Drama Goals
Every learner in Exploratory and Special Interest Drama Classes will:
* develop knowledge and basic skills in performance/production
* identify the distinguishing characteristics of drama and interpret and analyze the forms of theatre and its components (production style, performance, design).
* understand the role theatre has played in history and in contemporary life
* find value in theatre as it relates to an individual's personal life as a medium of enjoyment, education and personal creativity.
Exploratory Drama Goals
The learner will:
1. acquire theatre vocabulary.
2. develop individual performance skills: physical expression, vocal clarity and projection, and a confident stage presence.
3. work within groups and develop skills essential for group collaboration.
4. develop audience skills, including the ability to listen attentively.
5. develop focus and self-control.
5. respond to drama work with a positive, critical eye.
6. plan and execute a presentation in an allotted amount of time.
Course Description:
1. Movement
A. Physical warm-ups and stretching exercises
* Goal -- to be aware of each body part and its relation to the whole and to be
able to relax before performing.
B. Character work in walking, posture and gesture.
* Goal -- to develop the ability to portray distinct character types
2. Voice
A. Articulation exercises
* Goal -- to develop clarity in speech
B. Projection
* Goal -- to develop stronger voices
C. Character voices
* Goal -- to explore ways to alter voice to fit character
2. Theatre Games
A. Group and individual activities which develop theatre skills
B. Development of observation and audience skills
·Goal -- to practice and enhance coordination, rhythm, concentration,
cooperation, imagination and sensory perceptions.
3. Pantomime
A. Techniques of silent acting involving precise physical control
B. Viewing and analysis of classic silent film comedians
* Goal -- to express characters, actions and emotions through action without verbalization.
4. Improvisations
A. Learning and practicing the basic elements of improvisation.
B. Applying improvisation to a specific project related to subject or topic of the academic teacher's choice. Student-created spontaneous narratives with emphasis on the Who/What/Where (character, plot, setting) elements, using stories from literature, biography, social studies, science or math, depending upon the needs of the academic teacher of each class.
* Goal -- to work as a group to create dramatic narratives and to present them to the respondent/audience.
5. Theatre Terms
A. Recognize and understand theatre vocabulary
B. Tour theatre facilities within the school and identify the various parts, tools, and physical areas of the theatre.
C. Discuss job roles and career opportunities within the theatre
* Goal -- to know the specific parts of a stage and the theatre space, and be able to follow directions according to theatre terminology.
* Goal -- to know acting and directing terms and be able to follow stage directions.
6. Production Process
A. Create a class production from either improvisation or script, geared toward academic teacher's needs.
B. Cast, rehearse and perform the class production project.
* Goal -- to experience play production from audition through rehearsal, basic technical considerations (scenery, costumes, lighting and sound) and final presentation before an audience.
Special Interest Drama Goals
The Learner will:
* develop an appreciation for the art of theatre from the perspectives of the audience, the performer and the back stage worker. This appreciation will include an understanding of theatre as both a process and a product.
* become proficient in the techniques of physical approach to acting, with an emphasis on mime, vocal and movement exercises, improvisation, and mask-work.
* explore all the areas of skill necessary to produce a finished piece of theatre: acting, stage management, technical theatre, design and construction of sets, costumes and props.
* identify and analyze styles of drama, from a historical, cultural and contemporary perspective.
All drama students (4-8) will maintain a drama notebook, to collect research, maintain vocabulary and terminology lists, analyze their own work and the work of others, record personal ideas, observations, and philosophies.
Community Outreach
A. All drama students, 4 - 8th, will be given opportunities to present finished work to the school and to audiences outside the school.
B. Under the auspices of Miller South's Thespian troupe, 7th and 8th graders will design and implement an acting workshop for neighborhood children to be held annually at the Wooster Branch library.
Beginning Special Interest Drama (4th/5th Grades)
Performance Objectives (combined 4 & 5)
The learner will:
4th Grade:
* Analyze the historical and cultural contexts and technological development of existing art forms.
* Speculate about and identify the factors that could influence the personal and group decision-making process.
