Rounding the Cape of Good Hope: A Seventh Grade Play

ROUNDING THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE begins with Henry the Navigator who was largely responsible for initiating Europe's seminal voyages during the Age of Discoveries. It continues many years later with the recruitment of sailors and the crew's subsequent naval expedition under Bartolomeu Dias. This imaginative account of that first voyage down to the southern tip of Africa has many dramatic and humorous moments, including love relationships, a storm, and a mutiny. I wrote this play for my class of 25 seventh graders, wishing to give them the opportunity of presenting dramatically what they were also covering in the curriculum.