PD Course
Maximizing Your Ensemble: Shoestring 101
Created by Michael Calderone
This seven-part series is designed to transform that gaggle of actors cluttering your backstage from cumbersome extras into nothing less than the very center of your production.
Instructor Michael Calderone leads this course, through games and exercises geared to maximize your ensemble for your next production. These lessons are based on the ensemble technique that he's been using for the last 30 years, called the shoestring method.
The ensemble has a responsibility to work as one, and no role is more important than another. Without each actor playing their part, the other actors cannot tell the story to the best of their abilities. So join Michael in learning more about this exciting, practical and dramatic method.
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1Lesson 1Introduction24:03 FREE PREVIEWLesson 1 introduces the course and the three As: actor, audience, and area.
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2Lesson 2Scenic Elements20:52 FREE PREVIEWThis lesson explores ways in which your ensemble can literally become part of the scenery rather than merely cluttering the background; using them as literal representations of physical scenery.
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3Lesson 3Crowd Scenes16:25This lesson focused on crowd scenes and environments, and discusses a wide range of applications in a variety of productions.
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4Lesson 4AEnvironments29:05Lesson 4A contains two exercises that focus on balancing the space – lateral space, meaning middle space only, and a three-dimensional space of air, floor, middle and lateral spaces.
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4Lesson 4BLiving Scenery17:19Lesson 4B focuses on turning your ensemble into a living backdrop.
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5Lesson 5Abstraction17:45Lesson 05 completes the acronym LACE with the letter A by backtracking and creating visual abstractions.
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6Lesson 6Percussion25:49This lesson covers the importance, responsibilities, and possibilities of a percussionist on stage.
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7Lesson 7Bonus Games22:25This final lesson includes bonus games and exercises to strengthen your ever-growing ensemble.
Standards Addressed
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - Grade 6
Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation - Grade 6
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - Grade 7
Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation - Grade 7
Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work - Grade 8
Organize and develop artistic ideas and work - Grade 6
Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation - Grade 6
Organize and develop artistic ideas and work - Grade 7
Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation - Grade 7
Organize and develop artistic ideas and work - Grade HS Accomplished
Organize and develop artistic ideas and work - Grade HS Advanced
Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation - Grade HS Advanced
Refine new work through play, drama processes and theatre experiences using critical analysis and experimentation - Grade HS Proficient
6.TH:Cr1 Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work
6.TH:Pr4 Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
7.TH:Cr1 Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work
7.TH:Pr4 Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
8.TH:Cr1 Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work
6.TH:Cr2 Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
6.TH:Pr5 Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
7.TH:Cr2 Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
7.TH:Pr5 Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
Acc.TH:Cr2 Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Adv.TH:Cr2 Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.
Adv.TH:Pr5 Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
Prof.TH:Cr3 Refine and complete artistic work.
Sixth Grade
- DT.6.1.1.a Students Can: Identify possible solutions to staging challenges in a drama/theatre work.
- DT.6.1.2.b Students Can: Contribute ideas and accept and incorporate the ideas of others in preparing or devising a drama/theatre work.
- DT.6.2.1.b Students Can: Experiment with various physical and vocal choices to communicate character in a drama/theatre work.
- DT.6.2.2.a Students Can: Participate in a variety of acting exercises and techniques that can be applied in a rehearsal or drama/theatre performance.
Seventh Grade
- DT.7.1.1.a Students Can: Integrate multiple perspectives and solutions to staging challenges in a drama/theater work.
- DT.7.1.2.b Students Can: Demonstrate mutual respect for self and others and their roles in preparing or devising drama/theatre work.
- DT.7.2.1.a Students Can: Experiment various staging choices to enhance the story in a drama/theatre work.
- DT.7.2.2.a Students Can: Recognize how acting exercises and techniques can be applied to a drama/theatre work.
High School - Fundamental Pathway
High School - Advanced Pathway
High School - Professional Pathway
- DT.H3.1.2.b Students Can: Collaborate as a creative team to discover artistic solutions and make interpretive choices in a devised or scripted drama/theatre work.
- DT.H3.1.3.a Students Can: Collaborate on a drama/theatre work that examines a critical global issue using multiple personal, community, and cultural perspectives.
- DT.H3.2.1.b Students Can: Formulate an approach to artistic choices in a drama/theatre work based on a variety of researched techniques.
