Post-Show Discussion Activity

Use these questions to reflect, discuss, or journal about your experience and reactions to Seven Guitars! Explore any of the questions that interest you.

If engaging in this activity independently, consider taking notes or writing your reflections down. If engaging in this activity with a class or group, decide if you would like to answer every question in order, skip around, or select certain questions to spend time on.

Discussion Questions

1. The play opens with the characters gathered after Floyd’s funeral, and then it jumps backwards in time. What does this structure add to our understanding? 
2. How do you interpret Vera’s claim that at the funeral she saw angels and Floyd was floating above the ground? 
3. What are Vera, Louise, and Ruby’s experiences with love? 
4. Hedley believes the lyrics to the Buddy Bolden song are, “I thought I heard Buddy Bolden say come here, here go the money.” Canewell says they are “I thought I heard Buddy Bolden say, wake up and give me the money.” What literal and figurative difference does this make for the characters? 
5. Consider Floyd’s monologue about his seven ways to go. How do his personal experiences illustrate the plight of the Black man in America?  
6. Why does King Hedley kill the rooster? What do you make of his speech? 
7. What are the women in Seven Guitars like? What is revealed in their struggles, actions, and the way that the men in the play treat them? 
8. Why do you think this play is called Seven Guitars? 
9. Compare and contrast Red Carter and Canewell. 

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• This activity aligns with the following standards:
  • Illinois Arts Learning Standards 
    • Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
    • Anchor Standard 8: Construct meaningful interpretations of artistic work.
    • Anchor Standard 11: Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.
  • Common Core State Standards 
    • CCSS.ELA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
    • CCSS.ELA.RL.3  Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Posted on June 3, 2026 in Learning Guides, Productions