The Theatre Classroom — End of the year

May 23rd, 2011

Community Theatre Production — Arsenic and Old Lace

April 1st, 2011

This winter has taken a toll on my old bones.   I tripped on cement, fell on the ice, and broke my right shoulder.  That is why you haven’t heard from me, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been idle. I had the chance to play a great role in a community theatre production of Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by one of my former students and acting with two other former students -- so as the saying goes, “The show must go on.”  We’ve had sellout crowds, but I have to say it has taken some steely dedication!  To read the article that appeared in our local paper, click here. 

The Theatre Classroom — Anguish Languish

February 7th, 2011

So what the heck is "anguish languish"?  It is a form of malaprop — a mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one. An unbelievable number of English words, regardless of their usual meanings, can be substituted quite satisfactorily for others. When all the words in a given passage have been so replaced, the passage keeps its original meaning. For example, a word that has received a new meaning has become a wart, and when all the words in the passage have become warts, the passage is no longer English; it’s Anguish!

When I was working with a short interpretation unit, I often used the following piece, first read by Arthur Godfrey in the 1950s. My students loved it.  It has also been used as a humorous solo on speech contests. After the first few lines I provided a “translation” to help you get used to the style. It does take lots of practice! Enjoy.

Ladle Rat Rotten Hut by Howard L. Chace

[Little Red Riding Hood]

Wants pawn term dare worsted ladle gull hoe lift wetter 

[Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived with her]

murder inner ladle cordage honor itch offer lodge, dock, florist.

[mother in a little cottage on the edge of a dark forest.]

Disk ladle gull orphan worry Putty ladle rat cluck wetter ladle rat hut, an fur disk

[This little girl often wore a little red cloak with a pretty little red hat and for this]

raisin pimple colder Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.

[reason people called her Little Red Riding hood]

Wan moaning Ladle Rat Rotten Hut's murder colder inset.

"Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, heresy ladle basking winsome burden barter an shirker cockles. Tick disk ladle basking tutor cordage offer groin-murder hoe lifts honor udder site offer florist. Shaker lake! Dun stopper laundry wrote! Dun stopper peck floors! Dun daily-doily inner florist, an yonder nor sorghum-stenches, dun stopper torque wet strainersi"

"Hoe-cake, murder," resplendent Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, an tickle ladle basking an stuttered oft.

Honor wrote tutor cordage offer groin-murder, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut mitten anomalous woof.

"Wail, wail, wail!" set disk wicket woof, "Evanescent Ladle Rat Rotten Hutf Wares are putty ladle gull goring wizard ladle basking?"

"Armor goring tumor groin-murder's," reprisal ladle gull. "Grammar's seeking bet. Armor ticking arson burden barter an shirker cockles."

"0 hoe! Heifer gnats woke," setter wicket woof, butter taught tomb shelf, "Oil tickle shirt court tutor cordage offer groin-murder. Oil ketchup wetter letter, an den-- O bore!"

Soda wicket woof tucker shirt court, an whinny retched a cordage offer groin-murder, picked inner windrow, an sore debtor pore oil worming worse lion inner bet. Inner flesh, disk abdominal woof lipped honor bet, paunched honor pore oil worming, an garbled erupt. Den disk ratchet ammonol pot honor groin-murder's nut cup an gnat-gun, any curdled ope inner bet.

Inner ladle wile, Ladle Rat Rotten Hut a raft attar cordage, an ranker dough ball. "Comb ink, sweat hard," setter wicket woof, disgracing is verse.

Ladle Rat Rotten Hut entity bet rum, an stud buyer groin-murder's bet.

"O Grammarl" crater ladle gull historically, "Water bag icer gut! A nervous sausage bag icel"

"Battered lucky chew whiff, sweat hard," setter bloat-Thursday woof, wetter wicket small honors phase.

O, Grammar, water bag noisel A nervous sore suture anomalous prognosis!"

"Battered small your whiff, doling," whiskered dole woof, ants mouse worse waddling.

"O Grammar, water bag mouser gutY A nervous sore suture bag mouse!"

Daze worry on-forger-nut ladle gull's lest warts. Oil offer sodden, caking offer carvers an sprinkling otter bet, disk hoard-hoarded woof lipped own pore Ladle Rat Rotten Hut an garbled erupt.

MURAL: Yonder nor sorghum stenches shut ladle gulls stopper torque wet strainers.

