La Casa De Bernarda Alba

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Creative Writing: Dialogue with a Male Character”

In this activity, students will write the creative dialogue of one of the male characters discussed in the play.

While the content of the play focuses on the systematic oppression and Sexual Repression of women, Lorca’s play gives them a unique agency in that they are the only characters to have dialogue within the play. In this vein, the male characters’ words, which are central to the plot, are not directly heard by the audience. For this Activity, you will create a scene to fit within the scope of the play in which one of the female characters interacts with one of the male characters referenced. This conversation could occur as a prologue, during the play, or an epilogue, and should consider how Lorca’s themes of Sexual Repression, Cycles of Oppression, and Cycles of Violence fit within the added scene. Use the following questions to guide your writing:

• Which of the male characters have you selected? How is this person related to the Bernarda women?
• Why does this character want to have a conversation with the female character?
• When and where does this conversation take place? Is it secret or not?
• What do the characters discuss?
• What is the outcome of the conversation? How does the scene fit within the scope of the play as a whole?

After drafting your dialogue, prepare to perform the scene for your classmates. Working as the “director,” “cast” your classmates in the roles (one of which can be yourself, if you prefer). Finally, rehearse and perform your scene for the class, encouraging (if possible) the actors to be “off book” (i.e., performing without their script) for the performance. Finally, consider the variety of creative dialogues among classmates, noting the differences and similarities from your own scene.

Teaching Suggestion: This Activity invites students to combine their creative writing skills with their understanding of script writing within the context of the play. Students should mirror the writing style of Lorca when writing their dialogues, keeping the integrity of each of the character’s development while providing a new perspective to the plot. Encourage students who are new to theater, performance, and/or script writing as a whole to visit the plays under “Recommended Reads” as examples for how to draft their scenes. This Activity connects to the first Scaffolded Essay Question.

An option that allows the learning goals to be met, while lowering the number of total plays (to conserve time), would be to have students work in pairs or groups of three to develop their script.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students with anxiety around public speaking/performance, it could be helpful to allow them to turn in a recording of their play, which the class could watch.