Virginia Standards Of Learning (2020)
Grade Eight

Students will have a chance to merge their understanding of scene elements with their improvisation skills in this final unit based on Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed. Theatre of the Oppressed is a style of theatre specifically created to highlight the injustices of power and oppression in society and to problem-solve ways to bring about change. Starting with image theatre techniques to identify issues of power and oppression, students will then use forum theatre to create scenarios of oppression taken from their own lives and improvise realistic solutions. The unit culminates in a performance in which students participate as both actors in a scene they create themselves and spect-actors in scenes created by their peers.

Students will explore the question “What is theatre?” and contrast theatre to film. They will also begin their introduction to a couple of theatre roles.

Students will establish a definition of theatre, know the difference between theatre and film, and start to explore who’s who in the theatre.