Games & Exercises

Drama class is a fantastic place to learn transferrable skills and work towards applying them to real-life situations. No matter what the exercise is, there is always a transferable skill to...

“I don’t want to be an actor!” is one reason why students may not want to take drama class. However, there are a whole host of careers in the theatre that aren’t acting. The following individual...

Here is a group project that is a great complement to our last blog post, Theatre in the Real World: Theatre Company Profile. Your students have been introduced to various theatre companies, all...

The following project is a research assignment, where students will research and present a written profile of an existing theatre company. To complete the project, they will need to make a number...

In this small group exercise, students will write a creative summary of the plot of a play using the ABCB, or “simple 4-line” rhyme scheme. This exercise focuses on creative thinking and teamwork....

The following exercise challenges students to explore character movement by focusing on the speed of movements. This exercise is mental and physical — students will brainstorm a list of characters...

This exercise is inspired by the theatre game The Machine, where students work together to create parts of a factory machine with repeated movements and sound. In The 20-Step Process, we take this...

The following exercise is a large-scale culminating project for your entire class. Students will form small groups and work together to create design concepts for a play in six areas of technical...

If you’ve spent approximately 3.1 seconds on the internet, you’ll have encountered a meme. If you’ve seen or heard of Grumpy Cat, Condescending Wonka, Surprised Pikachu, Woman Yelling at a Cat, or...

What better way to welcome students into the drama department than allowing them to make a grand entrance through a decorated door? Many teachers enjoy door decorating for holiday contests, spirit...

One of the (many!) wonderful things about theatre is that magic becomes real on the stage. Fantastical stories are brought to life in the most inventive and interesting ways to keep audiences...

The following exercise gives students the opportunity to practice active listening, teamwork, taking direction, and problem solving as a group. Acting as an ensemble with a student director, group...

The following exercise gives students the opportunity to explore different ways of approaching and performing a two-person scene, using two different levels of volume: only whispering and shouting....

Can you tell a great story in six minutes? How about in six seconds? You definitely can. Prior to TikTok, there was Vine — a short-form video hosting app where users created and shared...

In improvisation, one of the first rules that drama students are commonly taught is to always say, “Yes, and…” to continue the story. Basically, agree with presented concepts to keep the scene...

If you’re riding the struggle bus at rehearsals and scenes are looking stagnant, dull, or flat-out boring, you and your students may be suffering from a case of rehearsal rut. Rehearsal rut tends...

The following warm-up exercise is simple, but can evoke some powerful feelings and reactions. It’s a great exercise to help students develop their self-awareness and practice consent and boundary...

The following is a choice board exercise about making tough decisions, within a theatrical context. Students will select one of the six activities below to complete. Some of the options are written...