Play Guide [356k PDF] - Arizona Theatre Company

The Great GatsbyLESSON PLANS• As students finish the Questionnaires, bring their attention back to the group and moveto the board. Ask for a few volunteers to share bits from the Questionnaires. Then movethem to the final question, about the characters’ goals/dreams. Write each character’sname on the board and list student responses under each name. Lead a discussionabout the responses and ask students to reflect on any common threads, why therewere similar/different responses if they were all given the same quotes to start from. Tryto guide students toward a consensus for each character and indicate or write that onthe board. Then ask students to think of a color or an image that might represent eachcharacter’s goal/dream.• Collect the groups’ Questionnaires and ask students to return to their desks to get penand paper out. Once they’re settled again, ask them to spend a minute thinking abouttheir own goals and dreams in life. Ask them to think of a color or image that couldrepresent their goal/dream, and then write about it in three sentences. Give the studentsa minute to write, and then collect their responses.• Wrap up, answer any questions they may have, and remind students that we will berevisiting these written exercises during our post-show workshop after they attend theStudent Matinee of The Great Gatsby.Restoring GatsbyPost-Show LessonExploring The Great Gatsby through AMERICA PLAYS! Celebrating Great American StoriesThe following discussion guides and activities are designed to help students explore topicsand themes from Simon Levy’s stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby inorder to gain a better understanding of the story, characters, and historical context of thenovel and how these topics and themes can relate to their own lives in the present day.Materials You Will Needcopies of the novel The Great Gatsby or selected pieces of dialogue (Appendix C)space to move/have students work in small groupschalkboard or whiteboardDay Two – Post-Show Workshop• Have the students form a circle or a group somewhere in the room for the discussion.Get them started on a discussion of the play – start with general impressions, what theyliked most, differences from the novel, but lead them to a discussion of how symbols,colors, and iconic images from the novel were used or created on stage.• Ask students to think back to the Character Questionnaires they completed during thefirst workshop and rewrite the three characters (Gatsby, Daisy, Tom) on the board, alongwith their goal/dream.Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 55