The Theatre Classroom — Revisiting a Legend of the West

April 27th, 2012

As you probably noticed, I have not written anything this year about being in a show. Your observation is correct. After my fall last February, I have been slowly recouping. You see, when you are as old as I am, it takes time!  Also, there were no shows featuring old ladies, so I have spent the time catching up on reading, dusting, and working with The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Montana (MOLLI) as part of their School of Extended & Lifelong Learning, but that doesn’t mean I will not be performing.

One of Montana’s revered authors is Dorothy M. Johnson. She was a Montana journalist, manager of the Montana Press Association in the 1950s, and author of fiction-turned-film, including The Hanging Tree, A Man Called Horse, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Our public library has a fundraiser each year celebrating “Writers We Cherish,” among them A. B. Guthrie.  This year it is Dorothy’s turn and I have the privilege of presenting a reading featuring her words on a myriad of subjects from firearms brought from Greece and hidden in her girdle to being asked to dance at a “stag” party (she reluctantly declined — she couldn’t dance!).  She was not only quite a character but a wonderful storyteller as well. I am honored to be presenting her words.  It should be a fun evening.

I know many of you not only teach drama but English, and I would like to share what she said about writing:

"Everyone has a story to tell. And some of them ask me for writing tips. I only have a few.

The important thing is that a story starts with an emotion in the writer. I don’t think about the plot first. I find an emotion. I see or hear something that strikes an emotional cord, usually pity or admiration. And that’s where I start. It’s harder that way. Maybe. Inefficient, perhaps. But that’s the way I do it. Sometimes the end comes to my mind before the beginning does. So I start with the ending and go backward from there.

A fiction writer translates his emotions and creates people. This may be peculiar these days, but I must respect the characters I invent. I won’t associate with anyone I can’t stand. If there isn’t something about them I respect, I won’t have them in my mind.

As writers we become these people, and this is sometimes a tormenting experience. I have been Indian warriors and cowboys and homesteaders’ wives and gold miners and captives of Indians. I have been bloody-handed outlaws and the grim men who strung them up, the victim and the victor, the pursued and pursuer. I have been defeated — but never 'beat.' Twice I have been killed. A writer who creates characters is every one of them. This is why we write. We get away from our own little world with its known dangers and into a boundless, great world where anything can happen. There is no escape so splendid as the escape of a writer dreaming over a sheet of paper."

The Theatre Classroom — A Very Inexpensive Improvisation App

March 7th, 2012

Several months ago I received an email from Matt Ludlam, a drama teacher in Dallas, TX, who has developed an iPhone/iPad app called “The Amazing Improv Generator.” It gives you an array of characters, places, and events containing over 750 completely different suggestions that can be used at the push of a button.  Three examples are:

Character                           Place              Event
Driving Instructor                 Dorm              Hosting a dinner party
Traveler from Outer Space   Guard-house    Participating in a protest
Engineering Technician       Carnival           Falling down the stairs

A great feature to this app is the ability to lock the character, place, or event.  For example, if you want to change the character but leave the place and the event the same, you can easily do that by locking the place and the event and then generate a new character.  This app also is a timesaver — you won’t have to have cards with people, places, and events, but you’ll still need the card box for your “one liners.”  I wish this app had been available when I was teaching.  It only costs $0.99 — a well-spent dollar!  You can find the app on his website under the "Improv Generator" tab or you can look up Matt Ludlam +Improv on Goggle.  It is well worth your time to give this a look-see. I’ll be using it this spring when I teach, “Let’s Act Up Some More” with my over 50 “kids.”  I’ll let you know how we do.

The Theatre Classroom — A Fun Creative Writing Assignment

February 13th, 2012

Here is another one of my favorite lessons when I wanted my students to do something creative and fun that needed only one class period. I have no idea where I originally got this, but I made up the answer key, added some of my own, and also wrote the example. This can be a great vocabulary lesson as well as a creative writing/report of journalistic composition.

Each of these imaginary newspaper headlines describes a well-known children’s story, verse, or song. Have your students go through the list and try to figure out which verse, song, or story each headline refers to.  Then have the class, as a whole, share their answers.

After everyone has the correct answers, let your students select one of the headlines or make up one of their own and on the back of the paper write a news story that might have accompanied the headline.  It can only be four to six sentences long, but must explain the headline.

Headlines (answers in parenthesis)

News Story Example

Unique Individual Mortally Injured in Fall
Eggville — Saturday afternoon tragedy struck the small community of Eggville. Longtime resident Humpty Dumpty, 78, was killed when he fell to his death. Dumpty sat on the eighteen-foot wall every Saturday to observe his grandson’s soccer games. Bystanders say that Mr. Dumpty was always egging his team to victory, but on this particular day, he got too excited and fell. There will be a memorial service on Saturday after the game. Please wear yellow and white.

The Theatre Classroom — Improvisation

January 13th, 2012

I hope you had a great New Year and are ready to get right back in the thick of things.

Warming Up for Improv

When I was teaching I had the privilege of my students doing improv shows that were a great hit. For the last four years I have had the pleasure to teach something I called “Let’s Act for the Young and Young at Heart.”  As I never knew who would be attending and had only 45 minutes to work with whoever came, I was ready for small children as well as adults.

I wanted them to feel comfortable with each other before we did any small group activities. I always started with several introduction activities, described on pages 16-24 of The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide #2 and/or warm-ups described on page 57-58. Then I would put them in small groups doing a variety of activities described on pages 65-68.  I didn’t want any game that required one person to be in the middle or to put anyone on the spot.

Two Improv Games

We have a New Years Eve event called First Night: A Celebration of the Arts.  It runs from noon to midnight.  I always had to have new activities each year — I didn’t want any repeats.  This past New Year’s Eve, I did two brand new activities taken from Justine Jones and Mary Ann Kelleys’ book Improv Ideas — also published by Meriwether Publishing — with my own twist on each.  They both were very successful.

After dividing the class into 6 groups of 6, I gave each group a prop.  I had some wonderful items from my kitchen.  The only caveat was that they couldn’t use any pictures depicting a kitchen and/or the utensil as it was intended.  They had about five minutes to come up with three frozen pictures using the item in three different ways.  One of the best was a gravy whisk used as a branding iron!  We made the local paper on January 1 with zombies being attacked by a frosting spatula! (Pictured above.) 

We had about six minutes left so I kept them in the same groups, handed them 5 cards with sounds effects written on them (see a partial list below), gave them 2 minutes to create a one-minute story using any two of the sound effects, making the sounds with their voices and/or anything they could find in the room, as well as dialogue. As each group performed, we all closed our eyes and listened. Someone always guessed what the story was about.

The most amazing thing about this “class” was that when they entered they were strangers, but by the end, they were friends, working together, all participating. It was so rewarding.  I think they had a great time too — we all laughed and clapped … a lot!       

Sound Effects
Applause, Baby crying, Baby laughing, Battle, Bears growling, Birds chirping, Blizzard, Car chase, Car crash, Car horn, Chairs scraping, Church clock striking, Clock ticking, Gunfight, Heartbeat, Heavy breathing, Horse neigh, Knife being sharpened, Laughing, Rocket launch, Screaming seagulls, Series of explosions, Sink draining, Snoring, Swarm of bees, Taps, Whimpering, Wolves howling, Wooden gate creaking

The Theatre Classroom — White Elephant Christmas

December 8th, 2011

A fun activity for the Christmas season is to have each student find a white elephant (something that isn’t bought but found around the house that no one wants) and wrap it up so it looks very enticing.  The trick is to make it look like a super gift on the outside! (And every student must participate.)

The day of your ‘gift’ exchange, you may want to have a party — which, of course, has been cleared with the administration.  Gather all the gifts and let everyone look at them. Then each student draws a number from 1 to the number in the class.  The person with #1 gets to choose which gift he/she wants and then #2 gets his/her choice and so on until everyone has a gift.  No one is to open anything yet!

Then the gifts can be exchanged or kept, depending on each student’s want.  Lots of bargaining can go on.  Then each student tries to guess what is in their package — if you want, the person who brought it could give a hint. Then the students open their packages one at a time.  Bargaining might continue!  Lots of laughter ensues and it is great fun.  One year I invited my vice principal to the party and he got a bigger kick out of it than the students.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Some improvisation ideas and sign mime activities are coming in 2012.

The Theatre Classroom — Secret Santa

December 8th, 2011

As the Christmas Season is upon us, I would like to share another little Christmas activity.  Each of my students filled out the following form, which was then put in a hat.  Everyone drew a name and had to give that person three things (of course not being caught!), be it candy, a gift card, a note (poem), etc.  I set a limit of $5 per student (it’s the thought that counts, not the expenditure of money that is important) for all three gifts, but it can be less with today’s economy. I insisted that everyone participate.  We didn’t want anyone left out.

On the last day before Christmas vacation, their secret was revealed in a party the last 15 minutes of class. It would be fun for each person to write down who they thought their Secret Santa was and see how close they came. Everyone brought something appropriate to eat or drink. (I of course had gotten permission to have a party in my room from my administration.)  Not only was it fun, but it also made a greater bond within the group — so important in a theatre production class.

This certainly would be fun for any class.  If you are teaching English you could require that the 3 things be literary pieces that each Secret Santa writes about their person and it wouldn’t cost anything — just a thought.

To save on paper, I put twelve of these forms on a page.

Name_______________________________  Locker # ______

Favorite candy________________

Favorite color______________________________

Appropriate favorite drink [coffee, pop, water] _____________________

The Theatre Classroom – A Simple Christmas Presentation

December 8th, 2011

If your school is anything like mine, the music department is responsible for a Christmas program and singing and playing appropriate Christmas music. As my fall show was over and we hadn’t started on the winter production, I wanted to do something for Christmas. Several times I did a show for children with a Christmas theme. One year, however, I met with the music department and asked if my drama students could have four minutes in their all school Christmas assembly program and they graciously gave me the nod. The following idea does not require any set, costumes, program, etc. — just time to learn the ‘signs’.

I always wanted my students to learn sign language, often using popular songs. I scouted for an appropriate song that the choir, band, and orchestra were not performing. I decided on The Chipmunks’ rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas,” a perfect addition to the concert. 

Everyone was to know and present the refrain ‘On the ___ day of Christmas my true love game to me’ and two of the 12 days, so I taught them the signs for: ‘Five Golden Rings,’ ‘A Partridge in a Pear Tree’ and the refrain. Then I divided the class into groups of 10.  

These groups were then given their specific day. Each group had to research their signs and practice so that they were in sync with each other as well as the tape. The group who was assigned day 6 was also Alvin, the chipmunk who always causes trouble. As I had more than one in that group, I assigned one of them to be Alvin, who learned the signs for what Alvin says in the song.  

We spent about two weeks, 15 minutes a day, preparing for our debut.

On the day we performed, everyone stood in a line, stepping out to present his or her specific day (everyone stepping out for ‘5 Golden Rings’ and ‘A Partridge In A Pear Tree’) and I ran the tape machine. Several of the students were involved in the choir and band so they joined us and the audience loved the change of pace.  A professional signer came up afterwards and told my students they were very good. 

It is also possible to sign one of the songs being performed in the concert. It is a great way to work with the music department and usher in the season.

The Theatre Classroom — Performances

November 21st, 2011

Several weeks ago I was out to lunch with some fellow teachers.  That is one of the joys of retirement — we have time to “do lunch” and talk, not worrying about getting back to work. I digress.  One of the gals has several nieces and nephews who are involved in music.  She had just attended a fall concert.  The community where this was held is very rural — total population maybe 700 — and of course it was held in the gym.

In the program the choral director — her second year — had noted to please be a courteous audience, even listing dos and don’ts. Before the concert began, she welcomed the audience and reiterated her comments in the program. Most of the folks in her audience also attend basketball games. They assumed that they could let their little ones run around on the bleachers as they do at sports events.

The concert had gone on for about fifteen minutes when, during the middle of a number, the director stopped.  She turned to the audience and told them to please not let the little ones run around. It was not the correct etiquette for a choral concert because it disrupted her students’ concentration and it did not show any respect for all their hard work.

She did not begin the concert again until everyone had “collected” his or her children — it took about 10 minutes!

So what has this to do with drama?  I mention in The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide: A tool kit for the theatre arts several instances where I stopped a show, either talking directly to the audience or sending the audience back to their classes for inappropriate behavior. One of our duties as drama directors is to educate our audiences on the proper behavior when attending a play.  Do not settle for anything less.

