Book, Music and Lyrics by Michael OgbornDirected by Terrence J. Nolen

A Study and Resource Guideby Ryan M. Prendergast

TABLE OF CONTENTSPage 2

The Creative Team

Page 3Playwright Biography: Michael Ogborn

Page 4 - 5Tulipomania: Synopsis

Page 6 Workshop: Playwriting

Page 7Spotlight on: The History of the Tulip

Page 8Spotlight on: Tulip Anatomy

Page 9Spotlight on: Semper Augustus

Page 10Workshop: The Color of Beauty

Page 11 - 12Spotlight on: The Tulip Mania

Page 13 - 14Spotlight on: Amsterdam, 1636 and Today

Page 15Workshop: A Dutch Budget

Page 16Design Spotlight on: The World of Tulipomania

Page 17Design Spotlight on: James Kronzer, Set Design

Page 18Workshop: Design Collage

The Semper Augustus, illustration from a 17th century tulip

ARDEN THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS

TULIPOMANIA: THE MUSICALBook, Music and Lyrics by MICHAEL OGBORN

Directed by TERRENCE J. NOLEN

SCENIC DESIGNERCOSTUME DESIGNERLIGHTING DESIGNER

SOUND DESIGNER MUSIC DIRECTOR AND ORCHESTRATOR

ASSISTANT MUSIC DIRECTORDRAMATURG

ASSISTANT DIRECTORSTAGE MANAGER

OWNERWAITER

YOUNG WOMANWOMAN

MANPAINTER

JAMES KRONZERROSEMARIE E. MCKELVEYJOHN STEPHEN HOEYJORGE COUSINEAUDAN KAZEMIRYAN TOUHEYEDWARD SOBELSARAH OLLOVEJOHN GRASSY

JEFFREY COONBILLY BUSTAMANTEALEX KEIPERJOILET F. HARRISADAM HELLERBEN DIBBLE

CAST OF CHARACTERS

TIMENOW; 1636

PLACEAMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

THE CREATIVE TEAM

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Previous Works:Fishwives (1981)Earbeds (1983)The Vagabond Age (1984)“Oh, Antigone!” (1986)Pinocchio: A Real Boy (1987)“C’est la Guerre!” (1990)Box Office of the Damned (1993)Ozone-a-thon (1996) Regalia (1997)The Jungle Book (2000)

Michael Ogborn was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, and currently makes his home in New York City. A graduate of DeSales University, he made his Off-Broadway debut in 1993 with the critically acclaimed musical revue Box Office of the Damned, featuring then “new-comer” Kristen Chenoweth.

He has worked steadily in the professional theater for the past twenty years composing original musicals, cabaret revues, song cycles and special material. His work has been produced at the Arden Theatre Company, People’s Light & Theater Company, The Wilma Theater, and 1812 Productions in Philadelphia, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC; City Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA; Horizon Theater, Atlanta, GA; Diversionary Theater in San Diego, CA; Theater LaB, Houston, TX and Radio City Music Hall, in New York City.

Tulipomania: The Musical marks the Arden’s third Michael Ogborn premiere, following 2001’s Baby Case (Barry-more Award for Outstanding Original Music) and 2003’s Café Puttanesca. First attracted by the “modern day conno-tation” of the term “tulipomania” and the dark subject matter it could explore, the show was initially a co-commission for Ogborn and acclaimed playwright Michael Hollinger. When Hollinger stepped aside to pursue other projects, Ogborn took on the additional role of librettist in addition to composing the score:

“The score is contemporary in sound, structure and arrangement with harmonic underpinnings of 17th century music and folk ballad forms, along with influences from Turkey and Afghanistan where the tulip was first discovered. This story gives me the opportunity to return to the themes I began exploring as a young composer: greed, forgiveness, redemption—and how one man’s actions pro-foundly affect those around him and history itself.”

