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Applying the concepts and skills they have acquired in this unit, students will analyze, design, then build a single, comprehensive miniature set inside of a shoebox (based on a song of their choosing).

In this lesson, students will move beyond the traditional origins of Theatre of the Absurd through two different playwrights: Vaclav Havel (Audience) and Issam Abdel-Masih Mahfouz (The Dictator), both of whom write about environments where power has created a distorted reality. Students will be introduced to these playwrights and then write their own version of a distorted reality.

In this lesson, students will practice identifying the perspective of others. They will think about all the elements that go into someone’s perspective (e.g., background, experience, traditions, preferences, circumstances).

For this project, students will create a scene in groups in which everyone is given a specific perspective. Each student must present a character from their provided perspective.

In this lesson, students will define the different eras of the beginning to the middle of the 20th century and apply their knowledge in exercises.

Students explore the design concepts of line and shape and how they can be used by a designer to affect an audience.

Students will use textual analysis to explore how to uncover the clues that Shakespeare left in his text. They will apply this knowledge to a monologue.

Students interact with Shakespeare’s language out of context to create expressive tableaux that tell a simple unrelated story.

In this rehearsal, students will share their scenes with another group with the specific focus of examining it for actor-driven movement rather than character-driven movement: shuffling their weight back and forth between their feet, playing with their hair, vaguely gesturing with their hands, etc.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the traditionally studied playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd era.

Students will perform a modern scene the same way that Shakespearean actors performed text. They will also compare and contrast the experience to preparing a scene for class.

This unit now moves into the second phase of the rehearsal process: staging. Students will start by taking their script analysis work with beats and action words and apply it to their scenes through exploratory movement.

Students will do a close reading of the text, multiple times, to mine for as much information as possible. At the end of each read, students identify possible staging idea for their character and for the plot.

This lesson is a straight up rehearsal period. Students will have 30 minutes to rehearse and decide on a section they’re going to show the class. They will perform their section without scripts.

Students will revisit character physicality choices and solidify that they are a part of their staging. Additionally, there is an exercise to further explore character physicality.

Students perform their scenes and complete a Post-Performance Reflection.

This is it! The final rehearsal before students perform. Students focus on getting those last few lines word perfect, reflect on where they are, and do final run-throughs.

In their rehearsal today, students will review their blocking choices with a specific objective of making every action in the scene purposeful and theatrical through character wants, audience connection, and vocal clarity.

Students explore how body language can show a story (i.e. how someone is feeling, character traits, relationships between characters, etc.). The lesson culminates in students using a physical elliptical scene (a scene with just stage directions) and adding movements, gestures, and body language.

Students work together to create and explore an obstacle-course setting and soundscape for one of Shakespeare’s plays.