LEARNING GOAL: Practice improvisational skills
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep WARM UP: Bippity Bippity Bop (5-10 minutes) Bippity Bippity Bop Bop Charlies Angels 12345678910 Kool Aid Man 12345678910 Canoe 12345678910 PLAY: Chain Murder Four players participate. One stays in the room to start the chain. The audience offers a suggestion for an object that has a unique twist. The first player communicates the object to the second player using pantomime and gibberish. When the second player understands, then the first player hands the object over and is murdered by the second player. The third player enters, and the pattern repeats. Once the first three players have been "murdered," the fourth player guesses what the object was. PLAY: Freeze Two players are on stage, performing a short scene based on suggestions. The audience is welcome to call "Freeze" and then performers freeze. The audience member taps out one of the existing players, takes over their position, and begins a brand new scene.
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LEARNING GOAL: Practice the "and" of "Yes, and..."
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep PLAY: Questions Only Two players start on stage. The other players are in a line waiting to join. The two active players (on stage) begin a scene, but they can only speak in questions. Any time a player makes a statement, or hesitates for far too long, they go to the end of the line, and another player replaces them. The new player starts a new scene, speaking only in questions. Play until everyone has a turn. REFLECT: Q: What makes this game difficult? Q: How well does this game use the "yes, and" principle? Discuss before scrolling further down the agenda. MIKE'S THOUGHTS: I don't think that Questions Only is a good game, but it demonstrates why "Yes, and" is so important. This game requires scene partners to essentially ignore offers coming from each other. It's difficult to say "yes" with a question, and even harder to "and" if a question isn't answered. Improv beginners often use questions as a way to put decisions off onto their partner. Starting a scene with "What are you doing here?" or "What's that?" doesn't provide an offer to your scene partner, and puts them on the spot to decide the answers right away. This doesn't mean that you can't use questions in a scene, but you should consider whether your questions are giving an offer, or if you are putting the responsibility of world-building onto your scene partner. PLAY: Doors Finish the rest of the class period with Doors. There are two imaginary rooms in the stage area. Someone is in each room. Someone else will enter the rooms. The person in the room is responsible for starting a short scene. LEARNING GOAL: Introduce more improv games. DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep PLAY: Lines From a Hat Read the instructions as a class. On slips of paper, write down sentences that might lead to an interesting interaction. One sentence per slip of paper. Everyone should complete three slips of paper. Get character/location suggestions from the audience. Two players begin a scene, each with three unread lines in their pocket. A facilitator (either Makenna or Veronica) will call "line" and a performer's name. That performer will pull out a random line and read it aloud. Both players collaborate to justify why it was said, and incorporate it into the scene. Play until everyone has had a chance on stage. PLAY: What! This game plays similar to Lines From a Hat. Players do not have lines in their pocket. The facilitator will periodically call "What!" after a player speaks. Whichever player just spoke, pretends they didn't say what they said. That line is replaced with the first sentence that comes to their mind. Be spontaneous! Tip: Don't just rephrase what you said, or change 1-2 words. Blurt out a completely new sentence. For example, instead of replacing "let's go to the movies" with "let's go to the zoo" or "let's watch a movie," replace it with "the robot invasion has begun." And then have fun justifying why that was said. LEARNING GOAL: Introduce more improv games.
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep COMMITMENT ASSESSMENT: Hitchhiker For anyone that missed our Hitchhiker assessment, or would like to revise their performance, we will do a round today. INTRODUCE: Double Blind Freeze Two players are on stage, performing a short scene based on suggestions. Two players sit facing away from the performance. Facilitator calls "Freeze" and performers freeze. Seated players turn around, observe, tap out the players, and start a new scene. LEARNING GOAL: Communicate what we know about Improvisational games.
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep PEEL THE FRUIT: 1. What are we learning about in this class? What are our principles of improvisation? 2. What is something you've made in this class? Copy your principles text in. 3. What skills are you learning in this class? How can these skills be applied outside of the classroom? Outside of dramatic performance? What successes have you had? What's difficult for you? WARM UP: Double Blind Freeze Two players are on stage, performing a short scene based on suggestions. Two players sit facing away from the performance. Facilitator calls "Freeze" and performers freeze. Seated players turn around, observe, tap out the players, and start a new scene. STUDIO TIME: Theater Games Poster Assignment in Google Classroom. LEARNING GOAL: Communicate what we know about Improvisational games.
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep WARM UP: Bippity Bippity Bop STUDIO TIME WARM UP: Write Your Rules (5 minutes) Explain how to play the game. Include as much detail as necessary for someone to understand the game if they've never played or seen it. SHARE: Circle Up Read the rules that you wrote. Listen to what others wrote. What are they missing? STUDIO TIME: Theater Games Poster Assignment in Google Classroom. LEARNING GOAL: Communicate what we know about Improvisational games.
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep WARM UP: Honey, You Know I Love You, But I Just Can't Smile Similar to Quaker Meeting, but focused on one player at a time for 30 seconds. The target player needs to keep a straight face, and ends the 30 seconds by stating the name of the game. CIRCLE UP: Review five principles of improvisation. What games do you think push you the most in your use of principles? ASSIGNMENT: Theater Games Poster Assignment in Google Classroom. LEARNING GOAL: Practice scene-based games.
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep WARM UP: Honey, You Know I Love You, But I Just Can't Smile Similar to Quaker Meeting, but focused on one player at a time for 30 seconds. The target player needs to keep a straight face, and ends the 30 seconds by stating the name of the game. COMMITMENT REFLECTION: Let the audience laugh. Commit to your character. Think like they think. Bring energy into the scene, even if you have a low-energy character. Match the choices and energy that other performers bring in. Commit to your choices even when you're not directly interacting. REVISE: Hitchhiker Anyone who wants a chance to increase their score from last week's "Commitment Assessment" can take another crack at it. INTRODUCE: Questions Only A scene-based game where performers can only speak in questions. If a player makes a statement, they exit and are replaced by another player. INTRODUCE: 2-Line Scene Two performers on stage. The first player makes a statement that indicates a relationship. The second player makes a statement that indicates a location. INTRODUCE: Yes, And Using suggestions from the audience, two performers will play out a short scene. Every statement should start with "yes, and..." This helps us get into the mindset of agreement, and also forces us to listen to our scene partner. IF TIME ALLOWS: Double Blind Freeze Two performers begin a scene. Two performers wait in seats, facing away from the action. Facilitator will call "Freeze." Both performers on stage freeze, and the seated performers take over. A new scene begins. LEARNING GOAL: Assess Commitment (Principle of Improvisation #4)
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 14 chairs. Play Hep WARM UP: Bippity Bippity Bop Bippity Bippity Bop Bop Charlies Angels 12345678910 Kool Aid Man 12345678910 Canoe 12345678910 COMMITMENT ASSESSMENT: Today we will begin assessing Principles of Improvisation, with a focus on "Commitment." You may pre-plan some character choices for Hitchhiker at this time. We will also run through Doors as a secondary method of checking our commitment to character. PLAY: Hitchhiker Four performers sit in seats, arranged like a car. An outside player will appear to thumb for a ride. This player will have drawn a random character who they will portray in the car. All other players will mimic the hitchhiker, taking on the same traits and character choices. PLAY: Doors IF TIME ALLOWS: Questions Only A scene-based game where performers can only speak in questions. If a player makes a statement, they exit and are replaced by another player. LEARNING GOAL: Practice Commitment (Principle of Improvisation #4)
DO NOW: Set up the room. Push the tables to the edge of the room. Make a ring of 15 chairs. Play Hep WARM UP: Bippity Bippity Bop Bippity Bippity Bop Bop Charlies Angels 12345678910 Kool Aid Man 12345678910 Canoe 12345678910 PLAY: Hitchhiker Use your character cards from Tuesday. Four performers sit in seats, arranged like a car. An outside player will appear to thumb for a ride. This player will have drawn a random character who they will portray in the car. All other players will mimic the hitchhiker, taking on the same traits and character choices. PLAY: Freeze Two players start a scene. Anyone from the audience can call "freeze" and tap out one of the players to start a new scene. IF TIME ALLOWS: Questions Only A scene-based game where performers can only speak in questions. If a player makes a statement, they exit and are replaced by another player. |
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