As a creative way to cover the middle years of the Cold War, history teacher Matthew Ketchum assigned a group Cold War theater project in which groups of 3-4 students composed short scenes depicting one of five events: the Hungarian Revolution, the U-2 spy plane incident, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Guatemalan Revolution, and the Cuban Revolution. Students were required to include a visual component, a relevant backdrop, costume or prop, in each scene, and balance historical accuracy with humor. Below, students give their insight into the assignment.

“Viva la Revolución!”- Sean Tran (’17, right), with Alexis Petterson (’17, left)

“[The plays] were great for understanding the content because we had to research enough to present the events in a creative way.”- Austin Gill (’17, left), with Karam Paul (’17, right)

“Being able to interact with history really changed my perspective of these events and gave me a more intimate understanding of history.” -Nell-Curry Bourshall (’17)

“The plays in history helped me to better visualize the course of historical events and to better solidify them in my mind.” -Luiza Loges (’17, center), with Madison Flowers (’17, left) and Lexx Pino (’17, right)