Performing a play based on an historical event is a great way to help your kids and audience learn more about that important time in history. Maybe you have a particular event in mind that you would love to share with others and haven’t found a play that portrays it just as you would like or maybe there isn’t one at all. Here’s where we come in…

Hi! My name is Danielle and I have enjoyed writing plays for my children and our homeschool friends and would love to share how to write a play, so you or your child can write one too.

Consider What is Important for Your Historical Event Play

One year I chose to write an original Thanksgiving play, A Reason to Be Thankful. In a previous year the kids presented one that was given to us, but I thought it would be fun to create our own based on some of the drama games we had been playing that year. One of the games involved pantomime, so I chose to make that an element in our play. 

Another factor I wished to include was the true meaning of Thanksgiving. There are a lot of stories about the Pilgrims and the Indians, but the reason for the Pilgrims coming to America often gets left out as the focus shifts to the difficulties of traveling so far or the feast that was shared with the Indians.

Since I had three classes I was working with separately, I created scenes that could be practiced on their own, then come together seamlessly at the end for the performance. This was an easy fix to help them all be included in the play and to have enough time to practice their roles with those that were in the same scene with them. 

The year I wrote the Thanksgiving play, A Reason to Be Thankful, we were studying American History, so this play fit right into our studies. You can check out my blog series on How to Fit Drama into Your Homeschool to see tons of ways to fit drama into the different subjects you may be studying. Homeschooling is busy, so integrating subjects is a great way to fit in the fun of drama!!!

Speaking of integrating subjects, not only can writing a play be a creative way to spend your summer, it can also be integrated into your writing or history curriculum.

If you are not fully familiar with the historical event you wish to write your play on, then you’ll need to do some research. 

Wait! Isn’t that what we already do when we read about history from our history books or original documents? 

Yes, so why not add drama to your history studies. Just be sure to site your sources for any information that is not commonly known by all. 

Wait! Isn’t that what we already do when we write an essay for writing class? 

Yes, so why not combine your writing class with drama! 😉

Remember the Key Elements to a Story

When telling a story, we know we have important elements to include in order to make that story flow well and come to a conclusion:

Characters
Setting
Plot
Conflict
Resolution

Before you start writing, consider which characters from history are important to include and perhaps what other characters you may need to help move the story along. For my Thanksgiving play, A Reason to Be Thankful, I decided to start in the classroom with a teacher and her students. She was teaching them about Thanksgiving when a bunch of questions from the students prompted her to help them understand what Thanksgiving is truly all about. She points to a picture on the wall (students from another class frozen in position), they “climb” into the picture and are taken back to the Pilgrims in England. From there they follow along watching all that happens before their trip to America and once they get there. All the characters from the picture come to life, and many more, to help them understand the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

In writing about historical events, you want to consider the overall theme of that event. Who were the main people involved and what occurred? Your play doesn’t have to touch on each and every detail, you can focus on the details you choose to highlight. As with any historical event, it is important to do your best not to leave something out or add something that changes what really happened in history. If your goal is to teach about that time, then keep it true to the nature of the events. 

If your goal is to do a parody of a particular event, then have fun with it. You could also do a “What if?” scenario. Tell the story of an historical event, but then say, “What if this happened?” Throw in another element that wasn’t there in the first place that could change the course of history. Maybe an invention came a little sooner or didn’t exist at all. How would that change the course of events? Maybe a person didn’t make it to their destination, how would that change their life story or others that were affected by them making it there? It’s your play, have fun with it!!!

The script I wrote was simple and focused on a few key facts as there wasn’t a lot of time to practice it in our one day a week class. The props were even simpler with little to none. I mentioned learning pantomime through one of the drama games we played.  That skill helped the students act out different moments in history without necessarily having all the props and scenery to tell it. We were able to borrow a cardboard ship the church had used for a Fall festival they recently hosted. It was so big that it rested on the floor and leaned against the front of the stage. The kids looked like they were standing in it from the audience’s point of view. 

Tip: You don’t need a lot of money to write a play or put on a performance. Use your imagination, and borrow what you can to make it work. The most important thing is to get started and keep it simple!

We also played another game where students pretended to be different pictures in a slideshow as someone talks about their vacation. They learned to freeze and pose in a way to present that picture well (ex. skiing or playing at the beach). I learned that year how helpful drama games can be to teach students certain skills and how that can help them better perform in a play. Drama games are fun, and there are also important skills developed in each of them. I compiled popular drama games, including the two mentioned above, into one curriculum called Places Everyone! drama game fun for the whole semester.

You Can Write a Playscript about an Historical Event

As you can see it’s easy to write a play if you start from something that is already documented like an historical event. Using this method, you or your child can start writing a play today. Stay tuned for more blogs in the series, How to Write a Play. Next we’ll talk about how to write a playscript for a radio play.

Check out all the blogs in the series:

1. Write a Playscript from a Fairy Tale

2. Write a Playscript from a Book

3. Write a Playscript from the Bible

4. Write a Playscript from Multiple Stories

5. Write an Abridged Playscript from a Full-Length Play

6. Write a Playscript about an Historical Event

7. Write a Playscript for a Radio Play

8. Write a Playscript with a Plot Twist to a Familiar Story

9. Write an Original Play

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Inspired by the blog series, check out our full How to Write a Playscript curriculum to get started today!

Want to start with drama games for inspiration, then write a play? Don’t worry we’ve got you covered with Places Everyone! drama game fun for the whole semester. You can use this during the school year, in the summer or for fun activities all year long. Check it out today!

Thanks for joining us!

Danielle at homeschooldrama.com