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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Classroom Exercise

12 Days of Classroom Exercises

We’re counting down the 12 Days of Christmas with 12 of our most popular Classroom Exercises! No matter which holidays you celebrate, these exercises are a useful tool to keep in your back pocket –...

Classroom Exercise

Writing Your Research: A Cross-Curricular Exercise

Cross-curricular projects are awesome in theory, especially in the drama classroom. They are a great way to demonstrate comprehension by taking information in one form and applying it to another....

Classroom Exercise

Observation: The conversation you can only see

Observation is my number one tool for finding play ideas. When you observe, you’re not just looking around, skimming the world around you. Observation is the specific looking at people, places and...

Playwriting

5 questions with David Hammers

We have a great community of amazing playwrights here at Theatrefolk that contribute to our collection of middle and high school plays. We hope you’ll enjoy this peek behind the curtain as they...

Classroom Exercise

Playwriting Exercise: Write a Letter

““… I recommend they keep a diary, at least a page a day, and faithfully, and also to get into the habit of letter writing to other writers. The advantages that come with doing this seem...

Classroom Exercise

Shakespeare Exercise: Reframe the play

This is a great classroom exercise to not only have fun with Shakespeare but to also see how well students can re-frame which ever Shakespeare play they are studying. Take a character from one...

Playwriting

5 questions with Clint Snyder

We have a great community of amazing playwrights here at Theatrefolk that contribute to our collection of middle and high school plays. We hope you’ll enjoy this peek behind the curtain as they...

Playwriting

Picture Inspiration

Use a picture as a jumping off point for writing. Sometimes all students need is a little push to get the writing ball rolling. Use pictures for that push. You can have students create source...

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...

Playwriting

Playwriting Exercise: Inner Monologue

One of the best activities for gathering writing ideas is observation. How are you experiencing the world around you? A great way to practice this is to have your students describe your classroom...

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

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

Eavesdropping Exercise: Where do ideas come from?

Ideas are not magical ponies. They don’t appear instantly. Writers know they have to look for ideas. The more they look for them, the more ideas they have. The key with ideas is not to focus on the...

Playwriting

Where do Ideas Come From?

The biggest obstacle to writing a play often comes before the first word. It happens in the idea stage. I want to write, but my ideas are stupid. I know I could write something great but where do I...