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The Theatre Classroom -- A Character Developing Activity Part 2

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:03:13 -0500

More character developing activities for the stage or classroom

Below are two more ways of looking at character creatively by illustrating the character using color and various lines. If you copy and paste the below into a Word document you’ll have a ready-made activity.

Once the students have finished the below drawings and after a rehearsal, line the drawings up in front of the stage and have the actors try to figure out whose is whose. It is quite a revelation to everyone.

Drawings

Drawing 1

This drawing deals with your specific character. Draw a picture of your character on a white unlined 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper. Do not literally draw your character, but symbolically. Use colors as well as various strokes that represent your character. Do not put your name or your character's name on the front. Justify on a separate sheet of paper.

A person playing Miss Lynch from Grease would use very bold, straight lines in a pea green color or maybe just using black lines. A person might even draw thunderbolts. Why? Everything to Miss Lynch is either right or wrong. She has no grey area or anything pleasant. She is always zinging her students. She enjoys catching her students out of class.

Drawing 2

This drawing is how your character relates to the other characters in the play as well as the play’s title. Draw a picture of what your character thinks of the show on a white unlined 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper, using colors. Place the name of the play somewhere on the front. Do not put your name or your character's name on the front. Justify on a separate sheet of paper.

Miss Lynch would have many question marks on her paper, as she is sure most of the students at Rydell High will not amount to anything. However, there would be two shinning stars, Eugene and Patty. She loves Rydell High so somewhere in the drawing there has to be some indication of that. Maybe it is the outline of the school done in red? On the other hand, the way she writes “Grease” needs to indicate how much she doesn’t like greasers and the Pink ladies.

The Theatre Classroom — A Character-Developing Activity

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:27:48 -0500

A classroom assignment for developing character

Not only did I ask my students to write character analyses on the characters they played in each play, (see pages 240-247 in The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide) I also gave them the opportunity to delve into their own creative world to take a different look at their characters. Below is one of them. You can copy and paste the below into a Word document for ready-made assignment.

Collage Assignment

This collage is a group of pictures and objects relating to your character. By looking at this "picture" anyone can get a real feeling of your character.

Begin with a picture of your character — it can be a digital you have taken or a picture from a magazine. It must be at least 3" x 5" mounted on a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" cardboard. It cannot be a drawing.

Next, think of your character objectively by surrounding the picture with the following:

-What ANIMAL or BIRD do you associate with your character? Someone who is a ditz might be a bird.

-What COLOR — painted or a swatch — is your character? Remember the old cowboy westerns where the guy with the white hat was a hero and the evil villain always wore black?

-What FLOWER is your character? A happy person might be a daisy.

-What FOOD is your character? One might say a person with a temper is Chili.

-What OBJECT — cut out, not drawn — is your character? A judge might be a gavel or black robe.

-What is your SECRET? Everyone has one — it makes your character much more interesting.

-What is the KEY LINE or PHRASE your character has in the production? An actress playing Miss Lynch in Grease might say her key line is “Move it!”

-What does your Character WANT more than anything? It must be stated in a sentence. An actor playing Peter Quince in Midsummer Night’s Dream could say his want is to have the best play for the Duke’s wedding that he can muster.

Add ONE of the following:

-What kind of DRINK is your character?

-What kind of JEWEL is your character?

-Could your character be a FAMOUS PERSON IN HISTORY or FROM YOUR OWN HISTORY?

-What kind of SHOE is your character?

On a separate sheet of paper include the following justifications (why?) for the specific things you chose to have mounted on your collage.

COLLAGE JUSTIFICATION INFORMATION

THE BIG WHY?

-ANIMAL or BIRD

-COLOR

-FLOWER

-FOOD

-OBJECT

-SECRET

-KEY LINE or PHRASE

-WANT — What does your character do in the play to try to accomplish this want? Does he/she succeed?

-DRINK, JEWEL, FAMOUS PERSON, or SHOE

The Theatre Classroom — Secret Valentine

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:38:00 -0500

A fun activity to celebrate Valentine's Day in your drama classroom

As it is approaching Valentine’s Day, I would like to share a little Valentine activity not unlike secret Santa. Each of my students filled out the form below, which was then put in a hat. Everyone drew a name and had to give their secret Valentine three things, be it candy, flowers, a note, poem, etc. I set a limit of $5 per student 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 Valentine’s Day, their secret was revealed in a party that lasted 15 minutes of class. Everyone brought something appropriate to eat or drink. (Of course I had gotten permission to have a party in my room from my administration.) Not only was it fun, but also it made a greater bond within the group — so important in a 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 student writes about their secret Valentine and it wouldn’t cost anything — just a thought.

I put 12 of these mini-forms on a page:

Name_______________________________

Locker # ______ Favorite candy________________

Favorite color______________________________