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CURRICULUM GUIDE
Theater games
and resources for the
classroom
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Handouts
Games
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Silent Acting and
Imagination Games
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Focus and Observation Games
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Creating Drama Improvisations
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Observation and Listening
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Characters
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Interpreting Scripts
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Physical
(Silent) Acting and Imagination
Games
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Guess
My Occupation (or Guess the Mime)
One student is selected to pantomime a
particular occupation. He can choose it, or the
teacher can assign it. He works for about 30-45
seconds, after which the audience is allowed to
guess what occupation he was demonstrating. Group
feedback as to what was successful about the work
is always helpful, as are suggestions for
improvement should the audience not be able to
guess the occupation.
Variations of this game include: Guess my
Animal, Guess my Musical Instrument, Guess my
Sport
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Curtains
Establish three playing areas by delineating
them with an object of any kind. Ask students to
think of these three areas as stage areas separated
by a curtain. Demonstrate how they will move
through the exercise -- slowly and in a straight
line, through all three areas.
Ask for "ways of being," "emotions," "famous
people" -- whatever category you think is most
appropriate for your class. Choose three. Assign
one "way of being" to each of the three areas.
For example, let's say you choose old, young,
and conceited. Line up a small group of students at
the start of the first playing area. Students, in
groups of three to five, walk very, very slowly
through each area, improvising each way of being.
They change from one to the other as they pass
through each imaginary curtain. So, for example, at
a signal from you students would start out playing
"old." When they crossed the first curtain, they'd
immediately change to "young," then at the second
curtain, to "conceited." At the end of each group's
performance, have the class assess what sorts of
details were really believable and why.
Ground rules:
-Students must move slowly
-Students must be silent
-Students must work independently
-Students must continue to add details the whole
length of the exercise, rather than jumping into a
posture and maintaining it for the whole area
-Students must try and trust that they'll come up
with a good idea on the spot, and try not to plan
what they will do
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Bus
Stop
This is a character-building exercise that
focuses on physicality. Set up a corner bus stop in
your playing space with a bench (or 2-3 chairs).
Select a small group of students to perform. Assign
each student an age to portray. The student then
enters the stage, concentrating on playing the age.
Encouragement should be given for detailed physical
exploration. When the first student has established
their character, cue the second to enter the
playing space, then the third, and so on. You can
add conflict to the scene by adding new
information, like "the bus is coming," "the bus is
very late, and so are you," "there is a sudden
downpour of rain," etc. At the end of the
improvisation, the audience can guess what age the
actors were assigned.
Variation: Give the student other details
to incorporate into the scene. For example: "You
are a 45-year old high-powered executive, forced to
use the bus this morning"; "You are eight year old,
brand new to the city, taking a bus to school for
the first time"; "You are 16 years old, and you've
just had your hair done for the prom, and you're
anxious to get home and get dressed for the big
night," etc.
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Postcards
Divide the class into two teams, A and B. Each
team invents three places (real or imagined)they
would want to receive a postcard from. Examples
might be the Grand Canyon, a Buddhist Monastery in
Tibet, and Atlantis. Team A stands, ready to
improvise. A member of team B reads the first
location and team A has 60 seconds to put
themselves into a "postcard" (a frozen tableaux)
that evokes the location. Teams take turns
performing.
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Act
Like An Animal
The teacher initiates a discussion of how some
people have traits we ordinarily associate with
animals (nervous like a squirrel, cocky like a
rooster, etc) and how the animal characters in
Animal Farm have some very human traits as
well.
Part I
In a circle, give the students a line to work with,
such as "Hello, how are you?" or "I didn't do it!"
Have them speak the line with the expression of
various animals:
a haughty peacock
an angry hen
nervous mouse|
sleepy cat
hungry wolf
slow turtle
eager puppy
etc.
Change the animal personna every five students or
so.
Part II
Have the students choose one animal. Make a circle
out of chairs and have the students sit down. This
exercise is done in complete silence.
