Students will demonstrate their understanding of French Neoclassical playwriting by taking a comprehensive assessment and stage reading their final script.
Class Level:
Advanced
Main Concepts:
playwriting, French Neo-classical ideals
1994 National Standards:
Script writing by improvising, writing, and refining scripts based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history.
Researching by evaluating and synthesizing cultural and historical information to support artistic choices.
Description:
This unit was constructed within a theatre history course and created as a way to combine the French Theatre History with the basic principles of playwriting.
Lesson Plans
Lesson 1: Three Unities Students will demonstrate their understanding of the French Neoclassical “Three Unities” by modifying a fairytale to have one plot, set in one place, happening in one day.
Lesson 2: Verisimilitude Students will demonstrate their understanding of the French Neoclassic ideal “verisimilitude” by modifying their fairytale to be “true to life”.
Lesson 3: French Neoclassical Genre Students will demonstrate their understanding of the French Neoclassical “genre” guideline by modifying their fairytale to strictly either be a tragedy or comedy.
Lesson 4: Didactic Students will demonstrate their understanding of the French Neoclassical expectation of using drama to teach a lesson by determining and then modifying their fairytale to make sure a lesson is being taught.
Lesson 5: Decorum Students will demonstrate their understanding of the French Neoclassical guideline “decorum” by modifying their fairytale’s characters to ensure they is propriety in manner and conduct.
Lesson 6: Put it all together Students will demonstrate their ability to assimilate what they’ve learned about French Neoclassical playwriting by working on their scripts.
Lesson 7: Final Assessment and Performance Students will demonstrate their understanding of French Neoclassical playwriting by taking a comprehensive assessment and stage reading their final script.
