Overview

Materials
  • The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris van Allsberg
    • The images can be purchased in large format as individual cards or some PDF versions of the book exist online
Readiness
  • Students should have some familiarity with any of the conventions you leave in the plans.

Instructions

  • Creating tableaux based on the images. For example, students can recreate the moment before the image was taken, and/or the moment after. Deepen these images by adding more dramatic conventions, such as soundscapes, or thought-tracking the characters.
  • In small groups, create a new story based on the image, using the existing title as inspiration. What characters appear in the story? What happens? Create a short scene, mime, or series of tableaux that tells the story, or write the story and adapt it into a scripted dialogue.

The images and instructions for small groups can be left with a supply teacher, and students can be assigned images or choose what they find most interesting for their classroom work. Students can work collaboratively and present their creations to the rest of the class for peer feedback.

Extensions / Prolongements

A process drama based on the fictional character of Harris Burdick, the vanished photographer who took the pictures, can be found in Larry Swartz’s Dramathemes and David Booth’s Story Drama. This structure uses mantle of the expert, role play, and other dramatic activities to bring the mystery of Burdick to life.