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In Part Two of this unit, students will research the influence of a musical theatre topic in the past and present. Students will apply their knowledge by creating, designing, and presenting a musical theatre museum exhibit.

Students will showcase what they have learned about their musical theatre topic in a museum exhibit. Students will also learn about additional musical theatre topics by viewing other exhibits and answering questions found in the Museum Exhibit Questionnaire Book.

In this introduction lesson, students will begin with terminology, discussion about their own knowledge and views, and try out the role of the critic in a low-stakes exercise. Is it possible to give an informed opinion about a crumpled up piece of paper?

Students will continue to evaluate the role of the critic and the purpose of criticism. In this case study lesson, students will examine a single critic from a specific era. In 1918, at 24 years old, Dorothy Parker became the drama critic for Vanity Fair. This was a time period when there were upwards of 80 Broadway theatres and over a hundred shows opened each year. It was also a post-war era where audiences were looking for release, and the wit and tone of Dorothy Parker’s reviews were exactly what people were looking for. It also got her fired.

Students will continue to evaluate the role of the critic and the purpose of criticism. In this case study lesson, students will examine the power of the New York Times drama critic in the mid to late 20th century. While there were many outlets reviewing shows, there was an ongoing mythology that a review from the New York Times had the power to keep a show running or close it. Students will discuss and infer if this is true. They will also reflect on the role of the critic who has such power.

We have now made it to the 21st century. The 21st century is a time of great change for criticism and the role of the theatre critic. There is the tumultuous world of social media criticism with both pros and cons. People consistently choose online options over print. The audience has become the critic. What does that mean for the professional critic? Do we need professional informed opinions of art in the 21st century? Are audience reviews as valuable as critic reviews? Students are given a variety of culminating assignment options in order to apply what they have learned throughout the unit.

This lesson introduces the idea of “Objective/Goal, Obstacle, and Action/Tactic” as a powerful building block for actors and to introduce the concept of working with verbs as tactics.

This lesson introduces the idea of “Objective/Goal, Obstacle, and Action/Tactic” to simple scenes by scoring those scenes and playing the scored text.

This lesson incorporates physicality into stage relationships and learn to use stage position as an element of blocking that can show the dynamics of and changes in power in a scene.

This lesson combines the work done in Lesson 2 (scoring scenes by beats) with the physical work done in Lesson 3 (creating dynamically staged scenes by connecting choices in blocking/staging to the underlying structural elements in a scene).

This lesson includes a series of improv games to focus students on “the other” rather than “the self,” on listening, on sharing their energy with scene partners, and on collaboration in acting.

Students will work in pairs to create and perform two-minute scenes focused on clear objectives, clear obstacles, multiple tactics – and they will learn to give focused feedback.

In this second lesson, students continue to practice classroom norms and interact with a second element of the Weekly Ensemble Rubric: SAY YES. Students will role-play a column of the SAY YES category of the Weekly Ensemble Rubric in small groups via a performance task.

In this third lesson, students continue to practice classroom norms and interact with a third element of the Weekly Ensemble Rubric: BE SAFE. Students will role-play a column of the BE SAFE Rubric in small groups via a performance task.

In this fifth lesson, students continue to practice classroom norms and continue to practice giving strong feedback. In the performance task, students will practice giving strong feedback by giving a specific suggestion for improvement.

In this sixth lesson, students continue to practice classroom norms and continue to practice giving strong feedback. In the performance task, students will give peers strong feedback through using body language and vocal tone to encourage and show eagerness for peers to improve.

3 Posters designed for the drama classroom, to support the Ensemble Building and Class Norms objectives.

In this lesson we’ll look at how verbal and nonverbal clues communicate relationship to an audience. Students will improvise a short scene in pairs that shows a clear relationship between two characters using clue words and body language/expressions.

In this lesson, we’ll look at how we use physical clues to help the audience infer a specific setting for a scene. Students will improvise a short, silent, pantomimed scene in small groups that shows a clear setting – using gestures and movements only.

In this lesson, we’ll look at multiple perspectives that can lead to a conflict. In pairs, students will improvise a short scene in which each character has an objective that conflicts with the other character’s objective.