Mistakes

Do your students ever struggle with exploring new concepts and putting themselves out there in drama class? Do they try to sit out of exercises, saying things like “I suck at this” or “I can’t do this, I feel stupid”? You’ll also notice that some students will give one attempt and feel that that’s enough — “I’ve done it once, I’ve got this, let’s move on,” despite them clearly not having given a decent effort. Or you might have students who make an attempt at a new idea or concept, stress out because they can’t do it perfectly the first time, and give up. Either way, it’s frustrating for you and for your students. Drama class is supposed to be a safe place to learn and explore, yet many students go into class expecting the worst. They worry about looking silly in front of their peers, they stress about getting good grades, or they’re so busy trying to fit in and be cool that it’s easier to just not try. Let’s try reframing the drama classroom experience. Drama class is the perfect place to embrace “beginner mindset.” Beginner mindset is looking at things with fresh eyes and an open mind. Beginner mindset is knowing mistakes are going to happen and even looking forward to them because mistakes are amazing learning opportunities. Beginner mindset is leaving expectations, preconceived notions, and ego at the door and entering the room ready to just try and see what happens. And it’s actually way less pressure — the whole point of beginner mindset is that it’s OK to not know something! How can we put that in ways that our students can understand? Here are some examples to share with your class. 1.The magical “yet.” “Yet” is a great word for your students who get stuck in absolutes. “I can’t do this.” “I don’t understand this.” Add that little word YET to the end of those sentences. “I can’t do this… yet.” “I don’t understand this… yet.” Adding yet to their phrasing helps to take some of the pressure off. They might not be able to do a certain task or understand a new concept right this second, but that doesn’t mean they never will. 2. Drama class is a place to learn, not just a testing ground of what you already know. This one is for your students who are laser focused on getting that A, getting that 4+ on their evaluation, or showing off what they know. They can recite facts or memorize a monologue, but are they willing to explore, go deeper, take a risk? These students can benefit from focusing on process over product. Exercises, rubrics, and reflections that focus on participation, exploration, and in-class work can be helpful with this. A class exercise that you can try is having pairs or small groups work on rehearsing a scene, but letting them know that there won’t be a final performance. How do students use this time and space? Discuss or have students reflect on what they learned while rehearsing, even without performing the scenes for an audience. See the giveaway below for a printable version of this exercise. 3. Embrace failure and try again. Oh, the dreaded f-word. No, not that one — failure. Nobody wants to fail, or feel like a failure. However, consider this quote attributed to Thomas Edison: “I have not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” While he wasn’t an actor, he’s got a great attitude when it comes to trying again. So the lighting design didn’t quite work. This choreography didn’t quite tell the story. This costume looked funny onstage. This rehearsal exercise fell flat. What did you learn? What will you do differently next time? Theatre is a practice — you’re always going to find new and different ways of approaching a character, running a rehearsal, using new technology, and so on. There is no such thing as perfection, and nobody ever gets everything right the first time they try it. Try sharing with your students an example of a time when you failed, and what you learned from it. Sometimes knowing a teacher isn’t infallible can be reassuring for students. We’re all learning together! 4. For experienced students — remember that you were a beginner once. Some of your more experienced drama students might sometimes feel bored, frustrated, or impatient with their peers who are newer to drama class or less skilled. Ask these students: Think back on when you were a new drama student. How did you feel? What do you wish someone had shared with you back then? How can you now help to act as a leader to your peers? How can you model for or guide them? And if they’re doing a lesson or practicing a skill that they feel they’ve already mastered: How can repeating a lesson help to deepen your own practice? Even the most skilled drama students can learn so much by adopting a beginner mindset. There’s always something new to learn, skills to practice, techniques to perfect, and stories to discover. By being open to new experiences, students will be in the best mindset to grow, discover, and learn. Even when mistakes happen and failure occurs, it’s OK. Students will know what to do differently next time — or at least, one thing not to do next time. And that opens up a world of future learning possibilities! Additional Resources: How Do We Encourage Confidence in Students? How to Solve Beginning Actors’ Mistakes Using Improv to Address Fear of Failure

Welcome to Top 5! In this series we look at some of the challenges new teachers face and how to address them. Whether it is avoiding mistakes, improving planning and preparation, or advocating for your program, this information will help new Theatre teachers successfully navigate the first few years in their classroom. Top 5 Discipline Mistakes New Teachers Make (And how to fix them!)Classroom discipline is a challenge for many new Theatre teachers – and classroom management is even more challenging when teachers use classroom control strategies that don’t work! This top 5 list will help teachers identify and correct common discipline mistakes made by new teachers. MISTAKE #1: Impotent RepetitionProblem: Impotent Repetition is when a teacher endlessly asks for their students attention or repeats an empty threat without consequences or follow through. The teacher says “Stop talking” or “Get to work” over and over again without any consequences. It becomes obvious to the students that the teacher doesn’t mean what they say and ignoring their authority has no consequences. Solution: Do not make empty threats or endless requests without following through with some kind of consequence. Create an If/Then scenario and present it to the students - ie. “If you don’t stop talking then the entire class will sit in silence for 5 minutes.” - Students need to learn that your expectations will be met or there will be consequences - every time.

