The Piano Lesson Challenge Projects

August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson
Challenge Projects
Remember to include a works cited page for every project!

1) A 3-4-page research paper that details your own heritage (go back to your great grandparents) and your observations about how that heritage and their legacy has affected your identity. How is this similar or different from the play?

2) A 3-4-page research paper on the historical facts of segregation and Jim Crow Laws in the south, drawing on at least three reference sources. One may be your social studies textbook.

3) A 3-4-page research paper on Pittsburgh in the 1930s drawing on at least three reference sources.

4) A 3-4-page research paper on the oral tradition in different cultures drawing from at least three reference sources. What place does oral tradition have in maintaining a society’s, a people’s, history or identity? Present a story in the oral tradition in class.

5) Turn one scene of this play into a movie. Provide a soundtrack, a storyboard, and a written rationale for the project.

6) Create a symbol for the main characters of this novel and provide a quote from the book that embodies that character.

7) Act out a scene from the play or from a short story that is related to the play. Give rationale for either why you chose that particular scene or why you how the short story you chose relates to the play.

8) Read another August Wilson play. Compare and contrast the themes from the play of your choice and The Piano Lesson. This paper should be at least 2 pages long.

9) Read The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Compare and contrast this play to The Piano Lesson. Find literary criticism to support your analysis. This paper should be at least two pages.

10) In the introductory video on August Wilson, Wilson said that “he has no particular method of writing his plays, but admits to relying on what he calls the "4 B's": the Blues; fellow playwright, Amiri Baraka; author, Jorge Luis Borges, and painter, Romare Bearden to tell what he needs to tell.” Research ONE of the four “B’s” and explain how EITHER the Blues, Baraka, Jorge Luis Borges, or Romare Bearden influence is seen in August Wilson’s work.

11) Research different views and political stances on assimilation and integration into a larger/dominant society. Wilson believes that the melting pot is a myth, “which was never relevant to the black experience—only working for people that are ethnically European. What do other experts believe? What do you believe? Use at least three different sources for this paper.

12) Research the idea of white privilege in America. Wilson says, “It is a cultural war that he is a participant in”. Use at least three different resources to write a paper about what it is and how it affects you, your parents, and/or society in general. How does this idea affect politics and thus the government that governs us?

13) Your own create project.