Today (1/19) was a creative and energizing day of character exploration as we discovered how to express ourselves and act as other people through moment and illustration. Out of all the lessons I teach, this particular one has the most activities, since we dedicate almost half the class period to learning many major exercises and games used when creating and embodying a character, and acting with partners in a piece of theatre.
WARM-UP: To prepare for this very interactive unit, we started off right by performing a warm-up exercise called
"Pass the Clap". In this exercise, all the students stand in a circle, facing inward. I also make up part of the circle. Then I turn to the student to my right, and we clap once toward each other at the same time. Then she turns to the right and claps with the student to HER right, who also claps facing her. Then she turns and claps with the person to her right, and the clap makes its way around the entire circle. So every student claps twice: once with the person on their left so as to "take" the clap from that person, and then once with the person on their right, so as to give the clap away. Never do the students clap alone. This represents unity and acceptance, and taking and giving it away teaches them to do the same when they are collaborating. It also teaches them to focus, make eye contact, establish a rhythm (literally and figuratively) with everyone else, and to understand the importance of working together and paying attention. When the clapping or rhythm gets off, those students are often not paying attention or following directions. The first time around the circle is usually rough, but it is amazing how quickly the students pick up the game. We also tried a round to our left. A more advanced way to play it is to allow the students to change directions of the clap by clapping twice in the same direction, wherein the student has to take the clap back and either continue going in the new direction or to send it back! It's a lot of fun!
Theatre Vocabulary of the Day: CURTAINS!!
1) Legs: the tall, skinny curtains on the sides (wings) of the theatre that hide actors and set pieces.
FYI: Even if you are behind the legs, if you can see the audience...they can see you!
2) Cyclorama (or scrim): the white background sheet covering the back of the stage and used to project lighting and other projections. It's like a whiteboard of projector screen.
3) Valance: the long, skinny curtain that runs across the top of the proscenium and hides the lighting fixtures.
4) Grand Drape: the large curtain at the very front of the proscenium that is normally closed at the beginning and end of a show. It usually opens from the middle and goes up or to the sides. Because it moves, these curtains are also called travelers.
After learning this vocabulary, we played the following movement games and focused on how to create characters using our bodies.
1) Mirror Me: 2 people. Partner A and B face each other. Partner A moves and B must copy their motions as if they are the mirror image of them. Then they switch and Partner B leads partner A. This teaches them to call and respond, copy and follow and lead.
2) Human Clay: 2 people. Partner A is the sculptor and Partner B is the clay. A molds B to fit a character in the category the I gave them. Then they switch and Partner B molds Partner A. This teaches them that actors often have to follow commands and allow themselves to be molded by their director in order to resemble other people and things. (Actors have less power than people realize!)
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Human Clay: The Category was "animals".
She molded her into an elephant! |
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Human Clay: The Category was "sports".
He molded him into a tennis net! |
3) Fill in the Empty Space: 4 people. I say a number and that person strikes a pose. For example, when I say "1, 2, 3, 4", Partner 1 first strikes a pose. Then Partner 2 fills in the empty space somewhere around him/her, adding to this silent, frozen story. Then Partner 3 goes. And lastly, person 4 adds the final touch. I always changed who got to go first. This teaches them to call and respond, and to tell stories and make characters through strong, bold choices...and then to stick to them!
4) Facial Expressions: In theatre, showing is better than telling. It is easy to come onstage and say, "Mom, I feel sad." But it is more effective and believable to just look sad in the face and to perhaps start crying. So much of acting is in the face. So we sat down as a class, looked at this book, and practiced making the faces and showing these various emotions.
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| SLEEPY! |
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| SURPRISED! |
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| LOVING! Awe... |
We also looked at these pictures to get some ideas of how to draw and demonstrate various characters in various emotions, in preparation for their character drawing assignment.
Yet before that, we did the very last exercise...
5) Walk like a Character: This was an independent exercise (no groups or partners), where the students walked around the room and I gave them instructions to affect the way they walk. We first focused on SPACE: I told them to walk as if their character takes up a lot of space and try to explain why through the actions: frantically chasing or being chased, being fat, dancing like a ballerina, etc. Then they tried to take up as little space as possible, such as trying to walk through a crowded room, being shy, being cold, etc. Then they led with different parts of their body, such as elbows, knees, neck, etc. This instantly created characters and changed their entire persona and behavior! It's so fun!
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| Leading with their neck. |
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| Leading with their elbows. |
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| Leading with their knees. |
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| More elbow-leading action! I like how Wes animated his legs too! |
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| Taking up as little space as possible. |
ACTIVITY: CREATE A CHARACTER
Tool: Character Template
Technique: Illustration and Character Q & A
I then handed each of the students a "Create a Character" template and they got into their groups of 4. They received the assignment to make up their own character, perhaps connecting the characters with the others in the group. They had to answer the questions and draw the character's face and head. Here is the worksheet:
I gave the students sample character drawings featured below and asked them to think about how they would move, and perhaps how they would answer the questions on their worksheet.
For the next class period, the groups will develop a talent contest scene in the round, acting as their their individual characters as hosts and contestants. Some students are still working on this worksheet, and some have finished! I can't wait for these scenes on Thursday!
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| Working as a group and figuring out how these original characters all connect! |
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| Answering the questions and starting to draw the character! |
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| Finished product! |
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| Ta da! Way to go, Dominic! |
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| Look how proud Nate is of his work! |
Today (1/19) was a creative and energizing day of character exploration as we discovered how to express ourselves and act as other people through moment and illustration. Out of all the lessons I teach, this particular one has the most activities, since we dedicate almost half the class period to learning many major exercises and games used when creating and embodying a character, and acting with partners in a piece of theatre. 
WARM-UP: To prepare for this very interactive unit, we started off right by performing a warm-up exercise called "Pass the Clap". In this exercise, all the students stand in a circle, facing inward. I also make up part of the circle. Then I turn to the student to my right, and we clap once toward each other at the same time. Then she turns to the right and claps with the student to HER right, who also claps facing her. Then she turns and claps with the person to her right, and the clap makes its way around the entire circle. So every student claps twice: once with the person on their left so as to "take" the clap from that person, and then once with the person on their right, so as to give the clap away. Never do the students clap alone. This represents unity and acceptance, and taking and giving it away teaches them to do the same when they are collaborating. It also teaches them to focus, make eye contact, establish a rhythm (literally and figuratively) with everyone else, and to understand the importance of working together and paying attention. When the clapping or rhythm gets off, those students are often not paying attention or following directions. The first time around the circle is usually rough, but it is amazing how quickly the students pick up the game. We also tried a round to our left. A more advanced way to play it is to allow the students to change directions of the clap by clapping twice in the same direction, wherein the student has to take the clap back and either continue going in the new direction or to send it back! It's a lot of fun!
Haley,
ReplyDeleteI am really impressed how thoughtful you are in your lesson planning and I really appreciate you being so detailed in your blogging! I feel like I'm learning all about theatre just from reading your blog! I thought your lesson on emotions was really excellent because at this stage of learning, children are starting to think about others emotions. I think this lesson is not only going to teach them about theatre, but I think they all learned some valuable life skills as well!