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Learning the Scripts

choosing a

script

Can't find a play that works for you? Let's make one. The Creation Project

You know the feeling, you have several talented students who are really committed and you want to feature them in a production, but you cannot find the right play. Sound familiar? I hope this will help.

 

The Creation Project allows you to tap into the student’s creativity and imagination. They work together or on their own to write short scenes and monologues based on a concept and this concept provides a vehicle that ties their scenes together into a cohesive entity that becomes a play with a beginning, middle, and end.

 

Here is an example of what we have done in the past.

 

The title of the play is High School Is… and the prototype has been performed at the Drama Festival in many different formats.

Theater Performance

The play begins with the full cast on stage in various locations that are identifiable as a universally recognizable high school setting. For example, the locker area, the cafeteria, a centre gathering place, a corridor, a library, and a classroom are all effective backdrops for scenes. In our current environment, places can be created with dialogue. (“I’ll meet you in the library after period one”). Students are frozen into interesting positions. They have all developed a line that completes the phrase, “High School is________________. (For example, High School the time to find out who you really are.”  “High School is a time of great confusion”, “High School is a time to establish life-long friendships.” “High School is the worst”.  “High School is better than a Marvel Movie”

 

To make it visually interesting, the students are given numbers so that the definition of high school comes from around the stage. Each time a student speaks, they create movement so that the audience can “find” them. This would work in a zoom meeting concept in our Covid world.

The last person to speak waits to hear the bell and then says, “High School is Now” in an onstage version actors move to locations and the scenes and monologues they have created begin. In a Virtual Performance, you can make a decision on how the scene partners or monologue performers should be featured in a Zoom format or an edited version.

 

Some suggestions for scenes/monologues are: (reminder these are just suggestions for scenes and monologues. Your students may volunteer some that are far more intriguing than what is listed below) Students should be encouraged to create their own headings.

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Academics:

  • Not being prepared for classes or tests

  • AP/Enriched classes

  • Test Anxiety

  • Teacher/student relationships

  • Exams

  • What will I do after high school

  • Choosing your future at 17?

 

Social Issues:

  • Social Justice

  • Relationships

  • Dating

  • Conflicts

  • Gossip/Rumours

  • Bullying

  • Cell phones

  • Social Media-Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok

  • Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior issues

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Extra-Curricular

  • Sports

  • Drama/Music/Arts

  • Student Council

  • Yearbook

  • Fund Raising

  • Activities that develop social awareness  

                          

School Traditions:

  • Opening Day

  • Fall Fair, Winter Carnival, Spring Fling

  • Grad gatherings

  • Prom

  • Graduation

Students have been more traditionally than willing to add to this basic list. As each high is unique,   the situations will vary. This is what makes it interesting-there is a universality to the high school experience, but each school is distinct.

 

Once the scenes and monologues are written, the director can organize them into an order that tells the story of your high school. Bells and announcements are very effective ways to change the scene, but feel feel to be creative.

 

The final scene bookends the play by having students return to their original positions and say their final line. Some potential beginnings are:

 

“At the end of high school I hope I can say________________.”

 

“High school taught me________________.”

 

or  “High school makes me wonder if_____________________

 

 

The “High School Is”  format is one of several possibilities for a created play. The idea of a general topic supported by scenes and monologues can take on many forms, especially in our current climate. Students can work alone, with a partner, or in a small group. It can be done in zoom or students could submit their work and and edited version could be created. There are many possibilities.

 

Speaking of possibilities, here are some additional titles that might spur you and your students on your own Creation Project

 

  • A Day in the Life

  • Pandemic Problems

  • Covid Concerns

  • Masked Moments

  • Life in Pieces

  • Unlinked In

  • From a Distance

  • The Year of Living Distantly

  • Quaranteens and Stay at Homies

  • 3 Maskateers

  • Look 2020, I think I should start seeing other years,

  • You Won’t Believe This

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For an example of a Creation Project, you can check out this script that was developed by the students at Rothesay High School and was performed at the Festival in 2019.

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High School Is Sample Script

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