I hope you had a great New Year and are ready to get right back in the thick of things.

Warming Up for Improv

When I was teaching I had the privilege of my students doing improv shows that were a great hit. For the last four years I have had the pleasure to teach something I called “Let’s Act for the Young and Young at Heart.”  As I never knew who would be attending and had only 45 minutes to work with whoever came, I was ready for small children as well as adults.

I wanted them to feel comfortable with each other before we did any small group activities. I always started with several introduction activities, described on pages 16-24 of The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide #2 and/or warm-ups described on page 57-58. Then I would put them in small groups doing a variety of activities described on pages 65-68.  I didn’t want any game that required one person to be in the middle or to put anyone on the spot.

Two Improv Games

We have a New Years Eve event called First Night: A Celebration of the Arts.  It runs from noon to midnight.  I always had to have new activities each year — I didn’t want any repeats.  This past New Year’s Eve, I did two brand new activities taken from Justine Jones and Mary Ann Kelleys’ book Improv Ideas — also published by Meriwether Publishing — with my own twist on each.  They both were very successful.

After dividing the class into 6 groups of 6, I gave each group a prop.  I had some wonderful items from my kitchen.  The only caveat was that they couldn’t use any pictures depicting a kitchen and/or the utensil as it was intended.  They had about five minutes to come up with three frozen pictures using the item in three different ways.  One of the best was a gravy whisk used as a branding iron!  We made the local paper on January 1 with zombies being attacked by a frosting spatula! (Pictured above.) 

We had about six minutes left so I kept them in the same groups, handed them 5 cards with sounds effects written on them (see a partial list below), gave them 2 minutes to create a one-minute story using any two of the sound effects, making the sounds with their voices and/or anything they could find in the room, as well as dialogue. As each group performed, we all closed our eyes and listened. Someone always guessed what the story was about.

The most amazing thing about this “class” was that when they entered they were strangers, but by the end, they were friends, working together, all participating. It was so rewarding.  I think they had a great time too — we all laughed and clapped … a lot!       

Sound Effects
Applause, Baby crying, Baby laughing, Battle, Bears growling, Birds chirping, Blizzard, Car chase, Car crash, Car horn, Chairs scraping, Church clock striking, Clock ticking, Gunfight, Heartbeat, Heavy breathing, Horse neigh, Knife being sharpened, Laughing, Rocket launch, Screaming seagulls, Series of explosions, Sink draining, Snoring, Swarm of bees, Taps, Whimpering, Wolves howling, Wooden gate creaking

A fun activity for the Christmas season is to have each student find a white elephant (something that isn’t bought but found around the house that no one wants) and wrap it up so it looks very enticing.  The trick is to make it look like a super gift on the outside! (And every student must participate.)

The day of your ‘gift’ exchange, you may want to have a party — which, of course, has been cleared with the administration.  Gather all the gifts and let everyone look at them. Then each student draws a number from 1 to the number in the class.  The person with #1 gets to choose which gift he/she wants and then #2 gets his/her choice and so on until everyone has a gift.  No one is to open anything yet!

Then the gifts can be exchanged or kept, depending on each student’s want.  Lots of bargaining can go on.  Then each student tries to guess what is in their package — if you want, the person who brought it could give a hint. Then the students open their packages one at a time.  Bargaining might continue!  Lots of laughter ensues and it is great fun.  One year I invited my vice principal to the party and he got a bigger kick out of it than the students.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Some improvisation ideas and sign mime activities are coming in 2012.

As the Christmas Season is upon us, I would like to share another little Christmas activity.  Each of my students filled out the following form, which was then put in a hat.  Everyone drew a name and had to give that person three things (of course not being caught!), be it candy, a gift card, a note (poem), etc.  I set a limit of $5 per student (it’s the thought that counts, not the expenditure of money that is important) for all three gifts, but it can be less with today’s economy. I insisted that everyone participate.  We didn’t want anyone left out.

On the last day before Christmas vacation, their secret was revealed in a party the last 15 minutes of class. It would be fun for each person to write down who they thought their Secret Santa was and see how close they came. Everyone brought something appropriate to eat or drink. (I of course had gotten permission to have a party in my room from my administration.)  Not only was it fun, but it also made a greater bond within the group — so important in a theatre production class.

This certainly would be fun for any class.  If you are teaching English you could require that the 3 things be literary pieces that each Secret Santa writes about their person and it wouldn’t cost anything — just a thought.

To save on paper, I put twelve of these forms on a page.

Name_______________________________  Locker # ______

Favorite candy________________

Favorite color______________________________

Appropriate favorite drink [coffee, pop, water] _____________________

If your school is anything like mine, the music department is responsible for a Christmas program and singing and playing appropriate Christmas music. As my fall show was over and we hadn’t started on the winter production, I wanted to do something for Christmas. Several times I did a show for children with a Christmas theme. One year, however, I met with the music department and asked if my drama students could have four minutes in their all school Christmas assembly program and they graciously gave me the nod. The following idea does not require any set, costumes, program, etc. — just time to learn the ‘signs’.

I always wanted my students to learn sign language, often using popular songs. I scouted for an appropriate song that the choir, band, and orchestra were not performing. I decided on The Chipmunks’ rendition of “The 12 Days of Christmas,” a perfect addition to the concert. 

Everyone was to know and present the refrain ‘On the ___ day of Christmas my true love game to me’ and two of the 12 days, so I taught them the signs for: ‘Five Golden Rings,’ ‘A Partridge in a Pear Tree’ and the refrain. Then I divided the class into groups of 10.  

These groups were then given their specific day. Each group had to research their signs and practice so that they were in sync with each other as well as the tape. The group who was assigned day 6 was also Alvin, the chipmunk who always causes trouble. As I had more than one in that group, I assigned one of them to be Alvin, who learned the signs for what Alvin says in the song.  

We spent about two weeks, 15 minutes a day, preparing for our debut.

On the day we performed, everyone stood in a line, stepping out to present his or her specific day (everyone stepping out for ‘5 Golden Rings’ and ‘A Partridge In A Pear Tree’) and I ran the tape machine. Several of the students were involved in the choir and band so they joined us and the audience loved the change of pace.  A professional signer came up afterwards and told my students they were very good. 

It is also possible to sign one of the songs being performed in the concert. It is a great way to work with the music department and usher in the season.