Oedipus the King reader's theatre

Students will rewrite the Greek tragedy in a modern context in order to review and analyze the plot. This assignment is designed as a final project in a Greek Theatre unit. It is expected that the literature has already been read and analyzed as a class. I have found that this project is an innovative way to review for a unit test on the play and Greek Theatre.

A lesson plan for grades 9–10 English Language Arts

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Related topics

• Learn more about Greek tragedies, Oedipus the King, cooperative learning, language arts, literature, plays, role playing, and world literature.

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Learning outcomes

Students will create and perform an updated version of the play Oedipus the King in order to have a better understanding of the plot and see a connection in today’s society.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

4 Hours

Materials/resources

• Student copies of the play
• Group Project: Reader’s Theatre lesson instruction sheet
• Group Project: Reader’s Theatre rubric

Pre-activities

As a class, students should read the play and discuss literary terms, themes, and issues that relate. The Reader’s Theatre is designed to conclude a unit on Greek Theatre and Oedipus the King. Six groups with approximately five students in each should be created by the teacher prior to beginning the project.

Activities

1. Hand out the lesson instruction sheet to each student and discuss expectations and criteria.
2. As a class, determine an updated context in which the play will be written and performed. Allow students to offer suggestions and vote upon a context that the majority agrees on. Successful contexts that have been used in the past are a soap opera setting and a typical American small town setting (e.g., Mayberry).
3. As a class, list all relevant characters on the chalkboard or overhead and create updated names that correspond with the new setting. This is important so that students are consistent from group to group.
4. Assign the groups and determine which lines will be performed by which group. I have found that it works best that groups are responsible for approximately 300 lines. The instruction sheet lines correspond with the Prentice Hall World Literature textbook. My attempt in dividing the lines was to provide one important scene to perform and lines from the chorus so that all students may get involved in the performance.
5. Once students are in assigned groups, allow them approximately two hours of class time to work together writing updated script and summary with literary devices included. Students should condense the 300 lines to about half in order to determine what is most important in terms of plot and characterization. It is helpful to have groups read their summaries to the class prior to each performance. This helps the student audience better understand and analyze what they will be seeing. Also, by having groups determine relevant literary terms for their lines, they are determining what is most important in each section of the play.
6. Student performance. Consider moving the desks to the back of the room and setting up the chairs like theatre seating. Use this as an opportunity to talk to the class about the set-up of Greek theatrons.

Assessment

See attached rubric. Script, summary, and performance will all be assessed.