While they are outside, another actor is chosen to lead the motion. When the outside actor returns to the room, it is their job to guess who is the leader. The leader can change the motion whenever they want. The goal is not to get caught. Once the leader is identified, a new person is sent out of the room and a new leader is chosen.
Build a Machine — This is a great game to build teamwork. One person stands up and makes a simple repetitive gesture with a single sound. Continue until the whole group is a part of the machine. Fill the Space — This game is helpful for special awareness and focus. Have the group all stand and start walking slowly and silently around the space. Encourage them not to walk in straight lines, but rather to weave in and out of each other. Ask them to speed up their walk and change directions.
The goal is to keep their pace consistent and be aware of each other so as not to walk into anyone. Emotional Square — This game aims to get your group to explore how different actions affect character. Divide the room into four quadrants and assign a different action to each location.
For example, to inspire, to criticize, to challenge, to frighten. Give each participant a line of dialogue and have them play the action in each quadrant. Encourage actors to use different levels and explore different ways of expressing emotion with their bodies. Theatre games are a creative way to teach theatre skills and build self-confidence. Be creative and come up with your own games. And most importantly…have fun!
This is a great game for helping your students learn stage directions. The teacher calls out stage directions, such as downstage right or center. Any students who move there otherwise are eliminated. Try to keep the calls coming quickly to keep the game interesting.
The teacher selects one student to sit in a chair and face away from the rest of the group. Ask the student in the chair to close their eyes.
Once all three students have gone, the student in the chair must guess who each one was. Choose two to three actors to be onstage.
Choose a director for each actor. The directors sit at the back, and the actors play out the scene at the front. The teacher assigns the actors a scene and the first direction, and the scene begins. The actors can only do what their directors say. The directors each take a turn narrating the scene, and the actors must act it out. Playing drama games is a great informal benchmark for where students are at in both comfort and range.
Having them engage in games continuously over the length of the course allows you to see visible progress as students learn, become more comfortable and grow their abilities. Encourage everyone to participate and watch as they flourish and have fun! Katelynn is a writer and elementary arts teacher from Toronto. From acting to choreographing to directing, she has been fortunate enough to take part in a variety of shows.
You must be logged in to post a comment. No cheating by saying the first fruit while running towards that person. World Tour countries of the world… I usually say that nobody can be your home country to make it fair. Or, you could answer the questions anonymously, mix up the answers, read them out loud and guess which actor gave which answer! This one comes via Theatre Girl. Tableau vivante or, frozen picture is where the body is used to create a frozen picture.
Tableau may not use movement or words — just your body and your imagination. Tableau can be used as a warm-up activity, as a game, or even in productions as a different way to tell a story! Fairy Tale Tableau is a game that I use to introduce young actors to the concept of tableau. It has rules and limits, but allows for creativity. Divide the actors into small groups kids per group and secretly give each group a fairy tale or nursery rhyme to act out.
Some examples might include:. Only three! This forces the group to think of the most important parts of the story. Each member of the group must be something in the scene. If there are not enough characters to go around, then the extra members need to think creatively as to what they will be in the scene.
They could be a set piece, a piece of furniture, a new character… whatever they want! Give the groups a time limit to figure out their scenes, then have each group perform for the other groups. Make sure the group holds each tableau for a minimum of 10 seconds one-one thousand, two-one thousand…. Once the three tableaux are presented, the other groups have to guess what the story is that was just presented. Kerry Hishon is an actor, director, stage combatant, and writer living in London, Ontario, Canada.
The Actor Grows program for five years, teaching the basics of theatre to over 60 new company members each year. Are there any crowd scenes? Are there scenes that take place in a park? A senior center?
A courtroom? On film sets, there is an assistant director AD , with one of the primary jobs of the AD being to place the background "extras" — actors who may simply walk across the scene or play a part in the crowd. With that introduction, before you watch an AD in action, you might figure it to be a simple job. But while watching an experienced AD work you'll realize that there's an artistry to directing background.
Characters in the background can help to establish the setting and the energy of the play. If your show has a large cast with several crowd scenes, make the most of it.
Create a whole world on the stage. Even if the young actors don't have a single line, they can convey a character and enhance the play. No matter how big or small the role, every young actor can benefit from character outlines. If you are directing the principals and the ensemble cast members have some downtime, ask them to write about their characters.
Ask them to respond to some of these prompts:. If time allows, the cast members could develop scenes either written or improvisational showing these not-so-minor characters in action. And if you have any students that enjoy reading and writing, teach them more about creative ways to analyze plays to get more out of the experience and possibly influence them to write their own work. This will allow them to learn more about the diverse world of theater, and it will help them become more versatile performers.
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