Objective:  To review each act or the entire play.

Materials:  Scarf

Activities:

• At the end of each Act, the students will review by telling the story of that Act.
• The group will sit in a circle, and the storyteller will stand in the center with the storyteller's scarf.
  • Only the person with the scarf is allowed to speak (unless giving a quote -- see below).
  • The speaker must say "I was there . . ." to begin his or her portion of the story.
• The speaker, having told his or her portion of the story, then passes the scarf to anyone sitting in the circle.
• The new person cannot refuse to speak. He or she must enter the circle, either continue the story or say "I was not there . . ." and then pass the scarf to another person.
• Those listening to the story are encouraged to read or enact key quotes from the play.
• As the story continues, if a person makes a mistake or tells the story out of order, anyone may enter the circle and gently take the scarf. After the correction is made, the speaker sits down.
• This continues until the story is told.

The Dream Unfolds
The following summary of A Midsummer Night's Dream is a good example of how this activity can work.  I also use The Dream Unfolds to introduce the story of the play by printing the lines of the text on index cards.  Each student practices his or her line prior to the narration.  The students sit in a circle on the floor as the narrator reads the story.  When their numbers are called, the students rise and act out their lines.