* Develop a plan that contains specific criteria to evaluate a collection, exhibition, or performance.
* Adapt a technique, process, or art form from another cultural group to produce art work which is relevant to the individual or to his/her cultural group.
5th Grade:
* Create a presentation on an artist, art form, or artistic process, based on information from a variety of sources, and develop criteria to judge its quality.
* Construct a portfolio to show evidence of the development and exploration of techniques, personal ideas, and criteria for assessment.
* Select an arts issue or philosophy, organize key ideas, and debate its merit.
* Debate the merit of the different technological formats used for transmitting arts forms.
* Identify and explain the properties of a given work of art that serve to define its tradition and its historical and/or social context.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
(Note that this class work will be presented over the course of two years.)
1. The Physical Warm-up
A. Movement to Music: freeing the body to respond to a wide variety of musical styles. Exploring how music can affect mood which is revealed in movement.
B. The Actor's Warm-up: starting with spine, then moving from head to toes. This warm-up will be used in class, for auditions, rehearsals and before performances.
* Goal: to develop physical flexibility and tune the body/mind for rehearsal/performance.
2. Theatre Games
A. Mirror Exercise, Space Explorations, etc. (based in part on Viola Spolin's work).
B. Characterization work: observe and replicate another's walk. Explore the elements of adjusting the body's posture, focus, gravity to create physicalizations for playing characters.
* Goal: to stimulate body/mind creativity, develop coordination, focus and self-control individually, in pairs and groups.
3. Pantomime
A. Basic pantomime technique: exploring the shapes and weights of invisible objects. Developing pantomime walks and characterizations.
B. Exploring what can be communicated without words: telling stories non-verbally, both individually and in groups.
C. Evaluating and analyzing the differences in silent vs. verbal work, by viewing films of silent film comedians, such as Charlie Chaplin.
* Goal: to develop individual and group performance skills.
4. Improvisation
A. Work on each of the Who/What/Where elements separately, then combine to create group collaborations.
B. Use improvisation to explore the collaborative process: learning how to build on ideas, respect each other's contributions, discover how to use time efficiently, develop positive understanding for each member of the group.
C. Use improvisation to evaluate effective performance qualities by soliciting feed-back after each performance in class.
D. Use improvisation to explore the literature of a variety of cultures.
* Goal: to develop individual and group decision-making processes, to understand the elements of dramatic structure (Who/What/Where) and to apply improvisation techniques to stories from literature and from real life situations.
5. Clowning
A. Use film, video or attend a live performance to observe the physical comedy involved in clowning.
B. Discuss the need for rehearsing slapstick comedy, the dangers involved in spontaneous slapstick by comparing comedy routines to dance routines.
C. Present the history of clowning and discuss the different types of clowns. Understand and use circus and clowning vocabulary. Explore the variety of clown attitudes: happy, sad, aloof, silly, etc.
D. Students will develop their own clown characters by creating a complete physicalization, including a specific walk and attitude.
E. Students will work in small groups, combining their clown characters to create a group routine.
* Goal: to develop focus, timing, and balance through use of clowning techniques such as juggling, simple acrobatics, tumbling and slapstick comedy.
6. Developing the Voice: Poetry as a performance
A. Students will learn a vocal warm-up and gain an understanding of how the human vocal instrument works.
B. Students will select a poem to memorize, practice vocal techniques with and perform for evaluation.
* Goal: to develop and practice vocal skills: projection, articulation and emotion.
Intermediate Special Interest Drama (6th grade)
Performance Objectives
The learner will:
* Construct a portfolio to show evidence of the development and exploration of techniques, personal ideas, research, reflection and philosophies
* Take an existing human-made creation, study the history of its development and analyze its elements, design, structure; speculate about its form and use in the future; create a futuristic model of the form; and develop criteria for judging its effectiveness and the process that created it.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
1. Improvisation as a tool to create original, scripted work.
A. Review of improvisation skills.
B. Adapting a work of literature or historical event into a dramatic form.
* Goal: to continue to develop collaborative skills.
