During our first two classes in January, students were immersed in creative activity! They reviewed the 7 chapters in our class text: Jewish Values in Genesis, and picked a biblical story/character that they wanted to re-animate by developing a puppet show. They were given the choice to act out the story as it was originally told or to add contemporary voices and issues to their scripts. Most chose the latter option. So instead of Rebekah at the Well, Maya told the story of Rebekah at the mall picking out a gift for Isaac. The puppet she used for G-d was a plain craft stick with only a question mark on it. Noah acted out the story of Noah, but in his version although he didn’t have a wife, he still wanted someone to come with him on the journey. Barrett, playing the role of G-d,told him to bring his best friend or a random villager. When Noah expressed that he didn’t think he would be able to find someone who would agree to go, Barrett improvised that Noah should tell people that he was going to Disney World instead.In Barrett’s own sketch about Joseph, riding a camel to school every day was substituted for slavery. Hunter and Adam acted out their own version of Noah’s Ark, complete with sharks. Penelope and Alex decided to combine their individual stories into one, and again Barrett volunteered to play the role of G-d. He was so good at it, that Clara and Alyssa incorporated Barrett into their puppet show as well.Lilah’s classic portrayal of The Garden of Eden featured the moving scene of G-d creating Adam and Eve. Next week we will start the class with J.D’s puppet show. One of his puppets is an amazing Darth Vader puppet so I’m excited to see how he incorporates it into a biblical story from the book of Genesis! Stay tuned!
