Exercise Articles for Drama Teachers

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...

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....

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...

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...

What makes a good monologue? What criteria do you give to your students? Before students start writing their own monologue, it’s important for them to be able to identify and assess the elements of...

Who is the most interesting person you know? Who is the most interesting person your dad knows? Who is the most interesting person your boss knows? It could be a specific story, a whole history or...

Character analysis can be done in many forms: • You can analyze a character in a play you’re studying. • You can analyze a character you’re playing in a production. • You can analyze a character in...

How do people create illusion out of harsh reality? In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois works hard at creating an illusion. She tells lies about her past so that others see her in...

“Shakespeare is too hard… Shakespeare is too old… I can’t relate to Shakespeare….” It’s one thing to tell students that they should study Shakespeare, it’s another thing to get them engaged in the...

Performances are rarely the only area where learning occurs in the drama classroom. What goes on during instruction, what happens in rehearsals and group work, how problems arise and are solved —...

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...

Today’s students are visual learners. They look at screens all day long, it makes sense that they are going to be grabbed by a picture instead of something they hear or read. So why not bring the...

Jessica Stafford of Owensboro Middle School was in the middle of rehearsing Hoodie for the KTA middle school festival. She generously shared this “Positive and Negative Post-it Exercise” she used...

Location, location, location , a scene can totally be driven by where it’s set. Picture prompts serve as a great starting point. To that end, write a scene between two characters that use the...

Sound is a powerful sense. Many objects and actions are clearly identified by the sounds they make. Sound also triggers powerful memories. When I hear a screen door slam, I am instantly brought...

If you have a Shakespeare unit or play study planned for your class, start with this exercise; it’s a great doorway to engaging with the Bard. The key to Shakespeare is to get students up and...

You can’t be emotional about a thing. That’s a common refrain. You can’t feel anything about an object or a building because they’re just things. They have no feelings. They can’t return or respond...

Ideas can come from anything and everything. But it’s always a good idea to give students a jumping off point. Pictures are a great jumping off point for creative writing. You just have no idea...