Myths and Legends Final Project
June 2015 / Ms. Meredith
Your task is to find a myth / legend, tall-tale, or fairy tale from a country of
choice and create a theatrical presentation. (It cannot be a myth we covered in
class.)
1.
Think about a type of myth-like story you enjoy – Creation myths, hero tales, tales
of love, the end of the world, etc… Think too about a country / region of the world
you may be interested in finding a myth from.
2. Find a version of this myth either in a book or on-line. A great site to use is:
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html. I highly recommend that you take a
look at two different versions of this myth since oftentimes there is an addition to
the story, or some facts are altered depending on who is writing it. Be prepared
to re-tell this myth in a theatrical way. You cannot simply read it or cut and
paste the text onto a PowerPoint. (In other words, you are finding a way to tell us
this myth by making it interesting for us)
3. Prepare either a
a. Live action video (this could be done in movie format, or as a talk show
where the story gets revealed Jerry Springer style)
b. Animation – e.g. : GoAnimate, PowToons
c. Fully acted out performance in class with basic costumes and props. You
are not permitted to simply stand there and tell us the myth.
d. Slideshow with narration.
e. An original song or rap that tells the story (either recorded or sung live)
This is a theatrical retelling of this myth! All presentations will be seen in
class. Make it fun to watch! Your piece should be 2 – 4 minutes in length)
Ideas – While you are not altering the story, you could literally film stick puppets of JayZ as Zeus and Beyonce as Hera. As long as the story is accurate, you can make it as
funny or as silly as you want to!
4. Either at the beginning or end of the presentation, tell us:
a. What country / region the story is from.
b. What time period it may have been told / written in.
c. Who wrote it (if available)
d. What phenomenon it is trying to explain, lesson it is trying to teach, and/or
comment it is making about humanity. (In other words, give us some
context) If it is based on any true historical fact, please include that info as
well.
5. You may work alone or in a group of two.
HAVE FUN! BE SUPER CREATIVE!
Our presentations will begin on June 10th and continue on our day for
finals.
Save everything to a zip drive or upload to Youtube and set on private.
Note - You are required to watch the other presentations, as there will be a
graded reflection piece as well.
Rubric
100 – 90 – High quality / creative presentation of the myth that
includes historical background information. The myth is told in full,
and is fully enhanced by the theatrical component.
89 – 80 – Good quality presentation of the myth, but little or no
historical background information. The myth is told in full, and is
enhanced by the theatrical component.
79 – 70 – The quality of the presentation is inconsistent. The myth is
told somewhat in full. The presentation does not help to enhance the
myth.
Below 70 – The quality of the presentation is lacking much thought or
development.