How to Run a Trivia Game in Drama Class

Looking for a fun, low-pressure way to engage your students, review key concepts, or just bring some energy to a quiet day or the end of a unit? Try a trivia challenge!

Using theatre trivia is a fun way to get students thinking and collaborating while also reinforcing what they’ve learned about theatre history, terminology, and performance. You can tailor the questions to any topic you want.

What You Need

Not much! You can keep it simple or get creative:

• A set of questions (see below for ideas)
• Whiteboards or paper for teams to write answers
• Optional: buzzers, a scoreboard, and a prize for the winning team

Ideas for Trivia Formats

You don’t have to stick with a simple Q&A. Here are a few ways to keep it interesting:

• Classic Q&A: You ask questions, students answer individually or in teams.
• Jeopardy-Style: Create a board with categories and point values. Teams pick a category and earn points.
• Lightning Round: See how many questions each team can answer in 60 seconds.
• Relay Style: One student from each team comes up at a time and answers before tagging the next teammate.

Topics to Try

The great thing about theatre trivia is how flexible it is. You can create questions based on what your students are studying or introduce new topics to spark curiosity. Some possible categories include:

• Theatre terms & stage directions (e.g.: What’s upstage? What’s a cue?)
• Famous plays & playwrights
• Broadway & West End fun facts
• Shakespeare & classics
• Musical theatre (songs, shows, composers)
• Backstage tech & crew roles
• Memorable characters & quotes
• Questions regarding a specific theatre era
• Questions about your own school’s shows

Sample Questions

Need inspiration? Here are a few questions to get you started. Download the giveaway to see the answers.

• What do we call the area of the stage closest to the audience?
• Who wrote Romeo and Juliet?
• What’s it called when an actor speaks directly to the audience?
• Name one job of the stage manager.
• Which musical includes the song “Defying Gravity”?
• What is the theatrical term for where the audience sits?
• What is the term for the imaginary wall between actors and the audience?
• What do we call the last rehearsal before opening night?
• Which side of the stage is “stage left” from the actor’s point of view?
• What is a monologue?
• What is “improv” short for?
• What is the name of the playhouse that is most closely associated with William Shakespeare?
• What is the theatrical term for turning off all the lights on stage?
• What form of Japanese theatre uses wooden puppets?
• True or false: The overture is played at the end of a performance.

Bonus Ideas

• Use trivia as a warm-up before rehearsal or a way to wrap up a unit.
• Make a “Trivia Championship” and keep team scores over multiple classes.
• Add movement or charades elements between rounds to mix it up.
• Have students design their own categories and host the game themselves.

Tips for Success

• Mix easy, medium, and challenging questions so everyone can feel successful.
• Encourage good sportsmanship — it’s about fun, not just winning.
• Keep the pace brisk to keep energy high.
• Have a tiebreaker question ready just in case.
• If time allows, let students create their own questions to test the teacher or each other.

Grab some questions, split into teams, and let the games begin!