lunes, 30 de marzo de 2015


Author: Mª Fátima Diago Ortega

PLAY OUTLINE

Title: “The New Sebastian”

Level descriptors: 4th ESO. Their level of English is Pre-intermediate.

Characters:
1.    Sebastian: He is the protagonist. He is studying with Brian and later with sandy in the most prestigious High School in New Jersey, USA. He is not very popular but on the other hand, he is always ready to help others with their marks at school. Moreover, he is very fat and this makes him feel bad and uncomfortable with other classmates. He feels upset with Brian, because he is not invited to his party even after having helped him the night before the Maths exam. He decided to work out and he looses weight. Little by little his self-esteem improves and he meets Sandy, a new student from Alabama. Both feel in love and some years later they create a beautiful family with two children.
2.    Brian: He is the most popular boy at the High School. He is very arrogant and uses Sebastian to help him pass his exams. He did not invite Sebastian to his birthday and when he realizes that Sebastian is becoming more and more popular he feels very jealous. Then, Brian wants to be Sebastian’s friend and to go to his birthday but it is too late.
3.    Sandy: She is a new student coming from Alabama. She feels in love immediately with Sebastian. She is very enthusiastic and was able to change Sebastian’s life because she encourages him all the time. She invites Sebastian to go to the new bowling alley and from that moment on they are the most popular couple at High School.
4.    Ms Smith: She is a teacher. She is Sebastian’s confident when he is sad. She is very nice to Sebastian and acts almost like a psychologist. She teaches Sebastian to be strong enough and to ignore those people who hurt him.
5.    Mr Torres: He is the Principal. He caught Sebastian crying in the toilet. At first he wanted to punish him for having left a session without permission but then, after listening to Sebastian’s reasons he decided not to do it. He also helps Sebastian activating the bullying protocol.

Synopsis:
Sebastian is a very clever boy studying at the most prestigious High School in New Jersey. He was very intelligent and he always did great in his exams. Everybody asked him for help before the final exams but later, he was nearly forgotten by almost all his classmates.
One day, Brian, the most popular boy, organized his birthday party and unfortunately Sebastian was not invited. He got really sad because the night before he was helping Brian to pass his exam. He even had to go to the toilet in the middle of a lesson because he couldn’t help crying. He got almost punished by the principal but he did not. Mr. Torres understood him and decided to activate the bullying protocol. He was furious, but above all he was disappointed with Brian. He thought they were friends.
One day, he decided not to be so nice and stopped being…. “normal”. Everyone thought he was not normal, fat, clumsy and a nerd. However, it was high time to change!!! He started to pay attention to his physical image, he started doing exercise and Sandy, a new girl from Alabama, took notice of him. She was an angel to him. One day, he couldn’t believe his eyes, she was walking towards him in the library and she invited him to go to the new bowling alley.
From that moment on, they became the couple of the year, they were perfect together, everyone envied them. Both were popular and clever!!! One day, she decided to organise a secret birthday for Sebastian, and this time Brian wanted to attend but he was now rejected by Sebastian. Sebastian and Sandy lived happily together and now they are parents of two pretty little twin babies!

Characters’ Objectives:
Sebastian: He wants to be loved and be a “normal teenager”. He likes being clever but he also appreciates to be in shape. She loves Sandy and he saw his dream come true when he has finally many friends in the end and got married with Sandy.
Sandy: She is very nice and always wants to make Sebastian happy, She wants to conquer Sebastian’s heart and marry him.
Ms Smith: She was one Sebastian’s teacher. She helps Sebastian overcome his problem.
Mr Torres: He wants to help Sebastian and he informs the guidance department about Sebastian’s case. He activates the bullying protocol.

Scene Breakdown:
Scene 1: Sebastian, Brian, Ms Smith and Mr Torres are introduced at high school. Sebastian helps Brian with an exam.
Scene 2: Sebastian realizes he is not invited to Brian’s birthday. He is very disappointed and he can’t help leaving the classroom and he goes to the toilet to cry.
Scene 3: Mr Torres caught Sebastian crying in the Toilet. At first he is very angry because he didn’t have permission to quit the classroom but then, after listening Sebastian the principal understood everything and decided to activate the anti-bullying protocol.
Scene 4: Ms Smith asks Sebastian to go and speak with her. He speaks out and confesses his problem. He feels very bad, he apologizes and finally the teacher helps Sebastian giving him some pieces of advice. From that moment she becomes Sebastian confident.
Scene 5: Sebastian decided to change. He goes to the gym and eats healthy food.
Scene 7: Sandy comes up. She is in love with Sebastian and Sebastian with her. Sandy decided to invite Sebastian to the new bowling alley and from that moment they became the most popular couple in high school.
Scene 8: Sandy organizes Sebastian’s surprising party and Brian is not invited.
Scene 9: Sandy and Sebastian got married and after a year they had two children. They live happily together.

6 comentarios:

  1. A good choice for a school play, Fátima. Your play is very positive and inspirational for teenagers, since it shows that overcoming low self-esteem can be accomplished if a person is willing to work at it. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it takes a lot of work and patience, but the payoff is well worth the effort. Your suggestion of having students writing their own plays using the writing prompts offered by the outline, also provides pupils with a great opportunity to both develop their writing skills and explore different solutions to a problem they clearly feel identified with.

    ResponderEliminar
  2. This is indeed a very appropriate play for high school students. I love your idea of letting students write their own scripts. In fact, I would go even further and I would let students to make changes in the development of the story especially from Scene 5 onwards, asking students to come up with their own solutions to the problem. This would add variety to the outcome and turn the exercise more creative and rewarding. It would also give them the possibility of expressing their ideas concerning this topic and it could lead the way to further discussion in class.

    ResponderEliminar
  3. I find this topic really motivating because many of our students (many more than we think) have undergone similar bullying situations in their school life.This is a very effective way to make them realize how other people may feel in these circumstances and this is the reason why I find it so useful becuase it can help prevent future disputes and negative attitudes.I´m sure most students will be willing to play a role in this play! It would also be a good idea to ask them to tell or write the story of other classmates that have suffered some kind of bullying

    ResponderEliminar
  4. Thank you, Fatima, for it sems to be a good topic and play. Lots of our students witness bullying scenes everyday. Sometimes it is really hard for us, teachers, to discover victims and aggressors. Classmates must learn how to identify it and how to cope with it. I agree with previous comments about leaving the play unfinished so that our students could collaborate not only as a part of the audience but also from their spectators' perspective in similar situations.

    ResponderEliminar