Hook: (Talk 3 minutes, Practice 10-15, Perform 7-10 minutes)
REMOTE. Hand out copies of script from Love and Information scene Remote. Everyone find a partner to read this script with and answer the following questions. (PPT slide) Read the script together. Answer the questions (you can write them on the back of your script). Then, improvise how you would stage it. Practice a couple of times, and then we’ll come back and perform them for each other. This class is small, and the scene is short, so we should be able to see all of your scenes.
Questions?
Let students work on their own for 5-10 minutes. Come back to the front and perform. As you watch your classmates, notice what they discovered that is similar to or different from what you found.
Discussion: (7-10 min)
What about this activity was challenging? Why?
What about this script was different from other scripts you’re used to? Did this feel liberating or restricting?
Were there things you all discovered? How did you discover these things? (lines from, or to, character)
Do you think you were able to convey those discoveries to your audience? What could you do to convey those things more effectively?
Were there things you did that were different from everyone else?
What do we know about these characters and the scenario? (Write answers on the board)
Why do you think we did this activity?
Take the scene, line by line. What do we learn from each line?
Have a student read the stage directions. Stop every time we learn something about the character or the world of the play. Write it on the board. What do we learn even before we reach the dialogue? Can we answer these questions about Roebuck? What else do we know about him? Just from this little taste, how differently do you think we would stage this scene?
Instruction: (7 minutes Instruct, 10 minutes Read, remainder of time Analyze)
For the next few weeks, we’ll be learning about script analysis. Is this term familiar to you? What kinds of things do you think we should analyze?
Given Circumstances. Which of these were we able to find in Remote? Which of these were clear in the first paragraph of Man and Superman? We won’t always be able to find overt references, but we should be able to infer most of these things in a script.
We’re going to read a script together and see if we can identify and explain the given circumstances in it. I will need three volunteers to read for us. The first time, we’ll just read the play straight through to get a feel for it. Read Call of the Revolution. Encourage students to make notations, questions, ideas, etc. directly in their copy of the script.
After reading, identify given circumstances. Are there things we need to go back and find? What do we know for sure? What do we need to infer? Are there other places we can look for help? Now that you know these things, does it change how you would read the script?
Go back and read the script together line by line if they need help finding given circumstances.
Closure:
How does exploring the given circumstances affect your understanding of the script? Collect scripts to be able to give back to students next class period for review.
