A Streetcar Named Desire

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

1. Assign each student a word from the following list:

Blanche

Stella

Belle Reve

Elysian Fields

Desire

Give them three minutes to research what they can about the word. Then, together, make a list of all the definitions and connotations of each word. After this whole-class work, divide students into small groups and ask them to create a graphic (word bubble, drawing the characters, chart, etc.) that reveals the significance of names in the text. Have each small group share their graphic with the rest of the class.

Teaching Suggestion: Ask the students if there are other terms that frequently appear in the text that they’d like to research (for example, to “mitch” is to play truant from school).

2. Ask the class to identify 3-5 of the most emotionally charged moments in the play (about 3 pages of text each). Divide students into groups and task them with performing the scene: the staging, the sound effects, the intonations of the lines, etc. After they perform, ask them to explain to the class why they made the directorial choices they did.

Teaching Suggestion: To make things more fun, after students have performed the original scene, direct them to act it again in a certain mood (e.