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Students discuss the presentations from the previous class and reflect as a group on the process. They address the role of costumes and costume effectiveness in a scene.

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 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.

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.

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.

Students will read an article about how costume items affect their character and their physical movements onstage. Then will then apply their knowledge by preparing a brief monologue (20-30 seconds in length) and practicing it three times, each time using a different costume item. Students will then perform their monologue using one of the items they worked with. Students will become aware of the challenges that costumes can cause while performing onstage. Afterwards, students will complete a Reflection.

Props add so much to a production, but they can also be challenging to work with. From dealing with a huge list of props, to having trouble using props during rehearsal, to problems with broken, missing, or consumable props, students need to work together to problem solve when a props issue occurs. This is great practice for students working on productions, because props problems will inevitably crop up.

This lesson introduces the first tool: status. Students will physically perform high and low status through status walks.

In this lesson students further explore status and using status to communicate physically through a variety of games. Students are also introduced to the game “Do It Get It Done” which will be re-visited throughout the unit.

This lesson introduces the second tool: appetite. An appetite is a primal need that drives a character in a scene.

be important later on when it comes to applying the Commedia Dell’arte style to characters and lazzi. This lesson introduces the third tool: swing. Swing is the idea that a comedic character can move between two emotions, or two needs,immediately.

This lesson introduces the fourth tool: intention/invention. Intention is what a character wants (it can also be called their need). Invention is the thing they need to invent to get their need.

The mid-unit assignment requires students to prepare, rehearse, and memorize a scene using the tools learned in Part One of the unit.