Consider producing one of Mack’s African-American history plays as podcasts for Black History Month. Mrs. Merenda’s class in Maine produced two podcasts in 2011. You can listen to their performances of Box Brown’s Freedom Crate and Mack’s play from MLK’s childhood entitled I Have a Dream simply by clicking on the title. Both plays originally appeared in Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine. If you like more information about how to create a podcast with your students, take a look at this Youtube video. All of Mack’s plays are written with both the classroom and the stage in mind, so they make excellent podcasts. Visit Mack’s storefront at TeachersPayTeachers for a wide variety of reader’s theater selections.
Jackie Robinson Play Revised
Jackie Robinson’s impact on Civil Rights has been largely under-appreciated. As the first man to break the “color barrier” of professional sports, Robinson opened the door for millions of American youth to look beyond skin color and instead focus on character and accomplishment. Robinson’s ordeal should never be forgotten, and this classroom play helps kids understand and appreciate just what Jackie went through to save America. How Jackie Saved the World was originally published in the October 2004 issue of Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine. It’s been newly revised with historical photos and embedded comprehension questions just in time for February’s African-American History Month and Major League Baseball’s Spring Training. Kids say this is one of their favorites to enact, so don’t miss out. Download a free preview at TeachersPayTeachers by clicking here.
Pigtails & Protests
Just in time for Martin Luther King Day and African-American History Month comes Pigtails and Protests, a new Civil Rights play by Mack Lewis. The play, which tells the story of Dr. King’s “Youngest Freedom Fighters” appears in the January 2012 issue of Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine. Despite dangerous conditions, eight-year-old Sheyann Webb and 9-year-old Rachel West joined the Voting Rights protests in Selma, Alabama. The campaign culminated in the famous “Bloody Sunday” event in which state troopers on horseback used tear gas and billy clubs to suppress an otherwise peaceful crowd of marchers. It’s considered a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. The play includes historical images. To check it out you’ll need to visit the Storyworks website, where you can get a FREE trial subscription to the best classroom magazine on the planet.
Now Available at TeachersPayTeachers
Mack’s Civil Rights play, The Girl Who Got Arrested, is now available on TeachersPayTeachers. The play, which was originally published in Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine, is based on real events from the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Over the years Rosa Parks has received the lion’s share of attention for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, but before Rosa came a teenager named Claudette Colvin. Claudette, acting spontaneously and in response to what she’d been learning in school about the Constitution, refused to give up her seat and was jailed. She was initially lauded a hero, but when the Justice System unceremoniously convicted her, the Black community and history itself turned against her. Her story has been recounted in Phillip Hoose’s award-winning book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, which was one of several resources Mack used in creating this play. This is a gritty, hard-hitting classroom play that brings a new perspective to instruction about the Montgomery Campaign. Check it out at TpT!
O. Henry Play Features Celebrities
Mack’s play based on O.Henry’s classic short story, The Retrieved Reformation, appears in the Nov. 21st issues of Scholastic’s Scope magazine. It tells the depression-era story of safe-crackin’ Jimmy Valentine. When Jimmy is smitten with the banker’s daughter, he resolves to give up his criminal ways. Like all O.Henry plays, the story ends with a twist. The art comes with a twist, too. Tom Garrett’s intriguing illustrations depict real celebrities performing the parts, albeit in 2D. Will Ferrell plays the banker, Shaquille O’Neal plays Detective Ben Price, Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame plays Annabel, and Zac Efron stars as Jimmy. To get a sneak peak of the play or to subscribe to Scope, Scholastic’s classroom magazine for 6th through 8th graders, click here. To read O.Henry’s original text try The Literature Collection, and for Scholastic’s PDF teacher’s guide, go here.
Worked to the Bone
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Mack’s new readers theater play about photographer Lewis Hine is featured in the October 31st edition of Scholastic’s Scope magazine. The play explores child labor in the early 1900′s by following a pair of siblings–Martha and Leo–into the textile mill where they worked twelves hours a day or more. Hine’s photographs depicting the dangerous conditions in which children worked eventually led to legislation, including the Fair Labor Standards Act. You can check out the play and related teacher materials and lesson plans at Scope’s website by clicking here. For a free trial to Scope, Scholastic’s classroom magazine for grades 6 through 8, click here. For access to Mack’s read-aloud plays, including many that have been published in Scope or Storyworks, visit his store at TeachersPayTeachers. 
For more on Lewis Hine and his crusade against child labor visit The History Place or The Lewis Hine Project. Among Hine’s most recognizable photographs are those high atop New York’s skyscrapers during their construction. The one at right is from The Rockefeller Center.
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