Strategies

First Person

3 Min Read  •  Theatre Strategy

There’s a difference between knowing about something and knowing it from the inside.

Describing photosynthesis is one thing. Speaking as a chloroplast is something else entirely.

This week’s strategy, First Person, asks students to step inside their content and speak from it directly. They write and perform a short monologue from the perspective of a character, historical figure, scientific concept, or anything else they’re studying.

Speaking as the subject, in the first person, forces a depth of understanding that third-person explanations rarely require.

Step 1: Choose the Subject

Students select a subject to speak as. Strong choices have a clear perspective, a sense of stakes, and something worth saying.

Examples:

  • A historical figure at a turning point
  • A character at their most complex moment
  • A cell, organ, or natural phenomenon
  • A mathematical concept making a case for its own importance
  • An artifact or primary source document with a story to tell

Step 2: Find the Voice

Before writing, students spend time gathering what their subject knows, believes, wants, and fears. Ask:

  • What does your subject care most about?
  • What do they want the audience to understand?
  • What is their relationship to the events or ideas being studied?

Step 3: Write the Monologue

Students write a 60 to 90 second monologue (approximately 150 to 200 words) in the first person. Requirements:

  • At least three accurate, specific content details
  • A clear emotion or point of view
  • A reason for speaking, something at stake

Step 4: Perform and Respond

Students perform for a partner, small group, or the whole class. After each performance, the audience responds:

  • What content did you hear?
  • What did this perspective help you understand differently?
  • What question do you want to ask the subject?

Cross-Curricular Applications

🧪 Science – Speak as a cell in the middle of mitosis, a tectonic plate mid-shift, or an element on the periodic table making its case for why it matters.

➗ Math – Let a mathematical concept defend its existence or explain its relationship to other concepts entirely in the first person.

📚 ELA – Voice a character at their moment of greatest tension, or give a silent character in a text the words they never got to say.

🌍 Social Studies – Speak as a historical figure, an ordinary person caught in a significant moment, or an artifact that witnessed history firsthand.

🕺 Dance – Perform a monologue as a dance element (rhythm, space, or force) explaining what it contributes to movement and meaning.

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