Chandler Levinthal
Student Production Dramaturg
DeRon S. Williams, Ph.D., Dramaturgy Supervisor
The Familiar Perils of a Vacation Bible School Education
by Annika Halonen
About Annika
Annika Halonen (she/they) is a junior theatre major at Loyola University Chicago and is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. With love for the Ohio suburbs while also living in the same cul-de-sac since birth the story of The Familiar Perils of a Vacation Bible School Education was formed. Annika’s maternal grandfather, Jerry, has a collection of scrapbooks that he made and has kept for what seem to be decades upon decades. Annika describes it as “bonkers.” Every time they go to his home, she says they end up finding a new one they missed last time. These are filled with his parents, their parents, Jerry’s siblings (all of their names start with the letter J), Jerry’s children, their children, and so on. These scrapbooks even include Playbills from the performances his grandkids have been in and a picture of Annika’s brother standing next to the car he totaled.
The Familiar Perils of a Vacation Bible School Education
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The Familiar Perils of a Vacation Bible School Education 〰️
What is Vacation Bible School?
Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a program that many churches offer during the summer to provide a day camp for children. It is an outreach to bring in children who sometimes do not attend church and teach them about the gospel. It began in the 1890s when a New York doctor’s wife wanted to prevent children from homelessness and violence. She rented out a beer hall and called her camp “Everyday Bible School.” The New York City Baptist Mission Society picked up the idea and implemented several of them around the city.
While there is a plethora of names being thrown around for the sake of how big the characters’ family is, this is a comprehensive family tree of just how these siblings, cousins, and one of their significant others are connected. Melanie and James, who is called Jay in the play, are brother and sister accompanied by Melanie’s girlfriend Astrid. Melanie and Jay’s cousins, Violet and Dylan are two of the other main characters we see in this play. The Familiar Perils of a Vacation Bible School Education goes to show how many family members one can have while also knowing nothing about them.
Pronunciations include:
Sadoski: suh-DAW-ski
Zuzanna: zoo-ZAN-uh
It is mentioned in The Familiar Perils of a Vacation Bible School Education that their great grandmother, Zuzanna, passed away during childbirth, but none of the children can name the correct month. You’d think it would be easy since they know when their grandfather, Victor, was born. However, they start to think that someone might be lying. If there grandfather was born in August, why are some members of the family saying Zuzanna died around Christmas? Speculations are high at this point and they start discussing how their great-grandfather, Albert, was married three or four separate times in the span of three years. The topic of divorce comes up. Divorce is fairly common now, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. In the 1930s, when Zuzanna had passed away and Albert kept getting married, divorce was harder to get. Due to the Great Depression, divorce rates declined by 25 percent between 1929 and 1933. Through the 30s it rose again. And by the 40s, according to a 2014 study at Johns Hopkins, the Depression didn’t stop divorce, it just postponed it. Through all of this, women were not allowed to ask their husbands for a divorce. In 1969, the first state to pass a no-fault was California which allowed divorce with mutual consent. Before this, there was no amicable split.
Divorce rates in the 1930s, divorce rates dropped from 1.6 per 1,000 people to 1.3 in 1,000 people. In 2023, 35-50% of first marriages fail. The fact that the statistic says “first” marriage and has a completely different category on seconds and thirds says everything you need to know about marriage in the 1930s. I bring this up to say that Albert must have been doing so many things wrong in order to get that many divorces in 1930. Two or three divorces is still a notable amount now, but then it was even more notable. This calls into question morality, loyalty, beliefs, etc. The first recorded divorce in America was in Massachusetts in 1643 when a man had two wives and two sets of kids. Present day, people get divorced left and right. There are several reasons for divorce today; financial strain, infidelity, arguing, getting married too young, expectations from someone, abuse, etc. In the 30s, you had to fight and fight hard to get a divorce at all. Zuzanna and Albert did not get divorced then. Zuzanna gave birth to Victor, and allegedly passed away during childbirth. For every 100,000 births in 1930, there were 670 maternal deaths. While not being as low as we would like, it is not as high as it was decades earlier. Was Zuzanna one of these people?
Songs of the 1930s
Here is a link to a comprehensive list and spreadsheet of artists and songs of the 1930s you might find helpful!
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Ancestry.com is a website that sends you a DNA kit so that people from all over the world can find out where they came from. It has helped bring families together, connected long lost siblings, and much more. Ancestry.com, 23andMe, and CRI Genetics are the top 3 rated DNA tests of 2023.
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Cotillions are especially popular in the South and are seen as a class for young teens to learn social graces. Cotillions range from ballroom dance instructions, lessons in table etiquette, but every Cotillion class teaches manners and respect to the kids enrolled in the class. To many classes there is a certain dress code: dresses where no bare legs can be shown, tights if needed, gloves if the class required, collared shirts, coat, tie, and long pants. Fox trot and waltz are some of the dances taught at classes.
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Fall Out Boy is an incredibly popular American band known for their hit songs: Sugar We’re Going Down, Centuries, Uma Thurman, My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark, Thnks fr th Mmrs, and Dance Dance, to name a few. Originating from the hardcore punk scene in Chicago in 2001, Fall Out Boy has been able to cross genres due to their constant chart-topping songs. Their genres include pop-punk, pop rock, emo, pop, and alternative rock.
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A single- or double-reed pipe played in pairs during the Classical period.
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My Chemical Romance is an American rock band that was heavily popularized in the mid 2000s and has been seeing utter success since. Founded in September 2001, their song “Welcome to the Black Parade” on their album The Black Parade to this day is an incredibly memorable and loved song. The genres that the band falls into are: emo, rock, alternative, and pop-punk to name a few.
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Tumblr was a popular blogging and social media tool that allowed users to publish short blog-like posts. Its users could customize their own pages which made it so unlike other social media platforms. The company of Tumblr says that it is “easy to use and hard to explain,” which is insight to its users and the content on their. The website was highly popularized in the 2010s due to aesthetic purposes and the effect it had on mostly teenage girls and fandoms of all kinds.
Ancient Greek Aulos
Ouija Boards
An integral part of this play is, of course, the characters decide to try and contact their dead relative, Zuzanna, through a Ouija board. Ouija boards were once used to uncover hidden messages in the Chinese culture. They showed up in the U.S. around 1891. Any activities involving a Ouija board are quite controversial and require the utmost care and respect. There are many rules or superstitions (depending on who you’re talking to) when it comes to a Ouija board. Since everyone has their own opinions and belief when it comes to using and respecting a Ouija board, the “rules” are all different. Almost everyone will tell you to ‘close’ the realm when you are finished. When you have finished, say “Goodbye” and close the board. If you do not, there is the belief from many people that a spirit can haunt the person using the board. I have seen reports that say to never use the Ouija board in your home and that you need to choose a location wisely. Some rules that most can agree on are:
This is NOT a toy.
NEVER use it alone.
NEVER leave the planchette on the board.