- DT.H3.2.2.a Students Can: Perform and justify a collection of acting exercises from reliable resources to prepare a believable and sustainable performance.
Speaking and Listening
Reading: Literature
Critical Thinking & Reflection
- TH.912.C.1.2 Create, refine, and sustain complex and believable characters for performance through the integration and application of artistic choices based on research, rehearsal, feedback, and refinement.
- TH.912.C.1.5 Make and defend conscious choices in the creation of a character that will fulfill anticipated audience response.
- TH.912.C.2.2 Construct imaginative, complex scripts and revise them in collaboration with actors to convey story and meaning to an audience.
- TH.912.C.2.8 Improve a performance or project using various self-assessment tools, coaching, feedback, and/or constructive criticism.
Historical & Global Connections
Organizational Structure
- TH.68.O.1.1 Compare different processes an actor uses to prepare for a performance.
- TH.68.O.3.3 Discuss the collaborative nature of theatre and work together to create a scene or play, respecting group members' ideas and differences.
- TH.912.O.2.7 Brainstorm a variety of ways to deviate from western rules and conventions in theatre to influence audience and performer experiences.
- TH.912.O.2.8 Create a scene or improvisation to manipulate and challenge the conventions of the performer/audience relationship.
- TH.912.O.3.1 Analyze the methods of communication among directors, designers, stage managers, technicians, and actors that establish the most effective support of the creative process.
Skills, Techniques & Processes
- TH.68.S.2.1 Discuss the value of collaboration in theatre and work together to create a theatrical production.
- TH.68.S.3.2 Use the elements of dramatic form to stage a play.
- TH.912.S.1.6 Respond appropriately to directorial choices for improvised and scripted scenes.
- TH.912.S.1.7 Interpret dramatic texts, organize and conduct rehearsals, and justify directorial choices for formal and informal productions.
- TH.912.S.2.6 Transfer acting and technical skills and techniques from one piece of dramatic text to another.
- TH.912.S.2.8 Strengthen acting skills by engaging in theatre games and improvisations.
- TH.912.S.3.2 Exercise artistic discipline and collaboration to achieve ensemble in rehearsal and performance.
- TH.912.S.3.3 Develop acting skills and techniques in the rehearsal process.
- TH.912.S.3.5 Conduct a comparative analysis of acting methods and the teacher-artists who developed them as a foundational guide to acting.
Grade 7 - Creating
- TA7.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.<br/>a. Identify and rehearse effective communication skills.<br/>b. Compare and contrast character types and relationships by analyzing character motivations, objectives, and goals.<br/>c. Compare the physical, emotional, vocal, and social dimensions of a character.<br/>d. Investigate the role and responsibility of the cast and crew.<br/>e. Identify and model ensemble skills in the rehearsal process.<br/>f. Utilize staging and blocking choices to enhance the performance.<br/>g. Compare, contrast, and design elements of technical theatre.<br/>h. Utilize theatre vocabulary throughout the rehearsal process.
- TA7.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.<br/>a. Create ideas for stories.<br/>b. Analyze the theme and structure of a play.<br/>c. Use the dramatic writing process to generate a script.<br/>d. Utilize dramatic conventions in the scriptwriting process (e.g. stage directions, dialogue, scenes).
Grades 9-12 - ADVANCED DRAMA LEVELS I-IV -Performing
- TAHSAD.PR.1 Act and direct by communicating and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments.<br/>a. Examine and implement the skills and tasks associated with acting, incorporating voice, body, observation, and imagination to create characters for formal and informal performances.<br/>b. Implement the duties of the stage manager, including communication and safety procedures, that will assist the director in all areas of production.<br/>c. Develop a schedule and organizational plan to prepare a scene for performance, including a rehearsal schedule and a prompt script.<br/>d. Conduct rehearsals and present a full theatrical presentation to a live audience.
- TAHSAD.PR.2 Execute artistic and technical elements of theatre.<br/>a. Engage as a creative team in script analysis to plan and create technical elements of a theatre production.
Grades 9-12 - FUNDAMENTALS OF THEATRE LEVELS I-IV - Creating
Seventh Grade Present
Eighth Grade Create
Beginning High School Create
Beginning High School Present
Intermediate High School Create
Intermediate High School Present
Accomplished High School Present
Beginning High School Standards - Communication
- B.C.1.1 Use non-verbal expression to illustrate how human emotion affects the body and is conveyed through the body.
