domingo, 27 de marzo de 2011

Halloween Horror




Title of the play: HALLOWEEN HORROR by Gina D. B. Clemen Recommend age group: 1st of ESO Characters: Megan: 13 years old, Kelly: 14 years old (Megan and Kelly are brother and sister) Bill: 15 years old. Chinese origin Nick: 14 years old; expert in science Susan: 14 years old Attendant at the museum Abigail Cross (the old lady acting as a ghost)


Synopsis: The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, also called as “The Witch city”. Many strange and mysterious things happen there on Halloween night. A group of young teenagers who live in Salem want to have an exciting and amazing Halloween party and that particular night they enter into a terrible and spooky world of ghosts and witches!!!


Characters objectives: The youngsters want to prepare an exciting Halloween party and while they are making all the necessary arrangements, they find the right place for the party, an abandoned house where something strange happened. They are going to discover everything while they are celebrating the party on 31st of October.


Scenes Breakdown:

Scene 1: At home and at school. Kelly and Megan are about to go to school. They feel very happy because Halloween night is approaching and they are talking to their parents about the Halloween party they would like to prepare. When they arrive at school, they meet Bill, Nick and Susan and they decide the place for the party.

Scene2. At the witch museum The five friends go and visit the Witch museum in town and they take an interesting book about the witches of Salem.

Scene3: At the cemetery and the abandoned house It is Saturday and there is no school. The friends meet at the entrance of the cemetery and decide to go into the abandoned house next to the cemetery. They investigate the house and they plan to go back to clean the house for Halloween night

Scene 4: At the haunted house. While they are inside the house they discovered the portrait of an old lady which is going to be related to one of the witches in the book they took at the museum. They look into all the rooms of the house and come to an agreement. They have to bring some things and clean the house. When Kelly and Megan arrive home, they talked about Abigail Cross. The woman at the museum and the portrait is the same person. They have found her clothes in the haunted house and Kelly is very frightened.

Scene 5: (The first part) At Megan’s and Kelly’s house. (The second part) Back in the abandoned house Megan and Kelly’s parents are in the kitchen preparing Halloween cookies and Megan and Kelly are deciding about the costumes they want to wear at the party. Kelly wants to dress up as Abigail Cross, the dress is easy; just a long dress, a mask, a wig and long boots. Next day, all the friends meet at the abandoned house and they see again the old lady’s clothes. They go downstairs to explore the cellar and the only thing they see is barrels.

Scene 6: Next day at the abandoned house While the teenagers are cleaning the floor, they see different names on the stones. They count until 20 different names that correspond with the twenty witches of the hangings of 1692. They are a bit scared but in spite of all they continue decorating the house with pumpkins, bats, and spiders. They are looking forward to the party. Finally the night arrived.

Scene 7: At the haunted house. October 31st at night. All the friends wearing spooky costumes: Bill as a vampire, Nick as a skeleton, Susan as a ghost, Megan as a spider and Kelly as Abigail Cross. During the first part of the night, everybody dance, talk, eat and laugh happily. After a while, Bill proposes to play “THE TREASURE HUNT”, everybody takes a map and they begin playing all around the house, in all the different rooms: the kitchen, the bedroom and even in the basement. Kelly is the one who goes downstairs and there she will see the ghost of Abigail Cross. Kelly goes into a barrel and the ghost goes upstairs to scare the rest of the friends… Everything is chaotic, messy, everybody screaming and shouting when they see the ghost.

Scene 8: At the haunted house. It is almost the end of the party; strange things begin to happen, strange noises all around the house, bats flying around the room, ghosts entering the house through the walls moving around the victims. Suddenly a candle falls down, and fire starts in the main room. Bill and Nick go to the basement and they find Kelly inside the barrel; Kelly is sleeping and they can’t wake her up. They take her by the arms and they go upstairs. It is midnight and now the fire is burning Abigail Cross’s portrait as well as the ghosts inside the house. The children run away from the haunted and now burnt house. It has been their scariest party in their life!!!



ORGANIZATION

A class of 20 students divided into four groups of five students. Each group must read two scenes and then they rehearse the roles of the different characters. Once they have learnt by heart the roles , they will have to act out the whole play. They must decide the music, the decoration of the stage as well as the costumes to wear in the final performance.

10 comentarios:

  1. I loved your outline for a play. I think i may use it with my students next year in halloween. You recommend it for 1st of ESo students but I think it can be adapted for any level. Actually, I'll use it with Intermediate EOI students. thanks for the outline!

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  2. I agree with Suni. I think your outline is great and it can be used with older students (3º ESO). I may try it next Halloween. Good job! Thank you.

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  3. I really like this script. It is true that young students love mystery and ghost stories so this play can be really motivating.
    The age group proposed is very appropriate. The fact of having many settings and even a party will allow big groups to participate in the performance.

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  4. I'd recommend it because it's very creative and students will be probably pretty attracted to the topic of terror. I consider it won't be difficult for them to perfom the play as they are so fond of horror stories. Five children would play as the five friends and the rest of the class would be divided into "witches" and "ghosts" that try to scare the five children. It would be suitable for small groups.

    www.atrimino.jverne@gmail.com

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  5. I have read Halloween Horror in class with my students before and I think it is a great book for 1º ESO (low level) students as it is written in the present. I think it is a great idea to have students performing the script and I am absolutely sure it will be a big success.
    Nice choice

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  6. Great story! I think my secondary school students would feel really enthusiastic in rehearsing and performing this play. The topic is motivating and fun. Good work!

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  7. Halloween is one of my favourite subjects, and of course one of students' favourite too! It would be great to be able to put up a play with all these characters, especially if they design the costumes and think of how to do the special effects! For a shorter version of it, I would like to use scenes 7 and 8 in my ESO groups. The would love it! Great story!

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  8. Hi! I also chose this script because I always wanto to do amusing things with my students on Halloween and this outline is terrific. I like the fact that the characters are the same age as the students, for sure they will feel at ease, and the props can be easily prepared by them with cheap materials (tombs, spiderwebs,etc.) Thanks a lot for your idea!

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  9. I think this play can be performed by any level of ESO as the topic or topics of Halloween always attract their interest.It could also arise the interest of less motivated students. However, the higher their level and motivation is, the best the play will come off. From the very first moment I read the outline, I was convinced any of the roles would suit their idea of a Halloween Horror story as they could see themselves reflected in the characters.

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  10. Students will love the plot. They really enjoy mystery stories and this play will give them the opportunity to wear costumes and make up. Nowadays they are really into vampire stories and I think that it could be used at any level.

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