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Sixth Grade Greek Night
By Rosie Warren and Sam Dobrow
Greek night was a major event for all of us in sixth grade. It is a tradition at SFDS that has grown over the years, and now is a multi-discipline performance and pot-luck dinner. This year, we tried to give the event the feel of an actual ancient Greek theater competition, honoring the god Dionysis and all the other Olympians.
To lay the ground-work for the event, we first studied Greek history and mythology in history and English class. It took blood, sweat, and tears to prepare for the night. We started out in drama class getting into small groups to rewrite myths for skits; others were assigned to be a god or goddess. Some of the myths we rewrote were “Eco and Narsisis,” “Atalanta’s Race,” “Demeter and Pesephone,” and “Pandora’s Box.” The rewriting process was challenging and fun. We worked in drama and English class for about two weeks to create and rehearse plays that were both witty and fresh.
In music, we simultaneously learned three classic Greek folk tunes. The timing was complicated, and the songs used a variety of instruments, from recorder to metalaphone. In history, six class members researched famous Greek characters, such as Hippocrates and Cassandra, to perform in a come-to-life wax museum. And in PE, alumna parent Joanne Dames came in to teach us Greek dancing. Overall, we were “Greeked out” in most of our classes for about a month. Meanwhile, at home, we memorized lines, designed togas, and organized our Greek dishes for the pot-luck dinner. |
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Parents, kids, and teachers decorated the gym and made the stage ready for the performance. Parents streamed in bearing hummus, lamb, and dolmas, and we sixth graders paraded our togas and laurel wreaths. The night began with two Greek musical pieces played on xylophones and metalaphones. After the music was finished, Dionysus, played by both Rosie and Tristan, entered the gym in a cardboard trireme, or Greek war ship, pulled by James who was playing a satyr, a creature that is half man, half goat. Dionysus welcomed the Olympans, such as Zeus (Yonaton), Athena (Lily), Hera (Erin), Ares (Julian), and Demeter (Franchesca). The gods all introduced themselves and said a little bit about their role in Greek mythology. When they were all finished, we paused the performance for dinner.
The parents organized a fabulous dinner consisting of dolmas, chicken, hummus, and many more Greek foods. During dinner, six students performed their wax museum monologues in the voice of their characters. Then it was time to start the theater competition. Each group dedicated their play to one of the gods on Olympus and began dazzling the audience. We saw Orpheus (Josiah) descend into Hades and sing a tantalizing song to rescue his beloved Eurydice (Morgan). We saw Perseus (Sam S.) slay the Medusa (Caroline) for her head. We saw gentle Echo (Mitra) fall in love with the vain Narcissus (Jackson). We saw the brave Atalanta (Cata and Audrey) prove to the ignorant King (Sam D.) that girls were equal to boys. And we saw how Pandora (Lucy and Kelly) filled the word with hope.
Ultimately, the re-telling of the myths taught many valuable lessons about greed and vanity, honoring traits like bravery and trust. Although ancient Greece is thousand of years away, Greek traditions (eating and creating) and lessons (be honorable, brave, and humble) hold up in today’s world. Opa!
View the sixth grade's Greek Gods website.
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