We're planning a day to honor Stephen King and I need ideas

[dlovic]

I am a high school teacher and sponsor of our Literary Society at a public school in PA. Every year, we honor an author. We have done Shakespeare and Poe in the past. Shakespeare 3 times and Poe 2 times. This year, the kids decided they would like to do a contemporary author. King won over JK Rowling hands down (these were the two nominated authors). Traditionally we act out scenes from the play/short story, but it is going to be difficult to do so with King. There are too many movies that would put any production we would do to absolute shame. We are working with a 1/2 hour timeframe to do some kind of tribute. We will be preforming it 8 times throughout the day. We often run two to three activities at a time and have kids switch in the middle of the period to move on to the next activity. I need some suggestions!! The kids are reading the following collections of short stories to get ideas: Night Shift, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and Skeleton Crew. We are hoping to do the day in winter... possibly in February.

Any suggestions would be helpful. We have a limited budget of around $200, but we are very creative!

[Cowboy]

Have the kids dress as a character from one of the books. You can have one kid as the "main character"....mabye laying down and reading when he suddenly falls asleep and all of these King Characters come to life around him and interact with each other....maybe arguing who is the most evil or who is the best or what their reason for existance is in the world of King. The character wakes up and everyone vanishes. The kids can come up with an amusing line that sums it all up spoken by the sleepy character.

[Dr.Who]

cut the power to the building.
fill the hallways with mist.
let imagination run its course.
minimal is best

[TBlack]

"The Long Walk" would make a nice half hour skit.
The student's acting abilities would not be overly stressed.
And the faculty might enjoy seeing them all writhing about on the stage!

[Jaedpact]

Man you know that story stationary bike? That would be perfect. Have the kids make a few similar murels on butcher paper, get an el cheapo stationary light and a black sheet so you can force scene changes, then get a few of them to dress as the "Boys in the basement" and just jibber jab about how much it sucks to be out of a job... then if you want to go all out get some fake brains... and a cut out of a shotgun and simulate the suicide scene... then again..... maybe not... But hey I can see that one working out very well!

[boogerb53]

Sorry Right Number and The End of the Whole Mess could be done on stage, with a little imagination. They are both from Nightmares and Dreamscapes. These are just a couple that come to mind. Good luck!!!

[SusanNorton]

Night Surf, maybe, with the lead character stepping outside the scene to narrate?

[Sugar Marie]

I think "The Reapers Image" from Skeleton Crew would be fun and relatively easy to stage.
Get an empty mirror frame, and a kid playing the reaper could appear whenever a doomed person approached it - you know, along those lines.

What a great thing to do for and with the kids!

[Doc Wilson]

As others are pointing out, only a fraction of King's work has been translated to film and there are plenty stories left that could be done effectively without elaborate props.

[Jeffery]

hello again i think the doctors case would make an exellent skit on stage. not only is it stephen king but its sherlock holmes. great mix and shows how king can minipulate anything to his power. basicly start from the time they get to the scene of the crime and go on from there. this is only my suggestion im not a teacher (ha ha) just a king fan and out of the stories in the books you mentioned i think this is a very useable story for stage. let me know what you choose and is anyone videoing this id like to see it.