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Why Stage Actors Paint Their Faces Bold

4th grade nonfiction passage about stage makeup: 211 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction stage makeup 211 words

Why Stage Actors Paint Their Faces Bold

If you walked up to an actor just before a play, you might laugh at the face you saw. Her cheeks are bright pink. Her eyes are outlined in dark lines. Her lips look much too red. In a mirror at home, she would look silly. Yet on the stage, the very same face looks perfectly natural. Why?

There are two reasons. The first is the light. Stage lights are extremely bright, and bright light can wash out a face. Features turn pale and flat, and a person can look almost blank. Colorful makeup puts the shadows and the color back.

The second reason is distance. People in the back rows of a theater sit very far from the stage. From there, a small smile or a lifted eyebrow is hard to see. Dark lines around the eyes make the eyes look larger. Red lips make a mouth easier to read. The audience can follow the feelings on an actor's face even from far away.

Makeup also helps an actor change into someone else. A bit of gray in the hair and a few drawn lines can make a young actor look like a grandmother. When the show is over, the makeup is wiped away, and the actor is herself again.

Questions

  1. What is odd about an actor's face before a play? in the text

  2. What can bright stage lights do to a face? in the text

  3. Why do dark lines around the eyes help the audience? in the text

  4. Who benefits most from the strong makeup, people in front or people in the back? think about it

  5. How can makeup help a young actor play a grandmother? in the text

  6. Why would the same makeup look silly in a home mirror? think about it

Words to know

features
the parts of a face, like eyes and a mouth
audience
the people who watch a show
outlined
drawn around the edge of something
natural
looking normal, as it would in real life
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 139 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.7

Look at an actor's face just before a play. Her cheeks are bright pink. Her eyes have dark lines. Her lips are very red. At home, she would look silly. On the stage, her face looks right. Why?

There are two reasons. One is light. Stage lights are very bright. Bright light can wash out a face. It looks pale and flat. Colorful makeup puts the color and shadows back.

The other reason is distance. Some people sit far from the stage. They cannot see a small smile. Dark lines make eyes look bigger. Red lips are easy to see. The audience can see feelings from far away.

Makeup can also change an actor into someone new. Gray hair and some lines can make a young actor look like a grandmother. After the show, the makeup is wiped off.

▲ This passage · 211 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.4

If you walked up to an actor just before a play, you might laugh at the face you saw. Her cheeks are bright pink. Her eyes are outlined in dark lines. Her lips look much too red. In a mirror at home, she would look silly. Yet on the stage, the very same face looks perfectly natural. Why?

There are two reasons. The first is the light. Stage lights are extremely bright, and bright light can wash out a face. Features turn pale and flat, and a person can look almost blank. Colorful makeup puts the shadows and the color back.

The second reason is distance. People in the back rows of a theater sit very far from the stage. From there, a small smile or a lifted eyebrow is hard to see. Dark lines around the eyes make the eyes look larger. Red lips make a mouth easier to read. The audience can follow the feelings on an actor's face even from far away.

Makeup also helps an actor change into someone else. A bit of gray in the hair and a few drawn lines can make a young actor look like a grandmother. When the show is over, the makeup is wiped away, and the actor is herself again.

■ Harder · 225 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.1

Should you approach an actor just before a play begins, you might be tempted to laugh at the face before you. Her cheeks glow bright pink, her eyes are ringed with dark lines, and her lips look far too red. Reflected in a mirror at home, she would appear ridiculous. Yet beneath the lights of the stage, that very same face looks perfectly natural. Why is that so?

There are two explanations. The first is the lighting. Stage lights are extraordinarily bright, and intense light can wash out a face, leaving the features pale and flat so that a person looks nearly blank. Colorful makeup restores the shadows and the color.

The second explanation is distance. Audience members in the back rows of a theater sit a great way from the stage, and from there a small smile or a raised eyebrow is difficult to notice. Dark lines around the eyes make them seem larger, and red lips make a mouth easier to read. As a result, the audience can follow the feelings on an actor's face even from far away.

Makeup also helps an actor transform into another person. A touch of gray in the hair and a few drawn lines can turn a young actor into a grandmother. Once the performance ends, the makeup is wiped away, and the actor becomes herself again.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put features, audience, outlined and natural on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 4 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Why Stage Actors Paint Their Faces Bold"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 211 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.4. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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