Presenter view · Grades 5–8 · Theater

Voice, Body, Story

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Before you start

Materials

Character cards — one per student or pair (on handouts)
Optional: audio of a Harlem Renaissance monologue or spoken word for model — recordings of Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes reading his own work, or a scene from a Zora Neale Hurston play
Open space for performance — desks cleared if possible; alternatively, students remain seated for in-class reading performances

On the classroom screen

MThe Harlem RenaissanceVoice, Body, Story

Lesson · Grades 5–8 · Theater

Voice, Body, Story

Students will explore storytelling, voice, and embodied performance through the lens of the Harlem Renaissance oral tradition — the spoken word, the blues shout, the preacher’s cadence. They will develop and perform a short monologue, scene, or spoken word piece rooted in a Harlem Renaissance character or theme, and reflect on how performance creates empathy and historical understanding that written text alone cannot.

Up next

The body remembers 5 min

“Before we talk about the Harlem Renaissance, I want you to do something. Stand up. Take up as much space as possible — arms wide, feet apart, chin up. Hold it for 10 seconds. Now make yourself as small as possible — shoulders in, head down. Hold it. Now stand normally and notice: which posture felt more like you? Which felt like a choice? The performers of the Harlem Renaissance made a choice to take up space — physically, artistically, politically. Today we’re going to explore what that means through performance.”

Ready

40:00

Materials

Character cards — one per student or pair (on handouts)

Optional: audio of a Harlem Renaissance monologue or spoken word for model — recordings of Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes reading his own work, or a scene from a Zora Neale Hurston play

Open space for performance — desks cleared if possible; alternatively, students remain seated for in-class reading performances