Wonderful commentary. I enjoyed both of these videos on the play. All your insights are helpful. Thank you very much. Any tips for teaching it the first time to 10th graders in High School?
Hello, I'm glad you found this helpful. I don't have any experience teaching high school, but I as a white person I learned a lot about the "Middle Passage" as an important cultural ritual. I'd say it's important to get young people to understand the difference between reading a script (that has to be interpreted by the creative choices of the director and actors, as well as costumers, lighting designers, etc), and watching someone else's interpretation. If there's an African history center in your area, or anyone with personal experience in the kinds of participatory, creative dramatizations of a shared cultural experience, that might be a starting point. As a Christian I grew up very familiar with Christmas nativity pageants and an in-church participatory dramatization of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, but those aren't really designed to create a *change* in the participants. So I think some discussion of what the detailed stage directions mean, and what impact the experience will have on the live audience as well as the characters on stage, would be appropriate.
Wonderful commentary. I enjoyed both of these videos on the play. All your insights are helpful. Thank you very much. Any tips for teaching it the first time to 10th graders in High School?
Hello, I'm glad you found this helpful. I don't have any experience teaching high school, but I as a white person I learned a lot about the "Middle Passage" as an important cultural ritual. I'd say it's important to get young people to understand the difference between reading a script (that has to be interpreted by the creative choices of the director and actors, as well as costumers, lighting designers, etc), and watching someone else's interpretation. If there's an African history center in your area, or anyone with personal experience in the kinds of participatory, creative dramatizations of a shared cultural experience, that might be a starting point. As a Christian I grew up very familiar with Christmas nativity pageants and an in-church participatory dramatization of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, but those aren't really designed to create a *change* in the participants. So I think some discussion of what the detailed stage directions mean, and what impact the experience will have on the live audience as well as the characters on stage, would be appropriate.