Devising

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 others: That student has a designer bag, so they must be rich and snobby. That student answered that easy question wrong, so they must be pretty stupid. The teacher gave me a bad grade on my project, so they must hate me. By making assumptions, we open ourselves up to all sorts of negativity: feelings of jealousy, resentment, frustration, self-pity. We also risk causing conflict, particularly if the person we make assumptions about finds out and disagrees with our assumption. In plays and musicals, assumptions frequently create conflict and drive the plot of the story. In Shrek: The Musical, Shrek overhears a conversation and assumes that Princess Fiona thinks he is an “ugly beast” (she is actually describing her feelings about herself, being cursed to turn into an ogre at night), which causes him to storm off in anger and treat Fiona badly the next day. In Legally Blonde, Warner breaks up with Elle, assuming she is just a silly sorority girl who isn’t serious about anything, until she proves him wrong by getting into Harvard Law School. In The Lion King, Simba runs away after his father Mufasa is killed, as he assumes he will be blamed for Mufasa’s death. This is further complicated when Scar tells the rest of the pride that Simba was also killed and the other lions believe him. In all three situations, the characters believed that what they were experiencing was true, without looking for proof otherwise. This creates conflict, which makes for an interesting story, as the audience waits to see if and how the conflict will be solved. Assumptions, in this case, can be a useful tool when creating a new theatrical piece. If your students are feeling stuck when working on a playwriting assignment or when attempting to devise a scene, have them try this assumption exercise to get their ideas flowing. Start by having students consider the following: • Think about a time when someone made an assumption about you, OR Think about a time when you made an assumption about someone else. • Did the assumption turn out to be correct or incorrect? • How did it make you feel? • How did it make the other person feel? • Did the assumption lead to conflict? • Were there any consequences or fallout from the result of the assumption? From there, divide the class into groups of three. Using the ideas they brainstormed, groups will select one idea to use in creating a brief, one-minute scene where one student plays a character that makes an assumption about another character, played by the second student. This assumption creates a conflict of some sort. The third student can be used in any way that helps the scene progress. Perhaps they are a character who tells the second character that the assumption was made, perhaps they are a mediator who helps solve the conflict, or perhaps they are a friend to the first character who makes the conflict even worse by adding another assumption to the mix. Give students about ten minutes to plan their scene, and then have them present to the rest of the class. After each group presents, have the rest of the class discuss the following questions: • What was the assumption that was presented in the scene? • How did it create conflict between the characters? • How did it make the first and second characters feel? • How was the third character used? • Did the third character improve the situation or make it worse? • How could the presented scene possibly be developed further into a new or larger piece? What could it be used for?

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 key tips for drama teachers and their students. DefinitionWhat’s your definition of devising theatre? What does it mean to devise a piece? Pilar : “Creative theatre” is what I would call it. So, “devising” for me is you have an idea or the group has an idea or the group are given an idea and they create a piece. They decide where the story is going, and the group decides the form which is very important. The StimulusYou talked about how devising theatre usually starts with an idea or a stimulus. In a class, is this something that you think that the teacher should come up with? Pilar : I think it really depends. But I think the teacher should make the decision of who’s going to give them the stimulus. I think the teacher has to take responsibility for some stuff, for some of the things when a group of students is creating, and one of them could be setting the stimulus based on her/his knowledge of the students and how to stretch them. ExperimentationWhat are some activities that would be good for experimentation in the devising process? Would they use a lot of improv? Pilar : Yes. You can have people improvising a scene where they’re talking and somebody writes down what they’re saying, or it could be improvisations around the world of the character. So, for example, if we have a couple – say we have a couple in this piece – and they are about to break up, we could have improvisations around how they met. FailureHow do you circumvent the students who don’t want to fail? What would you tell teachers? How to encourage students to try and try again? Pilar : Nobody wants to fail. It’s difficult to take risks. But, if you don’t fail, you don’t discover. I think, you can’t really bring this in just for your devising unit. I think it’s something that has to underpin all practice in your Drama classroom – that every time someone gets it horribly wrong, you laugh with them, you say, “How was that? Yeah? Why was it like that?…But how great because, if you hadn’t stumbled over, we now wouldn’t have a comedy scene!” Or, “Are you having problems with that line? Okay. What might that tell us about the character?” and really make every time that somebody does something that they might think of as wrong, show that it’s part of growing – it’s how you deal with that – and, also, that there are things that we might learn when we get things wrong. And then that means that by the time they come to devise, they’re used to making mistakes and also not to take yourself too seriously. Getting things wrong when you’re devising just means you open up other possibilities. So, it’s also about thinking in a different way about what it means to get something wrong. CreationWhat happens in the creation stage? Do things become a bit more formal? Pilar : The piece, in the end, needs to have structure. So, we need to say, “Okay. How are we going to start this piece? What order are the scenes going to follow? Are we going to have short scenes? Long scenes?” and really nailing down the script in whatever way that comes out. RehearsalsWhat are some tips for effective rehearsals of a devised piece? Pilar : It’s very important to get them trained in a way to observe each other and to observe other groups because I think that, by seeing how different groups or different people are working on their own pieces, you can have aha moments. You can also give them exercises that will unlock them. So, for example, have people swap characters. Beyond the ClassroomWhat other skills does devising a piece develop? Pilar : Students think, “We need to do it. We set our schedule. We meet our deadlines. We make sure we turn up on time and start working. We make sure we make the most out of our time together,” and I think that’s really important. Listen to the full podcast HERE.

