Webpage Supplement to
Chapter 27: TheatreSports and Competitive Dramatic Impovisation
David L. Young (and Ann Curtis)
Part
1: History, Current Status, Further References
This is Part 2: Methods,
Techniques
Part 3: Theory
September 20, 2006
Warmups: Games that I
typically play successfully with children ranging
in age from elementary to high school (7 years old to 18 years olds, as
well as well-heeled university students I have worked with – include
simple entry level activities like: “Bus Stop” and the many
permutations of the activity where different characters are created to
interact and connect while waiting for a bus; or status games involving
characters of varying degrees of status and how they inter-relate
“Converge and Divide”; or games involving the use of characters,
locations, and objectives like “Spy Game.”
Technique: Summer Holiday: The students go into four or five different
groups of about five to seven per group. I asked each group of kids to
talk as quickly as they possibly could to each other for thirty seconds
describing their summer holiday to one other, and to try their hardest
to listen to each other. After that I also got them to talk as quickly
as they possibly could for thirty seconds and describe how they felt
about being back at school. Then I got each group individually to stand
in front of the other students and do specific types of presentations,
like describe what your group has just said but make vocalizations or
screaming noises or stomp your feet or use facial expressions. When the
students, most of whom have had half a year of Drama Eight, had the
opportunity to stand before a class of about twenty-five other kids,
many of them stood with their backs against the wall in a straight
line. Many of them didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to do what
they were asked to do, which was to make this little presentation. Many
of them stood there with strange looks on their faces, made
half-hearted gestures or sounds, and could not sustain even twenty
seconds. What was notable was the fact that the majority were standing
with their backs up against the wall as if they were about to be
executed by a firing squad, and it is interesting because the Grade
Nine's, some of whom have never had Drama, some of whom have had Drama
Eight from another teacher, and some who have had Drama Eight from me,
are all really desperately needing a renewed sense of trust in order to
be strange, silly and human.
I am doing an assignment with the Grade Eleven and Twelve Acting class.
The first assignment of the year for them. I get them to do an
improvisational warm up where they stand in a line and come up in
groups and do a sequential story, where for thirty or forty seconds at
a time, they will keep a story going to a conclusion, and every now and
then I might throw in a noun or an adjective that they have to
incorporate into the story.
This warm-up activity is practice for "The Job Interview Monologue,"
which works this way: A student comes up, makes eye contact with the
teacher. The teacher is sitting in the audience. The student is called
up by number. The student comes up as if they are asking for a job.
They come up in character and they apply for a job that they think is
relative to the type of character which they have created, depending on
that character’s age, intelligence, and experience; that is the type of
job that they will be applying for, so a really smart character might
apply to be a lawyer, or a really dumb character might be applying to
be a 'pooper scooper' — who knows. I ask them up on stage by number, it
doesn’t have to be sequential, and they wait until the next person
comes on stage and actually starts to speak before they stop speaking
and sit down on stage. The next time they are called back, they think
that they have got the job, and the teacher will nod or shake their
head at them, and they will react accordingly as if they have got or
not got the job.
The Grade Ten's are working on an assignment where they have to
practice exiting and entering the stage with energy and enthusiasm.
- - -
A project that I have done regularly with my Grade Nine students is a
self-esteem and self-awareness project called the "Best Friend in
Role." Students in Grade Nine are really struggling with this idea of
being other people on stage, so this project gives them the opportunity
to be people, or be a person that they are able to mimic on stage as
best as they can. People that they see and experience every day. So you
get them to think about their best friend, and to create the character
of their best friend with all of the characteristics and
idiosyncrasies. By doing this, they get to create an actual character
(a real person) other than themselves, and it is someone that they know
intimately. They then have to talk about themselves as they perceive
their best friend would talk about or describe them. The scene can be
developed like writing a diary, or journal entry, or talking on a
telephone, or speaking to an invisible person on stage.
