Students in Mr. Bellini’s Honors 11 English Class took on a unique assignment over the past couple of weeks that really taught them all about various performance skills and life lessons.

Students performed and presented scenes from Fences, A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which are all fairly well-known plays written and commonly put on stage in the mid-late 1900s.

When questioned about the reason why he decided to choose to assign the plays that he did, why he chose writings of the 1900s, Mr. Bellini said: “These are actually probably more modern than what most English classes would read, and English curricula generally contain works that have been universally praised and judged to be classic and timeless. It’s difficult to judge these criteria with contemporary works; it would be a waste to buy hundreds of copies and then stop using them soon after…”

Additionally, upon being asked about his inspiration(s) to assign this project, Mr. Bellini said: “I always enjoyed these kinds of student-centered projects when I was in high school, so some of the assignments I had as a student must have served as inspiration. Back then, such projects were generally much more open-ended, i.e. “make some kind of entertaining presentation about the book you read”…I remember recording most on audio tape decks, and they must have been brutal for the class to listen to…[so] With live performance and the versatility of technology that we have today, hopefully these presentations are more entertaining to the audience.”

Mr. Bellini, in assigning this project, wanted to, in part, show students how to perform and speak publicly and with confidence.

He said: “I hope that this project teaches students to collaborate with others, to analyze meaning in literature, to speak and perform in front of a group, to build effective visual presentations, and to use technology to enhance entertainment value and others’ understanding…”

This project incorporates various skill sets that students can further use not only in their school projects, but also, in their lives.

Mr. Bellini plans on assigning this project again next year. He said: “At the end of the year I typically get a lot of positive feedback from students, even though the assignment requires quite a bit of effort and a major time commitment from them.”

Therefore, overall, Mr. Bellini’s drama project for his English 11 Honors classes, though laborious and nerve-racking at times, teaches students numerous life lessons that can be used both inside and out of the classroom.