Give Me Sixty Minutes and I’ll Give You a Guaranteed Successful Play

Give Me Sixty Minutes and I’ll Give You a Guaranteed Successful Play

Yes, give me sixty minutes (for five days) and I’ll give you a guaranteed successful play. Are you looking for something multicultural?  A short, one act play with room for a large cast?  Or a cast as small as ten?

I got you covered!

I taught middle school drama for twelve years.  In that time, I was expected to teach the students the components of theatre.

This would, of course, include a performance of some kind.

I taught six rotations per year.  Every twenty-five days, seventy kids would float through my classroom door.

Some loved performing, many didn’t.

Over time, I experimented with many plays and finally created my own adaptations.

Ojisan and the Grateful Statues is a week long unit. I’d suggest breaking the project into four one hour rehearsals.

It includes:

• a ROYALTY FREE script which can be copied as many times as you need

• stage properties list

• original song (a page dedicated to the melody and another with accompaniament)

• costume suggestion list

• and loads of fun! (Nah, that’s up to you.  I’m just seeing if you are actually reading.)

I produced Ojisan with my classes at least six times with both elementary and middle school grade students.

 I tweaked it, re-wrote and staged the play until it worked.

Because of my time “in the trenches” for nearly forty years, I can guarantee you this play will be a winner with your students.

It’s a great piece to use for an open house for parents.

Ojisa and the Grateful Statues is a beloved Japanese tale.  It contains themes of winter, kindness and forgiveness, a bit of comedy and drama.

You can’t beat that.

Give Me Sixty Minutes and I’ll Give You a Guaranteed Successful Play

Your students have an opportunity to create paper snowflakes and paper rice hats.  I even provided links to snowflake and paper hat making directions.  You’re welcome.

For those students who are performance shy, they can accompany the play with percussion instruments. The music score provides suggestions for you.

Maybe your vocal music teacher would be willing to co-teach the play.  I have done that, too.

So there go–a successful play, Ojisan and the Grateful Statues.

If you are interested in other lessons, I have several Teacherpayteachers products.  Check them out at: Dramamommaspeaks Store 

For more information, go here: Oji San and the Grateful Statues

There’s a young student version, too!

Oji San and the Grateful Statues

Here are several other posts about teaching theater:

The Reasons Thematic Units in Teaching are Successful

The Importance of a Drama Word Wall for Secondary Students

The Reasons to Teach Drama Class with Unique Lessons

Fairy Tale Lessons for Drama Class

What experiences have you had with directing a play?  I’d love to hear about them.  Or maybe you just have questions I can answer.

Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net