Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Theatre Arts
HS 117.316 LII - Creative Expression: production

In this unit, students will explore and experiment with the basic building blocks of design: Line, Shape, and Color. Once students have a solid foundation of those concepts, they will move on to stage properties and scenic flats as additional building blocks of design. They will then apply their knowledge and skills to a series of assignments, so they can demonstrate their design knowledge and creativity.

This is an introductory mini-unit to sound that you can use whether or not you have a sound system. Students will work toward being able to demonstrate their knowledge of sound effectiveness. The questions of the unit include: What is effective sound? What sounds and music do we need in order to make our scene effective? How will we know our sound cues are effective?

If the costumes in a play are going to be effective, we need to be thoughtful about how we use them. In this mini-unit, students will demonstrate their understanding costume effectiveness and address the following questions: What is the role of costume in the performance? How does color contribute? How does the style of costume affect a performance? How does costume indicate setting? Do you need costumes in a scene?

This is a mini-unit on staging. Along with the driving question for the unit, students will explore about how staging affects the performance. Students will draw a plot design (ground plan) to emphasize the need to plan where scenic elements will be placed. They will also practice taking cues from the script, in order to create staging.

This is a student centred mini-unit on makeup design. Makeup is useful in transporting an audience to a different world. The purpose is for students to understand that makeup is a tool that theatre technicians can use in order to contribute to effective performance aesthetics; to understand basic makeup rules and care instruction; to understand how to complete a makeup design plot; to look at a project and figure out for themselves what they need to succeed.

Once students have completed the five Tech Theatre Units (Lighting, Sound, Costume, Staging, Free Play Makeup), you can give them this culminating project. Depending on how you structured your technical theatre unit, you can adapt this project to suit your needs and context. Up to this point, all the work in the units have been exploratory. This is where students will apply their skills and knowledge.

The overview lays out the all of the parts of The Production Classroom Units - which is divided into three parts. In Part One, you’ll take your students through a series of pre-production units designed to help students gain as much comprehension as possible about putting on a successful production. Part Two offers articles on each step in the process, samples and forms, a suggested pacing, role definitions and task checklists, an outline for a typical class, as well as performance duties. This section also outlines the assessment piece for The Production Classroom – the production binder. Part Three provides a Post-Performance Reflection. Unpack the experience with students, reflect back on what went right and what could be changed for next time. A written Reflection is included as well as a Rubric for student production binders.

In Part One of The Production Classroom, you’ll take your students through a series of pre-production units designed to help students gain as much comprehension as possible about putting on a successful production.

Part Two offers articles on each step in the process, samples and forms, a suggested pacing, role definitions and task checklists, an outline for a typical class, as well as performance duties. This section also outlines the assessment piece for The Production Classroom – the production binder.

This section provides samples and worksheets for actor forms, costume department, general binder, lighting and sound, marketing samples, scenic and prop samples, and stage management and production manager samples and forms.

Part Three provides a Post-Performance Reflection. Unpack the experience with students, reflect back on what went right and what could be changed for next time. A written Reflection is included as well as a Rubric for student production binders.

Students will explore the question of “what is theatre production?” They’ll be able to identify and describe each of the crafts of technical theatre as well as who does what in theatre production.

Students identify and practice some basic painting techniques.

Students will identify categories of props and which people create or obtain props. They’ll analyze a script for needed props, use critical-thinking skills to problem solve prop issues, and create a prop.

Students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of lighting effectiveness. They’ll also be able to identify, analyze, and evaluate how lighting is used in a theatre production.

Students are exposed to research, concepts, and skill sets while they explore costume design and the different roles of the costume designer and the costumer. They will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of costume effectiveness.

Students identify vocabulary, techniques, and roles of costume construction. They demonstrate costume measurement and other construction techniques, including a basic stitch.

Now it’s time for your students to take everything they’ve learned and creatively apply those skills. The goal is for students to take what they’ve been exposed to, explored, and researched about each of the arts and crafts of technical theatre and apply it to a project.

Students will be able to explore the use of make-up as a theatrical tool and demonstrate their knowledge of make-up effectiveness.

When an audience watches a piece of theatre, they never see what goes on behind the scenes or know the people who work to make the production look their best. But theatre is a collaboration between what happens onstage and off. This distance learning unit will introduce students to the world of technical theatre. Through video, they will learn information on specific technical theatre roles and how they work together, types of stages, parts of a theatre and stage geography, and then apply this knowledge through synchronous exercises. For example, students will take on the role of a producer and decide how a budget will be divided among different departments. They will practice the calls a stage manager uses. The culminating assignment has students solve a common technical theatre issue: a unique stage direction in a play. NOTE - Please read the Troubleshooting Hyperdocs instructions in the Overview, if you are having issues. If your students have trouble accessing the videos, try VERSION 2 Hyperdoc links provided under each module.

When an audience watches a piece of theatre, they never see what goes on behind the scenes or know the people who work to make the production look its best. But theatre is a collaboration between what happens onstage and off. This flipped learning unit will introduce students to the world of technical theatre. Through video, they will learn information on specific technical theatre roles and how they work together, types of stages, parts of a theatre and stage geography, and then apply this knowledge through in-class active-learning exercises. For example, students will take on the role of a producer and decide how a budget will be divided among different departments. They will practice the calls a stage manager uses. The culminating assignment has students solve a common technical theatre issue: to design, create, and implement a solution for a unique stage direction in a play.

The exercises within this unit are meant for students to explore the concept of lighting for theatre without the need for extensive tech or even a theatrical lighting grid. This unit is useful for students with no prior experience with lighting or students who may be intimidated by the idea of theatre technology. Each exercise is meant to build upon the previous one, as students grow in their confidence with thinking about lighting in different ways.

In this unit, students will learn the terminology, technology, and application of old age makeup. It is designed to lead students through a hands-on exploration of the techniques used to create an old age effect with makeup. By breaking the entirety of the human face down into different, distinct areas, students will be able to concentrate on smaller, more focused lessons, building up to a complete old age makeup design.

This Technical Theatre unit is designed to empower student leaders to analyze management roles in producing theatre while also using collaborative activities and reflection exercises to strengthen soft skills that every student should have. The unit covers the roles of producer, director, technical director, and stage manager, and ends in a culminating project.

The most common special-effects makeup technique used with student performers is wounds such as cuts, bruises, and blisters. In order to create these wounds, students must understand what physically happens to the human body when a wound is suffered and then successfully recreate that wound with specialized makeup. This unit will provide students with information they will need to successfully design and execute specific wound makeup techniques for the stage. This unit is designed to lead students through a hands-on exploration of the techniques used to create a wound effect with makeup. By focusing on a variety of materials and techniques, students will learn the process of creating simple special-effects wound makeup designs.