LESSON PLANS: HIGH SCHOOL

Attached is the handout from Mary Anna Dennard's workshop: "I Got In: A College Audition Seminar."

This is a copy of the handout given at John Tartaglia's Puppet class at the 2011 Broadway Teachers Workshop

These are notes from Jennie Marino's prop design class at the 2011 Broadway Teachers Workshop.

These are the notes my daughter, Amy, and I took at the workshop.  Feel free to use/peruse/copy them or correct any errors.

This UbD constructed activity was designed while earning my MA in Theatre Education from the university of Northern Colorado.  It is designed to help students treat the performance of a song...

Students adapt a children's story into a script and perform with minimal costumes and sets to emphasize the words used in the piece.

Starting from scratch & teaching the basics with non-dancers for a High School Musical Production.  Only brief/informal instructions.

This lesson is based on an episode of the TV show Project Runway.  In this lesson, the students are randomly assigned a film genre, and they will then create the idea for a film in that genre...

This project will consist of two components. The first is a written Concept Statement and the second is a Visual Concept Design Board. Both parts of the project...

Students design costumes based on a general idea, concept or theme of your choice.

Students do in-depth research and song analysis.

A character building/acting excersize using etudes from Great Scenes for Young Actors - Volume II.

A writing exercise to help find the objectives of your character.

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Students 'stuck' with their character development in class? This activity takes them out of the box by putting them in the role of 'teacher' and by using the multi-media skills they love so much....

Teachers introduce open scenes to students. Helpful actor coaching exercise. Focuses actor in importance of working with partner. Boosts imagination and variety of approaching scenework.

I choose a character from the show we are working on and I describe that character in a word that the students might run into while taking their SAT's. Music Man and the word could be For...

Using a varied soundtrack, students improvise on a given start topic and adjust as the soundtrack changes

A simple "be with" exercise to allow singers to explore facial expression in performance.

This exercise helps students learn to hear harmony and learn to listen to other parts while singing their own notes independently.

Students select a 15-minute scene from a film or tv show and stage it for a live performance

Using at least an 8.5” x 11” piece of poster board, please design a “Show...

Useful lessons to correspond with the ensemble members for the King & I.  The Royal Wives and children get to create characters through the choice and use of real names from Siam. ...

A study of Vaudeville history culminating in a classroom vaudeville show.

Why do all actresses want to "be" Lady Macbeth?  Who is she really?  A witch?  a flirt? An insecure wife of a successful man? An ambitious opportunist?  Or all of the above?

How to Speak the Speech, insights in to the lines of Shakespeare

Students will learn basic dance steps from a new genre to increase their dance vocabulary and tranfer knowledge from previous lessons.

Vocal Improvisation in ostinato choral parts

Students will gain part-holding independence via a vocal warm-up

Four Stage Managing Handouts were distributed during the Session C Broadway Teachers Workshop. They are entitled "Scenic Elements", "Stage Managers Calling Script", "Actors Script", and "Stage...

This activity occurs after a thorough explanation and discussion of what subtext is.

This is good for during rehearsal of class work scenes
or after viewing aplay/movie or scene from one as a class.

Get inspired by the emotions of the scene to create one

of...

Give students tools and opportunity to approach unknown verse text with confidence

Enhanced physicality, reaction, expression and connection between characters

A great way to help students memorize monologues or scenes without getting into a set rhythm and delivery is to have them say the lines as a wide range of characters. This not only helps in the...

Adapt scripts from stories in the news!

Global awareness of our ecological footprint is a responsibility of our global community.  Global action to prevent the destruction of our planet is a human necessity.  International...

Use when studying how the music moves the plot or sets the tone of a show.

Students will gain an understanding of the importance of costumes in determining a character's age, gender, and personality. Each student working in a small group will be given a chance to design...

Three easy steps
1.    I begin the class by having one student perform Emily’s monologue or by showing the video clip. 
2.    I then pass out this...

Each selects a classmate’s name out of a hat, and I keep track on my own list of who has whom. I suggest they keep it a secret, but you know how that can go!  They have several days to write...

Student introduced to the concept of pretending/role playing and how each actor brings his/her own experiences to a performance.

To familiarize students with essential performance principles that are directly related to the musical theatre genre.  These principles have some application in solely dramatic presentations...

Aim: How can we use various levels to present a clear and specific “tableau vivant”?

Students will understand the structure, strategies and performance style ofproducing a show for children, but performed by adults.

This is an excellent exercise to begin working with the members of a new company/production. I’ve had success with players from ages 8 through adults with both performers and technicians. All...

Students create costumes made out of garbage bags.

- Students will learn to pick up on visual clues to create characters.
- Students will understand the importance of character back-story, motivation, goals, problems and conflicts.
-...

Teach your drama students the art of storytelling, using activities from the book The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling, by Rives...

To teach students how to express emotions onstage by identifying and practicing these emotions, investigating examples of melodramam and eventually writing and rehearsing an act in a melodramatic...

Students will learn to understand cue-to-cue language and actions used for stage signals, the role of a stage manager/prompter and how to run the technical equipment used in the theater during a...

A step-by-step way to teach students an effective way to understand the full process of developing and writing a musical.

Quickly familiarizes actors with the plot/story arc of a new play or musical and initiates the actor's process of looking at the arc of the story as a means to investigate changes that characters...

A list of thought provoking questions to get an actor thinking about his or her craft and the nature of acting.

To memorize a song in order to clarify the meaning of its text, to practice diction, to place emphasis on being present and preparing a set up, and to develop coordination of rhyhm of text.

To better understand a myth as a story or legend - sometimes invented, sometimes based loosely on fact  that is handed down from generation to generation.

An informal investigation into the world we ask actors to immerse themselves in throughout the rehearsal and performance process.

Students improvise using the alphabet to forward a story. They will learn to understand sequence in script writing, develop characters, portray two characters in dialogue and memorize lines.

Exercise as an on-going rehearsal tool to sharpen a student's grasp of his/her objective and the various tactics he/she can employ to reach it.

A few ideas for anyone interested in producing or directing Little Women.

Effective ways to keep a journal in order to understand yourself entirely through character/body/acting development.

Useful in helping young actors work on character development and to understand the difference between acting and "indicating" - reacting in character rather than trying to figure out how a...