Open Forum

If you had your fantasy, which plays would you add to your high school's curriculum 9th through 12th?

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Tisha Donnelly
Vallejo CA
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This would be my fantasy.Lysistrata (Aristophanes).  

I know all the obvious reasons it is not taught (graphic sexual content), but the fact that it is one of the first plays with a notable female lead and a anti-war point of view AND that it is one of the first Greek plays to start to challenge the traditional structure of Old Comedy  AND that it has influenced so many writers from the time it was penned...

Plus, it is REALLY funny!

P.S. Can't wait to read other's answers.  What a fun topic!

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Raenell Smith
Speech, Theatre, English Teacher
Clark Pleasant Community School Corporation
Whiteland IN
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Being primarily a math teacher, it would be "Euclid and His Modern Rivals" by Charles Dodgson.  This was actually never written as a play to be performed, but as an argument in favor of a classical mathematics education.  The Geometry teacher who wrote it is probably better known in literary circles as Lewis Carroll.

From a theatre history point of view, "The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus" by Christopher Marlowe.  This play shows a transition from the morality plays to the Elizabethan plays that influence our language and modern theatre so greatly.  Because he was a contemporary of Uncle Will, Marlowe tends to get overlooked.

And I certainly agree about Lysistrata.  In fact, the other members of the Algebra teaching team and I have discussed how much fun it would be do stage it.  And we know the students would enjoy it.

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Jym Kinney
Troupe Director
Tacoma WA
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Any of the Shakespeare Comedies.

Our English/Language Arts curriculum, especially AP, focuses almost exclusively on the Tragedies, with the occasional exception being "Midsummer."

For this reason, I try do do at least one comedy in my Drama Classes. They're more complicated, and can offer a richer experience without the nuisance of "dumbing down" the language (although, some of the naughty bits in "Shrew" need to be handled with professionalism and care).

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Josh Ruben
Fine Arts Head, Northwest Whitfield
Chattanooga TN
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Lysistrata also has a strong female lead that was originally played by a man. Interesting commentary on 500 BCE Greece.

We use Shakespeare's 12th Night in the curriculum but I'd like A Winters Tale or Much Ado About Nothing added, also.

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John Perry
Drama Instructor
Atherton High School
Louisville KY
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I'm a huge fan of Aristophanes.  Our district already has a strong Shakespeare curriculum, at least in that students study one play a year from 7th through 12th (except 11th which is American Lit).  This year we began doing Shakespearapalooza, a one day Shakespeare festival with performances by each grade level of a 5 minute selection from each play.

I'm wondering, which plays you would want worked into the English department curriculum if you could.

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Tisha Donnelly
Vallejo CA
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"I'm Just Wild About Harry" - it's a musical, but has so many wonderful songs from the early 1920's and a very funny farce based on "Charlie's Aunt"… very accessible.

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If I had my way, I would have each year add a Documentary theater play. I think the kids love post-modern stuff that deals with issues that are current and raw. Anna Devere Smith's Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 or Fires in the Mirror to touch on race relations. Laramie Project to look at LGBT issues, The People's Temple by Leigh Fondakowski to look at what cult's do. If my students had a background in documentary theater, I think I could more easily get them to write their own pieces. 
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Joyce Thrift
Theater Teacher
West Contra Costa Unified School Distric
Hercules CA

Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" is a fantastic show that weaves Math, Literature, and History together making it a nice interdisciplinary piece. Set in the early 19th century and present day at the same time. Perhaps the only drawback is cast size. With 12 in the cast you may need a small show slot in your production calendar. It is a brilliant piece of theater.

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Mark Bishop
Washington DC
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Too many to count...

In our district there is no mandated curriculum, so it's wide open choice. Which is a blessing and a curse, so discussions like this are fun and helpful.

Harold Pinter would be a great addition ('The Caretaker', 'The Dumb Waiter', 'The Birthday Party'), as would 'Waiting for Godot' by Beckett.

Adding Shakespeare comedies would be nice, my favorites tend to be 'Merchant of Venice,' 'Twelfth Night,' but it would also be cool to add in a history or two (especially 'Richard III' or 'Richard II,' 'Henry IV' (1 and 2?), and I adore 'Troilus and Cressida' and 'Coriolanus' too. Decisions, decisions...

I find it strange that 'A Doll's House' isn't used in the English curriculum. But it would be grand to throw it in to the drama curriculum, if not already there.

Can't say I've seen musicals studied in the theatre classroom, maybe because they're left to the Musical Theatre class...but I would say that 'Fiddler on the Roof' is worthy of study.

I guess it depends on what we're using it to teach. Particular epochs of theatre history? Exemplary story/dialogue/plot/characterization? Issues (women's rights/emancipation in 'Doll's House,' futility of life in a post-war context ('Waiting for Godot')?

Let's keep the discussion going, much of worth to learn here!

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Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Hillsborough County Schools
Ruskin FL
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The play at the top of my list would be The Piano Lesson by August Wilson.  The play ties in to so many pieces of our history that really should be covered in some high school class, such as the great migration of African Americans to the industrial north and the fact that Mississippi's Parchman penitentiary functioned as slavery after emancipation for many black men.  The names Wilson gave the characters should lead to discussion of institutionalized and internalized racism.  

Hallmark produced a film that is readily available, for which August Wilson wrote the screenplay.  It "opens up" the play, showing a few scenes outside of the townhouse the family occupies in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, which provides a good opportunity to discuss box sets and some differences between settings for film and theatre.

While both Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun and Wilson's The Piano Lesson end hopefully, I think The Piano Lesson has more lessons for today's youth.

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C. J. Breland
Asheville NC
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