Rationale

As a culminating lesson for studying the Statue of Liberty, students will create a play based on what they have learned about the statue. Students will make connections between the Statue of Liberty and their own lives, address the statue?s place in time, provide their audience with factual information, and discuss the statue as an artwork. They will make costumes and props to use in their play. They will reconsider their play by writing a review of it after they have performed. Students will use all of the previous lessons in this activity and discover interesting ways to share that information.

Overview

In this lesson, students will work collaboratively to create a play using the information they have gathered from the previous lessons. The play activity will require students to refer to the historical time period in which the Statue of Liberty was built, provide the audience with factual information about the statue, and discuss the statue as an artwork. They will develop an understanding of the connection between research and art production. They will work with their classmates to discover ways to communicate the required information in a creative manner. They will write a review about the play as an art critic. The activity in this lesson includes elements of art production, art criticism, art history, and aesthetics.

Objectives

Students will:

review what they have learned about the Statue of Liberty.
work collaboratively to create a play about the statue.
develop ways to communicate factual information to their audience.
review their play as an artwork based on how it communicated that information.

Materials and Resources

Materials

photocopies of play considerations worksheet
materials needed to make costumes or props for plays (cardboard, pens, pencils, crayons, glue, aluminum foil, fabric, and other materials as determined by the students)
examples of art reviews of plays from magazines or local newspapers

Resources

visit the SOS! website for further information about creating sculpture plays (http://www.heritagepreservation.org/PROGRAMS/SOS/4KIDS/actout.htm)

Planning and Preparation

Review the play requirements listed under Instruction and decide if you would like to add more requirements, take out requirements, or make other adjustments depending on your class.
Look through local newspapers or magazines for reviews of plays.

Vocabulary

Climax: the highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding; the decisive moment in a novel or play;

Copper: a name given to a number of metallic minerals, sulfides of iron, copper, cobalt, nickel, and tin, of a white or yellowish color. [sulfide: a binary compound of sulfur with a metal.]

Freedom: the state of being free; exemption from the power and control of another; liberty; independence; the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints.

Liberty: the state of a free person; exemption from subjection to the will of another claiming ownership of the person or services; freedom; opposed to slavery, serfdom, bondage, or subjection.

Line: an element of art that refers to the continuous mark made on some surface by a moving point. It can define a space, create an outline or contour, define a silhouette, create patterns, create movement, or create the illusion of mass or volume. It may be two-dimensional (as with pencil on paper) three-dimensional (wire/sculptural) or implied (the edge of a shape or form).

Monument: a building, pillar, stone, or the like, erected to preserve the remembrance of a person, event, action, etc.; as the Washington monument; the Bunker Hill monument; a tomb with memorial inscriptions.

Play: to act on the stage; to personate a character.

Prop: any movable articles or objects used on the set of a play or movie;

Repousse: a technique for creating sculptural forms by hammering sheet metal inside molds.

Scale: scale in an image, artwork, or sculpture acts to show relations between objects. Rather than measuring weight, however, visual scale deals with apparent relative size of objects.

Sculpture: the art of carving, cutting, or hewing wood, stone, metal, etc., into statues, ornaments, etc., or into figures of people, or other things whether in plastic or hard materials; carved work modeled of, or cut upon, wood, stone, metal, etc.

Shape: an element of art, it is an enclosed space defined and determined by other art

elements such as line, color, value, and texture.

Statue: the likeness of a living being, animal, or other object sculptured or modeled in some solid substance, as marble, bronze, or wax.

Style: an artist's characteristic manner of expression; works of art by different

artists may have certain features in common; have a group style.

Symbol/Symbolism: a visible sign or representation of an idea; anything which suggests an idea, quality, or another thing by resemblance or by convention; a representation; a type; a figure; as, the lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience.

Instruction

In this activity, students will be creating a play based on what they have learned about the Statue of Liberty. They will be assessing the statue as an historical figure, an artwork, a symbol, and a statue come to ?life.? Inform the students that they will be creating a play about the Statue of Liberty. Explain that there will be certain guidelines that they will need to follow when creating their play. Discuss the guidelines and write them on the blackboard so students can refer to them often as they are developing play ideas.

Play Guidelines:

The play can take place in any time period students choose, but the play must refer to the historical time of the construction of the Statue of Liberty.
The play must provide the audience with some factual information about the statue.
The play must discuss the statue as an artwork.

After you have discussed these guidelines with students, put them into groups of 5. Each group will collaboratively create their own play. Hand out the Play Considerations worksheet and review it with them. Inform students that they will also be making simple costumes and props for their play as necessary. After students have developed a script for their plays, provide them with the materials to create costumes and props.

Assessment

Students write reviews of their plays based on how it communicated information about the statue and how it functions as an artwork.

adapted from SOS! (http://www.heritagepreservation.org/PROGRAMS/SOS/4KIDS/actout.htm)

Worksheet 10

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