So- Annie and I are getting ready to leave on Saturday for Chennai and Chengalpattu. Chengalpattu, formerly known as Chingleput, is southwestern suburb of Chennai city and Taluk in Kanchipuram district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.
There is a school there called St. Hilda's Chengalpattu where we will be for four days next week. We are very excited and very honored to get to go there and work on three theater pieces, one each with the 8th, 11th and 12th Grades.
The theater pieces are based on stories from the Panchatantra Tales- one of the first - if not THE first- recorded stories that used a "framing device."
In the Panchatantra, there was a King whose children were not ready to learn and not ready to rule- so he enlisted the wise storyteller Vishnu Sharma to create stories- animal fables- that would teach his children the ways of leadership and the essence of politics, diplomacy, relationships and administration.
When we meet the students on Tuesday, I will be the King and Annie all of the children- and the teacher will narrate and explain that we will all now, as a class, be creating plays based on three Panchatantra Tales..."The Donkey and the Jackal", "The Little Mice and the Big Elephants" and "The Clever Rabbit and the Fierce Lion." With a little bit of Pharrell's "Happy" thrown in for good measure...
More to come-
There is a school there called St. Hilda's Chengalpattu where we will be for four days next week. We are very excited and very honored to get to go there and work on three theater pieces, one each with the 8th, 11th and 12th Grades.
The theater pieces are based on stories from the Panchatantra Tales- one of the first - if not THE first- recorded stories that used a "framing device."
In the Panchatantra, there was a King whose children were not ready to learn and not ready to rule- so he enlisted the wise storyteller Vishnu Sharma to create stories- animal fables- that would teach his children the ways of leadership and the essence of politics, diplomacy, relationships and administration.
When we meet the students on Tuesday, I will be the King and Annie all of the children- and the teacher will narrate and explain that we will all now, as a class, be creating plays based on three Panchatantra Tales..."The Donkey and the Jackal", "The Little Mice and the Big Elephants" and "The Clever Rabbit and the Fierce Lion." With a little bit of Pharrell's "Happy" thrown in for good measure...
More to come-
Can't wait to hear and see more!
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