2020 Unum 4th Grade Play Writing Project | Chattanooga Theatre Centre

About the Unum 4th Grade Play Writing Project

The Unum 4th Grade Play Writing Project is an initiative of the Chattanooga Theatre Centre’s Education Department, which provided play writing workshops for appoximately 150 4th grade students at three public elementary schools in Chattanooga: Red Bank Elementary, Alpine Crest Elementary, and Rivermont Elementary. Students were given introductions to theatre and performance, then lead in the development of a play from first idea to scripting. The students were divided into teams of two (occasionally three), and given a prompt to start the process. From there, they were coached to write and edit their plays. In doing so, they learn valuable lessons in teamwork, problem solving, logical thinking, creativity, and storytelling. Selected plays were read as staged readings in the classrooms by the students. From these, five were selected to be produced and performed at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre. Unfortunately, this was curtailed by the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the closing of the schools. In an effort to bring closure to the project, the Chattanooga Theatre Centre has endeavored to present the works that received stage readings, in written form, on this page. In addition, we have produced videos of the five plays that were to be produced on our stage. It is not the live performances we had hoped for but, we hope, it will give you some idea of the amazing potential these plays have.

To the students

There was a lot of good work done by you this year. You can’t imagine how hard it was, and at times heartbreaking, for us to have to pick only a few to produce. But if we weren’t able to make a video of your script, it doesn’t have to end there. Everything we did to make these videos can be done by you. All of these videos were created by drawing, photographing and using free computer software you can get too. In doing this work, we had to learn new skills and solve problems of how we could tell the stories while not being able to physically be together. Everything we did you can do. We truly hope you will take your scripts and give them life.

To the teachers

Thank you for all your efforts and patience. We know how difficult it was to find class time to help make this happen. We are humbled by your trust in us and hope we gave your students something that deserved the time you gave us. We hope that you might have learned a few things too and that, should circumstances allow, we might work together again in the future.

To parents, family, and friends

You will see a list of plays below by school. The first will be the finalists. The title of these plays have been linked to a pdf version of the script. Below, you will see a link to a short video using pictures and some minimal animation. Since a play is meant to be performed, it was our intent to do so as best we could, given the limitations of our not being able to be together, to show how a director and actors would interpret the script. This is not the ideal way to see a play, but it was what we could do.

After the finalists, there is a list of the runners-up. Each title of these plays is linked to a pdf version of the script. I encourage you to look at more than one. Each team of playwrights took a very different view of how to write their script. Reading them, you’ll get an appreciation of how the 4th grade mind works.