Description
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 costumes for a short improvisational scene to be performed in front of the class. Students will have an opportunity to assess each costume after each performance through an informal discussion regarding the success of the costume to convey age, gender, and personality.
Materials
- Plastic garbage bags - the larger kitchen variety works best (therefore one size fits all)
- Scissors
- Tape or even a stapler
Full Lesson Plan
- Goals and Objectives
- The learner will act by interacting in improvisations and assuming roles.
- Use improvisation to retain spontaneity and ensemble
- Use theatre vocabulary appropriate to Theatre Arts II
- The learner will design and produce theatre by conceptualizing artistic interpretations for informal or formal productions.
- Understand, discuss and/or write about the components of theatre: scenery, costume, makeup, lighting, sound, and props.
- Demonstrate giving and receiving constructive criticism
Lesson Procedure:
1.Discuss with students the basics of costumes (age, gender, and personality to name just a few). Point out how every person that he/she sees on a daily basis is wearing a "costume". People are identified by what they wear, especially on the high school level. The students can discuss the "costumes" they see or notice every day. Using the plastic bags in creative ways each student will have the chance to become a costume designer and to show off his/her design to the class.
2.Show the students how a plastic garbage bag can become a costume with a little imagination and tape. Imagine a character based on student feedback and create a costume piece to fit that character's age, gender, and personality. The costume piece could be a skirt, a hat, a shirt, an armband, etc.
3.Form small groups of three or four students. Each student should have a garbage bag of his/her own. The students will discuss what kinds of characters will be played and what costume piece would best represent that character. Constantly remind the students about the need to develop a situation where the characters would encounter each other. Give the students about ten minutes to develop characters, a scene and then to design a costume.
4.Each group should then "take the stage" to perform the short improvisational scene that was developed.
Assessment:
Group Assessment - After each scene is performed take a few moments to discuss with the class the age, gender, and personality of each character. Make sure to ask the students if the information given by the costume was clear and understood by the audience. If the information was clear then the costume was "successful", if not then you are able to discuss what would have made the costume more effective.
Self-Assessment - After the class has discussed the costume pieces the students in the small group will have a chance to discuss what the group's idea was and if the audience understood that idea. If the idea was not conveyed well then the students can brainstorm on how the costume piece could have been done differently.