Students will demonstrate their awareness and skills of stage directions and audience by playing “Twister”.
Materials Needed
painter’s tape
floor space
** This activity will help your students develop an awareness of stage directions and where to go onstage. It will also help them break any closeness issues as Twister is a very close contact game.**
Lesson Directions
Before Class: Using masking tape or painter’s tape (it comes up easier), mark out nine squares on the floor. Each square should be about 2’ x 2’ and come together to form a grid like the picture.
Next, make labels that read “AUDIENCE,” “UL,” “UR,” “UC,” “R,” “C,” “L,” “DR,” “DC,” and “DL.”If you have a large class or a class that is co-ed, you may want to make multiple grids.
Show students the different positions on stage by placing the stage directions in the correct boxes based on where you place the “AUDIENCE” card on the outside of the box. Explain that stage directions always work from the point of view of the actor facing the audience.
Have one student stand on each side of the grid. Place the audience card on one side of the grid. Be sure the stage direction cards are still in place. Call out different stage directions in Twister-like fashion such as “Right Hand Up Left” or “Left Foot Center.” If a student goes to the wrong spot or falls, he/she is out until only one is remaining.
After a few rounds, removed the stage direction labels and use only the “AUDIENCE” card. This will be more difficult, but students will soon become more aware. After each round or even in the middle of a round, you can move the “AUDIENCE” to a different side of the grid to make it more challenging.
Assessment
Participation
This activity/lesson could be followed up with some kind of “twister quiz” in partnerships or individually where a “route” is called out and enacted on the grid. Points could be awarded for each correct movement.
