Acting Technique

Writing monologues is a skill that takes practice. When students are learning how to write monologues, it’s easy for them to fall into the trap of writing a story spoken by one person. Storytelling...

Hearing is a passive, physical act of using the ears to perceive sounds. You can hear without understanding or acknowledging the sounds. Listening, conversely, is an active, internal behaviour,...

The following exercise helps students learn self-awareness (which is one of the categories of social and emotional learning) and apply it by analyzing characters in a play that they are currently...

In this article, we’re focusing on responsible decision making, which is one of the five areas of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). If the concept of SEL is new to you, check out this article...

We are all about character analysis — it’s a great tool for helping students develop a deeper understanding of characters in plays that they are studying, performing in, or creating. Read on to...

When teaching virtually to students with their cameras on, teachers get to witness all sorts of interesting student antics — students tuning in from strange locations (their closet, their family’s...

Jim Hoare is the author of Your High School Improv Show Playbook and has added a Virtual Performance Pandendum (Pandemic Addendum) to the resource for adapting improv to a virtual environment. For...

The following exercise has a straightforward premise: watch a movie musical and analyze it! This written exercise helps students practice skills including analytical and critical thinking,...

One of the most important elements when writing a play or a story is creating characters that feel three-dimensional and real. You can help your students flesh out their characters with some...

The exercises listed below can be adapted to distance and online learning opportunities. Students work individually (rather than with partners or in groups). Group work and discussions can be...

What does it mean to focus on “ensemble thinking”? Ensemble thinking focuses on a whole-show mentality. Rather than an “us versus them” mentality for leading actors versus ensemble/chorus members,...

Acting is supposed to be real, right? We talk with our students about bringing honesty and realness to the stage when they are performing. With that in mind, however, how often have you heard...

This is a simple and fun improvised game that is great to use in your show rehearsals. I’ve found it’s especially useful for younger, newer, or shyer students, who might be afraid of looking silly...

An assumption is when someone accepts something as true about a person, place, thing, or idea without proof. People do this all the time, often without thinking. We assume all sorts of things about...

Encouraging students to work together is often a challenge. Some students worry that they’ll be saddled with peers who won’t pull their weight. Some students are super-shy and the idea of...

Students will frequently be cast into roles that are vastly different from their real-life personalities. This is a good thing – it’s a great opportunity for students to grow their skills as...

Working together, supporting each other, accomplishing something as one. This year’s theme for the Alabama Thespian State Festival is “be a pop of colour on a dark stage”. Upon hearing that theme,...

In Script Analysis for Directors, Part 1: Scanning the Script, we started our pre-rehearsal planning process with a simple scan of the script to get our early thoughts and ideas out on paper. Once...