- B.C.1.2 Apply vocal elements of volume, pitch, rate, tone, articulation, and vocal expression.
- B.C.2.1 Use improvisation and acting skills, such as observation, concentration, and characterization in a variety of theatre exercises.
Beginning High School Standards - Culture
Intermediate High School Standards - Communication
- I.C.1.1 Use non-verbal expression to illustrate how human motivations are prompted by physical and emotional needs.
- I.C.1.2 Apply vocal elements of volume, pitch, rate, tone, articulation, and vocal expression appropriately to theatrical texts, such as monologues and scenes.
- I.C.2.1 Use improvisation and acting skills, such as observation, concentration, and characterization, to demonstrate given situations.
Proficient High School Standards - Communication
MS 117.211 LI - Foundations: Inquiry and Understanding
MS 117.211 LI - Creative Expression: performance
MS 117.211 LI - Creative Expression: production
MS 117.212 LII - Foundations: Inquiry and Understanding
MS 117.212 LII - Creative Expression: performance
MS 117.213 LIII - Foundations: Inquiry and Understanding
MS 117.213 LIII - Creative Expression: performance
HS 117.315 LI - Foundations: Inquiry and Understanding
HS 117.315 LI - Creative Expression: performance
HS 117.316 LII - Foundations: Inquiry and Understanding
HS 117.316 LII - Creative Expression: performance
HS 117.316 LII - Creative Expression: production
HS 117.317 LIII - Foundations: Inquiry and Understanding
HS 117.317 LIII - Creative Expression: performance
HS 117.317 LIII - Creative Expression: production
- C.3.D perform a role such as actor, director, designer, technician, or editor in production decision making and collaborate with others to tell a story through live theatre or media performance.
- C.3.E perform the role of actor, director, or technician, demonstrating responsibility, artistic discipline, and creative problem solving.
HS 117.318 LIV - Creative Expression: performance
Speech Drama 10
Speech Drama 30
Improvisation Drama 10
Acting Drama 30
Movement Drama 10
- 1 display the ability to be still
- 13 use levels (high, medium, and low)
- 14 create physically shapes in space
- 15 use basic locomotor movements (eg. walking, running, crawling) to explore space
- 16 create and repeat patterns of movement
- 17 demonstrate freezing of movement in space
- 18 appreciate that physical expression can enhance language
- 22 translate words, images and emotions into movement
- 3 recognize the necessity for physical warmups
- 4 perform a physical warmup
Junior Goal II Objectives
Junior Orientation
- communicate through use of voice and body
- demonstrate a willingness to take calculated and reasonable risks
- demonstrate trust by becoming comfortable, physically and emotionally, with others
- focus concentration on one task at a time
- generate imaginative and creative solutions to problems
- listen effectively
- meet deadlines and follow through on individual and group commitments
- move in a variety of ways
- offer and accept constructive criticism, given specific guidelines, with a desire to improve
- recognize the purposes of and participate in warmup activities
- share ideas confidently with others
- speak, move, and generate ideas spontaneously
- support positively the work of others
- work cooperatively and productively with all members of the class in pairs, small groups and large groups
Movement Level I - Beginning
- 10 use varying speed of movement
- 11 use directions and pathways
- 12 use levels
- 13 control focus and energy in movement and gesture
- 14 create shapes with the body
- 16 demonstrate freezing of movement
- 17 use movement to communicate non-verbally
- 19 translate sounds, words, images, and emotions into movement
- 2 demonstrate awareness of personal and shared space
- 3 use physical relaxation techniques effectively
- 4 recognize the need for and demonstrate warmup activities
- 8 display increased freedom of movement
- 9 travel through space in a variety of ways e.g., running, creeping and jumping
Movement Level II - Intermediate
Speech Level I - Beginning
Speech Level II - Intermediate
Speech Level III - Advanced
Improvisation/Acting Level I - Beginning
- 1 use warm-up techniques for preparation of body, voice and mind
- 2 respond to directions without breaking concentration-side coaching
- 3 demonstrate the ability to be still
- 4 create experiences through imaging, visualizing and fantasizing
- 7 use stage vocabulary: stage areas, body positions and crosses
- 8 demonstrate appropriate rehearsal behaviours and routines
