktales provide enjoyment and chance to dream about magical things.

People told folktales long before there were books, newspapers or televisions. Folktales were a way to bring news from one village to the next. These stories helped people learn and understand the customs of their village. Folktales also explained the wonders of nature, like thunderstorms and phases of the moon.

Folktales tell a lot about the peoples who invent them. They are told over and over and they change with each retelling. Each storyteller breathes a different life into a story. The storyteller is always making choices, where to begin, where to end, where to add a dash of humor or a sprinkling of suspense. It is like a big story stew!

Fish and the Ring

Fish and the Ring is an English folktale. The story that you will read will differ a little from the play that you will see. The play is an adaptation of the folktale and the adapter made some changes to be able to make it more interesting to the audience. The play will tell the same story but with additional characters to interact with the audience.

The play Fish and the Ring is about choices, and how these choices affect the future. Every day you make choices. Your decisions help decide what happens to you. You can choose to play kickball, or sit on a bench and read a book. Some choices are easy to make, but some choices are much harder. Your everyday decisions help shape your future. What are some of the choices that you’ve made recently? Were they easy or were they hard choices? What would or could happen if you made a different choice? After the performance you can decide about the choices made by the Baron, Isabella and Sivio.

Are there lessons to learn from some of the choices that were made?

The Characters and the Actors

The characters in this production are: Esmerelda, the storyteller, who is a fortuneteller. Silvio is the young man and Isabella is the young girl. The Baron is the father of Silvio. You will also meet some additional characters that will add the comedic part of the play.

Esmerlda is portrayed by Stephanie Carr. Stephanie has been working in family theater since her graduation from the University of the Arts in 1996. She has been a member of both the New Jersey State Aquarium’s Drama Gills Troupe and the Philadelphia Zoo’s Treehouse Troupe. Stephanie has also been seen as Violinda, the Good Witch of the South Bronx, in Burlington County Footlighters’ The Wizard of Oz and puppeteering her way through roles during Mum Puppettheatre’s 1999 season. How, she is spending her time running the Deep Sleep overnight program at the NJ Aquarium.

Silvio will be played by Mike Flynn. He is happy to be working on the premier production of the Centre Theater’s Children’s Company. He has worked recently with Walnut Street Theater, the Arden Theatre Company, and People’s Light and Theatre Company. Mike is also a member of the Drama Gills at the NJ State Aquarium. You can find Mike singing in Olde City during the summertime with the colonial quartet, The Libertytones.

Michael Drzik will play all the comedic parts in the play. He is a resident actor in the Theater for Young Audiences program at the Westmont Theater Company. He also has acted and directed for the Children’s Theater Project at Foundation Theatre, both in New Jersey.

Playing the Baron will be Nick Sano. He is also pleased to be a part of Fish and the Ring. He has performed with Foundation Theatre and Glassboro Children’s theatre, working under the noted playwright Dr. Joseph Robinette. He has directed Fabulous Fable Factory for the Maple Shade Players, and is currently directing Rumplestiltskin for Burlington County Footlighters. He teaches a theatre program through South Jersey for Shoestring Players.

Isabella will be played by Kerri Sullivan. Kerri is a recent graduate of the University of the Arts. She has worked for the Arden Theatre Company and the Westmont Theatre. She also works as a Phanstormer for the Philadelphia Phillies, entertaining fans during home games. Kerri is a member of the Drama Gills at the NJ State Aquarium.

Jason Stockdale is the director of this production. Jason has been active in family theatre for his entire career. He has worked with Storybook Musical Theatre, Foundation Theatre’s Children’s Theatre Project and Glassboro Summer Children’s Theatre. Recently, he has performed as Arlecchino in Commedia for Kids with Vagabond Acting Troupe and understudied the role of Harold in Bunnicula at Arden Theatre Company. He has also worked at Philadelphia Zoo, and with the Philadelphia Phillies. Jason is a founding member of Mooncalves, and is a company member at the NJ State Aquarium.

