Unit Three: Dramatic Fiction
Dramatic Fiction: A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and action.
As we transition into the second quarter, we will be moving into a unit based on the world of plays and musicals. If you recall from the last unit, plays were often performed for storytelling and entertainment purposes. In hindsight, plays were some of the earliest forms of entertainment during ancient civilizations. However, the theater landscape that we know today didn't take shape until about the 16th and 17th centuries (Zen Garden). This is where we see our most famous play writers, such as Shakespeare and Marlowe.
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Thinking back on our semester question, how has history been perceived based on the perspective of fiction, you will be exposed to the texts Henry VIII, A Doll's House, and Hamilton. The purpose of these texts is to show you how authors will portray historical events in the forms of entertainment and show you how plays and musicals are still relevant in modern society. Keeping that in mind, we will guide our thinking for this unit based on these questions:
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Where do plays fit in when exploring the perception of history?
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How do we use these plays to identify important aspects of history?
During this unit, we will be looking at the technical aspects of plays and how they evoke an emotional response from the audience. We will refer to historical documents, just like in previous units, and try to comprehend the internal and external factors that shaped the author's decisions when writing this production. The goal here is not to just read the play but analyze and make sense of what we are seeing. Everyone will have a different perspective on these texts' meanings, so it is up to us to decide what we think the author meant, passage by passage.
Drama is meant to be fun and exciting to read. There are a variety of different plays that we can analyze and enjoy. Most individuals also agree that interacting with the arts in some ways is highly beneficial for your education and builds our understanding of complex texts (AATE). As such, my goal is to integrate as much play culture as I can during this time. Hopefully, I will be able to take you to see a show in Denver to enable you to feel the experience of watching a live performance – trust me; it's a lot different!
At the end of this unit, we will be performing a scene from a play of your choosing with a modern twist. You will be working with your peers and making a script filled with stage directions, dialogue, and more. Thanks to our fantastic theater department, we will perform our scenes on a real stage with costumes (costumes are super fun but entirely optional). As this is a collaborative assignment, which is highly essential for social-emotional learning, you will be given workshop time in class to work on this assignment (The Strong). This is practice for when you present your final project at the end of the semester.