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Students are introduced to staging through video demonstration and discuss the role of staging in a performance. How does staging help to visualize a location? The lesson concludes with a Greek Myth Staging Activity.

Students complete a Staging Vocabulary Activity. They are then given a setting description and have to draw a set based on the description. The point of the activity is not to excel in drawing but learning how to plan and translate a description into a physical setting.

Students discuss scene changes and transitions. How can a poorly rehearsed transition hinder a technically effective performance? They then apply this discussion to a Scene Assignment. Groups create a scene and must demonstrate a scene change within the scene.

Students review what makes a scene technically effective. They are given time to rehearse and then present their scenes. The emphasis is on the groups demonstrating a knowledge of staging effectiveness.

Students discuss the scenes from the previous class and reflect as a group on the process. They then address how lighting, sound, costume and staging interact together to create a technically effective scene.

Students are introduced to makeup through video demonstration and discuss the impact of makeup in a performance. What is the role of makeup in an effective production? Resources are introduced along with the Makeup Code of Conduct. The lesson concludes with students conducting research on pictures for possible makeup designs.

This is a completely optional day as it requires a material (liquid latex) that you wouldn’t normally have on hand. It gives you an opportunity to show students another facet of stage makeup, opening the door for ideas and projects that students can do within this mini unit. It also creates a great “buy- in” for students who have been reticent to the process thus far.

Students work on their makeup design plot. They have this class period to complete their design on paper.

Students use this class to learn and practice any makeup skills they will require to complete their makeup design.

Students take everything they have learned, and complete their makeup designs on themselves.

Students discuss and reflect on the process. What went well? What didn’t go so well?

Use this lesson at the beginning of a playwriting unit, or a devising unit. Students practice the act of choosing a form for a scene and a prompt as a starting point. Drive home for students the importance of execution - instead of students ruminating on the perfect idea, they choose a form, choose a prompt and execute. The goal of the lesson is to show students that there are many different ways to form a theatrical piece and that execution is more useful to moving a piece forward than being stuck on the idea.

In this ELP, students participate in an online masterclass with insight into a specific arts profession, and complete a viewing quiz.

It takes practice for students to get used to the idea of working together, crafting ideas together, and learning how to negotiate. In a collaboration everyone comes to the table equally, and that means there is a process of give and take. Use this exercise to have your students practice negotiating instead of following one or two leaders.

Use this as part of a playwriting unit or a devising unit. The goal of the lesson is to show students different ways to explore a theme through writing. Not every scene has to be linear, and not every scene has to follow a traditional format. Students will read existing scenes that apply a specific form for a scene. They will analyze those scenes and then apply their knowledge by writing their own scene.

Have students create a situation from a picture and examine the given clues to help fill in the gaps. Next, have students examine the clues in a contentless scene, then fill in the gaps to create their own scenario to perform.

Students will use “Show and Tell” to create a detailed background for their contentless scene character and improvise a personal interview with that character.

Students will participate in a demonstration to explore the rules of staging and performance and why they are important. They will perform a Bad Idea/Good Idea skit for the class, to demonstrate their understanding of the concept.

Students will play a drama game and participate in an exercise to explore how conflict affects their active tactics. Students apply conflict to a scene for performance.

Students will participate in an observation activity and play “What Are You Doing?” to explore how stage business affects performance. In this lesson, you will coach students through a scene with stage business, then they will apply stage business to their own performances.