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 thousands of topics that they can write about. And when it comes to devising theatrical creations, there are just as many different ways of developing a new piece of theatre. But this is exactly why students should devise is something new. It will challenge them to work together with other students to create something fresh and exciting. It gives them a sense of ownership about the piece – “We made this ourselves!” Giving students a medium like devising to express their thoughts and feelings about a subject is really powerful; it allows their voice to be heard. So let’s help your students find a starting point for their devised pieces. Here is a technique called “One-Minute Word Association.” This technique will help students generate a large number of focused ideas quickly. They can then use these ideas toward a scene, tableau, movement, or mime piece. Instructions1. Start by choosing a broad topic as a jumping-off point: a mood or feeling (bravery, fear, love) or a current issue (bullying, self-esteem, tolerance). If there is a special event going on at your school or a holiday coming up (anniversary, centennial, Halloween), that could also work as a topic. For the very bravest classes, grab a dictionary and open it to any page, then close your eyes and point to a word on the page! 2. Students will split up into groups of 4-6. One student in each group will act as recorder. For one minute, students will word-associate with the chosen topic word. • To do this, one member of the group will say a word that jumps into their mind when they think about the topic. • Then the next student will say the first thing that jumps into their mind when they think about the word that was chosen by the first student. • The third student will say the first thing that jumps into their mind when they think about the word chosen by the second student. • This exercise is no holds barred. No judgement or editing is allowed. The recorder will copy down all the words that the group suggest, as the words are spoken. For example, let’s say the topic is bravery. A word association list might go like this: Bravery > military > soldiers > uniforms > boots > mud > rain > sky > weather > umbrella > raincoat > wet > water > glass > drink > soda > Coca-Cola > red > angry > frustration Or, perhaps the topic is bullying. A word association list might go this way: Bullying > fear > alone > solitary > confined > small > tiny > miniscule > atom > space > planet > solar system > vast > ocean > land > earth > dirt > ground > standing > strong It’s interesting to see what the mind connects together when faced with a time limit and not being allowed to edit! 3. Students look at their list and think about how their chosen words could be used for a scene, improvisation, tableau, mime piece, movement piece, or written scene. 4. Groups will choose a word or words to connect back to the initial topic to tell a story. Going back to the bravery example, how does bravery relate to water, (one of the word association suggestions)? Perhaps this will inspire students to create a tableau piece of someone rescuing a friend from drowning, or an absurdist style presentation about two fish who bravely go off on an adventure, or a musical theatre song about learning to swim for the first time. The possibilities truly are endless, but this technique will put students on a theatrical pathway. Where that path takes them is entirely up to them and their imaginations.