SOURCE: http://www.michaelogborn.com/bio.html

Playwright Biography

MICHAEL OGBORN

Baby Case (2001)“Mary, Don’t Ask!” (2003) The USED faces of 2004 (2004)Café Puttanesca (2004)Treasure Island: A Musical Panto (2007)Cinderella: A Musical Panto (2008) Sophisticated Twinkies (2008)The Three Musketeers (2009)Snow White in Follywood (2009)

Courtesy of Michael Ogborn

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It is a rainy, very overcast day in Amsterdam. Inside the Flower Pot, a coffee/juice bar that also specializes in marijuana, the Owner and the Waiter prepare to open for business (Tulipomania). As they ar-range the room with tulips, a Woman, a Young Woman, a Painter and a Man enter, seeking some pot and shelter from the storm. Between hits, the women lament that they won’t be able to see the famous tulip fields, but the Owner offers them something better: the story of the great Tulip mania of 1636. The Owner conjures himself as Jan Van der Bloem, an merchant who lived during the Dutch Golden Age.

One day while Van der Bloem sits for a group portrait with the Merchant’s Guild. He speaks to his friend De Cooper about his recent wealth. De Cooper has been playing the tulip game, betting all his possessions for the flowers, and amassing much wealth (Portrait Sitting). Visibly stoned, the Man now becomes the character of Van der Bloem, and the group takes an imaginary canal trip to the tulip market in Haarlem (What Have You Got to Lose?). Alone, the Man/Van der Bloem rails against his life and decides to plunge headfirst into the tulip market to get rich (Man’s Song).

The group now imagines themselves inside a riotous tavern in Haarlem, preparing them-selves for a tulip auction (Tavern Scene I). The Van der Bloem wins an Admiral’s Delight from the Auctioneer/Owner, but only gets a piece of parchment in return. The Auctioneer reveals the truth: the tulip bulbs are all kept underground until the lifting season. The only money to be had is in the sale of the promissory notes. Intoxicated with his new purchase, the Man imagines himself literally dancing with tulips (Walking in a Dream).

Awaking from his revery, Van der Bloem tells his wife (played by the Woman) his plans for their future fortunes (In a Garden That We Two Will Grow). She questions his intense desire for wealth, but he is oblivious to her concerns. Van der Bloem sets out to learn as much as he can about tulips, seeking out a Florist (played by the Painter). The Florist teaches him all about the anatomy of the tulip, breeding them and the rare varieties in all the hand-painted catalogues (Going, Going, Gone!). Armed with his knowl-edge and the value of his worldly possessions, Van der Bloem amasses a horde of tulips, or rather the parchments that declare him the owner. The rest of the group becomes intoxicated with the glory of the flower (In Praise of Tulipan).

TULIPOMANIA

SYNOPSIS

Jeffrey Coon as the Owner.

The Waiter (Billy Bustamante), the Painter (Ben Dibble), the Man (Adam Heller), Young Woman (Alex Keiper), the Woman (Joilet F. Harris).

Young Woman (Alex Keiper), Man (Adam Heller), Owner (Jeffrey Coon), the Woman (Joilet F. Harris), Painter (Ben Dibble).

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Back at the Flower Pot, the Owner reveals that Van der Bloem built himself a large house, the same building that now holds the café. He commissioned a special tile hearth of a young girl picking a tulip. Flashing back to the winter of 1636, the Owner tells how Van der Bloem’s daughter (the Young Woman) fell in love with a Painter (the Painter). By this point, her father is rarely seen, enjoying the drunken company of the tulip auctions more than his family (In Praise of Tulipan Reprise). Meanwhile, the Painter has fallen deeply in love with Van der Bloem’s daughter and wants to paint her portrait (Beauty). They arrange to meet after dark in the Guild Hall.

The tulip craze is at its height and a Semper Augustus is about to be auctioned off in Haarlem. In a frenzy, Van der Bloem steals money from his daughter’s dowry to have enough to bid. Unable to stop him, his wife bemoans what her husband has become (Woman’s Song). Van der Bloem even steals money from his Guild Hall to win the Semper Augustus, the most sensual of all flowers (Semper Augus-tus). As Van der Bloem loses himself in the auction, his daughter meets the Painter and the two make love. The auction reaches a fevered pitch as Van der Bloem’s final bid is challenged. He offers up his virgin daughter and all he has just for the tulip. He loses and is expelled from the tulip trading college. Dejected, he returns home (Tavern Scene II).

Back in Amsterdam, the Painter is being interrogated for stealing from the Guild Hall. When Van der Bloem fails to step forward, the Young Woman reveals she spent the night with the Painter and saw her own father steal the money. Van der Bloem is charged and sentenced to a week in the stockades and a fine of one thousand guilders. On the third of February, with Van der Bloem still in the stocks, the tulip auctions collapse and all the traders frantically sell all their tulips. Racked with pneumonia and bankrupt, Van der Bloem dies on the fifth day of his imprisonment (The Bust).