In my new book, The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide #2: Activities, exercises and techniques for the theatre classroom, I also discuss Theatre Behavior and Theatre Etiquette on pages 12 and 13.  Obviously I think it is very important.

Photos

One thing I would like to urge you to do is not forget, when producing your shows, to take pictures.  It is easy to forget with all the commotion and emotion of getting a show open, but with digital cameras it is simple to do. You may not want to take time to do it, but believe me, when a few years have passed you will appreciate the effort.

It is also important that you have a time for parents to take pictures.  You do not want flash photography during a production.  This of course is just another thing your audience needs to know.  Possibly have them come to a rehearsal or have them take pictures after a performance. Also, if you were to write a book dealing with theatre, photographs help tell your story!

I have recently reconnected with some of my students through Facebook and because I, with the help of my husband, had taken the time to photograph most of my productions, I am able to share these wonderful memories.

I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.  Hopefully you’ll get to eat well and get a bit of a rest.

The Theatre Classroom — Halloween

October 17th, 2011

With Halloween just around the corner, you might want to celebrate it in several ways. One of the fun things I did was to have my students complete the following word search and offer a prize for the first student who had completed it correctly in the shortest amount of time. Of course the prize was candy, because what is Halloween without candy!!

Unscramble These Halloween Words

HUGLO [ghoul]
NHUDEAT [haunted]
IRKTC [trick]
ATETR [treat]
YARCS [scary]
NLALEWHEO [Halloween]
HTWCI [witch]
NIOBLG [goblin]
PPKMUNI [pumpkin]
RURSCAETE [creatures]
RVAYDEARG [graveyard]
HTOSG [ghost]
KOLEETNS [skeleton]
DPSISRE [spiders]
SORENTM [monster]

If you want to extend this type of activity, you can also find many Halloween crossword puzzles on the Internet.

The second thing I liked to do was divide the class into groups and have them present three of Jack Prelutsky’s poems — “The Ogre,” “The Ghoul,” and “The Troll” — from his book Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep. You can find these three poems on page 47 in my recently published book, The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide #2.

If you are not familiar with Mr. Prelutsky’s work, I am including another poem from this collection, “The Witch.” The author uses wonderful words — cackling, screech, desiccated, and shriek — that your students can vocally enhance, making the poem sound dramatic, dangerous, and/or desperate. These may not be appropriate for every classroom, so make sure they are suitable for your school district and community. Happy Haunting!

The Witch
by Jack Prelutsky
She comes by night, in fearsome flight,
In garments black as pitch,
The queen of doom upon her broom,
The wild and wicked witch.
A cackling crone with brittle bones
And desiccated limbs,
Two evil eyes with warts and sties
And bags about the rims,
A dangling nose, ten twisted toes
And folds of shriveled skin,
Cracked and chipped and crackled lips
That frame a toothless grin.
She hurtles by, she sweeps the sky
And hurls a piercing screech.
As she swoops past, a spell is cast
On all her curses reach.
Take care to hide when the wild witch rides
To shriek her evil spell.
What she may do with a word or two Is much too grim to tell.

The Theatre Classroom — The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide #2

September 26th, 2011

Welcome back to another year. Hopefully it has started out well and you are knee-deep into drama activities. And speaking of activities, do I have a deal for you!  My second book, The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide #2: Activities, exercises and techniques for the theatre, became available on September 15.  It contains 8 chapters I feel are important for the drama classroom: The First Week, Technical Theatre, Choral Reading, Mime, Stage Fighting, Several Solo and Duo Acting Activities, Working With Monologues, and Students Writing Their Own Show. I am soooo excited.

My first book, The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide, was all about the organization of a successful extracurricular program, but this one has my heart. I loved teaching my kids about the various areas of theatre and we had a wonderful time learning and discovering together. Of course the great folks at Meriwether published it and you can buy it from them.  You can also check out my web site for more information.  I am getting ready for a signing at our local bookstore this week so I am going to cut this short, but never fear, I have some great new stuff coming your way.  My shoulder is mending, my tennis elbow still persists, and I have just had carpel tunnel surgery — which does not enhance my typing speed.

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