ATM Education · Digital Engagement Toolkit
Great Divide Toolkit
ToolkitMemory, mercy, service, nationhood—and the uneasy work of holding a broken country together.
Start here
At a Glance
This toolkit accompanies Great Divide: A Clara Barton Story, a theatrical meditation on memory, mercy, service, nationhood, and the uneasy work of holding a broken country together.
Use it to prepare for the production, deepen reflection, and explore how care, recordkeeping, witness, and endurance shape both personal history and national identity.
Memory, mercy, service, nationhood, and endurance.
Educators, students, audiences, community groups, and facilitators.
For viewing, discussion, writing, research, and reflection.
Work in order or select the sections that fit your group and setting.
Start Here
Open the Great Divide Study Guide
Begin with the guide for context, synopsis, key images, themes, vocabulary, and before/during/after prompts.
Browse the Education page
Connect this production to additional study guides, engagement materials, and related learning resources.
Ways to Use This Toolkit
In a classroom
Start with the essential question, review the historical context, and use the prompts to discuss war, public service, memory, and national responsibility.
In a community setting
Explore disaster response, the ethics of care, women’s labor, institutional failure, and what it means to serve across divisions.
For individual use
Read the guide before and after the production, then reflect on how the river, the basket, and Clara’s recordkeeping shape your understanding of mercy and nationhood.
What You Can Explore
- How the play presents Clara Barton not as a monument, but as a working human being shaped by care, fatigue, wit, and moral resolve.
- Mercy as action: carrying, washing, stitching, feeding, identifying, recording, and staying.
- How rivers, objects, lists, and fragments become symbols of national memory and unresolved history.
- Women’s labor, authority, and the institutions that rely on work they often fail to honor.
- Public service, division, witness, and what it means to refuse disappearance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need prior knowledge of Clara Barton to use this toolkit?
No. The study guide provides the key historical background, including Clara Barton’s Civil War relief work, her efforts to identify missing soldiers, and her role in founding the American Red Cross.
Is this toolkit only for schools?
No. It is designed for students, educators, audiences, community groups, and facilitators.
What makes this production especially useful for discussion?
The play connects battlefield care, disaster relief, recordkeeping, women’s labor, and national identity, making it especially strong for conversations about service, memory, mercy, and division.