The teacher/leader asks a series of questions
designed to help students imagine that they are
becoming their animal:
Imagine you are changing into your
animal&emdash;how would you change? Do you have
hooves, webbed feet, or paws? Try to imagine what
that must feel like; pretend you no longer have
human feet, but the feet of your animal. What about
your legs? Do you have two or four? Imagine what it
would feel like to have four legs. Are you covered
in fur? feathers? Do you have a beak or a snout?
How would that make breathing different for you?
How is your posture different? The expression on
your face? etc.
Let students take their time "becoming" their
animal characters. Some may shift and change
posture to feel more like their animal. When it
seems they've accomplished a change, ask half the
students to freeze. The other half can have a look
around at their fellow classmates. Then reverse, so
everyone has a chance to see the new personas.
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Focus,
Cooperation and Observation
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Pass
a Gesture
Students stand in a circle in "actor's
neutral" (with their hands at their sides, feet
about shoulder's distance apart). Leader initiates
a gesture, any movement at all. The person to
her/his left imitates the movement, not changing
it. Each student in turn imitates the original
movement until it comes back to the leader. The
point is to duplicate exactly what you see, not to
add your personality or expression. The exercise is
to build a group, not a collection of individual
personalities. If the gesture is changed or amended
in any way, the leader stops the game and starts
over.
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Pass
a Phrase
Students stand in a circle in "actor's neutral."
Leader says a phrase, with expression. The person
to her/his left says the same phrase, but with a
different emphasis. Each student in turn gives the
phrase a different emphasis/style until it comes
back to the leader. The point here is to see how
many different ways the same set of words can be
expressed. To go further, add a gesture to the
phrase and pass both around the circle. To
encourage shy students, make the phrase an insult
from the Shakespearean Insult Sheet; students love
to do this!
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Counting
Game
Students stand in a circle, as above. The idea
of the game is to count as high as possible, but no
two people may talk at once. The leader simply says
the word, "one." Without talking, gesturing or
making eye contact, another member of the group
says "two." See how high your students can count
without two of them saying the same number. Often,
students will try to figure out a system of who
goes first, second, etc. Try to discourage
this&emdash;having a system is not the point. The
point is to listen carefully and sense what will
happen next. It is unusual to get beyond ten with a
beginning group. However, students improve at this
game the more often they do it.
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Line
up!
Find an area large enough to fit all your
students standing shoulder to shoulder in a
straight line. Give instructions that begin with,
"Line up in order of…(the colors of the
rainbow; how old you are from youngest to oldest;
tallest to shortest; length of hair; number of
siblings; alphabetically by first name; etc.). This
game can be played silently so that students can
practice observation and cooperation skills, or
with words, so that students can use investigative
skills and reasoning to line themselves up.
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Shark
Shark is an excellent team-building game, and
requires concentration, focus and quick-wittedness.
Each player has to pay attention at every moment of
the game, just as they would if they were actors in
a play.
Players stand in a circle. One player is the
"shark" and stands in the center of the circle with
her hands clasped together in front of her like the
nose of a shark. To begin the game, the "shark"
silently chooses a victim. She walks slowly and
directly towards one of the players in the circle.
That player must point at someone else in the
circle, who must in turn shout out the name of the
person pointing before the "shark" touches him with
her clasped hands. If the name is called out
(correctly) before the "shark" reaches her victim,
the "shark" continues on to her next victim. It
MUST be across the circle (e.g., not the person
standing next to the first victim). If the "shark"
is successful and reaches the victim before his
name is called, that victim becomes the next
"shark."
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Blue
Plate Special
An excellent memory builder in which the group
works on fully and carefully observing a set of
objects. Any number of players can participate. A
dozen or more real objects are placed on a tray
which is set in the center of a circle of players.
After ten or fifteen seconds, the tray is covered
or removed. Players then write individual lists
naming as many of the objects as can be remembered.
