Classroom Exercises

Looking for a quick activity, a skill-building exercise, or a fresh way to get students on their feet? This collection of classroom exercises is here to help.

Explore practical, ready-to-use drama exercises designed to build focus, creativity, collaboration, confidence, and performance skills. Whether you’re warming up the room, introducing a new concept, or giving students a chance to explore character, movement, voice, or ensemble work, these exercises are a great place to start.

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Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Worst Case Scenario Exercise

How does your class collaborate in a crisis? To collaborate is to work together as a group to produce something. In this case, each group has to work together to create a list. But it’s not just...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Mirror Game: Modified!

The mirror game is a great stand-by in the theatre class. Students are grouped in pairs and face each other. One acts as the leader, moving their arms, legs, head, face, in a slow steady pattern so...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Classroom Exercise: Round Robin

One of the keys to Classroom Management is getting students to work well together. Group work is tricky if students don’t know one another. Why should I share something with this guy who doesn’t...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Relationships in Romeo and Juliet

“Go, counsellor: Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain.” Juliet, Act III, scene v There are more relationships in Romeo and Juliet than just the one between Romeo and Juliet. We have...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Exercise: Create a World

Students often get hung up on the notion that in the theatre, sets, costumes, and props all have to meet the standard of the movies. The world of the play has to be three-dimensional and real. A...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Exercise: Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

““I’m just one hundred and one, five months and a day.” “I can’t believe that!” said Alice. “Can’t you?” the Queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.” Alice...

Acting Technique Character Development

Character Analysis Exercise

Character analysis can be done in many forms: • You can analyze a character in a play you’re studying. • You can analyze a character you’re playing in a production. • You can analyze a character in...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Reality vs Illusion Exercise

How do people create illusion out of harsh reality? In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois works hard at creating an illusion. She tells lies about her past so that others see her in...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

I Would Never…. A Pre-Study Romeo and Juliet Exercise

“Shakespeare is too hard… Shakespeare is too old… I can’t relate to Shakespeare….” It’s one thing to tell students that they should study Shakespeare, it’s another thing to get them engaged in the...

Acting Technique Character Development

What’s in Your Bag?

Characters come alive in the smallest details: a favourite food, a favourite type of music, a fear of spiders, an allergy to plums, a scar from a fall at two years of age, a love of reality...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Expression Exercise: Instagram Journaling

Today’s students are visual learners. They look at screens all day long, it makes sense that they are going to be grabbed by a picture instead of something they hear or read. So why not bring the...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Exercise: Positive/Negative Post-Its

Jessica Stafford of Owensboro Middle School was in the middle of rehearsing Hoodie for the KTA middle school festival. She generously shared this “Positive and Negative Post-it Exercise” she used...

Technical Theatre Sound

Location Sound Exercise

Sound is a powerful sense. Many objects and actions are clearly identified by the sounds they make. Sound also triggers powerful memories. When I hear a screen door slam, I am instantly brought...

Playwriting Playwriting Exercises

Exercise: Shakespearean Insults

If you have a Shakespeare unit or play study planned for your class, start with this exercise; it’s a great doorway to engaging with the Bard. The key to Shakespeare is to get students up and...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Classroom Exercise: Fear In A Hat

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Creative Thinking Exercise: Character Names

When it comes to analyzing a character, names are extremely important. In a play, character names are always specifically chosen by the playwright to give clues on personality, status, identity,...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Classroom Exercise: Whaddya Know?

One of the keys to Classroom Management is getting students to work well together. Group work is tricky if students don’t know each other. Why should I share something with this guy who doesn’t say...

Games, Exercises, & Activities Classroom Exercises

Classroom Exercise: Verbatim Theatre

If you’re looking for a great cross-curricular activity for your drama classroom, delve into verbatim theatre. Verbatim: in exactly the same words, word for word Verbatim theatre uses a process in...