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Who’s Who

by Karen Loftus

Students begin their exploration by learning about the who’s who in theatre and are introduced to the front of house role.

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Slide Deck Lesson 1

# The Basics

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The final project for this unit is a simple two-person pantomime of up to one minute in length. The objective is for students to utilize mime, body language, and facial expression to tell a basic story: an activity that has an obstacle that they overcome or get past.

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Slide Deck Unit Project

# Acting # acting # pantomime

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Reading Act II | Keywords

by Drama Teacher Academy

In this lesson, students will read Act II in sections. Students will also go through an acting technique that can help them become confident performers of Shakespeare. Students will learn about keywords and how they can help student actors with Shakespeare.

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Slide Deck Lesson 4

# Shakespeare

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Unit Project

by Karen Loftus

This is a simple project. Your students are going to tell a joke or riddle to the class. The reason to use a joke or a riddle (rather than a poem, prose piece, monologue, or scene) is students in the audience will want to hear the answer. They will be more engaged in the simple joke or riddle than passively listening to something else. See the add-on if you wish to have students apply projection and articulation to a scene.

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Slide Deck Unit Project

# Acting

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Stage Business

by Anna Porter

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.

# Acting # acting # scene work

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Selecting Material

by Anna Porter

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.

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# Shakespeare # Shakespeare

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Pre-Knowledge

by Lindsay Price

Students will identify areas of technical theatre and explore how the use of these crafts affects storytelling.

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# Stage Management & Technical Theatre # technical theatre

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Beginning to Write

by Corinna Rezzelle

In this lesson, students begin putting the pieces together for their devised work. Students brainstorm on their topic, then participate in a movement piece and a forum theatre activity to explore their topic.

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Slide Deck Lesson 5

# Playwriting

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Crime Scene Clues

by Karen Loftus

Students apply their knowledge of context clues to find meaning in the Tomb Scene from Romeo and Juliet.

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Slide Deck Lesson 5

# Theatre History # theatre history

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Stanislavski and "The Method"

by Drama Teacher Academy

Students will be introduced to the history and background of Stanislavski, the Method of Physical Action and why he developed the method as a way of playing a character. Moving on, students will be introduced to the principles and techniques of the method. Students will also receive the scene they will work on for the entire unit.

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# Acting

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Character Walks

by Todd Espeland

In this lesson, students will see a demonstration of two character walks and practice those walks.

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# Acting # commedia

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Monologue Prep: Character Profile

by Lindsay Price

After students choose their monologues, the next step is to prepare. More often than not, students think that preparing means learning the lines and throwing in a few moves. When students do this in an audition, it shows. The character is one-dimensional and the movement looks out of place. You want to see three-dimensional characters. You want to see characters brought to life both physically and vocally. In this lesson, students are given time to practice their monologue and start working on the who, what, when, where, and why.

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Slide Deck Lesson 6

# Acting # audition # acting

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Rehearsal

by Corinna Rezzelle

In this lesson, students finalize casting, then start rehearsing. Focus the rehearsals on blocking. What is the necessary movement to communicate the content of the scene?

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Slide Deck Lesson 9

# Playwriting

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Part 2: Lesson 2: Inspiration Collage

by Drama Teacher Academy

Students will take what they’ve learned so far to create a digital Inspiration Collage as a way to help them visualize the costume they will create.

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Slide Deck: Inspiration Collage

# Stage Management & Technical Theatre

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Physicalization / Stage Movement

by Corinna Rezzelle

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.

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Slide Deck Lesson 2

# Playwriting # devising # playwriting

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The Ren Run

by Corinna Rezzelle

In this lesson, students will work in groups to create transitions in improvised tableaux and movement pieces. They will also participate in a “ren run” to practice improv blocking.

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Slide Deck Lesson 7

# Playwriting # devising # playwriting

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Characterization

by Corinna Rezzelle

Students explore what makes a character interesting through the examination of physical objects. What do objects say about us? What can you infer about a person by the objects they carry with them? Students will role-play in process drama activities to explore characters and to create their own.

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Slide Deck Lesson 1

# Playwriting

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Rehearsal / Character Development

by Corinna Rezzelle

Students continue to rehearse. In this lesson, character development exercises deepen the students’ experiences and final products.

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Slide Deck Lesson 10

# Playwriting

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Set the Stage for Medieval Theatre

by Drama Teacher Academy

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the socioeconomic background to set the stage for Medieval theatre. As a response to what they’ve learned, students will create original theatrical moments and read a modern version of one of The Canterbury Tales stories.

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