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 – and every exercise comes with a free download for immediate use in the classroom! 1. Devising Exercises 2. “Worst Case Scenario” Exercise 3. “Improv Games for Collaboration” Exercise 4. “Monologue Evaluation” Exercise 5. “I Would Never…” A Pre-study Romeo & Juliet Exercise 6. “What’s in Your Bag?” Character Development Exercise 7. “Instagram Journaling” Expression Exercise 8. “Collaboration Games: One to Twenty” Warm-up Exercise 9. “Relationships in Romeo & Juliet” Exercise 10.“Indoor Clouds” Playwriting Exercise 11. “Playing with Change” Devising Exercise 12. “Reality vs. Illusion” Exercise

What is devising?The hallmarks of a devised theatre piece is that it: • does not start with a script, it start with a idea/concept/topic • is a collaborative creation • there are no traditionally defined roles (playwright, director) • the creators are often the performers • the process of discovering the final product is as important as the final product itself All these items make devising exciting and terrifying at the same time. Collaborative creations sound great on paper, but there are issues. The lack of leadership can make a piece muddy and ineffective. Students often reject or shoot down ideas they feel are inferior – this is deadly to the collaborative process. Sometimes students get so wrapped up in their process that the final product ends up meaning more to the performers than to an audience. And it’s much harder to start simply with an idea, concept or inspiration point instead of a completed script. Having said all that, these are the exact reasons why you should introduce devising into the drama classroom. The act of devising requires that students collaborate. Everyone must be on the same page, and everyone must work together at every step of the process. One individual cannot be left to do all the work – it’s the responsibility of the group as a whole. Being open to ideas and being able to apply constructive feedback is a skill that every student should practice on a regular basis. When you start with a topic or an idea instead of a script, there is room for flexibility and imagination. Students who are strong in visual mediums can participate. Students who can’t write but love to dance can participate. Students who want to write a monologue can participate. Devising is all encompassing for a wide variety of skills and ability levels. Devising is also an excellent form for cross-curricular projects. Take a topic from another area and use it as the source material to devise scenes. Lastly, there are ways to moderate the process so that the audience is not a forgotten entity. Theatrical experiences do not exist without the engagement of the audience. How do you get your students to devise effectively?In order to get the most out of your students, it’s important not to dive head first into a devising project. Introduce the experience in exercise form. Being open to ideasIt’s natural to reject something we don’t like. It’s a knee jerk reaction. But if students respond with a knee-jerk “NO”, the devising process will quickly become unmanageable. Practice with your students the concept of accepting all ideas. The best way to incorporate openness into the process is to use improv. Improvisation not only forces students to make offers but to accept offers and add on to them. You can’t reject an idea because that’ll derail the scene. Improv Exercises • Yes, and… Students have a conversation in pairs. Give them a topic and after the first sentence, every other sentence has to begin with “Yes, and…” That means you’re accepting the offer given to you and adding on. • Yes, Let’s!: Everyone stands in a circle. One person suggests a simple activity. “Let’s go ice skating!” Everyone in the circle yells out “Yes, Let’s!” Everyone joins in on the activity until someone else calls out another activity. • Body Pose Pass: Everyone stands in a circle. Person A makes an all body pose. The bigger the better. Person B imitates the pose as closely as possible to the original. Once they do that, they turn to Person C and do their own pose. C imitates the pose as closely as possible to the original. Coach students to move quickly from pose to pose. Don’t think about what you’re going to do, just make an offer. Don’t think about how you’re going to imitate the pose, accept the offer and for for it. Once everyone has gone, repeat the exercise, adding in a sound with the pose. • Expert Translation: A talk show scene which features a famous expert on a topic. The expert only speaks gibberish and their translator has to do all the explaining. • Change: Two actors start a scene. A third player stands off to the side. The third player calls out “change” at random times. When “change” is called out, the person who just spoke has to come up with a new line. The scene then must carry on fluidly based on this new line until “change” is called out again. Practice coming with ideas on a topicBrainstorming is part of the devising process. When you’re starting from scratch, it’s easy to veer off-topic and think you’re doing something great. Practice coming up with ideas on topic. The topic, or the idea, is your starting point. It’s the place your students will spend most of their time. Everyone has to fully connect to the source material and come up with ideas based on the source material. If everyone is on the same page, the brainstorming will go a lot easier. Idea Exercises • Brainstorm Quickfire: Give groups a topic and a time limit. (1 minute) They have to come up with as many ideas as possible within the time limit. Next, give them a 30 second time limit. • Objects: This is an improv game. Divide the class into two teams. Each team will go one at a time. In the middle of the room, place an object. One at a time the members of a team will come up and interact with the object in as many different ways as possible. Give the group a 2 minute time limit. Then repeat the exercise with a 1 minute time limit. • This is not a chair: Place a chair in the middle of the room. Person A sits on the chair. Person B enters the scene and declares “This is not a chair. It’s a ____________.” They then have to interact with the “chair” in whatever way they’ve stated. Person A has to go along with this with full commitment. After a short interaction, Person A comes up with a reason to leave the scene. Person C enters the scene and declares “This is not a _________. It’s a ______________.” and the process is repeated. • 100 questions: Give students a topic. They have five minutes to