The lists are then compared with the tray of
objects. Depending on the age of your group, add or
decrease the number of objects called fo in the
description.
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Creating
Drama Improvisations
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Who
What Where: Improvisations from
Literature
Make a list of the people, places and events in
the story. If you are working with a novel, divide
it up into smaller sections. Divide your list into
three columns: who, what and where. Enter the items
on your list into the columns. It should look like
this:
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Who
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What
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Where
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1.
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porpoise
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bale of hay
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bus stop
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2.
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ballerina
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keys
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the Olympics
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3.
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principal
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hot dogs
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mall
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(It doesn't matter if the words make sense
together, in fact, they should not)
Divide students into small groups of 3-4 and ask
each group to pick a number. Read the
who/what/where for that number to them (and only to
them). Give students five minutes to invent a scene
based on the three elements given to them, WITHOUT
mentioning them by name in the skit. At the end of
the improvisation, have the rest of the class try
and guess the who/what/where. Discuss the scene to
help students develop a critical eye about what
works and what doesn't in drama.
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Secret
Scenes
Some scenes in a novel may be implied. Some are
not central to the action, but help the reader
understand the character and plot of the story.
Brainstorm a list of scenes that are NOT in the
novel, but could be. Give each group of students a
"secret scene" to improvise.
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Dramatic
Tableaux: Photographs
Choose a series of dramatic moments from a
story, painting, history or current events. Divide
students into groups of 3-5 and give each group a
moment to work on. For example, the assignment
could be to create a still photograph of "the bus
that Rosa Parks rode on" or "the first meeting of
Romeo and Juliet" or the "Vinegar Tasters"
painting. Students create a photograph of the
moment using their own bodies&emdash;a frozen
tableau. Moments can be linked together to create a
sequence of events. For atmosphere, play music that
evokes the time period or place in the
background.
Sound Track
The class creates the sound track (using only
their voices) to go with the moment being
shown.
What are they
thinking?
Teacher walks through the tableaux and taps
each actor on the shoulder. The actor says one
line that reveals the thoughts of the character
he/she is portraying. This is very effective
when used with the Still Photographs and will
help students gain a deeper understanding of the
story and characters.
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Observation
and Listening
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The
Sun Shines On...
Students arrange their chairs in a circle. There
is one chair for each student except one. That
person stands in the center of the circle to begin
the game. The object for the person in the center
is to get a seat. The object for everyone in the
chairs is also to get a seat. For every round there
will be one extra person.
The student in the center looks carefully at the
others and silently identifies some trait or detail
that he or she has in common with at least one
other person, for example, shoelaces. The student
in the center then begins the game by saying, "The
sun shines on...everyone with shoelaces." Every
student who has shoelaces must find a new seat. The
one who is slowest to do this is caught in the
middle. They begin the next round. Qualifiers can
be simple, like glasses or a ring or socks; or they
can be more complex, like "the sun shines on
everyone who goes to church, or everyone who's
parents are from another country." The game has no
set ending; it can go on as long as the students
are engaged.
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Statues
Students stand in a circle in "actor's neutral,"
with their hands at their sides, feet about
shoulder's distance apart. The teacher leads the
exercise by naming an emotional state, such as
nervous, or angry, or proud, etc. Students then
have ten beats (each beat is about a second) to
slowly move into a posture that expresses the
emotional state. At the count of ten, they freeze.
Teacher chooses another emotion and repeats the
game. The emphasis here is on encouraging the
students to move very slowly and thoughtfully, and
to keep adding details to their pose as long as
they have time left.
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Fruit
Salad
Fruit Salad is a good game for helping students
improve listening skills (such as following
directions) and negotiating physical space. Arrange
chairs in a circle (and equal number of chairs and
players). To begin the game, assign each student a
fruit: apple, pear or banana. Make sure students
understand who they are ("will all the apples raise
their hands? all the pears? etc.). Teacher calls
out one of the fruits: "Apple!" All the students
assigned to be apples must find a new seat. Repeat
with a different fruit. When the students have the
hang of the game, call out "fruit salad!" which
means every single player must find a new seat.
