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Students will read an article about the history of blackface in American Theatre and use critical thinking skills to annotate the article. Students will then produce a written reflection on why the use of blackface was and continues to be a problematic issue in American Theatre.

The objective of the lesson is for students to create and perform their own radio play using a children’s story as the source material. Radio plays are fantastic for students to practice and develop many performance skills like projection, diction, using emotion, and using their voices. They give students the opportunity to creatively work with playwriting, selecting appropriate music, and creating sound effects.

Students identify the stage directions and actor needs to know onstage and the necessary shorthand notation for each. They then apply their knowledge in an exercise and exit slip.

Students are introduced to the techniques of hand position, tension, follow through, action/reaction/interaction.

In this first improvisation lesson, students will work with the definitions of the key vocabulary terms by adding their own offers to improvised exercises and accepting and building on peer offers. Students will also give written and verbal peer feedback on the first row (ACCEPTING AND BUILDING ON OFFERS) row of the Improvisation Rubric, using language such as “improvisation” and “offers.”

After a warm up, student learn about onstage action. They will reflect on the question of how having something “to do” onstage can help overcome stage fright.

Birds flying in the sky appear as if they’re in perfect formation and synchronization. They’re aware of each other and the space around them at all times. Through this exercise, students will explore different types of movement and how it can express certain feelings and concepts. They’ll also build trust and ensemble by working together to create choral movement connected to vocal pieces.

Students will demonstrate their ability to use their whole body to create a character by participating in a “character walk.” Students explore how movement can be used to create a character. They will see what different body parts are used to convey character, how circumstances change how we move and how characters move differently from one another.

Learning to deal with rejection and turn rejection into a positive motivator is a lifelong skill. In this multi-class lesson, students will reflect on and discuss their views on rejection, theatricalize that view through movement, research someone who has found success only after rejection and failure, and theatricalize that information.

In this lesson, students will take a task that has steps to it (the model for this activity demonstrates the process of making handmade candy) and turn it into a physical-movement piece. How can you theatricalize an ordinary task?

This Lesson Plan introduces one of the important tools of an actor: the body. Student actors often have difficulty getting out of their own body, especially if they suffer from any kind of stage fright. How do we move on stage? What happens when we’re afraid to move? How can we get beyond nerves to become comfortable with our bodies? What do we “do” on stage?

Use this lesson plan as an introduction to onstage physical action. Students will demonstrate comprehension of nonverbal communication by identifying, discussing and demonstrating different aspects of body language. They will brainstorm examples of nonverbal communication. They will practice these gestures in exercises. They will come up with body language for different characters and relationships between characters. Their final task will be to put what they've learned into a short scene and then write a reflection.

This handout is designed as an accompaniment to The Ancient Greeks lesson plan. The two-page handout includes visuals and a description of who the ancient greeks were, including democracy/slavery, the role of women, war/culture, competition, and the Gods.

The objective of the lesson is for students to learn what iambic pentameter is and to have the opportunity to create their own monologues using iambic pentameter. This lesson is a useful complement towards studying classical works by playwrights such as William Shakespeare.

Many students dream about becoming a professional actor. The headshot is one of the most important calling cards of the professional actor. A bad headshot can get an actor rejected before they step through the door. Students will complete exercises that respond to the question What makes a good Headshot?

Many students dream about becoming a professional actor. But what are the steps? How do you start? It’s not as simple as saying “I want to be an actor.” Students will move beyond this vague statement to research and present specific aspects of starting an acting career.

In this ELP, students participate in an online masterclass with insight into a specific arts profession, and complete a viewing quiz.

This lesson plan takes students through a variety of directing styles, asks them to assess each method, and then asks them to reflect on what’s most important when choosing a directing method. This is a great lesson to use for a directing class, or an advanced class that will be putting together their own scenes.

What should go on and what should stay off of an acting resume? What is an auditioner looking for? Students will discuss the purpose of an acting resume, review a model, create their own and reflect on the process.

Students will perform and be evaluated on the contentless scene that they have prepared during the unit.