#2182. Modern Love

other, level: Middle
Posted Sun Mar 18 14:47:56 PST 2001 by Toby Eisenberg (tobyeisenberg@hotmail.com).
Roosevelt Intermediate School, Westfield, New Jersey
Materials Required: time!
Activity Time: three weeks
Concepts Taught: Musical Theatre, Language Arts and the Bard

Project to re-write Romeo and Juliet with musical theatre adaptations.

Students in groups develop a character from Romeo and Juliet.
They determine the most pivotal part of the play where their character is involved.
They decide on a song that thematically represents their characters lines in that scene.
Each group presents their scenes with the lyrics from the song rather than the lines from the play. (With music in background playing)
Entire class breaks down themes after seeing and hearing the scene studies for each character.
They choose another way to develop the play in a more modern way (my students this year chose 8th grade cool kids vs unpopular kids)
The students then re-write the play using lyrics, music and modern language to communicate their parallel theme.