Interesting Vocabulary

Baron fortunes fate change

signs symbols shadow fortuneteller

wits estate prospect afloat

mending swaddled horoscope eager

commotion shame altered delay

intention promised oath recovered

enormous created custom consent

Interesting phrases

extremely well versed meet it head on shadow passed over his face

pulled his wits about him lowering his eyes was in tears

bind her oath man doffed his woolen hat

Folktale Activities for Classrooms

Folktale Stories on tour: Have students practice retelling folktales, either ones they have read or listened to or ones they have made up in their classroom. They can practice telling the tales in the classroom. When students feel confident, they can then take their tales to other classrooms.

Folktale telling festival: This project could last for a week, a month or as long as you can keep the story going with creativity and interesting results. Begin a story and tell it to a crucial point. Stop telling the story. The next day someone adds on to the story. The following day this continues. The class can decide how many days they want to keep up the story and when they want to complete it. A variation of this could be to begin a story and stop at a crucial point. The next day finish that story and begin a new one and repeat this pattern.

Folktale Treasure Hunt: The class selects a well-known folktale. The plot is simplified into a sequence of events that can be transcribed on cards with short sections of the tale on each. Students hide the cards out of sequence throughout the classroom. A treasure map showing the exact location where all the cards are hidden is given to the group that did not hide the cards with clues as to where to find the first card. Each card would lead to a new card to put the story in the right sequence. When all the cards are found the group that found them can retell the story.

Story Circle: One person begins a tale and stops after a few sentences. The next person picks up the story thread and continues it, then stops. Next person adds to it and so on until the tale comes to a resolution. The story could begin with a pre-selected title or subject to guide the improvisation. Try recording the story circle for later listening.

Part 2: After the Production

Reflective discussions encourage students to think and talk about what they have observed, heard or read. Initiate a discussion that requires the students to reflect upon their experience at the theater. As the students recreate the event they clarify their thoughts and feelings.

Discuss the play: Compare the story that was read prior to the play experience with the play. How was it the same? How was it different? Use the suggestions below to initiate discussion.

Discuss the characters: Who did you like, didn’t like and why

Discuss the setting: Where did the story take place?

What was the time: olden, modern, in the future?

What was the problem: Did the Baron have a problem? Silvio, Isabella?

What caused the trouble: greed, anger, foolishness, naivety, being too proud

What could aid the solution: courage, resourcefulness, imagination, generosity, cooperation

Did they make choices: good ones, bad ones

Solution: is rescued, is transformed, finds magic, helps self,

Conclusion: Returns to original setting in a new way? Is rewarded, wiser, transformed, comes with gift or treasure?

End: lives well, passes luck or reward on to others, offers wisdom

Other Activities

Draw a picture of the play

Make a puppet character

Make a mobile

Write your own folktale

Act out your folktale

Make rock and stone people of the characters

Pick one of the play characters and develop a story of his/her life before the story

Other Folktales

Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

Twelve Dancing Princesses by Marianna Mayer

Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky

The Golden Goose by Uri Shulevitz

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe

The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop

The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo

Tales from Grimm Brothers by Wanda Gag

The Rough-Faced Girl by Rafe Martin

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema

Anansi the Spider by Eric A. Kimmel

The Boy Who Cried Wolf by Ellen Schecter

Adventures of Great Rabbit – Native American Tales

John Henry and other Tall Tales

Casey at the Bat

Annie Oakley

We hope you enjoyed the production and would welcome letters and pictures from your students. We also hope that this study guide was of some value to you as you prepared for the performance and after the performance. Please feel free to send us comments on the performance and tell us other stories you would suggest for production. For further information about our other programs please feel free to call us at 610-279-1013 or

e-mail us at centretheater@aol.com. Our web address is www.artscc.org.

Thanks for joining us at the Centre Theater of the Montgomery County Cultural Center.

208 DeKalb Street, Norristown, PA 19401