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

September 14th, 2010

Pantomime warm-up exercises

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.