Acto final

BOOK DESCRIPTION

This the­atre anthol­ogy includes four plays. La niña que riega la alba­haca y el príncipe pre­gun­tón is a delight­ful play by Fed­erico Gar­cía Lorca, one of the great­est play­wrights in the His­panic the­atri­cal tra­di­tion. Aven­tura en la Antár­tida [An Adven­ture in Antar­tica] by Adri­ana Alarco Soldi and Haraganoff, El Pirata [Haraganoff, the Pirate] are con­tem­po­rary plays cre­ated espe­cially for chil­dren. La don­cella guer­rera [The maid war­rior] is the drama­ti­za­tion of a famous medieval ballad.

The book also includes four sec­tions that will teach chil­dren about var­i­ous aspects of the the­atre, and will facil­i­tate their involve­ment with dif­fer­ent forms of stag­ing a play: Pasos a seguir en un mon­taje teatral. Las más­caras. Los títeres. Teatro de sombras.

USING THIS BOOK

The value of involv­ing chil­dren with the­atre are mul­ti­ple. Plays can be an excel­lent tool for pro­mot­ing the lead­er­ship skill of being able to speak in front of a group. Since they offer chil­dren the oppor­tu­nity to uti­lize words and lan­guage reg­istries they may not have other oppor­tu­nity to use, plays can be strong vehi­cle for vocab­u­lary and lan­guage development.

When used for choral read­ing plays can strengthen read­ing skills. In addi­tion, act­ing in a play enhances children’s self-confidence and self-esteem while pro­vid­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to learn about one’s self and oth­ers. Most impor­tantly, putting on a play, no mat­ter how sim­ple, pro­motes the val­ues of col­lab­o­ra­tion and solidarity.

To read more on the sig­nif­i­cance of the­atre click here: Let’s Raise the Cur­tain! The Ben­e­fit of The­atre in the School and for sug­ges­tions on its use in the class­room read the sec­tion “Plays and Dra­matic Games” in Chap­ter 3 of A Mag­i­cal Encounter: Latino Children’s Lit­er­a­ture in the Class­room and for dra­matic responses to books, the sec­tion “Pro­mot­ing Dra­matic Expres­sion” in Chap­ter 4 of that same book.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Theatre has been a joyful passion in my life. I was part of every play my school put together during my elementary years, and later in High School, I also begun writing. One of my plays The Museum, was chosen to be performed at the important theatrical event of our class graduation. Theatre was a way of life for me that accompanied me to College.

Because of my experience with theatre, and how important it was in giving me a voice, breaking the barriers of shyness, and encouraging me to speak in public; ensur­ing that chil­dren have access to read and act in plays has always been one of my basic goals. Even if it is done with great sim­plic­ity, act­ing in a play can have very pos­i­tive results.

I am con­vinced that one is bet­ter able to teach some­thing one has enjoyed doing. And just as Alma Flor Ada and I empha­size, in our courses in Authors in the Class­room, that teach­ers who cre­ate their own books will be bet­ter able to get their stu­dents to become authors, I believe that encour­ag­ing teach­ers to do the­atre and expe­ri­enc­ing the rich­ness of the process would bet­ter allow them to incor­po­rate plays in their reg­u­lar teaching.