ask 100 questions about the topic. Tell the groups they will receive a mark for the exercise only if they come up with 100 unique questions. (You want to push them to continually come up with questions and not just give up at 30 or 40.) Practice working in different formsA devised product does not have to look like a traditional play. You don’t have to tell a story with words. It’s a great opportunity to use all available languages: words, music, movement, sound, light, visuals. Form Exercise Download this exercise as a PDF at the end of the article. • Divide the class into groups and give everyone the same topic: Body Image, Jealousy, Freedom, Friendship, Power, School, Authority, Joy, Fear, Relationships, Family • Give students a sheet with a variety of different forms on it: mime, film, melodrama, radio play, Absurd, musical theatre, comedy, drama, soap opera, Shakespeare inspired, Ancient Greek inspired. Use not just theatre forms, but art and dance forms as well – painting, photography, collage, mixed media, ballet, modern dance. • Explain to the students that they have to explore the topic using three different forms. One of the forms they use must be unfamiliar to them and out of their comfort zone. • The length of their presentation for all three forms is five minutes. • The group must include a written explanation for why they chose the forms, which one was out of their comfort zone and why, and what was it like to explore a topic in a variety of ways. • A rubric for this exercise is include in the PDF download. Practice working with changeOne of the biggest missteps with a devised piece is to set scenes in stone in the early stages. To devise effectively is to accept change and to explore change. Look at scenes and situations from different angles. Change Exercise • Divide students into groups. Give each group a classic children’s game: tag, tug of war, hide and go seek. • All of the games should be familiar to your students. You may even want to play each game so that everyone is on the same page with the traditional way they are played. • Each group must change the rules of the game. What is the objective of the new version? What is the outcome? What are the new rules? How is the game played? • Each group must teach the new version of the game to the class. • The class plays the game. • Discuss with students afterward, what was it like to change games? Was it hard to accept the new rules? Why or why not? A couple of final points• Do not throw structure out the window. Structure in a devising project is key. Just because there isn’t a director, per se, or a written script doesn’t mean that devising is a free for all. Give yourself a timeline – when is the show? When is the first run through? Know how much time you have to play and when the piece needs to start finding shape. • Do not forget the audience. Because devising is such a process driven experience, it’s easy for everything to become performer centred rather than audience centered. Never forget that every theatrical experience depends on the engagement of the audience. Each group should ask themselves: What is my audience getting out of this? What effect do we want to have on the audience? Why should an audience watch this? • Do not fear failure. When you start a piece from scratch, you’re starting with the unknown. It’s a much different experience than having a proven entity like a published script. And with the unknown, anything can happen – including failure. Students have such a fear of failure and with good reason. They are told on a regular basis if they fail at a test, essay, or assignment there are consequences. Encourage failure in the devising process. Get students to try out an idea on it’s feet and see what happens. The more they try, fail and try again, the closer they will get to an amazing final product.

“Devising: A project that starts with an idea/concept/source material rather than a completed script” The culminating activity for collaboration in the drama classroom is to have your students work on a devising project. It will definitely show you how well your students work together! More on devising in the next blog post, but here’s an exercise to get your students in the right frame of mind. To devise effectively, students have to not only be able to come up with ideas based on a topic, but to change, develop, and accept feedback on those ideas. The biggest misstep of a devised piece is to set everything in stone too early. Devising is a process and change is a part of that process. How can you get your students used to looking at an idea from as many different angles as possible? Exercise• Start by having three volunteers improvise a scene. Something simple with three characters, a relationship and a location. • Afterward, write the scene down as a class. Don’t worry if they don’t get it exactly right. The point of writing it down is to have a frame of reference. It’s not a script to follow. • Divide the class into groups. Each group should have a copy of the scene, so everyone starts on the same page: a three character scene with a relationship and a location. • Give each group a new directive for the scene. They’re going to completely turn it on it’s head in some way. Some suggestions are • Turn the scene into a dance. • Present the scene as animals. • A tornado is happening during the scene. • It’s now the future. They are all robots. • It’s the future, they’re all robots and no one can speak english. • It’s a movement piece. Every line has to be turned into a gesture. • Turn the scene into a song. • Turn the scene into an instrumental techno piece. • Turn the scene into art. • The first reaction is probably going to be “We can’t do this!” Let students have this reaction. But be firm. They have their assignment. The purpose of the assignment is to work with change. Some of the changes will be more successful than others. What you want to see is the effort in the change, not whether or not the change is spectacular. • Don’t give students too much time to make their changes. You want them to work and make choices instead of thinking about how their choices will fail. • After each group presents their version of the scene, discuss the process. Instead of talking about the final product, talk about the process of being forced to make a change. How did they work in their groups? How did they make choices? Was it frustrating? Were there fights? How did they deal with these issues? • You can also turn these questions into a written reflection where students talk about their experience with the exercise.