Students will demonstrate their understanding of creating vivid worlds for the plays they are directing by leading the class on a walk-through of the world of their play.
LEARNING LEVEL:
Advanced Drama; this mini-unit can be taught to lead into a directing or design unit (scripts need to already be selected)
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
Students have completed beginning and intermediate drama classes. The class this unit was created for originally was an advanced class with much understanding of acting and theatre history. The class had studied Ball’s Sense of Direction book. They were preparing for the performance of their 10-minute scenes they later directed.
CLASS LENGTH:
80-minute class periods
NATIONAL STANDARDS:
HS Advanced TH:Cr3.1.III: b. Synthesize ideas from research, script analysis, and context to create a performance that is believable, authentic, and relevant in a drama/theatre work.
HS Advanced TH:Pr4.1.III a. Apply reliable research of directors’ styles to form unique choices for a directorial concept in a drama/theatre work.
BIG IDEAS:
Unique worlds with specific rules and feels can be created for plays.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
How does a director create a vivid world for their play? How can imagination help a director?
PERFORMANCE TASKS:
Analyze song lyrics and illustrate the song in the form of an imagined world. Answer questions from E. F Skinner’s “Visit to a Small Planet” about their play for class and lead the class through the world of their play.
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of theatrical world by responding to and discussing elements of world building in various examples.
Objective: Students will demonstrate an ability to create vibrant worlds onstage through mapping out imagined spaces for songs based on questions in Elinor Fuchs’ “EF’s Visit to a Small Planet: Some Questions to Ask a Play.”
Objective: Students will demonstrate an ability to create vibrant worlds onstage through script analysis and leading group walk-abouts through the world of their play.