Refusing to believe Van der Bloem’s story could end so tragically, the Man reveals how he himself is a financial wreck who has fled America. The Owner reveals the real consequences of obsession: he lost his own family because of alcohol, just like Van der Bloem lost every-thing because of the tulips. Encouraged by his experi-ence, the Man departs for home. The others prepare to leave, making plans to visit the Van Gogh Museum. The Woman asks the Owner what made the Semper Augustus so rare: it was a disease that infected the flower. As the Owner and the Waiter are left alone, they reflect on the regenerative and hopeful nature of the flower (Finale).

TULIPOMANIA

SYNOPSIS (continued)

Young Woman (Alex Keiper), Painter (Ben Dibble).

Painter (Ben Dibble), Man (Adam Heller), Waiter (Billy Bustamante).

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Michael Ogborn took inspiration from the real Tulip mania, crafting an original story within a historical context. Play-wrights and composers across time have looked to the past for inspiration, seeing the course of a human events as a mirror than can enlighten our own understanding of our time and place.

In this activity, you will explore the process whereby a story is generated and crafted. Never let yourself censor your creativity. If you have an idea, write it down. It may prove useful later.

PART ONE: BRAINSTORM (10 MINUTES)Take a few minutes to brainstorm. What story or stories from the past inspire you? Are they personal stories? Cul-tural? Mythological? Do they take place during a certain period? What about the time and place is interesting to you? Write them down.

PART TWO: OUTLINE YOUR STORY (10 MINUTES)Have any ideas for a story developed during your brainstorm? Write down ideas for a beginning, a middle, and an end.

What kind of characters inhabit that story? What are they like? What do they want?

PART THREE: THE SCENARIO (20 MINUTES)Using these various elements, write a one page scenario for a play. Make sure you outline the beginning, middle and end of the story, its setting and any main characters. What are the major discoveries in your story? If you like, give it a title.

PART FOUR: STORY DISCUSSION (20 MINUTES)Pitch your story to your fellow participants by creating a 30 second commercial.

Workshop

PLAYWRITING

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“THE LIGHT OF PARADISE”The history of the tulip spans several continents and centuries. Tulips are thought to have originated in the Tien Shen Mountains on the combined borders of modern day China, Russia, Tibet and Afghanistan, later spread across Eurasia by early nomadic peoples. Tulips were venerated by the Persians as flowers of great beauty and perfection. The gift of a red tulip was said to be a declaration of love, harkening to the myth that tulips sprung from the ground where the prince Farhad stabbed himself believing his maiden love had been killed. They held central places of importance in Persian gardens, holy relics signifying the gardens of paradise. They were carried as good luck charms into battle, even sown into gowns and undergarments. Though originally a wild flower, the Ottoman Turks began the cultivating individual species under the reign of Suileman the Magnificent.

The Flemish ambassador Ogier Ghislan de Busbecq is usually credited with the first Western description and nomenclature for the tulip. The word “tulip” is comes from the word tulipan, a corrupted form of the Dutch word for turban, tulband. It was a celebrated Persian custom to decorate turbans with tulips. The Turkish word for tulip is lale.

THE TRUE MONARCH OF THE FLOWERSJohann Heinrich Herwart is credited with the first recorded tulip grown in Europe in April 1559, but the true progenitor of the tulip’s fame was the famous itinerant botanist Carolus Clusius. Born into a strict French Catholic family, he forsook his law studies for botany, Latinized his name in the fashion of Lutheran humanists and soon established himself as one of the leading botanical experts in Europe. In the 1563, Antwerp gardener Joris Rye sent him samples of a strange blooming flower from his garden. Soon Clusius was collecting other tulip specimens and dispatching them all across Europe.

As a nomadic man, Clusius lacked a constant garden of his own. In 1573, he was asked by Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian II to create a hortus, or bo-tanical garden, in Vienna and brought his tulip collection with him. Frustrated with the capriciousness of the Austrian emperor, he took up a professorship at the University of Leiden in the United Provinces of the Netherlands and set up his own Hortus Botanicus. While Clusius’ tulips flourished, they also met with difficulty. In winters, they were destroyed by mice. As rumor of the stingy Clusius’ wonderful collection spread, thieves took matters into their own hands, literally sowing the seeds for the mania soon to engulf Holland.