Beginning actors make mistakes. Mostly it’s because, well, they’re beginners! I prefer thinking of them is missteps rather than mistakes – they are things the beginning actor hasn’t considered. And it’s always a great time to change that! If you’re a beginning actor, if you teach beginning actors, review this list and take a step in the right direction. Every misstep provides at least one way to solve the problem. 1) Forgetting the audienceBeginning actors often think their acting space ends at the lip of the stage and that no one in the audience can see them when they stop talking. Beginners talk directly to other actors forgetting that the audience needs to hear them too. Beginners often turn upstage leaving their backs to the audience. They break character whenever they’re not talking. How do we solve this? Think of the audience as your acting partner and part of the scene. You want them to see, hear, and engage with you. It doesn’t hurt to remember the three-quarters rule either. If you’re standing still, three-quarters of your body should be turned toward the audience. This way you can connect with the audience even if your head is facing upstage. Focus on connecting to the audience and you’ll always face the right direction. 2) Acting with the voice and not with the bodyBeginning actors spend so much time thinking about their lines and their blocking, they neglect to incorporate the physical world into their acting prep. It’s important to remember that the first connection the audience makes with an actor is visual – what they see. And if what they see is boring, you’re off to a rocky start. How do we solve this? Use exercises that take the voice out of the equation so beginners can practice using their body to communicate character. For example: Entrances and exits. Create an entrance and exit that is singular to your character’s personality. Those watching should know what character you’re playing simply by how you move. Put as much effort into the physical nature of your character as you do learning your lines. Actors should create a pose, a walk, and a significant gesture for every role. 3) Acting too close to their own personalityWhile it’s OK to play a part that is familiar and comfortable (professional actors are often cast in roles that fit them like a glove) beginning actors sometimes can’t get out of their own groove. There’s no difference between how the actor and their character moves, walks, and sounds. The character is stuck in a box, which is hardly fun to play. How do we solve this? Character analysis. Define the similarities and differences between you and your character. Highlight the differences and choose specific moments where you play them up. It may feel odd because it’s different than how you usually act, but that’s the idea. Playing outside your comfort zone will give you a challenge and make you a better actor. 4) Neglecting diction, articulation and volumeThe technical aspects of acting are essential to connecting with an audience. How can the audience appreciate the performance if they can’t hear or understand you? Beginning actors hear themselves talking normally (as they do on a daily basis) and think that’s good enough. If it works in real life, it works on stage, right? The fact is, actors need to project to the back of the room and articulate more than they would in real life. They have to make sure they’re being heard and understood in a theatrical context. How do we solve this? There are two ways to solve this issue. The first is technical drills. Learn what it feels like to speak at the correct volume and then practice hitting that volume over and over again. Practice tongue twisters. Practice speaking with your mouth closed to force crisp articulation. Secondly, record your performance placing the camera at the back of the audience so you can hear exactly how you sound. Video does not lie. 5) Overwhelming stage frightThe first time an actor steps on stage can be terrifying. The audience is right there waiting for you to do something. Anything. So hurry up! This can easily derail the beginning actor into doing nothing at all, frozen with stage fright. How do we solve this? The more you get out in front of an audience, the less of an issue stage fright becomes. Start out performing in front of small numbers until you build your confidence. But stage fright never goes away for some actors. Even professionals get a case of the butterflies. So you may have to learn techniques to control your nerves. Breathing exercises always help – stand in the wings well before you’re supposed to go on. Breathe in slowly on a four count and out on a four count. Focus just on counting your breath in and out. Don’t think about what could happen on stage, just breathe…. and then go! Remember that you’re not alone, you’re surrounded by actors who are probably having the exact same fears. Get those fears out in the open, talk about them, don’t leave them to fester in your head. And lastly, remember that you had the courage to audition, you got the part and you’re there ready to go on. So get out there and do it! 6) Breaking character when something goes wrongActing requires focus and concentration. Lose your focus and