Students will demonstrate their ability to collaborate with others and their understanding of different performance genres by taking responsibility for their individual tasks within a larger project, listening to their peers, and applying a justified choice of a performance genre for their script.
Learning Level & Class:
Beginning level students (Drama 1); online unit (asynchronous and synchronous lessons)
Prior Experience:
This unit is designed for students with no (or little) experience in theatre.
National Standards:
TH:Cr2-I.b. Investigate the collaborative nature of the actor, director, playwright, and designers and explore their interdependent roles in a drama/theatre work.
TH:Re9.1.I.c. Formulate a deeper understanding and appreciation of a drama/ theatre work by considering its specific purpose or intended audience.
TH:Cr3.1.I.b. Explore physical, vocal and physiological choices to develop a performance that is believable, authentic, and relevant to a drama/theatre work.
TH:Cr1.1.I.c. Use script analysis to generate ideas about a character that is believable and authentic in a drama/theatre work.
TH:Cr1.1.I.a. Apply basic research to construct ideas about the visual composition of a drama/theatre work.
Big Ideas:
Theatre is a collaborative process.
Storytelling is not done through acting alone.
Different styles lend themselves to telling the truth of a story better than others.
Enduring Understandings:
Students will take a collaborative role when working with others to perform a story.
Students will explore the different storytelling styles.
Essential Questions:
Why might we use different forms of storytelling for different stories?
How do theatre professionals collaborate together? Where is my place in that collaboration circle?
Unit Lessons:
Lesson 1 – Introductions – to each other and to theatre
*Live Zoom Call*
Objective: Students will introduce themselves to each other and to some basic theatre principles such as saying “yes, and” and using our bodies to tell stories by playing collaborative games and introducing themselves through objects and tableaus.
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to do basic script analysis by filling out a script analysis worksheet for a scene from Twelfth Night.
Objective:Students will demonstrate their ability to tell a story with their body and voice by identifying and rehearsing with different objectives and tactics within contentless scenes.
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to tell stories visually by doing basic script analysis and creating a rough sketch for their design ideas.
*Short Class Zoom Call. Transition to group work on smaller Zoom calls.*
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of the collaborative nature of the actor, director, and designers and their interdependent roles in a drama/theatre work by fulfilling one of these roles in a small performance piece.
*Students will meet in their small Zoom Meetings during the regular class period.*
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of the collaborative nature of the actor, director, and designers and their interdependent roles in a drama/theatre work by fulfilling one of these roles in a small performance piece.
Objective: Students will demonstrate a deeper understanding for drama by performing a rehearsed drama work for their class and analyzing whether their peers’ and their own artistic choices met their artistic goals.
