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Developing Trust with Cooperative Drama

By Mike Steele 

Mike Steele has been writing and directing as far back as he can remember.  He spent the bulk of his teenage years performing in school and community theatre productions and continued to act through college while he completed a BS in elementary education and sociology.  Mike directs school and community theatre productions and teaches cooperative drama workshops, a process in which he incorporates writing into the creative process. 

If you’re like me, you probably spend a lot of energy fostering a learning environment that you hope will encourage your student performers to take risks.  From improv games to posters proclaiming the auditorium a “judgment free zone,” I hope my students will really let loose as they develop their performances at rehearsals.  Yet still, there are students who hold back, afraid of how their peers will respond.

And who can blame them?  Navigating adolescence is tricky enough without some teacher asking you to bare your soul onstage — and in front of your classmates!  YIKES!

Think of who makes up your casts.  All of the students might generally get along, but are they all really friends?  Probably not.  You’ve got your main clique of theater enthusiasts broken down into a few smaller groups of BFFs.  Then there’s the lone guy from your homeroom who you convinced to audition because you were short on boys.  Don’t forget the girl who only decided to participate because her boyfriend got the lead and she wants to spend every afternoon with him.  Then, of course, you have the college-hopeful who’s mostly just looking to pad his resume.  Even though you may know all of your students very well, they may not really know one another at all.  And it’s difficult for them to let down their guards in front of strangers.

As drama teachers, we know it’s important for performers to trust one another.  Our students can only give their most uninhibited performances if they trust their fellow cast mates.  But how do you get students who may not speak to one another offstage to trust one another onstage?

Throughout my years as a school play director, I developed a series of workshops that help develop trust amongst young casts.  These workshops are part of a Cooperative Drama program I run for high school students — a program which allows students to work together to complete production-related tasks.  As students work together and depend on one another, they learn to trust their fellow cast mates, and their performances grow stronger.

I’ll share a few of my Cooperative Drama group tasks below...

Creating Costumes and Props.  Set aside a few days throughout the rehearsal process where students work together to craft costume pieces and props that their fellow cast mates will use in the show.  Some students may have sewing skills while others work better with glue and acrylic paint.  You need students to iron, fold, and organize, too.  Every student, regardless of artistic talent, can participate in some way.  Group your students based on their individual skills and assign each group a task.  Your students will find themselves working with peers outside of their normal circle of friends.  Since they have the responsibility of creating something that one of their peers will actually have to wear or use during the production, they’ll work hard to put out the best product they can.  After all, another group is likely making something that they have to use.

Constructing and Painting a Set.  A set is something the entire cast utilizes, so let the entire cast pitch in to get it built and looking good.  Again, mix up those groups of friends and assign each group a task.  Some groups might paint flats while others use hammers and drills.  There’s sawdust to sweep, lumber to haul, and drop cloths to spread.  You’d be surprised at the new friendships that can form as everyone scurries to sop up a can of spilled paint.  The set can only be as good as your students make it, and I bet they’ll find new and inventive ways to work together.  Of course, you’ll want to have plenty of adult supervision, especially if power tools are involved.

Organizing a Fundraiser.  Don’t just hand each cast member a box of candy bars and tell them to sell the contents to their friends and family.  ...Okay, that can actually bring in quite a bit of money, but have your students come up with their own way to raise money, too.  A bake sale, a talent show, a celebrity basketball game - there’s no limit to what students can dream up.  How you choose to break your students into groups or committees will largely depend on the type of fundraiser you decide to hold.  Raising money is a lot of work, but the students will work together to make it happen.  Otherwise, there’s no budget for the show!

Creating Promotional Materials.  Much like the other activities, you’ll want to break your students into groups and assign them tasks.  Be sure to let them volunteer some of their own inventive promotional ideas, too.  Maybe one group is in charge of interviewing performers and drafting a press release.  Another group may make a video trailer to upload to the school’s Facebook page.  Another group can design, layout, and print posters.  Do your students want an audience?  Then they’ll have to cooperate to make it happen.

There are endless ways your students can work together to ensure the success of the production.  If you facilitate opportunities for students to work outside of their normal groups of friends, your cast will get to know each other better, but most importantly, they will learn to trust that their classmates are working hard for the benefit of the show.  You’ll see that trust trickle over into their performances, as well.