you can lose your place in the play, lose your lines, and cause a silence hole big enough to drive a truck through. When experienced actors have these moments, they know it’s their job to get back on track. When beginning actors have these moments, the first thing that usually happens is they break out of character and say “sorry” to the audience. This is a huge acting no-no. How do we solve this? Practice line exercises that purposefully try to throw you off your lines. Rehearse your lines out of sequence. Get in the habit of finding your way back on track, while staying in character. An audience will have no idea you’ve forgotten your lines until you break character and tell them. The way to get out of a sticky line situation is to stay in character and start talking. Never stand there in silence thinking someone else will solve your problem. Take it upon yourself. The more you practice this the easier it will become if something goes awry on stage. 7) Thinking they are the invisible actorMany beginning actors feel that once they stop talking, they become invisible to the audience. They can squirm, they can talk to their neighbour, they can break character or stand looking totally bored. And the worst thing is when actors goof off backstage because they think no one is paying attention. How do we solve this? It’s a very simple rule. If you can see the audience, they can see you. If you’re backstage, if you can hear the actors, then the audience can hear you. If you’re not the focus of the scene and you break character you will stand out. You could stand out so much that you will pull the focus away from the action. That is not being a good team player. 8) Falling on excuses – “I didn’t know.”Beginning actors shouldn’t be expected to know every single aspect to the acting process. There’s a lot to learn along the way: come to rehearsal with a pencil and write down all your blocking. Wear comfortable clothes in rehearsal for ease of movement. A 4:00 rehearsal doesn’t mean you show up at 4:00, it means you’ve arrived, you’re warmed up, you have your script out and you’re ready to work at 4:00. But at some point you have to stop saying “I didn’t know” and take action. How do we solve this? Pay attention. Watch what experienced actors do and copy them. And if you don’t know, ask. Don’t have an excuse at the ready, have an action at the ready. And it’s ok to make a mistake, once. If you’re making that same mistake twice, three times, falling on excuses and you’ll get the reputation of an unreliable actor. 9) Leaning on character stereotypesSometimes the easiest way into a character is to focus on common and broad personality traits, or stereotypes. This leads to teenagers playing grandmothers as if they can barely walk, with a shaky voice and grey hair. Beginning actors also lean on stereotypes when they’re trying to get a laugh. Beginners go for the easy laugh because they don’t know any other way. Even in a wacky comedy it’s best to take the time to build a three-dimensional character. Find the laughter through action and the pursuit of a want rather than trying to trick the audience into an easy laugh. How do we solve this? Write up character profiles. If the playwright doesn’t provide enough detail, fill in the blanks. Who is your character? Where do they come from? What is the makeup of their family? What do they like/dislike? What memories do they hold dear? What are the significant moments from their life? Define and write down exactly what your character wants and how they pursue that want in every scene. Will they go to extremes? Do something out of character? Figure out what stands in the way of your character getting what they want and how they’re going to deal with this obstacle – that’s where you’ll find the funny. 10) Not taking director’s notes seriouslyIt’s a frustrating moment for a director when they’ve gone to the trouble of taking notes, sharing them with their actors, getting the actor’s assurance that they’ll take the note into consideration…. and the same problem arises the very next rehearsal. Rehearsal notes are not for the benefit of the director, they’re not going to be on stage. Rehearsal notes are to help actors make the performance the best it can be. The worst thing a beginning actor can do is disregard any note that is sent their way. How do we solve this? Get into the habit of writing down any and all notes and then review those notes right before the next rehearsal. Make the note fresh in your mind, so you never fall on the excuse “I forgot…. I didn’t know it was for me…..” You can help make the play better by improving your own on stage action. And if you disagree with a note, never ignore it just because you don’t like it. Make time with the director to discuss the note. And you better have a clear, concise reason for disregarding the note. Being able to clearly state why your character does something, or standing up for why a character wouldn’t do something will improve your skills and take your acting to the next level. Bonus Giveaway!Here are some of the highlights from this post into a downloadable and printable poster. Hang it in your classroom. Hang it up backstage. Hand it out to your student actors.