In an American history survey, one needs a device around which to organize mostly random events. I have found that the Colonial-Revolutionary Era can be given structure, and even a bit of drama, by presenting it as a play. The course begins with an introduction of red, white, and black cast members, followed by scenes staged in southern, New England, and mid-Atlantic colonies. Students can usually anticipate a climactic event, with the stage set for subsequent events as the curtain falls. Even in a large section, students are regularly assigned roles, as Virginia's planter-Burgesses, realizing in the aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion how useful an alien race can be in absorbing poor white hostility, or as heads of household in a New England village, dealing with townspeople/classmates deemed dissidents for their insistence on celebrating Christmas. Excerpts from videotaped dramas, ranging from Shakespeare's Tempest to "The Simpsons" or "The Benny Hill Show", may be incorporated, but even when students act as passive audience members, they may be asked to critique the action afterward, to ascribe motive to characters or ascertain the significance of events. Next, they might be asked to handicap a football game between the "Patriots" and the "Redcoats" or to take the parts of delegates to the Philadelphia Convention, uncovering the personal interests at stake in the deliberations. The Battle of New Orleans may seem to students a satisfying climax to the drama (though I hope less for its martial glory than for the symbolic disgrace it meant for critics of Jeffersonian democratic ideals).
I recognize risks in this approach: the action might appear overly staged, the device artificial or trite; my own lines could become excessively scripted; my direction can be heavy-handed as I push for a tidy outcome before a period's end. Benefits outweigh these dangers, however. With a little encouragement, students improvise and willfully shape their own roles, occasionally causing plot twists and insights even I had not anticipated. While the staging may be awkward and a happy ending cannot be guaranteed, the course - like a challenging play - may inspire an audience member to ennoble actors' efforts by adding his or her own epilogue to the performance. If traditionally heroic or villainous characters are revealed to be flawed or not without redeeming features, students may more easily identify with them and be encouraged to engage themselves more deeply in the ongoing American drama.