230441 Resource 203097 210601 210601 1239723444658 1239749134388 Controlled The Theatre Classroom — Second Semester: Part Seven

A four-day assignment having students create their own character

After working with two published monologues, it is now time to have your students create and write a monologue based on the answers given in the <a title="Building Your Own Character Analysis Work Sheet" href="item/230439" target="_blank">Building Your Own Character Analysis</a>.  This was one of the most fun activities I did with my basic drama class.Day One: Begin by asking the students to take out a clean sheet of paper and be ready to write down some answers as you say something similar to this: “Have you ever wanted to be someone else?  Maybe a math wiz, a super hero, the center on the basketball team, President of the United States or even a nerd? Well, now is your chance. Anyone is possible, even someone from outer space or someone who lived hundreds of years ago.  I’ll give you five minutes to write down at least five characters you might like to be.  There are three things you must consider:- Your parents need to approve of this character.- The character must be appropriate for a school setting.- The person must be fictitious — no living person can be used” After the five minutes, have them share, in groups of three, their ideas, getting feed back.  Then pass out the analysis and let them have the rest of the class time to fill out the form. There will not be enough time to finish so they are to take it home and bring it back the next day completed. Day Two: Everyone has brought back their analysis so they take out another sheet of clean paper and based on their analysis sheet, they are to write a one page monologue that is about two minutes long.  Obviously they cannot include everything on the analysis so they have to choose what they think would be the most interesting thing to tell. They might want to think of it as a small autobiography.  Remind them that they are to write in first person. Give them twenty minutes to work. Have the class spread out in various areas of the room and speak their piece out loud so you can time them.You might want to do this several times, prompting them that, as they read, they need to think of how their characters stand and what kind of voice their characters use.  Remind them that they are their characters, not themselves. Most will have written enough to cover a minute.  Let them work individually for the rest of the hour.  Just before they are to leave, have them put the name of their character on the top of the paper and scratch out their name if they have put it anywhere on the monologue. Collect ALL papers, including the analysis, even if the students haven’t completed their assignment.    Day Three: Pass back the monologues and give the students class time to review and/or finish their writing.  Next they need to re-write their piece on a clean sheet of paper, double-spaced, with the name of their character on top. Stress that their real name is not to be anywhere on the paper.  At the end of the period collect all the papers.  Explain that tomorrow they are going to become their characters for the entire hour.  You will give them five minutes to change clothes at the beginning of class and time at the end to change back.  Remind them that even if their character is older they are still attending your drama class.  The important thing is that they remain in character for the entire class period — no giggling or breaking character.   Day Four: After giving them time to change, have them go outside your door, as if they were just coming to class. Say “ring” to signify the bell and then have them enter.  I always considered it much like the first day of class so as they entered I told them to take a seat.  After everyone is seated, welcome them to class and say that they need to get to know their fellow classmates so you will call on them, using the monologues they had written.  Before class I had mixed up the order of the papers.  Select the first monologue and call out the name at the top. That character then comes up to the front of the room, reads his/her piece, and then ask if there were any questions.  The students, as their characters, ask the presenter any questions that were not covered in the monologue.  Allow this for a minute or two, then call up the next character, and so forth. I always notified the principal of this assignment because on several occasions my students decided to be “tough customers” and had to be sent to the principal’s office. Make sure that there is enough time at the end for the students to change back so say, “ring” again and they “leave” class. Grading: The analysis is one grade, and the day they presented was another grade.  Everyone generally got the same grade on the presentation day, if they remained in character for the entire hour.  I did not grade the actual monologue but you certainly could. The day after the presentation we always spent at least ten minutes debriefing.   10 application/xml false assignments character development assignment drama class drama class assignment drama classroom drama classroom assignment theatre textbooks theatre texts Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 edassist 63.255.31.98 false true false false true 218193 false false true false false false true 231099 Resource 218193 173239 210601 1240463157886 1240845208645 Controlled RE: The Theatre Classroom — Second Semester: Part Seven

Thanks for this post.. It is like a tutorial.. Very nice.. thanks again and more power.. -paul 10 application/xml false Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 edassist 63.255.31.98 false true false false true 203097 blog blogsite/ContemporaryDrama/web