Today, tulips are classified by the traditional Latin nomenclature, but during the Tulip mania, names came from dif-ferent sources. The anonymous bailiff of coastal Kennermerland, searching for the perfect name for his Rosen tulip, christened it Admirael (“admiral”). Before long, the name Generael (“general”) was in use. Growers would combine these epithets with their own names, creating long, sprawling combinations.

Spotlight on

THE HISTORY OF THE TULIP

Suileman the Magnificent

Carolus Clusius, born Charles de L’Escluse

Source: Dash, Mike. Tulipomania. New York: Crown Publishers, 1999.

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BOTANICAL FACTSTulips are members of the plant genus Tulipa and are members of the lily family Liliaceae. They are perenni-als, meaning they regrow on a yearly basis. There are approximately 120 known species of tulip known to exist today. These are divided between botanical tulips, which grow in the wild, and cultivars, which are bred to specifi-cations in gardens or nurseries. The Hortus Bulborum in Holland today grows somewhere around 1,500 varieties today, and by 1996, it had identified approximately 5,600 varieties. Many of these 3,500 hybrids are sterile from breeding, making them rare flowers for the span of their existence.

The tulip’s anatomy is similar to other flowers. They are cup-shaped with 6 tepals: 3 petals on the inside, and 3 sepals on the outside of the flower. It has 6 pollen carry-ing stamens surrounding a central pistil, which attracts the bees necessary to spread pollen and fertilize other tulips. Unlike other flowers, they do not produce nectar.

Tulips can be grown from either seed or bulbs. It takes anywhere from 5 to 10 years for a tulip to mature into a bulb from a seed, and even then, there is no guarantee that it will match the flower that spawned it. Once in bulb form, a tulip can reproduce by generating offsets from the mother bulb, which are produced on average two or three times a year. Tulips are usually planted in the fall so that they may take root and grow underground until the spring. After they bloom in the spring, bulbs are removed from the ground and dried out over the spring before being replanted.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:1. Compare and contrast the Turks’ appreciation and the Dutch appreciation of tulips.2. Why might certain tulip hybrids be unable to reproduce?3. How does the value of the tulip differ in today’s world?

Spotlight on

TULIP ANATOMY

Sources: www.floridata.com/ref/T/tulip_spp.cfm, www.backyardnature.net/fl_tulip.htm, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/04/magazine/04SOPH-TRAV.html

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FOREVER MAJESTICTulips come in a wide variety of colors and designs, with the excep-tions of pure blue and black.* The primary reason for coloring is to attract insects who will pollinate other flowers and allow the species to survive. These colors took on a whole new significance for the Dutch tulip traders, who valued 13 distinct cultivars famous for their markings. The most popular were the Rosen, with red and pink marks on white, the Violetten, purple on white, and the Bizarden, red, purple or brown on yellow.

By strict classification, the Semper Augustus (“forever majestic”) was a Rosen tulip characterized by red flares or flames on its white petals. According to tradition, it was grown by a florist, or novice grower, in northern France around 1614. In 1623, the sale of one bulb fetched 1,000 guilders. By the next year, the only 12 specimens in existence were said to be the property of a director of the Dutch East India Company who refused to sell them. When he did condescend to sell one, he did so without realizing that the bulb had produced two offsets, thereby increasing the number available on the market. The Semper Augustus continued to fetch a tremendous price: 5,500 guilders in 1633 and in 1637, the price of 10,000 was quoted.

Images of the Semper Augustus survive in the form of tulip books. These were catalogues initially printed to advertise an owner’s wares while the tulips were buried underground. The first published catalogue was Emanuels Sweerts’ Florilegium in 1612. Each page would have a illustration of the tulip with its name, but the price was often omitted. Smart sellers would adjust prices given a buyer’s individual wealth.

A SICK “BEAUTY”As stated by the Owner in Tulipomania, the beauty of the Semper Augustus was caused by a disease that “broke” the bulb. This mosaic virus, which would often cause a tulip’s color to shift from generation to generation, was spread by aphids. These viruses would weaken bulbs and make them even scarcer. Offsets from broken bulbs were notoriously unreliable.