Improvisation/Acting Level II - Intermediate
Junior Goal I Objectives
- develop self-discipline
- develop the ability to initiate, organize and present a project within a given set of guidelines
- develop the ability to interact effectively and constructively in a group process
- develop the willingness to make a decision, act upon it and accept the results
- explore and develop physical and vocal capabilities
- extend the ability to explore meaning through abstract concepts
- extend the ability to explore, control and express emotions
- extend the ability to think imaginatively and creatively
- strengthen powers of concentration
Senior Goal I Objectives
- apply imaginative and creative thought to problem-solving situations
- demonstrate a sense of inquiry and commitment, individually and to the group
- demonstrate a sense of responsibility and commitment, individually and to the group
- demonstrate the ability to considered decisions, act upon them and accept the results
- demonstrate the ability to contribute effectively and constructively to the group process
- demonstrate the ability to initiate, organize and present a project within a given set of guidelines
- develop a sense of inquiry and commitment to learning
- extend the ability to concentrate
- extend the ability to control and express emotions
- sharpen observations of people, situations and the environment
Senior Goal II Objectives
GRADE 6 - ARTS - Exploring and creating
GRADE 7 - ARTS - Exploring and creating
GRADE 8 - ARTS - Exploring and creating
GRADE 9 - DRAMA - Exploring and creating
GRADE 9 - DRAMA - Reasoning and reflecting
GRADE 9 - DRAMA - Communicating and documenting
GRADE 9 - DRAMA - Connecting and expanding
GRADE 10 - DRAMA - Explore and Create
GRADE 10 - DRAMA - Reason and reflect
GRADE 10 - DRAMA - Communicate and document
GRADE 10 - DRAMA - Connect and expand
GRADE 11 - DRAMA - Explore and Create
GRADE 11 - DRAMA - Reason and reflect
GRADE 11 - DRAMA - Communicate and document
GRADE 11 - DRAMA - Connect and expand
GRADE 12 - DRAMA - Explore and Create
- Create, rehearse, and refine dramatic works through collaborative and individual presentation or performance
- Develop and refine performance skills in a variety of contexts
- Explore and create dramatic works to express ideas, meaning, and emotions
- Intentionally select and combine dramatic elements and conventions
GRADE 12 - DRAMA - Reason and reflect
GRADE 12 - DRAMA - Communicate and document
GRADE 12 - DRAMA - Connect and expand
Grade 7 - Creating and Presenting
Grade 8 - Creating and Presenting
- B1.1 engage actively in drama exploration and role play, with a focus on examining multiple perspectives and possible outcomes related to complex issues, themes, and relationships from a wide variety of sources and diverse communities
- B1.2 demonstrate an understanding of the elements of drama by selecting and manipulating multiple elements and conventions to create and enhance a variety of drama works and shared drama experiences
Grades 9 & 10 - Foundations - Concepts and Terminology
Grades 9 & 10 - Creating and Presenting - Presentation Techniques & Technologies
Grades 9 & 10 - Creating and Presenting - Elements and Conventions
Grade 11 - Reflecting, Responding and Analyzing - The Critical Analysis Process
Grade 11 - Creating and Presenting - Elements and Conventions
Grade 12 - Foundations - Responsible Practices
Grade 12 - Creating and Presenting - Presentation Techniques & Technologies
Grade 12 - Creating and Presenting - The Creative Process
Grade Six
Grade Seven
Grade Seven
- 7.12 The student will develop physical and vocal technique for theatre performance.
- 7.13 The student will explain techniques and skills for actor preparation, including concentration, discipline, preparation, and imagination for theatrical performance.
- 7.15 The student will identify functions, skills, and responsibilities of the creative team and production staff.
Grade Eight
Theatre Arts I: Introduction to Theatre
Theatre Arts II: Dramatic Literature And Theatre History
Theatre Arts III: Intermediate Acting & Playwriting
Theatre Arts III: Intermediate Acting & Playwriting
Theatre Arts IV: Advanced Acting And Directing
- TIV.12 The student will refine acting skills involving voice and movement to depict multidimensional characters.
- TIV.13 The student will refine personal acting technique.
- TIV.15 The student will demonstrate artistic leadership to develop an effective collaborative working relationship among cast and crew.
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