Dana Middle School Pageant Will Re-Create Key Events in Civil War

About 200 students at Dana Middle School in San Pedro are taking academics to the stage this week with a Civil War pageant that will be viewed by hundreds of residents and area schools and taped for broadcast by the Los Angeles County Office of Education.

The youngsters are taking part in a seven-part play Saturday beginning at 4:30 p.m. that re-creates several key events in the Civil War and will be performed at various sites around the school. They will re-create Pickett’s Charge in the Battle of Gettysburg, the Gettysburg Address, a slave auction, Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and a Civil War art gallery.

The students have spent nearly three months researching the era and memorizing lines for their play, which will be performed today for area elementary schools and again Saturday for the community.

Six teachers helped organize the pageant, which is expected to replace the Renaissance Fair that the school held in previous years. Teachers said the project allows the students to learn math, history, English and science while combining the arts, which have suffered cutbacks at the school over the years.

“Any time we can use hands-on learning, the students learn a great deal more,” said Aquina Moore, an English teacher who coordinated the pageant. “It helps us to bring the arts back into focus, which also has a tremendous benefit for the students.”