* Those tulips termed “black” are actually dark shades of purple. Despite the impossibility of a black tulip, it spawned several legends during the Tulip mania. Like the Semper Augustus, it was a rare and expensive beauty seldom seen. In one story, a group of collectors supposedly sought out a poor peddler who had grown one, only to buy his bulb his bulb for a cheap price and then destroy it, so that their own black bulb, which they had kept secret, would now be the only one.

Spotlight on

THE SEMPER AUGUSTUS

A Semper Augustus illustration from a tulip book.

A modern variant of the Semper Augustus

Source: Dash, Mike. Tulipomania. New York: Crown Publishers, 1999., http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/semperaugustus.html

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Tulips, like all flowers, are not just pretty for the sake of being pretty. There is a practical reason for their color: to attract insects who will spread the pollen and let the species reproduce and survive. Through the process of natural selection, different traits have survived while others have been bred out of a species. Often times, humans will aid in this process, deliberately crossing species for more desirable traits.

In this activity, you’ll explore the various pigments present in flower petals and leaves and how their arrangement creates individual attractiveness. For this activity, you will need the following items: a piece of fabric, prefer-ably white; 3 to 5 different types of flowers, many of each; newspaper; wax paper; scissors; a rubber mallet. Safety goggles are encouraged.

STEP ONE: PLAN YOUR PRINT (10 MINUTES)Brainstorm about what makes a flower attractive to both insects and human beings. Is it the arrangement of color? The shape of the petal? Other markings on the flower?

STEP TWO: MAKE YOUR PRINT (20 MINUTES)1. Take your fabric. Make sure it is clean before use. If you would like to frame it, give yourself excess fabric to wrap it around a frame.

2. Cut your flowers from stems, leaving a little bit of stem attached.

3. Choose a work space that can be safely pounded with a hammer, such as the floor or a sturdy work table. Cover the surface with a protective layer of newspaper, and place wax paper on top to keep the newsprint from being transferred to the fabric. Lay your fabric on top of the wax paper. Practice on scrap fabric first to see the effects of different flowers.

4. Experiment with designs, placing flowers and leaves face down on the fabric.

5. Place sheet of wax paper over the entire design. Hammer through the wax paper to transfer the flower pigment onto the fabric. Make sure you pound along the margins to define the shape.

6. Remove wax paper and check the fabric. Add more flowers and continue the process until they are pleased with the results. Consider the viewpoint of the flower: would this arrangement be attractive to bees? What about this ar-rangement is beautiful and attractive to you?

STEP THREE: MAKE YOUR PRINT LASTFor a print to be framed, leave the small flower pieces that adhere to the fabric. For other uses, wash your fabric in cold water and iron. (Flower prints may fade when washed in hot water.) For a framed print, iron the fabric, then wrap the border of the fabric around the thin piece of cardboard that comes with the frame (or provide your own). Tape fabric to cardboard and place it in the frame.

Source: http://www.kidsgardening.org/classroom-projects/dyeing-find-out

Workshop

THE COLOR OF BEAUTY

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“AN ITCHING FOR THEIR FLOWERS”Tulip trading was rampant in the Dutch Republic by the turn of the 17th century. Several new varieties appeared in 1634, temporarily flooding the market and depressing prices allowing more buyers into the market. Prices began to rise in 1635, and increasingly, bulbs were being sold by weight while in the ground and in the form of promissory notes which detailed the weight of the bulb and the date it would be lifted from the ground for sale. By this time, the new unit of sale was the azen or “ace,” a goldsmithing unit equal to less than one twentieth of a gram. Prices would increase further since the bulbs would increase in weight from growth underground. The tulip market quickly became a futures market, a form of speculation where a buyer gambles on a future price of a commodity by agreeing to pay a specific price on a future date. If a buyer had to pay a certain number of guilders for a tulip due in the spring, he would in effect wager that he could sell the promissory note for more before his payment was due. The Dutch called this method of trading windhandel, “trading in the wind.”

Bulbs were dealt on the fringes of the Dutch economy by certain members of the ruling class, but more often by poor inhabitants of the cities and country people. Auctions were held in the stupor of the back rooms of taverns, the most famous of which was De Gulde Druyf (“The Golden Grape”) in Haarlem. As detailed in the moralistic Sa-menspraecken of the time, auctions were often parodies of the stock exchanges, by one of two methods. The first, met de Borden, “with the boards,” involved a continual series of offers between seller and buyer on chalk slates with intermediaries who would determine a fair price based on the bids until a suitable amount was deter-mined. The second, in het ootje, translated as “pulling someone’s leg,” involved a seller writing the amount of a buyer’s commission on a slate and taking conjectural bids from buyers. Once the bidding was closed, the seller had the option to select the highest bid or pay the commission if he declined. One of the most famous auctions occurred on February 5, 1637 when the seven orphans of the Alk-maar florist Wouter Winkel auctioned off their late father’s cache of tulips, earning at the sale’s end 90,000 guilders.

