Instructional Units
This portion of the website contains a collection of instructional units, enabling users to view how the author intended individual lesson plans and projects to be grouped together within the context of day-by-day instruction. All of these units are developed in line with the National Standards for Theatre Education, showing how all of the curriculum created here are connected to a specific academic standard for the arts. Some of the units submitted to the database have been taught and revised in actual secondary classrooms while others have been created by Theatre Education university students and have not been tested in the classroom yet. You can contribute to this portion of the website: if you have a theatre unit you want to share please contact our site administrator.
These units were submitted voluntarily by educators. BYU makes no claims for their quality or completeness. The intellectual rights to these lessons remain with their author.
Subject: Acting Skills & Techniques
Objective: The students will demonstrate their understanding of characterization by incorporating the skills learned in this unit in a final scene performance.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: relationships, objectives, tactics, physicality
Subject: Scenes & Monologues - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of acting in a scene from a play by reading, rehearsing, and performing a 5-7 minute comedic scene.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: Objectives, tactics, characterization, room conflict, secrets, sensory/memory recall, and listening.
Subject: Scenes & Monologues - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of acting skills by rehearsing and performing a scene from a play.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: characterization, movement, objectives and tactics
Subject: Scenes & Monologues - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate their abilities to perform Shakespeare by choosing a performance piece, preparing the piece through translation and scoring, blocking the piece, and performing a Shakespeare monologue or scene.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: William Shakespeare, classical acting, interpretation, text analysis, competition
Subject: Acting Skills & Techniques
Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of acting skills by performing a duo scene.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: stage directions, objectives and tactics, character development, physicality, vocal use and variety, connection to breath, stage pictures
Subject: Playwriting & Script Analysis
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of dramatic text and their ability to create character, relationship, dialogue, and action by writing original 10 to 15 minute long scripts.
Class Level: Advanced
Concepts: Dramatic structure, character analysis, text analysis, relationship, conflict, dialogue
Subject: Technical Theatre & Stage Management
Objective: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of advertising in theatre by completing an advertising campaign for a show.
Class Level: Advanced
Concepts: Advertising, Creating, Persuading
Subject: Playwriting & Script Analysis
Objective: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the Six Elements of Drama by analyzing a film.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: Play analysis, plot structure, identifying themes
Subject: Auditions - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to audition for professional productions or college departments by participating in a mock audition.
Class Level: Advanced
Concepts: scriptwork, résumé, characterization, interviews
Subject: Auditions - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to be effective auditioners by performing two contrasting 60 second monologues.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: Michael Shurtleff’s 12 guideposts, Types of Auditions, What to expect at an Audition, Choices of Materials for auditions
Subject: Acting Skills & Techniques
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of basic acting skills by rehearsing and performing a 5-minute contemporary duo scene.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: Objectives and tactics, vocal flexibility, breathing, trusting your instincts, scene work, character analysis, and acting basics
Subject: Movement & Pantomime
Objective: Students will demonstrate a knowledge of movement, gesture, and emotion as used in pantomime by performing a two-minute pantomime.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: acting with your body
Subject: Improvisation - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of improvisation by performing a short improv show for other students in the school.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: Relationships, settings, pantomime
Subject: Acting Skills & Techniques
Objective: Students will demonstrate their acting ability by performing a scene from a play.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: voice, movement, characterization, objectives
Subject: Movement & Pantomime
Objective: Students will demonstrate their awareness of body movement by performing an observation presentation.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: Body Language, Facial Expressions, Gestures, How Movement is Affected by Different Circumstances and Elements
Subject: Acting Skills & Techniques
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of basic acting skills by performing a scene with a partner.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: Pushing through to objectives using different tactics and pushing through the obstacles
Subject: Characterization - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of character analysis by successfully performing a scene using the skills learned throughout the unit.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: Understanding character, objectives, tactics, relationships, knowing character
Subject: Characterization - Acting
Objective: Students will exhibit their ability to develop a character and to interact with other students on stage by performing a five-minute scene with a partner.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: objectives, tactics, movement, and context
Subject: Theatre History, Styles & Genres
Objective: Student’s will demonstrate their understanding of the aspects of children’s theatre by writing and performing a small play based on a fairy tale to elementary school children.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: The art of the story. Acting in children’s theatre. Writing a fairy tale for children in a unique way, and performing it. The art of performing for children.
Subject: Scenes & Monologues - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to incorporate comedic acting elements by performing a monologue.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: physicality, characterization
Subject: Theatre History, Styles & Genres
Objective: Students will display their knowledge of Commedia Dell Arte by turning in their written outlines, performing their scenes and assessing the scenes of their fellow classmates.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: commedia del arte, acting commedia characters, theatre history
Subject: Scenes & Monologues - Acting
Objective: The students will demonstrate their understanding of contemporary monologues by performing one for the class.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: memorization, acting alone, characterization
Subject: Scenes & Monologues - Acting
Objective: Students will demonstrate an ability to find and perform "good" monologues by performing two contrasting monologues in class.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: Objectives, Tactics, Contrasting Monologues, Fourth Wall, Intros, Endings, Transitions
Subject: Costuming - Tech Theatre
Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of costuming by designing the costume for one character in a play or musical and by presenting a research project.
Class Level: Intermediate
Concepts: Importance of costumes, presentation of costumes
Subject: Costuming - Tech Theatre
Objective: Students will demonstrate a knowledge of basic costume design and history by presenting a research board and a design for a play studied by the class.
Class Level: Beginning
Concepts: costume research, design