Alberta, Canada
Movement Level III - Advanced

In this unit, students will explore nonverbal communication: first, through body language and gesture, and then through the specific art of pantomime. Students will learn hand position, tension, follow-through, and action/reaction/interaction with objects through warm-up games and exercises. The unit culminates in a two-person pantomime performance.

This unit will enable students to identify, compare, and contrast three different styles of Japanese theatre: Noh, Bunraku, and Kabuki. There are three proposed projects in this unit: a research assignment where groups delve into further detail about one of the three styles; a performance project where students utilize what they’ve learned by enacting a scene from a Kyogen (comedic) play; and a Bunraku puppet play.

Commedia dell’arte is a 16th century masked acting form. It is the basis of all comedy, including all tv sitcoms. This form is characterized by masked types and archetypical characters and a specific way of playing comedy. To that end, this unit is divided into two parts. Part One focuses on the foundations of commedia - playing comedy. These principles will be important to learn when it comes to developing commedia characters, specifically the physicality of the characters. Part Two will cover lazzi. Note: there are links to video demos in many of the lessons of this unit.

Students will have another opportunity to participate in student-directed scenes, only this time each director will be assigned a different script, and actors for each group will be chosen by the teacher based on individual strengths and challenges, rather than holding auditions. Actors will take a deeper dive into character physicality and use of levels in staging this unit. Directors will continue to create a set design and block the scenes, adding props as well in this unit. The unit culminates in actors presenting their directed scenes to the class.

In this unit, students will explore nonverbal communication. First through body language and gesture, and then through the specific art of pantomime. Students will learn hand position, tension, follow-through, and action/reaction/interaction with objects through warm-up games and exercises. The unit culminates in a one-person pantomime performance.

In this unit, students will create and perform an abstract theatre scene. Abstract is a genre that does not rely on realism and deliberately breaks the rules of a given form. In the case of theatre, this refers to the commonly presented rules of performance, acting, and the relationship with the audience. Movement is often stylized and symbolic. Ideas and themes are expressed visually and aurally with little dialogue using music, lights, costumes, and props.

In this unit, we return to Western theatre and to Italy, where we will witness the birth of the Renaissance and the discovery of linear perspective. Then we travel on to the Golden Age of Spanish theatre. We will pass by the Elizabethan Golden age (we’ll cover it in the next unit) and end the Renaissance journey by discovering French neoclassicism and the Rules of Drama.

This unit looks at the origins of realism and naturalism. The Realism/Naturalism movements in Europe came about as a response to the artificiality of the Romantic Movement. Realism/Naturalism strove for real-life characters and situations. This unit looks at early realist playwrights and their plays as well as the Independent Theatre Movement, which provided venues for the new forms when established theatres refused to produce these plays. In America, this became the Little Theatre Movement, where groups experimented with theatre away from the strictures of the syndicated houses. In the meantime, professional theatre was developing on Broadway, including early Black performers. Realism finally came to the American stage with the plays of Eugene O’Neill.

This unit focuses on having students gain an understanding of basic physical acting and learn some specific tools to use in mask work. Instructor Allison Williams has developed this unit, and explains "What I love most about mask work is how, by having students cover their faces, they are able to find freedom to express themselves physically. They often make bigger choices than we’re normally used to seeing them make in class." In this unit, students will work step by step from identifying shapes in the mask to using those shapes to creating a character zero to learning how to move in the mask utilizing the qualities of movement to applying everything they’ve learned in short scenes. The unit will culminate with students working in pairs to create original mask scenes. You will need masks to complete the unit. And while mask-making can be a lot of fun, it’s a lengthy and messy project. A list is provided in the Overview of where you may be able to buy or rent masks for use in your classroom.