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The Scale Model Set Design Distance Learning Lesson Plan

By Brian D. Taylor, Submissions Editor, Pioneer Drama Service 

Brian D. Taylor is a former middle school drama teacher and a member of the Pioneer Drama editorial staff.  Working with K-12, college, and community theatre groups, he has a theatrical background with experience in directing, acting, and technical theatre.  When he’s not working on a production, Brian writes children’s and young adult fiction. 

So you want to teach set design.  But how to do so remotely when you don’t have access to the stage or scene shop?  If you want to move beyond set design sketches and give your students a chance to design real sets while still learning skills of play analysis, resource management, use of space, and of course, design, it’s time to try a major project:  the scale model set.  It’s a great solo project for remote or socially distanced learning.  The best part?  It’s a hands-on way for students to tackle several set design challenges without breaking the budget.

First, your kids will need to read a play.  You can have them each working on their own script or have them all work on the same play.  You might even break them into design teams.  Have the students analyze the play, looking for set requirements and design clues just as they would if they were designing and building real, full-scale sets.  You might require something they turn in for a grade, such as a marked up script or a write-up of some sort.

The next step should be done prior to sketching or designing as it is key to the success of the design.  Distribute all key measurements of your performance space to the students.  (If the students can safely access the stage to take their own measurements, even better!)  Important measurements are the stage depth and width, the height from the floor to the proscenium or fly system (if your stage has one), and the height from the house floor to the stage level if raised (important for determining sightlines on some set designs).  If you have curtains, measure the width of each as well as the distance from the curtain to the front edge of the stage.  Be sure to also include measurements for all of the backstage space.  This will allow them to determine how much space they’ll have to store sets that will be going on and off stage.  Also, get measurements of any doors in case their set designs require set pieces that would have to be brought in that way.  If you’re lucky enough to have a trapdoor, don’t forget those measurements either so it may be put to use in the design if desired.  In short, measure everything you can, down to the very last leg and teaser.

Now the students have all the information they need to actually build a scale model of the stage for which they will be designing sets.  Before they can begin, however, they need to set a scale.  Either one foot to one inch scale or one foot to one half inch scale is usually a good starting point, but will depend on the size of your stage and the size of model you want.  Many professionals build the main walls of their scale models with foamboard and glue, but cardboard and tape or wood and nails work just as well.  At its core, all it really needs is a stage floor and backstage walls.  If you really want to go all out, have the students recreate the theatre’s curtains and fly system with a little fabric and some wire or string.  Grading their initial scale model here and making sure its scale is correct will help make sure everyone is set up for success moving forward.

Once the stage model is built, the students can see the space they’re working with and the actual design of the set can begin.  Hopefully, the students have been thinking through their play analysis and brainstorming possibilities as they’ve worked on building their stage.  Start them off with set design sketches.  These should be to the same scale that they used to create the stage model.  Be sure to have them complete both ground plan and elevation sketches.  This is also a good point to stop and grade.

The final part of the process is to have the students build the model set design.  This is the most fun part of the project if they allow their creativity to shine.  There are limitless craft items and recycled material you can use to build the models that are usually readily available at home:  cardboard, foamboard, paper clips, Popsicle sticks, toothpicks, paper towel tubes, planting wire, string, newspaper, and scrap fabric.

If your students can access a fabric store, ask about free sample swatches to use for model drapes, upholstery, rugs, or wallpaper.  Likewise, some hardware stores give out free samples of their wood flooring.  These can be used to create model platforms, flats, set props, and beyond.  With both these suggestions, however, be careful not to over-indulge.  You definitely don’t want to lose support for your theatre program from neighborhood stores!

And your supplies can be even more creative, too.  The left-over plastic rings in empty tape dispensers or credit card paper rolls could be put to good use in a model set.  My favorite “out of the box” idea for a supply to use in the scale model set is literally out of the box!  Those little plastic rings that keep the pizza box lid off the pizza make great model round tables.

Finally, it’s time to show off their work.  Have the students create a short video noting the design and how it works for each scene of the show.  How do the sets move on and off stage?  Where is each set piece stored when not onstage?  Be sure to also have them keep a ruler handy in their videos to verify correct scales.  If video is not an option, this can also be done with photographs and written responses.

You can see that there are no limits to the creativity involved in building these scale model sets, and students love the hands-on aspect of the work.  So, if letting your students design real sets isn’t a possibility due to whatever limitations you have, the scale model set design is hands down the next best thing.  Your students will love this project!