PROJECT IDEAS

Dear friends, here are the three suggested project ideas. Feel free to leave comments and discuss details and preferences and how we can make these better—this is YOUR final project and we want it to be something you are interested in!

(Note: Commenting on this post does not count as your comment for the blog grade this week, you still need to comment on someone else’s post about the reading—this is here for everyone to share ideas)

1.      Everyman. This is a morality play and an allegory about life, death, judgment, and salvation. You can read the plot summary here: http://www.gradesaver.com/everyman-and-other-miracle-and-morality-plays/study-guide/short-summary/

This was Dr. Abernathy’s original suggestion because there is depth and intensity but it’s also a manageable undertaking. There are many various roles and the part of “Everyman” is also divided up between scenes so one single person doesn’t have to bear such a large role.

Doing Everyman gives us a chance to explore it for ourselves outside of class, rather than reading it and spending only one day of class on it; it is a powerful play.

2.     The Tempest. This is a Shakespearean play, and Meghan worked out the details to present it as an option before the Council. You can read the plot summary here: http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/summaries/tempest/tempest_summary.htm

And here are the reasons why this has been suggested:
Those of us who have been working on putting The Tempest together, and I’ve [Meghan] been doing most of it for fun, wish to do this play for five different reasons:

--Everyman was done last Medieval semester, when those who were sophomores my freshman year were freshmen themselves. I know that the way we’d do the play would be different than before, but the story is the same. We want to do something fresh so that people will remember the project for years to come (like The Trojan Horse, the Trebuchet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the last Everyman, and the Silent movie are).

--The theme of forgiveness and redemption is something that every Christian should remember. It’s something that we should all be reminded of constantly.

--The roles within the play are diverse. There are 8 major roles, 8 minor roles, and 3 medium roles. There is also the potential for a great many roles who have no lines at all, and these roles can be as many or as few as we make them.

--It’s Shakespeare, and yes it can be difficult to learn. However, because we are studying the Medieval and Renaissance time periods, we should do something that represents that time very well.

--The way we have set up the schedule, only those that are in the scenes/acts we’ll be going over on any given night will be required to be at rehearsal

3.       Medieval dance. This was recently suggested by Dr. Mitchell and probably requires the most brainstorming at this point, so please comment away! Everyone would learn a traditional dance of the era; we would dress in costume and… (here’s where you jump in!)

It would definitely be memorable and lots of fun. It would still require work beforehand to learn the dance and make costumes and such, but it would probably be less than meeting to rehearse for a play.

Personally, I think all three are great ideas, and I want to hear what y’all think. I want this project to be something you enjoy working on and something that captures the spirit of Honors- everyone coming together with a common vision and goal, working together and discovering truth along the journey.

We will be voting on the project next Thursday!

Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit