Drama Links

Links to Drama Games

Some websites that have many good ideas for warm up games and drama activities for drama planning.

https://www.curriculum.org/arts/drama.shtml
http://www.dramatoolkit.co.uk
https://dramaresource.com/101-sample.pdf
www.theatrelinks.com/theatresports-and-drama-games/
www.dramamenu.com
www.thedramateacher.com
www.unexpectedproductions.org/living_playbook.htm
http://improvencyclopedia.org/Download.html

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Drama and the Critical Analysis Process

Theatre Kid

KCP's Les Mis, 2014.
I'm Fantine, in the middle left.
Grandmother and Sister found to the left.
Father built the set we are all standing on.

I’ve been in many theatre productions since I was young and my family has been heavily involved with community theatre since I began high school. My grandmother produces two or three shows a year and is currently president of a theatre company, my mother made all the props for a few years, my dad built all the sets for about ten years, and my sister either stage managed or did the makeup for many shows. With this experience, I often find when I go to see a production, either professional or community, I automatically begin to critique what I see. With this skill, I appreciate the entirety of the production, from all aspects. I look at the lighting, the sets and their transitions, the staging, the props, and of course, the acting.

Recently I went to see a friend in a community production of The Addam’s Family the Musical. (Hilarious!). I was so impressed with the set and spent a good time considering what they did to achieve such affects. The acting was fantastic (my friend was the best ancestor ever), but the set was what truly impressed me. Specifically, a scene where a see-saw was discreetly used to create the illusion of floating! So clever! I’ve also been so some shows that were not as great, such as a Fall production of The Little Mermaid, where the acting and singing was so bad, I was grateful for the skill to appreciate redeeming qualities.

My experiences allow me to truly appreciate the genius that goes behind producing a great show. I want my students to also have this skill and appreciation, even if they won’t have the unique opportunities I might have had growing up.

To do this, one must look first at the curriculum. The critical analysis process is a guideline we can use to help our students reflect not only on their own performances, but also of ones they are exposed to. This could be live productions or videos of live productions.

Student could reflect through journals, group discussion, or class discussion. In one of my placements, we went to see the aforementioned production of The Little Mermaid. My associate teacher debriefed the show with the students the moment we got back to school, working through the process. We didn’t just talk about the overall details, but all the details. The students were eager to share what they liked, and not surprisingly, what they didn’t like. What surprised me was the sophistication and detail in which they articulated their opinion. Allowing students to reflect on the details of a production allows them to develop the skills to appreciate all aspects, while also requiring them to consider the components involved in a successful dramatic production.

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Drama and Music

Musical Theatre is My Life

As a music major and musical theatre nerd, I cannot exclude the value of music in drama. Obviously, not all drama needs music, but music and drama are cousins, and dance and music are sisters. I feel like the Victor Hugo quote, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.”, fits well in this case. Music can influence the drama of a scene or a situation.

It is an expectation in the curriculum for students to explore audio and visual effects in drama. But it can be used an source of inspiration of a scene as well. Since I have classical training and the entirety of my undergraduate education was based in classical music, I often gravitate to classical music for sources. Pieces such as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to inspire and accompany a drama production provides a vast amount of material for students. Consider the elements within the music and the elements of drama.

Elements of Music: duration, pitch, dynamics and other expressive controls, timbre, texture/harmony 

Elements of Drama: role/character, relationship, time and place, tension, and focus and emphasis and form. 

How might they relate to each other and how might they influence each other. Questions posed to students could be what might be happening if the music was the background to a movie?

I'm a Big Classical Kid

One of my favourite things to listen to when I was young was the audio book/teleplay series by Classical Kids. Such works included Mr. Bach Comes to Call and Beethoven Lives Upstairs. The series created dramatic stories based on the pieces of a particular classical composer’s life. My favourite was Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery. These stories could be used to introduce not only music, but also allow students to see how music can elevate, influence, and be part of drama. Students could act out the scenes from the Classical Kids production, or create a tableau, Reader’s Theatre, or short scene based on a piece of music. They could even find a children’s picture book to read in a choral reading accompanied by appropriate music.

Some music already has a dramatic story underlying it. Looking at Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique, which depicts a story of a man’s love for a woman, turning into obsession, murder, and damnation. The piece uses a certain musical theme to represent the woman he loves, and manipulates it throughout each movement based on the story.

The story enough is something to inspire intermediate students, however the concept is something that is interesting to teach as well. Using a reoccurring theme and using it to represent something or have it change throughout the drama. This could be a piece of text, a prop, a costume, an action. Student may resonate more with the leitmotifs in Star Wars and their use in the films to introduce the idea of a reoccurring theme that represents something.

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Drama and Tableau

The Arrival

In Drama class, we explored tableau by looking at a scene from the graphic novel, The Arrival, by Shaun Tan. We stopped near the beginning of the book, pausing on a certain scene of a couple, Jason and Mary, pausing over a suitcase in the kitchen.

This single image prompted creative writing tasks through RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) which inspired various tableau scenes including a sick child, a mob debt, and desperation of need for food. Later, we then created short scenes from these ideas, one from behind the scenes, and another setting up a scene ending in the above picture.

Setting the Tableau

Setting up a scene from tableau is powerful. The actors (students) are able to slowly develop their character choices in a scaffold manner, beginning with low risk tableau to created and presented scenes. Tableau allows for students to focus on the power of body language, setting up a scene, and facial expression. So much character work is needed to properly find a facial expression in a tableau scene, and allowing students to simple focusing on one aspect of the character’s portrayal through the body and expression is an easier avenue than simply expecting voice AND body right away.

Coming and Going

Using the ideas from The Arrival could be used in a social studies classroom. In Grade 6, students learn about how immigration is an integral part of Canadian identity. In class, we explored reason why Jason might need to leave his family. I kept having the instinct that all the reasons for immigration over whatever era could apply. War, poverty, new job opportunities, political unrest. All of it could have applied. The activity could turn into an entire unit exploring arriving in Canada, and what life was like for new immigrants. This could be expanded past Grade 6 history, but could be used in a Grade 8 class, exploring the western expansion and the reasons towards that endeavor.

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Drama and Reader's Theatre

Line!

When teaching science or social studies, information often comes from non-fiction texts such as textbooks or worksheets. Instead of reading silently in class, or doing a round-robin style of class reading, why not try a Reader’s Theatre exercise to emit information?

Such is a strategy I used in my Gr. 6 science class, while they learned about different type of space rocks. I changed a few lines from this Reader’s Theatre script. I split the class into groups, each student took a role, and they read the script out to each other in character. After they read the script one or two times, they were to discuss the scientific concepts within the script, and then completed an diagram (in this case, but an exit card would also work.)

Not only does Reader’s Theatre have students gathering information in a different way, but also develops oral language skills, and drama skills. Student determine roles and character choices to influence the way they read their script. Choice in roles allows for students to choose their level of involvement in the script, but they are participating and listening along to the script so they are still gathering the information.

Choral reading can also be implemented into this strategy. Students can take a piece of non-fiction text and create their own reader’s theatre, choosing certain parts that are important to be said as a chorus.

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Drama and Asking Questions

Asking Questions

To prepare my students to write an interview as one of their language assignments, I used a few fun activities to explore developing character voice and asking good open and close ended questions

Hot Seating

Starting off, I told my students I would act like Cinderella’s step sister and they were reporters. I would only answer their questions as they asked them, open or closed. Prior to this, we had discussed the difference between open questions and closed questions. So, I got into the role and played a ditzy, pompous girl who didn’t really like Cinderella. The kids LOVED it!

So then I turned it around on them and gave them a choice of two different scenarios, also fairy tale stories they would be familiar with. The students came alive. Those who usually never participate in class were excitedly asking their peers questions or even taking the role themselves.

This was a useful exercise because it not only had students practicing the language skills we were working on developing, but also allowed those who I lose when explaining things through text or discussions to understand the concepts in a fun, hands on way.

I found the idea from a Teacher Candidate group presentation in Drama class. Below is the slideshow I used in class to teach the lesson.

Be exploring asking good questions and finding a character role and voice, this activity strongly helped my students in their next assignment to write an interview from the perspective of an Olympic athlete. When struggling to find questions to ask, I was able to prompt them by thinking of their audience. Who are the reporters and what do they want to know? Are they a sports magazine journalist? A celebrity scandal paper? Depending on their goals, the questions are influenced by their intentions. By using the hot seating activity as reference, students were able to make the connection between the types of questions needed for the situation.

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