Theatre Class

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I am teaching a theatre class at our private high school this year. I am beginning from "scratch". Anyone have ideas on curriculum, projects, etc. I am looking forward to your input.
6 Answers

July 9, 2013
Theatre classes ..awesome on really a great deal of work out here because job in a theatre school is areally tough one you have be particular to every fine detail of the art has to be explained it gives them the correct perspective of what they are learning and how they have to learn it, a good cirriculum is required indeed so that it becomes helpful for both the instructor and the learner.

December 30, 2012
I have provided several in-services, workshops, mini course, mentoring, lesson plans and more for teachers and students. I have my MFA, teaching certificate, travel well and use skype. If there is anything I can do to help you and your students please don't hesitate to contact me.

August 5, 2011
Hi Rachel, Here's a sample curriculum that I came up with. I also make sure to add Theatre Ettiquette, Theatre Safety, and Technical Theatre. Drama/Acting I Semester Sample Curriculum Created by David Bell Week 1 Lecture: History of Theatre; Greek Theatre (Dionysis, Thespis) Ceremony/Tradition Activities: Parts of the Stage/Theatre Research Scene from Greek Tragedy Week 2 Lecture: History; Middle/Dark Ages (Roman/Latin works, introduction of a raised stage) Activities: Storytelling, Pantomime Week 3 Lecture: History; Passion Plays/Reformation, Elizabethan Period Shakespeare Activities: Vocal Technique and Movement and Emotion Examples of Shakespeare’s influence on Modern Cinema Week 4 Lecture: History; Shakespeare continued Activities: Improvisation to convey emotion and idea Week 5 Lecture: History; Reformation, (French-Moliere, Italian Comedia Del Arte) Activities: Create masks and create a stock character to portray in a scene Week 6 Lecture: History; 18th, & 19th Century Influences (Ibsen, Chekhov, Shaw) Activities: Emotional Recall and Sample Scene Week 7 Lecture: 20th Century & Musical Theatre (Zeigfield, Rogers/Hammerstein, Gilbert/Sullivan) Activities: Reader’s Theatre Project Research Week 8 Lecture: Blocking and Stage Direction Activity: Reader’s Theatre Project Week 9 Lecture: Text and Subtext Activity: Text and Subtext Short Scene Week 10 Lecture: Character Study and Development (Back-story) Activity: Character Analysis Week 11 Lecture: Technical Theatre/Stagecraft Activities: Set/Scene Design Model Construction/Drawing Short Monologue selection/preparation Week 12 Lecture: Stage Lighting and Special FX Activity: Lighting Collage and Instrument Identification Monologue Preparation Week 13 Lecture: Costume/make-up Activities: Costume Plot, Make-up Demo Monologue Performances Week 14 Lecture: Scene Development arc Activities: Scene Selection/Research Week 15 Lecture: Individual Scene Staging and Prep Activities: Scene Preparation Weeks 16 and 17 Lecture/Activities: Scene Preparation/Rehearsal & Performance Week 18 Lecture/Activities: Scene Performances/Semester Review & Exam

August 3, 2011
Rachel, I'd love to chat about the cirriculum you have developed as well. I am working on creating a series of offstage "practicums" available to ages 12 and up. I am not as familiar with cirriculum for this age group since I have mostly worked with ages 3-13 in the past. Stephanie, although my cirriculum has been for younger than highschool, I always teach material in a progressive manner. I broke each skill set down to its core and work with each age/learning level on their playing feild. This way, as the progress through the program, they are building on the simplicity of the skill set from the level below. I haven't yet has students reach the high school level, but within the next 2 years, will have students ready for the highschool levels. Perhaps we might be able to share ideas? Let me know! Rachel

August 2, 2011
Hi Stephanie- I have developed curriculums for several different theatre classes at independent high schools, from acting, to techical theatre, and general intro classes. Shoot me an e-mail and I am happy to share some materials. rachel AT chebeaguechildrenstheatre DOT com

July 29, 2011
If it's an Intro to Theatre kind of a class, you might want to try to give them a little taste of everything. Starts with the basics: SETS, COSTUMES, LIGHTING, SOUND, DIRECTING, PLAYWRITING, STAGE MANAGEMENT, ACTING (pardon me if I left anything out) With every project, have them learn sort of the essence of what these sections mean. Final project idea... have some write a 10 minute play and then get kids to act it out while someone directs them and other kids contribute to costumes/lighting/sets. I had a really good intro to poetry class that operated under the fundamentals of (Let's analyze this piece of work for 30 mins, and then the next 30 mins lets mimic the style they use and see how it works for you). Applying that to an intro to theater class would be something like (This is what a lighting designer does, let's see how applicable it would be to our fictional production of Oklahoma). While you teach the kids what a section is about, you can use show examples and expose them to that too..