Last October 19th actors came to our classes with an American classic show which is an interactive theatrical show to teach students traditional American literature in a fun and interesting way.
The first show was about Grapes of Wrath. The person that came played the guitar. He told us about the great depression and the dust bowl. He told us how the main character got out of prison after killing another man and then went to the west with his family in seek of opportunities. We ended up by singing all together a song.
The second show was about To Kill A Mockingbird. An enthusiastic girl came and we did a theatrical representation of the book. She chose volunteers to be the jury, the judge, Atticus (the lawyer), the accused black man and the victim. I think this was one of the best shows.
The third show was about Moby Dick. This time came a puppeteer of those who use shadows to represent characters and actions. He told us about the time period of the book, American Renaissance, and about whale oil and whale hunting. Then we went through each of the characters. After that he told us the story by heart. To finish up he chose two volunteers to represent the story with shadows. That was the last show in the morning and we went to the break.
After the break a magician came in. He started by doing amazing tricks with two little balls. Then he introduced us to the time period of Huckleberry Finn, to slavery and discrimination. He started to tell the story. To represent how Huckleberry Finn escaped from his father he did another amazing trick with two big metal rings. He then chose 3 volunteers to represent a gunfight. After that he made awesome swords out of balloons. He ended the story by doing a trick with a tissue.
The last show was about The Great Gatsby. The person that came told us about the Happy Twenties. He then told us the plot of the story and where it happened. He picked up 5 volunteers to play each a character and explained who was who. He then organized acting of each person. To finish up he concluded that money, style and luxury aren’t the source of happiness.
I liked the originality and the content of the different shows. Juan LL., 40 ESO B.