Spotlight on

THE TULIP MANIA

Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, Double Portrait of a Husbandand Wife with Tulip, Bulb, and Shells, 1609

Pamphlet: C. van der Woude, Tooneel van flora, 1637.

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BUSTWith prices rising at a fantastic rate for even the cheapest of bulbs and whole households being sold off as in-kind payments, buyers became apprehensive that the prices could be sustained or even if the bulbs would match their worth when removed from the ground. At a Haarlem auction early February 1637, a pound of White Croonen was offered for 1,250 guilders and received no bid. Panic ensued as buyers who bought for similar bids earlier that week realized that the market was collapsing under them. While trading in other cities continued on for some time since communication was limited to the fastest rider on horseback, the overall market had effectively gone bust.

One of the immediate reactions was the mutual interest of buyers and sellers to preserve their financial states in spite of their mounting debts. By March, the decision had been made to nullify any contracts made since September 1636. Reputations, credit and honor were the main causalities of the crash, as well as the perceived values of the flowers themselves. Few men ended up in bankruptcy. More were seen as the shameless metaphorical adherents to the wanton Roman goddess Flora, as depicted in Brueghel’s satirical image above.

Spotlight on

THE TULIP MANIA(continued)

Jan Brueghel the Younger, Satire on Tulip Mania, c. 1640.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:1. Compare and contrast the Dutch Tulip mania with the subprime mortgage crisis.2. Why is futures trading dependent on intangible assets?3. Discuss the composition of Mierevelt’s portrait on page 12.

Source: Dash, Mike. Tulipomania. New York: Crown Publishers, 1999., http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/tulipomania.html

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The Tulip Mania took place during one of the most culturally significant and barbaric periods of European history, a complex time of continuing political and social upheaval. During the 16th century, the United Provinces of the Netherlands were initially part of the vast dominions of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who as heir to the Hapsburg Empire, ruled more than half of continental Europe. When his son Phillip II (the same Phillip who sent the Armada against Eng-land) succeeded to his throne, he sought to consolidate his power as a Catholic monarch of predominately Protestant peoples.

In defiance, the Dutch provinces formed the Union of Utrecht in 1568 and instigated the violent Dutch Revolt, which resulted in their of-ficial recognition in the Twelve Year’s Truce of 1609. These were smaller incidents amidst the much wider conflict of the Thirty Year’s War, which overall decimated close to two thirds of the population of Europe. As a result of the Dutch Revolt, an influx of refugees brought men of wealth and skills into cities like Haar-lem and Amsterdam. This was the time of the Dutch Golden Age, a time when the visual arts flourished and the Dutch mercantile empire was spanning the globe.

Despite these advancements, the Dutch Republic was one of the poorest places in Europe. Described by a contem-porary as “the buttock of the world,” the Dutch Lowlands, already mostly swamp and peat bog, were ravaged by war and disease (bubonic plague raged from 1633 to 1637). Given the country’s low elevation, dikes were built to drain the already poor land for use. Conditions for living were not much better. The artisan class toiled from before dawn until after dusk. The value of currency was at the whim of the ruling monarch and there were no minting standard. Once a child turned 14, they were expected to find work to support the family income. Housing was cramped, and the national diet consisted of pickled herring, cheese and a limpid meat stew called hutespot. Beer was the drink of choice for all since overpopulation and the burgeoning linen industries contaminated water supplies. Despite these hardships, the Dutch Republic offered tremendous chances for mobility. Commerce was dominated by the guilds, which could offer advancement. Wealth was pouring into Europe from the Spanish colonies in America and the Dutch trading in the Indies. Wages were paid hourly and a successful artisan could expect an annual salary of 300 guilders a year.

Spotlight on

AMSTERDAM, 1636

Ernest Crofts, Wallenstein: A Scene of the Thirty Years War.

