Students explore dramatically the impact of periods in American history on the lives of historical figures. Then they write monologues or letters by key figures in history that explain their points of view on the events they influenced--for example, the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. Students work in collaborative groups to create performances from the monologues.
Students integrate Theater with Language Arts and Social Studies curricular goals. They write about the motivation of historical figures, the obstacles they faced, and their hopes for and influences on the future. Students gain skills and awareness of group dynamics and practice them in collaborative creative processes. Finally, students perform their monologues or letters.
Curricular Connections
Social Studies 4.05 Identify and assess the role of prominent persons in North Carolina, past and present.
English Language Arts 3.01 Respond to fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes by: examining the reasons for characters' actions; identifying and examining characters' motives; considering a situation or problem from different characters' points of view; making inferences and drawing conclusions about characters, events and themes.... 4 The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts. 4.07 Compose fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using self-selected and assigned topics and forms (e.g., personal and imaginative narratives...). 4.09 Produce work that follows the conventions of particular genres (e.g., personal and imaginative narrative....
Theatre Arts: Goal 1: The learner will write based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history.
