Glossary
caucus a discussion between the members of an organization.
clincher a fact or argument that settles a matter once and for all.
delta a Greek letter used in math and science to symbolize change— for example, delta-v means change in velocity.
discrimination the unjust or prejudicial treatment of a certain group.
dimes to dollars almost certainly.
electromagnetism the interaction of electric currents and magnetic fields.
entropy a measure of the number of possible arrangements the atoms in a
system can have. A measure of uncertainty or randomness.
Festivus a non-commercial holiday in the winter season, popularized by the sitcom Seinfeld.
fundamental the central or basic parts.
hyperventilating breathing at an abnormally quick pace.
intervention a planned meeting by a person’s friends and family to interrupt destructive tendencies.
keel over to fall down suddenly.
matter something that takes up space and has mass.
phobia a fear.
psychologist an expert in psychology, who helps a person understand their internal thought processes.
thermodynamics a branch of physics that deals with the relationship
between heat and other kinds of energy (electrical,
chemical, etc.).
upstander a person who speaks or acts in support of a cause, or who
intervenes on behalf of someone being attacked.
Voila! there you go!
voodoo a religion practiced in parts of the Caribbean and the southern US,
combining transitional African magical and religious rites with
elements of Roman Catholic ritual, and characterized by sorcery and
spirit possession.
WD-40 a popular lubricant spray that helps unstick objects.
wunderkind a person who achieves great success while relatively young.
zen peaceful and calm.
About the Playwright
Gloria Bond Clunie
Gloria Bond Clunie has been writing plays ever since she was in fourth grade.
You’re never too young to tell a story, especially your story. As a Chicago local
and a woman of color, Clunie is conscious of how her work can actively change
theatre culture for the better.
After attending the Northwestern theatre program, Clunie had an urge to direct. She found her footing at the Foster Community Center (now the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre). This company’s emphasis on community was the launching pad for an underlying theme in the rest of Clunie’s work: visibility. Whose stories are we seeing presented on stage? Whose writing those stories? Who is on stage? Who is backstage? Who is in the audience? All these questions can be considered when witnessing a forward thinking play.
After creating works such as, “North Star”, “Living Green” and “Shoes”, Clunie has won numerous awards and recognition by several organizations. She is a regional Tony-Award winning playwright and is a member of the Dramatists Guide. She was recently commissioned by The Theatre School at DePaul University to write “Tall Enough”. This play was inspired by her love of rollercoasters and covers the themes of facing your fears and solving the problems of the universe as a team. It’s theatre for young audiences like “Tall Enough” that uplift young audience members.
Clunie believes that theatre is valuable. As children, we experience theatre as an other-wordly realm of play, pretend, and spectacle. As older theatre makers, theatre can be a place of transformation. In an interview with Tim Rhoze for the Evanston Roundtable, Clunie describes theatre as, “...a place where a vision of who we were, who we are, and who we might be can explode in a safe place.” There is freedom in this safety to explore. Ideally, everyone will leave a Clunie play feeling better than they did before.
There is something magical about seeing yourself represented on stage. Maybe you have trouble making friends and you can see strangers on stage bonding. Maybe you are really into science and you can learn about classes and after school clubs to pursue your passion. Or maybe you are terrified of roller coasters and you can gain the tools to ride the largest coaster ever! Clunie’s work has an element for every young audience member. With a diverse performance, more young audiences are likely to feel safe and explore the freedom of expression offered in the theatre.
Timeline of Female Scientists
Click on the image below to explore the timeline!
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Articles
How Tall Enough Came to Be
Click here to watch a video featuring Tall Enough's playwright Gloria Bond Clunie to learn about how she created the play!
Girls Who Code
Algorithms, binary numbers, conditional statements, oh my! The language of coding sounds impossible to understand. However, just like physics can be broken down into simple laws, coding can be broken down into rules. Coding is a fun skill for anyone to learn!
At the start of the pandemic, students, parents, and teachers all needed a refresher course in their technology and computer skills. Learning coding as a family can be a great activity! There are many free online learning platforms for self-taught learners. FreeCodeCamp lets you learn multiple programs, such as Python and Html, at your own pace. Each course is broken down into simple tasks and offers advice when you get stuck. There are also plenty of online forums to ask questions or share code. This is a great tool for any adventurous learner that likes a challenge.
After school programs are ideal places to learn more about STEM. These programs provide a place for children to learn outside of school and with students other than their usual classmates. This also means more role models and teachers to learn material and life lessons from. The world needs more diverse STEM students. In Squirrel Girl, Doreen is able to find friends who embrace their differences and similarities. Community can be very important when learning a new ability.
Some programs are organized with the intention to expand the diversity of members in certain STEM fields. Black Girls Code has a vision to, “increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in stem fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to science and technology”. Black Girls Code provides a safe space for students to learn a valuable skill and feel supported while doing so. There are specific courses including robotics, game design, and app development. To ensure economic diversity, there are scholarships and a Lyft service program. Black Girls Code has locations ranging from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Along with the computer skills, these young women are gaining confidence for their future skills in STEM.
The Boys and Girls Club has been encouraging youths to pursue specific interests since its founding. The centers in Chicago have clubs covering STEM subjects. The DIY STEM program uses hands-on activities to identify the science we interact with daily to 9-12 year olds. The My.Future program for all ages includes a mobile friendly app that focuses on STEM, leadership, and the arts. There is even a Science Club that partners with Northwestern University’s science department to offer science club meetings to k-12 schools. Students get personalized learning and extensive support from the volunteer mentors. Not only does this program revitalize STEM interest, but it also connects generations through their bold passion for scientific progress.
