The Middle School annual theater workshop culminated with a performance of Twain’s Tales (Adapted By David Taylor London) on Wednesday, January 10. Each year the students perform a play that corresponds with the History curriculum. This year they are studying American History and also covering American literature in English class. During theater week, students worked on staging the play, and they also worked behind the scenes on various aspects of the show.
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This year’s performance of Twain’s Tales includes five short stories by the master American storyteller – “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “Science vs. Luck,” “The Joke That Made Ed’s Fortune,” and “Is He Living or Is He Dead?” – as well as the fence-painting chapter from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The play takes place on the front porch of a general store in what could be Hannibal, Missouri in the late 1800s. The five locals – the storekeeper and his wife, a printer, a reporter and a riverboat pilot – spend the morning entertaining each other by seeing who can spin the tallest tale. In his own lifetime, Samuel Clemens held all four of these occupations, and his ability as a storyteller may very well have been born while listening to such individuals spinning their yarns at the general store.
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The students put in a great deal of hard work and we’re so proud of their accomplishments!
