• The Play and Its Context

  • Introduction
  • Character Profiles
  • Concept Vocabulary
  • Elizabeth Packard Biography
  • Historical Timeline-Events Surrounding Mrs. Packard
  • Mental Illness in the 19th Century
  • Insane Asylums Unveiled
  • Women and the Law

• About This Production

  • Who’s Who in the Production
  • Rights and Wrongs: Talking with Emily Mann about Mrs. Packard
  • Emily Mann Biography

• Drama in the Classroom

  • Educators’ Introduction
  • Core Curriculum Standards
  • Pre-Show Preparation, Questions for Discussion and Activities
  • Post-Show Questions for Discussion and Activities

• Additional Resources

Welcome to the McCarter Resource Guide Educator Edition for Emily Mann’s Mrs. Packard.  This guide has been assembled to complement both your students’ theater-going experience as well as your class curriculum by offering a variety of interesting and engaging activities for both pre-show and post-performance instruction and enjoyment.

Mrs. Packard was inspired by the true story of Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, a nineteenth-cenutury American woman and public figure, now scarcely known outside of anecdotal miscellany or scholarly circles.  Packard’s relative obscurity today says more about the process and standards of traditional historiography than about the significance of her work as a social reformer, lobbyist for the rights of patients and personal liberty laws and author in her own day. 

Yet Elizabeth Packard’s story has more than just historical significance.  In Mrs. Packard, Emily Mann presents the deeply personal struggle of a woman fighting for understanding and freedom who is transformed by her hardship into a self-sacrificing champion for the rights of others.  Packard’s battle becomes an object lesson for all people in all times on the responsibility of the strong and able to protect the innocent, weak and afflicted and on the moral necessity of speaking truth to power.  Mrs. Packard likewise brings up issues, such as patients’ rights, religious conservatism, torture and the relationship of power to corruption, which resonate with a contemporary audience.  There is lots to be learned in the margins of history.

This world premiere production of Mrs. Packard affords opportunities for enrichment in American history, sociology/cultural studies, theater and language arts.  Students can explore the legal, domestic and political status of American women prior to 1920; develop their knowledge on the Women’s Rights Movement and other social reform movements of the nineteenth century; investigate the current status of women and women’s rights on a global level; ponder the themes of personal liberty, gender equality, social responsibility and religious tolerance/acceptance in their own lives, as well as contemplate many of these topics and themes in both persuasive and creative writing assignments, such as editorial and monologue writing.

Our student audiences are often our favorite audiences at McCarter, and we encourage you and your students to join us for a discussion with members of the cast after the performance.  Our visiting artists are always impressed with the preparation and thoughtfulness of McCarter’s young audiences, and the post-performance discussion offers a unique opportunity for students to engage intellectually with professional theater practitioners. We look forward to seeing all of you for a wonderful discussion with Emily Mann about Mrs. Packard.