2. Physical Acting -- Emotions
A. Exploration and observation of how emotions change the body, face and voice.
B. Create an emotion chart which lists major emotions and shows a breakdown of related emotions.
* Goal: to develop bodily expression and to explore the wide range of human emotions.
3. Working with character & texts -- Monologues
A. Select a monologue to be memorized and rehearsed for performance.
B. Write a character profile, researching the character in terms of historical & dramatic context, listing all known information about the character.
C. Create a walk and voice for the character.
D. Working in pairs, rehearse monologues and provide effective feed-back.
E. Present finished monologues to class for evaluation.
* Goal: to apply physical and vocal acting techniques to text.
4. Beginning Commedia dell'Arte
A. Exploration of stereotypes and stock characters throughout the history of drama.
B. Presentation of Commedia troupe structure, terminology, working techniques and staging requirements.
C. Exploration of stock Commedia characters.
D. Developing scenarios using Commedia characters.
* Goal: to gain an understanding of the history, terminology, and techniques of Commedia.
5. Commedia in the Future
A. Working in groups, speculate about the possible ways in which commedia might appear in the future.
B. Create stereotyped commedia characters and a scenario for a specific time/place in the future.
C. Rehearse and present group work. Analyze and evaluate individual and group performances and determine the effectiveness of the process and its outcome.
* Goal: to apply the study of Commedia to speculation about its future use.
7th & 8th Grade Special Interest Drama
Performance Objectives
The learner will:
7th grade:
* Speculate about a future social, political, or environmental issue and create a prototype art form that contributes to the solution of this hypothetical situation.
* Address a social, political, or environmental issue using two or more art forms to communicate ideas, and then defend the artistic choices using the schema of an assessment rubric.
* Evaluate the effectiveness of a given art work and explain the criteria used.
* Review employment opportunities torched upon by the arts, determine art careers involved, and develop an application portfolio for a selected career.
* Develop a collection of information that supports a personal philosophical view of the arts in commercial media.
8th grade:
* Use one or more of the arts to create a personal chronology that speculates about a future career choice.
* Select and research a culture and investigate the reciprocal influence between the arts forms (art, music, drama/theatre, and dance) and one of the following: science and technology or philosophical religious ideas. In a public forum, defend and provide evidence for the position.
* Co-develop (with others), construct, test, evaluate, and trouble shoot a set of procedures for younger learners to investigate an artistic idea or process; apply teaching and learning strategies to prepare a discovery center in which students will select and investigate various arts forms and discuss their characteristics.
* Develop criteria for judging the technological formats used to present, project, or transmit arts images and speculate about the impact of future technologies on the arts viewing and listening process.
* Collaborate with others to select, research, and address a contemporary issue and create an artwork or performance that communicates a specific point of view.
7th Grade Stagecraft:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
CONCEPTS
The learner will:
1. Understand how theatrical design, technology, and management fit in the entire process of producing a theatrical work in the school setting as well as in the professional world.
2. Understand the history of design/technical theatre.
3. Understand theatre criticism; identify strengths and weaknesses of work verbally an din written form. The student will learn to evaluate the process of his/her own work as well as the product.
4. Understand that theatre is a collaborative art that joins together many different aspects of artistic work to form a whole product.
PRACTICAL SKILLS
The learner will:
1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of safety rules regarding the auditorium area, scene shop, use of tools, and the handling of scenery.
2. Learn and use theatrical vocabulary.
3. View as many different performances as possible and discuss technical and overall aspects of the show.
4. Identify different theatre spaces as proscenium, arena, thrust and black box.
5. Understand how technical skills and design work apply in non-theatre situations such as dance concerts, music performances and video/film work.
6. Gain specialized skills listed in the following areas:
A. Costumes, Makeup and Mask-making
* Research and study the history of costume
* Select a play/historical period and design a costume for it
* Learn simple hand sewing and machine skills
* Learn how to take accurate measurements
* Learn and use costume terminology
* Learn how to organize a costume rack and run wardrobe for shows
* Learn the different types of makeup and their applications
* Learn mask-making techniques
* Design and construct a mask for performance.
