Connie Clark as Sarah Bernhard for Grades K-12
K-2, 3-5, 6-8: Students are meeting the woman who was quite
literally the most famous person on earth during the last half of the 19th and the early 20th centuries, with the possible exception of Queen Victoria herself. Even modern students familiar with the lavish fame of today's pop stars would find it hard to comprehend the frenzy Sarah caused all over the globe. Sarah establishes a rapport with the students during this loosely structured performance, asking them questions and answering theirs during its course.
The content of the performance is much the same as in the scripted performance detailed below, but with less focus on Sarah herself, and more on general history of the late 19th and early 20th centuries . . . lifestyles and world events (the industrial revolution; developments in communication, travel, and medicines; geopolitics). A living time line is the purpose of this performance.
9-12: Unlike the K-8 performances, that for grades 9-12 is fully scripted.
A question/answer session may follow the performance on site, or Ms. Clark can visit groups of students in their classrooms for this purpose.
A picture of an amazing individual is given the students, a woman who achieved staggering heights by virtue of her own talent, and who sustained that celebrity for 57 years. The underlying message is to trust in one's own abilities, to work hard to achieve.
In terms of history, the student learns of the Siege of Paris 1870-71, of some of the conditions for the troops during World War I . . . and through the reaction to Sarah, they learn of the behavior of the public worldwide -- of people like themselves -- in the days before television, film, CDs, cassettes, computers, fast food and shopping malls. They also learn that drug addiction has been causing death and anguish for well over 100 years; Sarah's husband and sister both died of addiction to morphine.
© 1997, 1998, 2002 Connie Clark & David M. Walker