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Playwriting

Students stuck on “what do I write?”

These playwriting activities are all about sparking ideas. Use prompts, quick exercises, and creative challenges to get students thinking, imagining, and writing without the pressure of a full script.

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Resource: Tons of Shiny, Shimmery, and Sparkly Prompts
Playwriting

Resource: Tons of Shiny, Shimmery, and Sparkly Prompts

When your students are feeling dull, you know it’s time to bring out the shiniest, shimmeriest, most sparkly prompts available. And we’ve got lots of them right here for you, guaranteed to bring...
Resource: Tons of Outdoor Prompts!
Playwriting

Resource: Tons of Outdoor Prompts!

Looking for some new prompts to get your students writing or improvising? Here are fifty spring- and summer-themed action prompts that you can use to get your students feeling refreshed and...
Playwriting Exercise: Clothing Prompt
Classroom Exercise

Playwriting Exercise: Clothing Prompt

The following exercise is flexible. It can be completed via distance learning or live in class. If students are completing this exercise online, they do not need to turn on their cameras or...
Happy International Women’s Day!
Playwriting

Happy International Women’s Day!

March 8th is International Women’s Day – and what better time to highlight some amazing women within the Theatrefolk community. Join us in celebrating these phenomenal playwrights and authors and...
Playwriting Exercise: Advertisement Prompt
Classroom Exercise

Playwriting Exercise: Advertisement Prompt

Here’s a playwriting prompt exercise that takes advantage of something that’s frequently around us: advertisements! Ads are everywhere, and their main purpose is to sell us stuff. But we’re going...
Playwriting Exercise: Prompts from a Book
Classroom Exercise

Playwriting Exercise: Prompts from a Book

Are your students feeling overwhelmed with possibilities for writing a new monologue? Do they need help focusing on one idea? Or are you simply looking for a way to get your students writing? For...
20 Character Profile Questions
Playwriting

20 Character Profile Questions

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...
Making Assumptions About Characters
Classroom Exercise

Making Assumptions About Characters

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...
Shakespeare’s Words: Iambic Pentameter
Classroom Exercise

How to Teach Iambic Pentameter: Free Drama Lesson

What Drama Teachers Need to Know (+ A Free Classroom Exercise)Iambic pentameter is a style of poetry, which refers to a certain number of syllables in a line and the emphasis placed on the...
Exploring Spoken Word Poetry
Acting

Exploring Spoken Word Poetry

Spoken word is poetry that is meant to be performed for an audience, rather than just read on a page. Spoken word has a freedom to it. Spoken word poems can use alliteration, rhyme, repetition,...
Devising in the Drama Classroom
Playwriting

Devising in the Drama Classroom

Q&A with Pilar OrtiLindsay Price talked with Pilar Orti, author of Your Handy Companion to Devising and Physical Theatre, about her experiences with devising in the drama classroom. Here are some...
A Character Is Not a Whole Person
Classroom Exercise

A Character Is Not a Whole Person

One thing that often comes up in student writing is that characters only seem to exist from the first page to the last page. Students don’t think of their characters as having lives outside the...
Devising Challenge: One-Minute Word Association
Playwriting

Devising Challenge: One-Minute Word Association

Devising a brand-new piece of theatre from scratch can be exciting, overwhelming, or just plain scary for students. It can be challenging for students to narrow their focus when there are literally...
Same Character, Different Choice
Classroom Exercise

Same Character, Different Choice

Are your students feeling stuck or frustrated with their playwriting assignments? This exercise will help get them unstuck by challenging them to explore alternative situations for their scenes and...
The 5 W’s and Playwriting
Classroom Exercise

The 5 W’s and Playwriting

So, you’ve decided to do some playwriting with your students. Fantastic! But now comes the hard part – actually sitting down and writing. Whether in a notebook or on a computer screen, that blank...
Top 3 Ways to Write a Character Specific Voice
Playwriting

Top 3 Ways to Write a Character Specific Voice

If you want your characters to be three dimensional, you have to consider their voice. What words do they choose? What’s the structure of their language? How do they communicate? A character...