Theatre Classroom — Technical Theatre Review

January 13th, 2011

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are bearing up over all this weather we’ve been having. It seems no one is immune.  I am currently working on a new book about drama activities for the classroom.  One of my chapters is on Technical Theatre. I divided it into two parts, Technical Terms and Important Areas of Theatre Production. Most of the information dealt with terms and concepts, important information basic drama students should know, and easy subjects for standard testing, but it’s all rather dry. I wanted to give this chapter some kind of fun activity, so I developed the following game to use as a review before the major test.

Jeopardy — Theatre Style

Sometimes instead of an open-ended question and answer review, we played a game loosely based on Jeopardy for extra credit points using answers referring to the technical terms and areas of theatre production.

Each student was responsible for a certain number of words/concepts.  On the review day, they came to class with the definition of the terms/concepts written out on separate pieces of paper.  All the answers were put in a hat. If a student did not come to class prepared, they could not participate.

The class was divided into two teams.  Each team decided in what order each contestant would answer.  Then we decided which team would go first — usually guessing a number I selected and the closest team to that number would start.

Each contestant got only one chance to answer, just like Jeopardy.  You will need a timer that can count seconds as you give each contestant 8 seconds to give “the question.”  If the contestant did not answer or gave an incorrect “question” within the 8 seconds, the “answer” went to the other team.  You keep going until the right “question” is given. The other team then starts with a new “answer.”  A point is awarded to each team that answered correctly.

So what was the incentive?  It could be anything you think is fair.  I chose to give the winning team two wrong answers on the test and not be penalized; the losing team would get one wrong answer.  It was a bit of a pain to correct, but they had a great time learning and remembering the terms — what I had wanted in the first place.  I did not tell them their “prize for winning” until the game was over — to keep suspense!

What a Drama Teacher Does in the Summer — Missoula Children’s Theatre Fine Arts Camp Part 3

December 1st, 2010

First of all, I want to apologize for being so delinquent in updating my blog. My only answer is to say that I’ve been busy — have just been appointed program chairman of our Osher Life Long Learning Institute at the University of Montana.  My committee selects the teachers and classes that will be taught for the over 50 crowd who take these enrichment classes just for the joy of learning.  I’ve also been cast in White Christmas as Martha, the innkeeper.  Lots of lines to learn, and believe me, my brain isn’t as it once was, so I have been struggling. Anyway, enough about my excuses and on to this fun activity.

While your students are working on pantomime and doing their exaggerated emotions, also have them thinking of performing in front of a camera.  We will now put these emotions to work.

Silent Movie

We are going to use mime to create a short “chase and fight scene.” Begin by going on YouTube and finding either an original silent movie or a modern one and show it to the class before you begin this activity. There are many great Keystone Cops clips to give your students a feel for slapstick.

Explain that when performing this short scene the only way of communicating with the audience is through movement and expressions.  That was why the students worked with overdone expressions. Now they need to add “over-the-top” gestures as well.

Divide your class into groups of three. The scene must have a policeman, a thief, and a shop owner. The story line must have a beginning, a middle, and end, hopefully with the thief being caught by the policeman. Your students need to think how they can make their characters and the situation obvious. What gestures can they use?  Again, use exaggeration — but with total believability.

To show the fight, your students are to create three different still images to show the action. There is to be no physical contact! Encourage them to add slapstick movements. (Jumping up and down like a boxer, doing a wind-up windmill hit, etc.)

Each group has 2 pieces of card stock and a broad black marker to create placards. Remember, those two cards are to help tell the story. Remind them that they must be used appropriately.

A great addition would be silent movie music, which you can find free at http://incompetech.com/.

As this is the beginning of December and we’ll be doing a three-week run of White Christmas, I will say Happy Holidays and we’ll see you in 2011.

What a Drama Teacher Does in the Summer — Missoula Children’s Theatre Fine Arts Camp Part 2

October 21st, 2010

I would like to share more activities I used in my summer drama camp.

After we did Group Stop and 8 Various Walks and discussed pantomime, we continued with the following four games.

Have your students move about the room, swinging their arms, jumping, bending, or anything very active, and then call “freeze.” One by one, have your students use their frozen pose to perform an activity they think the pose represents.  You will know what they are doing by the way the movement is executed.  After each student completes his/her action, discuss what everyone saw. Sometimes suggestions can be given of how to improve, but most of the time your students’ actions are very clear.

This game works best with a group of 8-10.  With a larger group, divide them into two-three teams.

The group(s) stand outside a designated performance space. One person runs into the space, forms his/her body into a statue, and announces what he/she is.  For example, "I'm a tree."

