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Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Gazette
April 5, 2006Volume 4, Issue 8
Primary Source of the Month

Playbill for The Beggar’s Opera, Williamsburg, Virginia, ca. 1768.
Playbill for The Beggar's Opera, Williamsburg, Virginia, ca. 1768.

CONTENTS

Theatre in Colonial Virginia

Primary Source of the Month

Teaching Strategy

Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources

Teaching News

Quotation of the Month


The Next
Electronic Field Trip is

The Rare Breeds EFT
The Rare Breeds
April 13, 2006


NEW
2006-2007 Teaching
Resources Catalog

2006 Spring & Summer Teaching Resources Catalog


PSCU Financial Services Logo

2005–2006 Electronic Field
Trip Scholarships

 

Kids Zone: History, Games & Fun
Games, activities, and resources about life in colonial America.

TOP STORIES
Theatre in Colonial Virginia

Broadway may be the center of musical theatre today, but the first theatre in British North America was built on the Palace Green in the colonial capital of Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1716.

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Primary Source of the Month:
Playbill for The Beggar's Opera

This month's primary source—a colonial theatre playbill—advertises a Williamsburg production of The Beggar's Opera. This musical satire of pickpockets, thieves, and scoundrels featured popular music composed by Henry Purcell and George F. Handel.

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Teaching Strategy: The Play's the Thing

As the American colonies prospered, a growing segment of the population had both the disposable income and the leisure time to attend formal entertainments. In this lesson, students analyze an eighteenth-century playbill, compare it to modern-day theater advertisements, and design their own playbill for Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

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Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources for Your Classroom

Colonial Williamsburg offers a variety of quality instructional materials dealing with 18th-century life, including:

- Encore! Music from the 18th-Century Theatre (enhanced music CD)
- Songs for a Revolution (lesson unit)
- Keys of the Palace (music CD)
- "I. Hardy" Playing Cards
- The Royal and Most Pleasant Game of Goose
- The New Game of Human Life

Learn More


Teaching News

Colonial Williamsburg Podcasts
Did you know the Colonial Williamsburg Web site offers Podcasts? Also known as RSS feeds, these downloadable audio files feature special interviews and presentations available only to our Web users. Each Colonial Williamsburg: Past & Present Podcast is hosted by Lloyd Dobyns, a former TV correspondent for NBC News. New Podcasts are added every week!

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Oklahoma Colonial Day Literature Contest Winner Announced
Annie Shell, an Oklahoma City fifth-grader, was named the winner of the 2006 Colonial Day at the Capitol Literature Contest sponsored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. On February 3, Annie was recognized for her essay, "What It Means to Be an American," during Colonial Day at the Capitol. Thomas Jefferson, portrayed by Colonial Williamsburg historical interpreter Bill Barker, presented Annie her award during the opening session of the Oklahoma Legislature at the State Capitol.

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Planning a Class Trip to Williamsburg?
More than just "field trips," interpreter-led study visits to the Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area incorporate teacher objectives with national and state standards of learning. Blending history content with active participation, interpreters use historic buildings, primary sources, and other 18th-century objects to teach students about America's beginnings. Explore the everyday life of and decisions made by Williamsburg citizens on the eve of the American Revolution.

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Quotation of the Month

"All the world's a stage,
 And all the men and women merely players.
 They have their exits and their entrances,
 And one man in his time plays many parts . . ."

~ William Shakespeare, British dramatist
As You Like It, 1623


For more information about Colonial Williamsburg teaching resources, visit our Internet site at: http://www.history.org/teach

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