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language arts
Click on a category below or just scroll
down to see the individual plays.
FABLES AND
TALL TALES
Aesop's
Fables Deluxe
Grades K-3 5 - 25 minutes
We've put together a handful of
Aesop's fables into a format especially written for young
students. The songs are simple and playful, encouraging students to delight in the
sounds of
language (phonemic awareness) while they practice basic word-building skills. This
show is
uniquely designed so that teachers can choose to have their kids do the entire show or
merely
perform any number of individual scenes/songs.
More information
here
America's
Tallest Tales
Grades 3-7 30 minutes
Paul Bunyan, with the help of Bess Call, the
strong-armed, cattle-friendly heroine of the
Andirondacks, is crisscrossing America in search of his missing companion. In the
course
of their adventures Paul and Bess run into John Henry, Alfred Bulltop Stormalong, and a
host of other stars of America's Tallest Tales.
More
information here
FOLK TALES - AFRICAN
Anansi
and the Moss-Covered Rock
Grades 1-4 25 minutes
Anansi is based on a West African
tale. It's the story of a very tricky spider who discovers
a magic rock which he uses to steal food from all the jungle inhabitants. The last
laugh is on
Anansi, of course, but not before everyone has a chance to sing some fun songs about yams,
dancing mangos, and Anansi's mischief. It can be used merely as part of a Folk Tales
or
Trickster component to the curriculum, but it lends itself naturally to multicultural
aspects of
social studies.
More information here
FOLK TALES - EUROPEAN
Jack and
Beanstalk
Grades 1-5 20 minutes
Developed specifically for "first
time" musical producers and performers, Jack has been
performed successfully by all kinds of students - big kids, little kids, gifted, ESL.
Teachers
from kindergarten through firth grade have told us how much fun they've had putting on
this
musicalized version of the familiar story.
More information here
Goldilocks
and the Three Bears
Grades K-3 15 minutes
Specifically designed for kindergarten
through third grade, this 15 minute version of the
misadventures of Goldilocks is a perfect way to introduce musical theater to younger kids.
The entire class sings the story, interrupted by several enthusiastic students who
repeatedly
try to introduce characters from other favorite children's tales.
More information here
Little
Red Riding Hood
(A Fractured Version for Older Students)
Grades 2-6 25 minutes
Does your class find traditional folk tales a
bit too, well, traditional? Then our "fractured"
version of Little Red Riding Hood may be just what you're looking for! The Wolf
needs
some ketchup, Granny is a math whiz, and Little Red learns how to do the Acorn Dance with
an odd band of Squirrels.
More information here
The
Emperor's New Clothes
Grades 2-5 20 minutes
The Emperor think he needs a new outfit, and
the Crooks have just the thing in mind! But
will the Emperor catch on to their scheme before he embarrasses himself? Our version
of this
classic tale about vanity and pride is perfect for stimulating discussion.
More information here
FOLK TALES - NATIVE AMERICAN
Coyote
Steals the Summer
Grades K-3 15 minutes
This Native American tale tells how Coyote
brings summer to the worlds and earns his
famous gift of trickery as a reward. Our fifteen minute musical version of this
delightful story
from the Crow Nation is designed especially for kindergarten through third grade.
More information here
Grammar
& Composition
Pirates
from Grammar Island
Grades 3-6 25 minutes
Pirates is a great way to energize
your Language Arts curriculum. Your students will love
instead of hate antonyms. No more confusing or confounding synonyms. How can
they
ever fail again to identify interrogative sentences? Pirates from Grammar Island
will even
help them learn to capitalize things like, well, the titles of musical plays!
More
information here
Grammarosaurus
 Grades 1-4 20 minutes
The Loch Ness monster has surfaced, and it
turns out she's a Grammarosaurus! Nessie
and her friends, all experts on some aspects of grammar, ahve come out of the lake
because the world is in a grammatical crises. As reporters, tourists, professors and
grammar
lovers converge on Loch Ness, the Grammarosauri are only too happy to explain all about
capital letters, plurals, contractions, subject-verb agreement, complete sentences,
and punctuation.
More information
here
The
Case of the Missing Paragraph
Bad Wolf's Guide to Composition
Grades 3-7 35 minutes
It was a sweltering afternoon when she
knocked on the door. She was looking for a
detective. Someone to find her paragraph. It was missing. She'd come to
the right place:
The Expository Detective Agency. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.In
our
new guide to writing techniques, students will have a great time working through the
mystery as they review the basic elements of narrative and expository composition.
More information here
GREEK
MYTHOLOGY
Theseus
and the Minotaur
Grades 4-8 30 - 40 minutes
The Cretan Minotaur - half man, half bull -
has been devouring so many Athenians that it's
getting impossible to organize a softball game. Can the young prince Theseus, son of
Poseidon, save the day? Theseus and the Minotaur has been developed to work
closely
with your ancient history curriculum.
More information here
SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare Unshackled
(or everything you wanted to know about
Shakespeare but were afraid would
show up on the quiz)
 Grades 5-9+ 35 minutes
Want a fun and funny musical introduction to
the background of Shakespeare's plays? This
show touches on many cool aspects of Elizabethan theater, and contains fractured scenes
from
Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Topics
include:
Shakespeare's life, the nature of theatrical productions (actors, staging, audience,
especially
as regards to the Old Globe Theater), acting companies and patronage, Elizabethan and
Jacobean London, the language of the plays.
More
information here
Macbeth,
The Musical Comedy
Grades 6-9 35 minutes
You've read the famous story of greed, guilt,
and gore in Scotland - but do you know the
catchy tunes? Our Macbeth, a tad confused, keeps spouting lines from Hamlet (much to
the
annoynance of the other characters), Lady Macbeth is obsessed with dry-cleaning the castle
drapes, and King Duncan boasts that he invented plaid.
More information here
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