Instantly, the next person runs in and forms something else in the same picture, but not saying what he/she is, and so on until the whole picture is complete.  It should be clear to everyone what/who each addition is to the picture. If there is any confusion the actor can say what they are, such as:  "I'm a bench under the tree," or "I'm a bird on the bench."

Start again. And again.  This game needs to go very, very fast.  There is no time to think — just go! If there are two or three teams, they alternate.

Give each student one of the seven emotions from 8 Walks: agitated, angry, athletic, confused, enthusiastic, frightened, or jumpy (you can add more if you like). Yes, there will be repeats, but the students don’t know that. Ask your students to walk into the acting area, sit for 30 seconds, and then leave, acting out their specific emotion without a word being spoken.  Explain that when performing mime the only way of communicating with the audience is through movement and expressions; therefore, it is important to make all gestures, thoughts, and feelings bigger than in normal life but caution them about portraying stereotypes and overacting. You want to see real emotions. You want to believe! They have to think about not only how to walk, but sit, wait, and leave. Again discuss what worked and what didn’t. Helpful suggestions are always welcome.

Now you will repeat Acting Out Emotions but this time your students are to think exaggeration! You want them to do everything they just did but 10 times bigger, not forgetting they, as actors, still must believe! Again remind them to use facial expressions and movements. Have them think of this exercise as playing to a camera.

With this last exercise I am leading you to a great fun mime presentation!  Until next time, have a great fall and Halloween.

What a Drama Teacher Does in the Summer — Missoula Children’s Theatre Fine Arts Camp

September 14th, 2010

Welcome back to another school year.  I hope it was restful and you’re raring to go.  I would like to share some activities I used in my summer drama camp.

I again had the privilege of teaching a four-day drama class for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders up at Flathead Lake. The subject this summer was pantomime. I had only 1 hour per day to work with these energetic teens, with no time for homework.  So what did I do? Besides some “Get to know you games” discussed in the blog mentioned below, I started with the following two activities.

Group Stop
After everyone has quietly walked leisurely around the room, one student will elect to freeze in a position unexpectedly. As soon as another student notices that someone has frozen in position, he or she freezes as well. So the effect of one person freezing causes everyone to freeze. Once everyone is frozen, the group starts milling around again. The goal is to see how quickly the group can freeze in position.

8 Various Walks
Again, have your students walk about the room. Without talking and without physical contact, have them move about the space as if they were walking on

A crocodile-infested swamp
A narrow log over rushing water
Broken glass
Jell-O
Spaghetti
The bottom of the ocean with weights on their feet
The moon

Then they are to walk as if they felt
Agitated
Angry
Athletic
Confused
Enthusiastic
Frightened
Jumpy

Now they walk feeling/sensing various types of weather
Blinding snowstorm
Bright sunshine
Dark woods
Downpour
Hurricane winds
Sweltering heat

Now they walk on their way to
A police car after being arrested for shoplifting
A wedding
An audition
The principal’s office
Their execution
Their first job

After these various walks, discuss whether they could feel any physical difference between the walks — which was the easiest, hardest, etc.  This naturally leads into what pantomime is: communicating ideas, people and/or abstract concepts silently, clearly, and effectively using the entire body including the face.

See the Back to School and the Theatre Classroom blog for improvisational games to get your year started.

Next time I will continue with more of the activities we did at the summer camp.

The Theatre Classroom — Promoting Your Program

June 3rd, 2010

Before the school year is over, one thing I don’t think I have mentioned is contacting the local middle schools and/or grade schools in your area and letting those incoming freshman know about your drama program and the classes they can take. Counselors generally do not promote the drama program effectively. I am not in any way saying that counselors are not doing their jobs, but they are much more concerned with the basics than the Fine Arts so you need to “toot your own horn.”

Creating a handout or even presenting a show are two ways of doing this that I found effective. Clearing any handouts or presentations must be done with the principal — most are more than willing to let you notify their graduating 8^th graders. Below is one handout I used.  It was formatted differently when I handed them out — had two handouts per page and I jazzed it up with a little clip art as well as running it on colored paper.

It is also that time of year with final projects, final grades, and the school year 2009-10 finally done with.  Don’t forget to say a farewell to your students’ parents for all their support of your drama department.  See my blog Another Theatrical Year Almost Over for specifics.

I will be taking a break but will come back in the fall with more things to share.  Have a great summer.

