21
Beyond Learning Lines
More Ways to Tell a StoryBy Margaret F. Johnson
During her thirty-seven years as a drama teacher, Margaret F. Johnson directed over 190 productions and served as the Montana State Thespian Director from 1972 to 1992. Margaret is also the author of The Drama Teacher’s Survival Guide and its sequel.
There’s always so much to do the first week of school, which can be overwhelming not only for you, but for your students as well.
A great way to start your theatre year is to introduce small group activities that are nonthreatening, fun, and even silly. For instance, requiring only sounds and/or body movement with no right or wrong outcomes or line memorization allows students to begin developing that all-important theatre must — teamwork. Because working together, as we all know, is what theatre is all about.
These exercises are great introductions for groups of four to six students.
SOUNDS TELL THE STORY
Each group draws 6 to 10 sound effects cards, then the groups are given 10 to 15 minutes to plan a radio drama using only their voices to create dialogue and sound effects. See the list below. This suspenseful drama can be no longer than 3 minutes.
For example, using the sounds “airplane takeoff,” “baby crying,” “ambulance siren,” “rain,” and “screaming,” the group could act out the story of an airplane that comes to a very rocky landing, injuring several passengers, including a baby.
When each group is ready, have them ask the audience to get comfortable, close their eyes, and use their imaginations!
Here are some examples of sound effects (but feel free to use your own):
|
|
|
A variation of this game is to give theatre students one of the following settings and have them create the sounds using their voices and anything they can find in the room. They could also include anything in their backpacks — but not their phones. (No cheating!) And they cannot use any words or dialogue. Give them 10 to 15 minutes to create their story.
|
|
FROZEN PICTURES TELL THE STORY
For this exercise, have each group select a card with the name of a children’s story on it. They are to create two frozen pictures or tableaus depicting the story. Remind them that, in addition to characters, they can be inanimate objects such as tables, chairs, walls, etc. After 5 to 10 minutes, call out “first picture” for the first group. Have the group hold their “picture” for approximately 30 seconds before creating the second picture (or more pictures, if you assigned more). Can the rest of the class guess the children’s story?
Here are some examples of children’s stories you could use:
|
|
To engage the kids further, have each group choose an appropriate feature film or favorite movie and create a frozen picture. Does it make the movie immediately recognizable?
