Technique

There are a number of different acting techniques: Method, Stanislavski, Viewpoints, Meisner, Viola Spolin. Use this lesson plan as an introduction to a specific technique. Instead of learning by lecture, have students learn by doing. The Relaxation Exercise encourages students to focus on relaxing the body part by part. The Animal Exercise encourages students to observe an animal, take on the characteristics of an animal and reflect on how animal exploration would be helpful in character development.

Students will understand the importance of actively listening and using active listening to inform their character choices in performance. They will participate in listening exercises and apply active listening to their scene work.

Students use narration, dialogue and mime in this skit sequence where a character teaches the audience to be like them. Each skit has three scenes, two narration/acted out instruction scenes and one dream sequence. The teacher models this activity narrating different scenes of what it takes to "be" like him/her. They include students in the scenes, prompting them to act out his/her narration. The teacher emphasizes how the first two scenes include narration, and then dialogue when students "act out" the activity. The third scene, the dream sequences involves narration as the main character tells their dream, and mime as students act out the mime. Once students have participated in the teacher's model, they are divided into groups and put together a "Being Blank" scene sequences for themselves.

Students will practice the techniques of choral speaking with a variety of pieces and applying specific vocal tools (volume, pitch, rhythm, emphasis) culminating in a assessed presentation.

This lesson assumes that students have been introduced to the Choral Speaking Technique and have previously practiced it. Use this Lesson as a Part Two to the Choral Speaking Lesson Plan. Students will apply the tools of Choral Speaking on a historical speech. Students will be asked to reflect on how the speech changes within a choral speaking context. Students will also be asked to apply gesture and unison movement to their presentation.

Students will read an information sheet on Constantin Stanislavsky. They will then apply their knowledge in exercises and a topic quiz. Bonus exercise! A Reflection.

To create and experience an experimental piece of drama that demonstrates the power of juxtaposition through music and interpretation. Students choose a piece of music that has a definite emotional “feel” to it. Students create a scene entirely in mime that interprets an opposing feeling.

Students demonstrate comprehension of how to present physical activities through pantomime. The focus of the pantomime is using the five senses, using whole body, and incorporating the principles of maintaining a mimed object.

Students will understand the importance of raising the stakes in their performance through their objective and tactics. Students will also understand how their choice of tactics, and their intensity, creates emotional shaping in their performance. Students explore tactics choices, obstacles and emotional shaping while playing the “Candy Bar Game.” Students have an objective to get a chocolate bar, but have a variety of obstacles in their way to do so. They have to choose tactics to help them get their objective and explore the emotions that come as they get closer and closer to the goal. An excellent activity to show students exactly what it means to have an objective, to employ a tactic and the emotions attached to doing so.

Use this lesson plan to introduce students to the act of reading aloud in a theatrical manner. Reader's Theatre emphasizes the sound of a piece as it has no costume, sets, blocking, or even memorization of lines. But that doesn't mean the reading is static - students will learn and practice how to incorporate volume, tone, pace, emphasis into a reading as a class, and then as a group assignment.

In this lesson, students will first work in groups to create a pantomime called “Trapped.” The requirements of the pantomime mimic the elements of plot structure but shhhh, they don’t know that yet. Let them first enjoy the pantomime and then spring it on them that they just learned something.