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One of the most exciting aspects of Language Arts is studying theater. Students often comment that performing plays in class is both fun and enlightening. Visualizing scenes from the written text is one thing; however, bringing those scenes to life in class is quite another! This webpage, appropriately titled On Stage!, lists several plays that are available for study this year. Links include online versions of plays in our curriculum, research information, and additional plays of interest. All students are encouraged to participate in class. As your director, all I ask is that you show enthusiasm for your character!
The following plays appear in literature textbooks or are available in paperback for 2007-08:
Back There
Travel back in time with young Peter Corrigan as he attempts to prevent President Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Will he succeed? Find out when we enter the The Twilight Zone.
Brian's Song
See separate webpage here.
A Christmas Carol
See separate webpage here.
The Diary of Anne Frank
See separate webpage here.
The Hitchhiker
During his long car trip from New York to New Mexico, Ronald Adams has a very strange encounter with death in the form of a mysterious man whom only Adams can see.
The Million Pound Bank Note
Two old men take a chance and bet on the outcome of giving one million pounds (British currency) to a total stranger who is desperate for money.
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
Many of you may have read this Twilight Zone episode by Rod Serling in seventh grade. I think the peaceful and friendly neighborhood of Maple Street is worth revisiting. Peaceful and friendly, that is, until the monsters came.
A Raisin in the Sun
See separate webpage here.
The Ugly Duckling
The Ugly Duckling is a comedy play by A. A. Milne, the author of Winnie the Pooh. The play, however, has nothing to do with the Hans Christian Andersen story, except the theme. In Milne's version, a King and a Queen have a hard time marrying their daughter, an ugly princess. They devise a scheme to marry her to a prince from a far away land. What follows is a series of comedic deceptions that make this fairy tale anything but traditional!
Suggested Links: Created by a former American history teacher, the Abraham Lincoln Research Site can be utilized for one of our literary pieces -- Back There. Needless to say, the assassination is discussed in great detail within this impressive site.
Hans Christian Andersen: "The Ugly Duckling"
Okay, you knew this was coming. Here is Hans Christian Andersen's "The Ugly Duckling." Compare and contrast it to the play.
The Hitchhiker by Lucille Fletcher is a radio play that was originally produced and narrated by Orson Welles. The play appears in McDougall Littell's The Language of Literature and on the Internet via this link.
Short story version of the play.
Rod Serling's The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street is a popular choice among publishers of children's literature textbooks. Thankfully, the play is now available on the Internet.
This is the online version of the periodical that has been serving theater since 1884!
One of the funniest plays ever to run on Broadway! The film versions were hysterical, as well. Now here is the entire script online!
These pages are devoted to the five-year history of the original series. Find your favorite episode or one that interests you in the episode guide.
Althought students generally do not get exposed to Shakespeare until high school, this website offers online versions of the author's works, as well as analyses, essays, and quizzes.
Eighth grade students are required to read this eerie tale by Edgar Allan Poe in The Language of Literature textbook. Here is an added bonus: the actual old-time radio script of the story!
More thought-provoking scripts from Rod Serling, including the following:
- Nick of Time. This is one of my favorite original Twilight Zone television episodes. It stars a young William Shatner, several years before he would become Captain Kirk in Star Trek, as a superstitious newlywed who comes under the spell of a fortune-telling machine. I usually present this episode in class as part of my Twilight Zone writing series, but here it is in script form.
- Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. It's William Shatner again in another classic Twilight Zone episode! This time, he plays a man recovering from a mental breakdown. On the flight home from a sanitarium, he begins to see hideous, furry creatures tampering with the airplane's engine. But will anyone believe him?
©
Copyright 2008 A.J. Kimmel
