Collaboration Articles for Drama Teachers

Group work is an enormous part of drama class. Students are always working in groups, whether for warm-ups, improvisation, scene work, playwriting, working backstage, and more. Even if your entire...

Creating a theatrical production is a group effort. For every student who appears onstage, there are even more students, staff members, and volunteers who help breathe life into the production....

Producing a musical is a big job – the cast sizes are generally bigger, the costs to produce the show are usually higher, and of course the artistic staff team is bigger. In addition to the...

As a busy teacher and director, having a great artistic team is essential to a successful school production. Having a great team in place means that you have a supportive, enthusiastic group all...

The following exercise gives students the opportunity to pitch their dream show to the rest of the class. This is a great exercise to do with students after you’ve polled your class. Now that...

We were lucky enough to speak with two teachers at Northwest Middle School in Flowood, MS – Emily Wright and Genifer Freeman – about how the entire school (even the Principal) got involved in a...

This improvisation game is great for students who are brand-new to improvisation. It focuses on students going with the flow and joining in the scene, rather than trying to one-up another and...

Collaboration games are a great go-to exercise throughout the entire school year. At the start of the school year, they work for ‘get to know you’, and warm up activities. Later on in the school...

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 –...

Drama is one of the few classes that teachers real world skills. This is something that every drama teacher knows well. You know this. Despite resistance you may receive from parents,...

A mixed message is when someone communicates two conflicting ideas at the same time, making it unclear what they really mean. This can happen through: • Words vs. actions (saying one thing, “I’ll...

“How can you get your students to brainstorm effectively?” Brainstorm: a group discussion to come up with ideas and solve problems. Brainstorming is a great idea generation and problem solving...

Sometimes it’s the simple games and the ones we’ve played over and over again that can offer the most learning. Take The Human Knot. It’s a game that’s been played in playgrounds, camps, and drama...

Many productions are based on a pyramid structure : Stars at the top, supporting cast in the middle, chorus at the bottom. Even though there are more actors involved at the bottom of the pyramid,...

How do you get students to work together in a creation? Try this pre-exercise to have students practice collaborating to make a finished product. It’s an exercise that has been around for years but...

If you want your students to devise a theatre piece in class, it’s important to practice the act of collaboration as much as possible. Ideally, you should use the month beforehand getting students...

These tips are designed to help you lay a solid foundation for discipline. Whether you’re a beginning teacher facing a classroom full of students for the first time, or a theatre veteran (with the...

Todd Espeland, instructor of the Drama Teacher Academy course Serious Play: Theatre Games and Warm Ups for Rehearsal and Ensemble Building, uses Big, Tiny, Twisted as the last warm up before moving...