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Games & Exercises

Quick activities. Real results.

Find low-prep drama exercises that build skills, boost participation, and fit into any class.

Classroom Exercise

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...
Classroom Exercise

Collaboration Games: Three Things in Common

Use this exercise for the first week of class, especially if you have a group of students who don’t know each other very well. The point of the game is to get students to not just talk to each...
Classroom Exercise

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...
Classroom Exercise

Collaboration Games: One To Twenty

Todd Espeland, instructor of the Drama Teacher Academy course Serious Play: Theatre Games and Warm Ups for Rehearsal and Ensemble Building, includes the game One To Twenty as among his favourite....
Classroom Exercise

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...
Classroom Exercise

Title Exercise: Name Game

Need a quick creative exercise? Have your students analyze titles, write titles, and come up with titles based on descriptions. A title is an important part of an artistic product. It acts as a...
Classroom Exercise

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...
Acting

Acting Exercise: Who’s Knocking?

Here’s one of my favourite acting exercises.You start with a list of descriptive characters. Here are some examples: • A firefighter looking for occupants. • A jealous significant other. • A spy on...
Acting

Acting Exercise: The Ensemble Monologue

How do you take a monologue (meant for one person to deliver) and act it out as a group? How do you create an Ensemble Monologue? Analyze the MonologueHere’s a monologue from my play Funhouse....
Acting

Playwriting & Acting Exercise: Channel that Fear

Fear is such a wonderful motivator for characters – with both positive and negative connotations. How many of us know someone who won’t do something because of fear? Who won’t get on stage, or get...
Classroom Exercise

Playwriting Exercise: Indoor Clouds

Sometimes you just come across something that is Wicked Cool. That’s right, I capitalized both words and they weren’t at the beginning of a sentence. I did it, I own it. That’s how cool I think...
Classroom Exercise

Projecting Your Voice Without Yelling

Breath Control and Projection are critical skills for an actor, but they’re just as critical for drama teachers. The trick is to speak loudly and project without yelling. We often tell our students...
Classroom Exercise

Playwriting Exercise: Hurdling the First Line

Do your student playwrights struggle with getting started? Sometimes the hardest part is coming up with that first line, because there’s nothing more daunting to a new writer than the blank page....
Classroom Exercise

4 Great Picture Prompts for Playwrights

Ideas can come from anything and everything. But it’s always a good idea to give students a jumping off point. Picture Prompts are a great tool in a playwright’s arsenal to inspire creative...
Classroom Exercise

Playwriting Exercise: Subtext

Subtext is a glorious medium. It adds depth to a scene. There’s the conversation that two characters are having, and there’s the conversation underneath the conversation the two characters are...
Classroom Exercise

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...
Classroom Exercise

Monologue Evaluation Exercise

What makes a good monologue? What criteria do you give to your students? Before students start writing their own monologue, it’s important for them to be able to identify and assess the elements of...
Classroom Exercise

The Most Interesting Person Exercise

Who is the most interesting person you know? Who is the most interesting person your dad knows? Who is the most interesting person your boss knows? It could be a specific story, a whole history or...