Antigone - Examining Texts in Action

The Outsiders and Rebels 12th grade English seminar focuses on Sophocles' Antigone and its re-imaginings. The core of this unit is about adaptations--How are these ancient stories relevant? How do these retellings affirm and evolve the stories and their ideas? How can we create adaptations without distorting the core material? After learning about Greek tragedies and delving into the poetry of the original play, students read a modern adaptation of this play, Antigone Now by Melissa Cooper.

 

They spent a recent class discussing, planning, and performing a small scene from the play. Through these rehearsals, students engaged in critical discussions about how they envisioned this play, character motivations, and core themes they wanted to highlight. After their performance, they discussed their choices and the connections to the original. It required critical thinking and was a lot of fun. As part of this unit, we will also be watching Antigone, a Canadian film produced in 2019. The culminating project will be collaborating in teams to write and perform original scripts that re-imagine Sophocles' Antigone in a way that is meaningful to them.