Theatre Job Organization

Objective

Students will demonstrate an understanding of theater-related jobs and their structure by placing themselves on a theater structure chart.

 

Materials Needed

Enough copies of the Theater Organizational Worksheet for the class  Theatre Organizational Worksheet and Key

Labels with the theater jobs on the chart written on them

tape or colored dots or something to designate which chairs the students can sit in

 

Lesson Directions

As students enter the room, stick a theater occupation label on them. Tell them to bring a pen or pencil and something to write on (like a notebook or something else hard). Bring them to the auditorium in front of the raked seating.

 

Step 1 (Individual/Group Practice): Say “Welcome, new employees, to the xxxxx Production Company. Please take your seats in your correct place. The ultimate authority in the organization structure sits at the top, and crew at the bottom. Only designated seats (dots or whatever) are permitted. Your boss should be sitting behind you, and the people you are in charge of should be sitting in front of you.”

 

Give them clues as needed such as “the designers should all be near each other; Who is in charge of the designers; Who is in charge of the director; Who is at the very top etc. Help them sit in the same order as the chart.

 

Step 2 (Instruction/Discussion): Hand out the worksheets with the job chart and the list of all jobs on the back. When students are in the correct place go through each job and ask the corresponding student what they think their duty might be.

 

As they learn about the jobs, have them write down a one sentence description of each job.

 

Step 3 (Guided Practice/Checking for understanding): After they know each job, ask a few questions like:

  1. Producer, who do you hire? (Directors, designers, actors and crew.)
  2. Who is in charge of the visual appearance of the set? (Scenic Designer.)
  3. Who is in charge of actually sewing the costumes? (Cutter/Draper.)
  4. Who is in charge of the actors before we open? After we open? (Director, then SM.)
  5. Are the actors in charge of anyone? (Themselves.)
  6. Who is responsible for all the lighting equipment? (Electricians.)
  7. Who designs and records the sound for a show? (Sound designer.)
  8. Who actually runs the sound systems during a production? (Sound crew.)
  9. Who builds set pieces for the production? (Scenery Construction Crew.)
  10. Who usually creates the story that eventually becomes a written script? (Playwright.)

 

Step 4: (Reflection): Have students write a paragraph response to: Which theatre organizational job would you like to have?  Why?  What about that job speaks to you?