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In this lesson, students will be introduced to the objective of the unit (to write an autobiographical monologue), reflect on their thoughts and fears when it comes to the writing process, and engage with exercises that introduce the concept of using personal connection and narrative to create characters.

In this lesson, students will experiment with thinking from a comic and a serious perspective, which might offer possibilities for their original monologue.

Students will select a monologue to use in this performance unit during the class period. They will also work in groups to create an entertaining and educational performance based off of a plot summary for one of Shakespeare’s plays.

Students will explore emotional outbursts, action words, and emotion words by doing a structured activity and textual analysis.

Students will take a pre-quiz on some of Shakespeare’s plays, then find 5 things they did not already know about Shakespeare during a group discussion and presentation. This lesson includes a presentation for students to introduce Shakespeare and his time period.

Students will use insults and compliments to explore sound and imagery in Shakespeare’s texts. Students will also participate in a choral reading, then create a short scenario where they must use their voice and body to bring Shakespeare’s imagery to life to achieve a specific emotional response.

Students use their Actor’s Homework Sheet to create a personal word list to explore their character. They will also identify how they will use voice and body to bring their character to life. Finally, students review character objective and tactics in order to create an objective statement with three active tactics they will use with their monologue.

Students will dissect, analyze, and color code punctuation examples. Students will use physical movement that is tied to specific punctuation to help them explore how it can communicate meaning in the text. Students will then apply this and analyze their monologue by examining the punctuation.

Students will demonstrate their understanding of textual analysis, painting with words and imagery, creating a character, and preparing a monologue by performing a Shakespearean monologue and reflecting on their experience.

Students explore and play with Laban’s Efforts, then select efforts to use in their monologue.

Students will review how to use stage pictures that communicate character, story, and emotion to help them create appropriate blocking for their performance. Students will create an appropriate focus for their character to look at while performing their monologue.

Students will identify and notate existing blocking for their scenes. They will also walk through each section beat by beat and notate further blocking.

To apply memorization techniques as part of the goal of a staged scene with specific, dynamic blocking and three-dimensional characters. This lesson will focus on practicing a variety of memorization techniques.

In this lesson, students will explore their character’s physicality. These exercises don’t require any assigned blocking, and students only have to memorize one line.

In this lesson, students will analyze characters, identify their perspectives, and demonstrate perspective taking by understanding their points of view.

The best way to introduce a concept is through activities. Students will participate in activities that ask them to make choices and observe the choices of others. They will be introduced to the definition of perspective taking and apply that definition through discussion and a theatrical moment group work activity.

In this lesson, students explore a variety of ways to create dynamic staging pictures when blocking a scene. They will discuss the results and reflect on whether or not what they’ve learned should be added to their blocking.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to a Black writer who explores racism through the absurdist form: Adrienne Kennedy.

Students will apply the color wheel to an understanding of theme and mood in scenic design.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to Sheila Callaghan and Caryl Churchill, who bring their own lens to the absurd. Students will then write their own scenes using the same meme that inspired Sheila Callaghan to write her play Women Laughing Alone with Salad.