Each of these opportunities are intended to be accessible and serve the students. To ask students to learn new skills outside of school can be a challenge. The above programs also include community and friendship; two key ingredients to fostering any learner. Ideally, the connections and encouragement students find in these classes will contribute to the admiration for STEM. These topics may be challenging, but you’re never too young to find your passion.
WHO CAN CODE?
YOU
CAN
CODE!
Revisiting Young Girls' Interest in STEM
It’s that time of year again: the science fair. You’ve been working for months on your homemade recreation of an oil spill and it’s devastating effects. It’s a brilliant project. You walk into the school gym, full of confidence and prepared to “wow” your class. This is the kind of excitement science classes should generate.
Self-belief can be a strong factor in determining a students performance on math and science exams. In a 2013 study, researchers found that students were aware of the topics in math that they fully understood and the topics they had difficulty with. By measuring confidence, students are more likely to identify where they are disconnecting from the material. With female-identifying students in particular, this confidence is a key factor in their pursuit of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
Encouraging mentorship and faith in young female students interested in STEM can improve their perseverance. A Microsoft survey in 2017 found that 11 year old girls in Europe who are interested in STEM quickly lose interest when they turn 15. That age range is crucial for identity and learning development. Scientific data states that the gender binary of girls and boys can test equally well in STEM subjects, so why are so many young women losing interest at this age? A common response is that students feel that it is harder for a woman to have a career in stem.
If you ask any young student to draw a picture of a scientist they will most likely create a man wearing a lab coat. (third link) The visibility of female mathematicians and scientists needs to be exponentially increased. The “She Can STEM” campaign is a great place to start. This publicity campaign is all about placing STEM women in the public eye and showing young girls the opportunities they can pursue. Professionals from Google, IBM, and Microsoft are profiled on the website SheCanStem.com and on the instagram account, @shecanstem.
Girls interested in rocket science are awesome. Girls interested in algebra are awesome. Girls interested in chemistry are awesome. Girls interested in physics are an unstoppable force.
Our World: Potential and Kinetic Energy
Watch the video below to learn more about physics and the physics of rollercoasters!
Social Story
Learn about what to expect when watching Tall Enough!
Activities
Facing Your Fears
Goal: By finding ways to face your own fears, you are then able to consider the steps the characters in each play take to facing their fears.
Materials:
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Blank piece of paper
Instructions:
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Take about two minutes of quiet reflection time to consider the following question, “what is one of your biggest fears?” Then, write down the fear on a piece of paper.
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As a class, create a Fear Map using the answers everyone gave to the previous question. The fears given in the answers will be grouped into categories of similar fears. For example, if the fear one person listed is spiders and the fear another person listed is snakes, these two fears can be grouped together in a category called “nature.”
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Once the categories of fears are created, sit with the students whose fears are in the same category as you. In your small groups, fill out the Facing Your Fears Form individually, but discuss each section as a group. See the Facing Your Fears Form below the activity instructions.
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Watch the following video to learn about one of the tactics used to face fears in Tall Enough: Deep breathing. Follow along with the video as a class and begin to think about how actors use their breath to perform for long periods of time.
Learning styles: Spatial, aural, and visual
Pick a character and find where in the play their fears are discussed. Do they overcome their fears by the end of the play? If yes, how? If not, what gets in their way?
Showing Your True Self
Goal: By observing what makes you unique and where your choices come from, you will be better able to understand why it is so difficult for the characters in each play to show their true selves.
Materials:
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Coloring materials: Colored pencils, markers, etc.
Instructions:
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Look at your appearance and consider what clothes you are wearing, how you style your hair, how you carry yourself, how you sit in a chair, how you speak, etc.
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Pair up into groups of two with someone you do not know very well and do the same exercise, but with their partner. Consider what clothes they are wearing, how they style their hair, how they carry themselves, how they sit in a chair, how they speak, etc.
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Play a mirror game with your partner. Take turns copying each other’s movements and discuss the differences in what movements you chose.
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Have a discussion about why you wear the clothes you wear, why you style your hair in a certain way, and how these aspects indicate how you present yourself to the world. Do you incorporate your culture? Do you incorporate the latest trends? Do you go against the grain on purpose?
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Discuss as a class what you would look like if there were no rules to how you could present themselves and how you can begin to incorporate these dreams into your own life. For example, if you love wearing bright colors, how can you start wearing more bright colors? Can you make a brightly-colored wristband to wear? Draw a sample appearance outline of what you would want to wear, how you would style your hair, etc. using the True Self Drawing.
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Set a concrete goal for how to better align with your true self based on the class discussion.
Learning styles: Spatial, aural, and visual
Pick a character and identify what makes them special. What is their personality? What do you imagine their clothes look like? What actions do they take in the play that tell us who they are?
Are You Tall Enough to Ride?
Goal: By measuring your height like you would at an amusement park, you will be able to identify closer with characters in the play.
Materials:
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Butcher paper with 48 inches marked (the height you must be to ride rollercoasters)
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Measuring tape
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Markers
Instructions:
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Split up into groups of five. Each group will receive a large piece of paper with 48 inches marked, the average height to be able to ride a rollercoaster.
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Taking turns, stand next to the piece of paper and get your height measured. Mark your height on the paper and write your name next to it.
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Once everyone’s height has been measured, join back together as a class in a group discussion about the results. Is everyone tall enough to ride the Thunderbeast?
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Consider as a group what else requires you to be a certain height. What height do you have to be to reach a kitchen cabinet? How tall do you need to be to reach the overhead compartment on an airplane?
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Now consider as a group who the height requirement leaves out. What does this mean if you are in a wheelchair? How can we as a collective work to make a more accessible world?
Learning styles: Spatial and visual
How tall are you in comparison to Asia? Would you be tall enough to ride the Thunderbeast?