One of the many issues that arise in this project is the
self-deprecating manner with which the kids, when they are in the role
of their best friends, describe themselves. They describe themselves as
being selfish, bossy, idiotic, boring, annoying. They speak a lot in
the past tense, and talk about themselves as being egotistical, weird,
mental, acting stupid, being snobs; they say that they don’t talk to
others or listen to others; they make fun of their own appearance or
clothing. Sometimes they talk about themselves in more positive terms,
but that is rare. A lot of the times it is very self-deprecating, and
there seems to be an embarrassment and even a certain modesty when they
are describing themselves as perceived through their best friend as if
they would be egotistical by saying something nice about themselves.
They would prefer to put themselves down than to talk about any
positive qualities that they might have or display.
I find this an interesting assignment because the student, in a sense,
puts a mirror up in front of themselves, and takes a good look at their
own reflection, and then describes themselves to an audience.
The basic idea of role playing is to take on roles that we have an
understanding of, an appreciation of, and desire to learn more about. I
spend a lot of time in Grade Nine developing their ability to take on
character, to take on role, as it is a primary focus in the Grade Nine
curriculum. There are always a few kids who will really find themselves
totally immersed in taking on a role, and then there will be some young
people who look at it as an easy way to create something simple or
foolish.
- - -
Create the opposite technique:A lot of young people at
this age are so overwhelmed with the future, and what they are going to
do with their lives, and why they have to do this, and that, and why
they are here — that you get these students creating their opposites in
role, and they just sit around and have existential discussions. You do
end up with some revealing moments though, where through exposing their
opposites, they say so much about themselves. So instead of saying be
yourself in this particular scene, being your opposite provides the
perfect opportunity to camouflage being yourself. Then the students
expose awful relationships with their parents because their opposite
character in the scene talks about how much they 'love and respect
their parents'. Characters who are positive creative people become very
unconfident, very scared, shy people. It is quite an insightful project
for the student's to create and reflect on.
I used an analogy at a parent teacher conference tonight which I liked.
I explained to some parents the distinction between different levels of
Drama.
The Drama Eight and Nine student is like a little kid who goes trick or
treating. When they go to a neighbour’s house to trick or treat at
Halloween they pull up their mask and say, "Hi, it’s me." In a sense
that really seems to be what Grade Eight and Nine Drama students do on
most occasions. They try on the costume or the mask of a character, but
are constantly flipping it up to make sure that they are still
themselves, and to make sure that the audience recognizes them.
? Maybe in paper... Best Friend in Role
This is a project used with Grade Nine students to develop
self-awareness and self-esteem. It’s a nice way to learn beginning
role-taking skills: The task involves the opportunity to be people, or
be a person that they are able to mimic on stage as best as they can.
It’s easier if it’s someone more familiar, so the students are asked to
think about their best friend, and to create the character of their
best friend with all of the characteristics and idiosyncrasies. By
doing this, they get to create an actual character (a real person)
other than themselves, and it is someone that they know intimately.
They then have to talk about themselves as they perceive their best
friend would talk about or describe them. The scene can be developed
like writing a diary, or journal entry, or talking on a telephone, or
speaking to an invisible person on stage.
Interestingly, youngsters around age fourteen often talk about
themselves (from the imagined viewpoint of what they think their best
friend would think) in a surprisingly negative fashion, describing
themselves as selfish, bossy, idiotic, boring, annoying. They speak a
lot in the past tense, and talk about themselves as being egotistical,
weird, mental, acting stupid, being snobs; they say that they don’t
talk to others or listen to others. As another kid, even a good friend;
they make fun of their own appearance or clothing. Sometimes they talk
about themselves in more positive terms, but that is rare. A lot of the
times it is very self-deprecating. On the other hand, they seem
reluctant and embarrassed to admit something nice about themselves,
less the others in the class perceive them as “conceited” or
egotistical. They would prefer to put themselves down than to talk
about any positive qualities that they might have or display.
I find this an interesting assignment because the student, in a sense,
puts a mirror up in front of themselves, and takes a good look at their
own reflection, and then describes themselves to an audience.