Rembrandt, De Staalmeesters: The Syndics of the Clothmaker’s Guild

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The original name for Amsterdam is Am-stelredamme, meaning “dam on the Amstel River.” What was once a major international center for trade in the 17th century is now a thriving modern metropolis that remains close to its historical museums. Aside from the tulips, dykes and canals, major attrac-tions today are the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House, Hermitage Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum, which contains the famous Nightwatch by Rembrandt.

One the many attractions in Amsterdam are the coffeeshops (one word) where the smoking of cannabis and hashish is al-lowed in small quantities. Proprietors may only sell an individual 5 grams each day, and these are heavily regulated by authori-ties. Several famous coffeeshops (spelled as one word) include: The Bulldog, Mellow Yellow, Barney’s Coffeeshop, and Green-house United. As of May 1, 2012 however, new laws were enacted that prohibit the selling of soft drugs to tourists in an effort to control the coffeeshops and cut down on the illicit international drug trade.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:1. How does your current standard of living affect your values?2. Are fads always responses to times of social change?3. Do you think criminalizing drug use will affect tourism in Amsterdam?

Spotlight on

AMSTERDAM TODAY

A canal in modern Amsterdam

A coffeeshop in modern Amsterdam

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Source: Dash, Mike. Tulipomania. New York: Crown Publishers, 1999., http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aco-nite/tulipomania.html, www.holland.com/us/tourism/article/coffeeshops-in-amsterdam-2.htm

It is the year 1636 in Amsterdam. Imagine yourself as a member of the artisan class and the head of your own household. You must support yourself and your family on 250 guilders this year. Each day you must get your family a tankard of beer and at least half a 12 pound loaf each day. In addition, your house in Amsterdam needs new furniture, including chairs and a bed this year. Using the prices below, create a budget for your household.

The basic unit of Dutch currency was the guilder. One guilder equaled 20 smaller units called stuivers.

Tankard of beer = ½ stuiver 12 lb loaf = 6.5 stuivers1 Dutch ton of herring = 13 guildersStraight backed chairs = 10 guildersCabinet bed = 15 guildersPack of clothes = 80 guilders

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:1. How would this scenario change if your daughter, 14, went to work as a bleacher for 8 stuivers a day?2. You have the chance to purchase a Admirael Violetten offset whose mother bulb expired after one year. A friend offers it to you for a paltry 15 guilder. If you accept, how does this affect your budget? 3. Suppose he offers you the chance to pay only 10% up front. Would you accept and how does this affect your budget? 4. If you accept the 10% offer, you won’t receive the bulb until next April. Would you still accept?

Workshop

A DUTCH BUDGET

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Source: Dash, Mike. Tulipomania. New York: Crown Publishers, 1999.

Design Spotlight on

THE WORLD OF TULIPOMANIA

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James Kronzer, who designed the Arden’s production of Clybourne Park earlier this spring, designed the scenic elements of Tulipomania

Working from ground plans, the designer creates a model to allow the creative team to visualize the world of the play in three dimensions.

Paint elevations are created to guide the scenic artists as to how the floors

and walls of the set should look.

Elevations are especially crucial for backdrops, which often have to be gridded out and painted to make sure they are in correct scale.

Design Spotlight on

JAMES KRONZER: SET DESIGN

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When beginning work on a design, scenic, costume, lighting and audio designers and artists often create collages for inspiration. Collages are combinations of images and media of all varieties. In this exercise, you will create a design collage based on your play scenario.

There is no limit to what a collage can be. For a scenic designer, it can be pictures of buildings, artwork or textured materials. Costume design collages often contain swatches of fabric. Below are some the images used by James Kronzer for Tulipomania.

STEP ONE: GATHER YOUR MATERIALSA collage can be created on either your computer or physically on paper. If you work electronically, the internet offers a wealth of images and there is plenty of software you can use to edit your images. If you prefer to work with physical materials, begin by collecting images from print media, magazines, old books, the internet, as well as a piece of paper or poster board, scissors and an adhesive to attach it all together.

STEP TWO: CREATE YOUR IMAGESArrange the images on your paper or poster board. The design is entirely your own. Images can be spaced or over-lapped. Consider the composition of the collage before you secure it down. What ideas are you trying to convey, if any?

STEP THREE: SECURE YOUR IMAGESUsing the adhesive, secure your collage down to the paper or poster board.

Workshop

DESIGN COLLAGE

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Once there was a man who sacrificed all he possessed for a tulip...