B. Carpentry
* Learn to identify and properly use the basic tools and materials used in set
construction
* Learn simple construction techniques such as building a flat.
* Learn to identify basic scenery pieces such as wagons, platforms, and hard
and soft cover flats.
* Learn the importance of maintaining the scene shop as a safe and organized
work space.
C. Design
* Understand the designers creative process (research, team meetings,
concepts, color choices, etc.)
* Experience designing first hand with a project that focuses on an area of
special interest with a script selected by the student.
D. Electrics
* Identify the types of lighting instruments used in our school.
* Learn to focus and gel instruments
* Learn to replace lamps
* Lean to read a simple light plot.
* Learn to operate the dimmer board.
* Learn to operate the follow spot.
E. Properties
* Learn to make a prop list using the script.
* Learn to gather and construct rehearsal and performance props.
* Learn to cover and organize a prop table.
F Scenic Painting
* Learn to identify and use basic tools and materials associated with scenic
painting.
* Learn basic scene painting techniques such as spattering, dry brushing, and
scumbling.
G. Sound
* Learn the components of a basic sound system
* Learn to set up and run a sound system.
* Learn to coil cable and keep equipment in good working order.
H. Stage Management
* Understand how the stage manager functions during rehearsals through
strike of the show.
* Learn to make a prompt book.
* Learn to call cues from a prompt book.
7th & 8th Grade Drama & Acting
(Note that the following material is to be included over the course of a two year program, as 7th and 8th graders are combined into one class. )
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
1. Advanced Improvisation
A. Use specific improvisation techniques to improve individual and group acting problems.
B. Explore the use of improvisation to enhance understanding of a script and characterization.
C. In groups, discuss the use of dramatic techniques in commercial media. Create through improvisation examples of the proper and improper uses of drama in commercials, basing choices on an agreed-upon philosophy.
* Goal: to further develop individual and group skills and explore applications using improvisation.
2. Theatre History
A. Explore a specific period of theatre history (related to all-school theme). Gain knowledge and understanding of an era's playwrights, dramatic innovations, related acting and design techniques and relevance to contemporary drama.
B. Research, prepare and present an oral report on an actor or playwright from another historical period.
C. Research, prepare and present a written paper on an aspect of theatre history as a final, year-end project.
* Goal: to gain an understanding of the history of theatre and how it relates to the social, political and philosophical issues of a particular culture and era.
3. Drama Criticism
A. Bring in a review of a play or musical. Identify and discuss the reviewer's choices of descriptive words, point of view and analysis of the production. Use any words that are unfamiliar to students in improvisations designed to understand and explore the critical process.
B. View, analyze and write a review of a live or filmed performance. Present review to class and receive feedback in response.
* Goal: to sharpen critical thinking skills and enhance theatre vocabulary.
4. Applied Mask Work
A. Through group and individual exercises, understand and develop the necessary skills for working in masks.
B. In groups, speculate about a future social, political or environmental issue (could be related to all-school theme) and create a mask performance that contributes to the solution of this problem. Students will design and create masks for this project and may combine music and/or elements of dance within their performance. Upon performance, students will write a group and individual evaluation defending their artistic choices.
* Goal: to develop individual technique and apply to group collaborations.
5. Acting and directing -- Scene work
A. Review of rehearsal techniques and terminology
B. Research and presentation of information on the history of directing.
C. Exploration of the directing process and examination of approaches to directing.
D Directing/Acting project: 8th grade students will select a short scene to direct. They will analyze and prepare their text to go through the directing process from auditions thru performance. Scenes will be cast from 7th and 8th grade drama students. Upon completion, both actors and directors will evaluate the process and the final performance.
* Goal: To explore and understand the relationship among director, actor and text.
6. Advanced Commedia dell'Arte (9th period only)
A. At the beginning of the school year, 7th and 8th grade students may audition to join the Commedia dell'Arte Performance Troupe. This troupe will create and rehearse commedia style material for outside school performances.
B. Students will further their physical mask work, acting skills and creative abilities through Commedia techniques.
* Goal: to develop performance material for showcasing the drama department and its students.