Sentinel’s Drama Department

What students have said about the drama classes:

“Fun but challenging”
“Allows everyone to be creative”
“Helps overcome shyness”
“Chance to interact with students on a more personal level”
“You make most choices, the teacher just supervises”
“Gives you confidence”
“Super class for everyone to take”
“Stick with it, it gets better and better”
“It’s different, a great way to start the day”

Curriculum

Drama 1 is an activity course with many group exercises.  Most work is done in class that includes: pantomime, choral reading, technical theatre, improv, play writing, and acting.  An evening performance in the Little Theatre worth 1/3 of the Semester grade will be presented the last week of the semester. This elective can count as part of the Fine Arts requirement.

Drama 2 is a play production class offered to Juniors and Seniors.  Two major plays are presented to the public as well as shows written for the Junior High and Grade Schools.  As with Drama 1, most of the activity is done in class stressing group work. This elective requires passing Drama 1 and can count towards Junior and Senior English or fulfill the Fine Arts requirement.

Extracurricular

There are two all-school plays with open auditions for any student who wants to become involved. We also have openings on crew work such as costumes, set, lights, sound, and props. Rehearsals are every Monday-Thursday from 7-9.

The International Thespian Society is a non-profit, tax-exempt honorary organization for high school theatre students.  The society is committed to the advancement of educational theatre, publishing the DRAMATICS magazine and presenting the Montana State Thespian Convention, which provides college scholarships. The only requirements are 100 hours on/off stage at Sentinel and an overall grade point average of 2.0.  Our troupe sponsors the Sadie Hawkins dance, sells concessions at ball games, handles senior cap and gowns, presents an improv show at First Night, and travels to NY every two years.

The Theatre Classroom — Community Theatre

May 5th, 2010

Inspiration

I have been in rehearsals and performances for the last 3 ½ months and I am pooped.  After working on A Christmas Carol, I had just about a month to recoup before I took on Miss Lynch in a high school production of Grease featuring students from five of our high schools.  I was the only adult. As I taught and directed this age for thirty-seven years, I was excited to be working with them, but also a bit apprehensive.  After being called Mrs. J. or Mrs. Johnson — a must in my classroom — I was now called Margaret by this cast of forty-nine teenagers. I was not sure how I would be treated — I certainly was not “one of them.”  Well, I needn’t have worried. They treated me with great respect.

I was so impressed with not only their talent, but also their commitment to the production.  I did not see any squabbling or making fun of or “being cute.” They supported each other and helped whenever it was needed.  I want to tell you this generation is a wonderful generation.  We are always bombarded with the evils of our times, especially when it comes to teenagers, and I am here to say that I am tired of the news media giving air time to the 5% who are causing the problems and forgetting the 95% who are good, caring people who will be our leaders of tomorrow. Enough on that!

Another Tip

After performing our last show in Grease, I had one day off and then started rehearsals for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Having taught and directed a number of Shakespeare plays, I was very familiar with this script; however, I had never performed in a Shakespeare show. I immediately panicked because I needed to get the lines memorized and Peter Quince has quite a few (not like the lovers) but it seemed insurmountable. I did it and we had a very successful production, full of magic, fairies, and bawdy humor.

As I mention in my book The Drama Teacher's Survival Guide, Midsummer is all about magic, but in the two productions I directed I did not think to include any magic as in magic tricks.  This production did and I think it is something you could use if you ever do this Shakespeare play.

By using flash paper and a paper popper to represent “love-in-idleness” — the flower that Oberon talks of to Puck — gives just enough magic to make the audience begin to believe in fairies.  The flash paper is wound around the popper and when it is pulled, everything just disintegrates up in the air.

The Theatre Classroom — A Fun Handout for Your Students

April 13th, 2010

I found this many years ago and handed it out to my students.  It was particularly fun for my tech kids. Several of the expressions I had to look up, as I was unfamiliar with them.  You might be too. A “block and fall” is like a “block and tackle” used in rigging as is “tripping” and “purchase line.”  I do not know the author.

Theatre Logic

In is down, down is front,
Out is up, up is back,
off is out, on is in,
and of course -
right is left, and left is right.
A drop shouldn't and a
block and fall does neither.
And a prop doesn't, and
a cove has no water.
Tripping is O.K.
A running crew rarely gets anywhere.
A purchase line will buy you nothing.
A trap will not catch anything.
A gridiron has nothing to do with football.
Strike is work
(in fact a lot of work)
And a green room, thank God, usually isn't.
Now that you are fully versed in
theatrical terms - break a leg...
but not really!

The Succinct Version

Off is out, out is up, up is back, on is in, in is down, down is forward, left is right, right is left, and everyone works at a strike. Shuddup still means shuddup.

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