Keep them on their toes by surprising the players
with different patterns each time you call out.
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Characters
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Gibberish
Interpreters
This is a good character development game. It
also requires extraordinary teamwork.
Two students sit side by side in chairs facing
the rest of the class. One is the gibberish
speaker, a dignitary from some foreign or imagined
place who's been asked to give a speech to the
assembled crowd. The other person is their
interpreter. Invent a scenario for these two
"guests," e.g., a Russian ballerina who's come to
the United States to plead for money to buy her
dancers new shoes; an alien giving a lecture on
life in the Pleides; a student from Lower Slobovia
talking about bobsledding in the Huge Mountains,
etc.).
The gibberish speaking student must offer
sentences about his subject, but only in a made-up
language. The interpreter must interpret them as
best he can for the audience.
Make each "lecture" short&emdash;2-3
minutes&emdash;and invite the audience to ask
questions after the initial presentation.
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Hot
Seating the Character
A good research tool, or a way to get students
to learn more about fictional, historical or
mythical characters is by "hot seating" them.
Assign students different characters to think
about based on your curriculum (Snow White, Anne
Frank, Clara Barton, one of the Little Pigs or the
Wolf). Once students have chosen a character to
research, allow them enough time to think about
their character: what might their voice be like?
How might they sit? What kinds of things are they
thinking about? Are they angry? Afraid? Who are
their friends?
Ask for a volunteer to come up "on stage." The
student, in the role of his or her character begins
by sitting in a chair (hence the expression "hot
seating"), and should concentrate on exploring the
character's physicality, demeanor, etc. while being
interviewed. The rest of the class may ask
questions of the character. These questions can be
prepared ahead of time with the class, or be left
to the spur of the moment: "So Mr. Wolf, what on
earth possessed you to think you could blow down a
brick house?"
This interview process will often give a teacher
insight into the depth and breadth of student
understanding and involvement with the subject
matter.
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Interpretation:
Neutral Scenes
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Instructions:
A pair of actors works together. Any one of
these scenes can be done an infinite number of
ways.
In pairs, read over the scene several times.
Decide which character each person will be, A or B.
You must use all the words in the order given and
may not add any words, but you can use any actions,
movement, or vocal interpretations you wish. You
may make notes on your script. You will have 20
minutes to discuss and rehearse your scene for
performance.
Together, answer the following questions for
your scene:
Who are the characters? What does each character
want from the scene?
What is happening in the scene?
Where is the action taking place?
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Scene #1:
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Scene #2
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A Excuse me
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A It must be
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B That's unbelievable
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B Really
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A One more time
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A I wonder
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B Listen
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B You don't suppose
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A What
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A I've got one
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B Can you
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B And then of course
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A Of course
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A Better still
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B Excuse me
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B You are
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A That's unbelievable
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A Don't
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B That's better
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B Oh
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A Really
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A Oh
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B Unbelievable
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Scene #3
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Scene #4:
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A Where are you going
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A Interesting
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B Out
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B What
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A What about the boxes
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A What
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B I'd like to go for a walk
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B Oh
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A So would I
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A Really
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B You stay here
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B If you say so
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A Why should I
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A Don't
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B Stay here
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B It's all right
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A Why
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A It's not all right
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B The boxes
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B What's the matter with you
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A Let's both of us go
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A What's the matter with you
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B Why don't you carry them
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A Me
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B Let's go for a walk
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A What about the boxes
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Curriculum developed by the
Department of Drama and Dance, Cambridge Public
School teachers and Studebaker Theater artists
involved with the Cambridge Public School Drama
Collaborative, a project funded in part by the
Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
CPSDC is a multi-year teacher training program that
helps teachers integrate drama into the curriculum.
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