Day 3 – Applying Shakespeare Techniques

National Standards:
TH:Pr5.1.II.a. Refine a range of acting skills to build a believable and sustainable drama/theatre performance.
TH:Pr4.1.III.b. Apply a variety of researched acting techniques as an approach to character choices in a drama/theatre work.

Other National Standard Met But Not Assessed:

TH:Cr3.1.II.b. Use research and script analysis to revise physical, vocal, and physiological choices impacting the believability and relevance of a drama/theatre work.
TH:Re9.1.II.c. Verify how a drama/theatre work communicates for a specific purpose and audience.

TH:Cr2-II.b. Cooperate as a creative team to make interpretive choices for a drama/theatre work.

State Standards:

Standard L3.T.CR.5: Apply appropriate acting techniques and styles in performances of characters from a variety of dramatic genres and historical periods.
Standard L2.T.CR.5: Explore physical, vocal, and emotional choices to develop a performance that is believable, authentic, and relevant in a drama/theatre work.

Other State Standards Met But Not Assessed:

Standard L2/L3.T.CO.3: Examine contemporary social, cultural, or global issues through different forms of drama/theatre work.
Standard L2/L3.T.CR.8: Generate ideas from research and script analysis to devise a performance that is believable, authentic, and relevant in a drama/theatre work.

Enduring Understandings:

1. Students will understand that playwrights are specific for a reason.
2. Students will understand that playwrights communicate their intentions.
3. Students will understand that acting tools are transferable.
4. Students will understand that they are capable.

Essential Questions:

1. How do we communicate meaning?
2. How do we analyze scripts?
3. Which acting tools are transferable?
4. What can we learn just from analyzing a script?

Objective:

Students will refine their acting techniques through transferring Shakespearen acting tools to work with contemporary scenes.

Materials:

1. Whiteboard and markers
2. Large empty space
3. Students should have their scripts
4. Students should also have their chromebooks, or a phone, or a piece of paper and a pencil/pen
5. Drama 2/3 Daily Question
6. Projector, Projector Screen, Laptop, HDMI Cable, and HDMI to USB-C adaptor

Instructions:
Brief Assessment As Students Enter

1. As students enter, teachers will check with them to see if they’ve brought in a copy of their scene script.

a. If they haven’t, tell them they need to get that figured out ASAP, and that it will impact the amount of work they’re able to do in class today.

Hook 1 – Daily Question (10 minutes)

1. Put the Drama 2/3 Daily Question up on the board and have the students scan the code and add their answer.
2. Read off answers and have the student attached to each answer raise their hand and give us a brief reason why they said that.

a. Suggested Question: If you were a color, which color would you be? Hook 2 – An Author’s Intention (10 minutes)

1. First, have students find a partner, preferably someone they haven’t worked with before. Then, explain the game.
2. “For this game, we’re all going to become playwrights. Don’t be worried, you’ll only be writing a few lines. So on a piece of paper, or your phone, or your chromebook, you’re going to create a few lines for a character to say. The goal is to get the other person to say the lines exactly as you imagine it being said. BUT you don’t get to use any stage directions or parentheses telling someone how to say it, you just have punctuation and

formatting tools (computers/phones: italics, bold, underlines; handwriting: messiness/neatness, size, spaces, etc.)”

3. Explain they’ll have three minutes to write these few lines.

4. Check For Understanding: Ask if they understand with a thumbs up or thumbs down. If

   the majority of the class is thumbs down, see what questions they have and answer as

   necessary.

5. Give them three minutes to write, afterwards call back their attention.

6. Have them give their few lines as written to their partner WITHOUT GIVING ANY

   ADDITIONAL DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO SAY IT. Each partner should then look at

   the lines they’ve been given and read over them.

7. Then, each partner will perform the lines for their playwright.

8. After both partners have performed, they can then talk about what they meant and what went wrong and all of that.
9. After each group has finished performing and chatted for a second, have everyone come together and “puddle” for a brief discussion.

Discussion (5-10 minutes)

1. Ask for a few people to share something that their partner said or any discoveries they made.

2. Then perhaps move into some of the following discussion questions:

   1. What was effective in communicating the playwright’s intention?
   2. What made something hard to understand?
   3. Looking back, are there clues you missed that you think could have helped you?
   4. How do playwrights communicate?
3. After the discussion, thank the students for sharing and participating!

Instruction (10 minutes)

1. “Today, we’re going to be looking at how we can use some of the Shakespeare tools that we talked about in the last unit! It’s important that when we learn tools or techniques in any of these units, that we figure out how to use them in other scenarios. So just because we’re not working with Shakespeare, we can still use some of those techniques, like focusing on punctuation ;). Modern authors don’t use punctuation in the exact same way, but they are purposeful with how they write something and what they use”
2. “So while a period in a modern script doesn’t necessarily mean an entirely new thought, it is something to be aware of, right?”
3. “Now let’s create a list of all the Shakespeare tools we can still use with Contemporary Scenes”. Probably write these on the board (or use a laptop and a google doc).

4. Let the students lead, but if they get stuck (or if they miss some) here is a list of some highlights from Shakespeare tools

   1. Word colors & variety (that’s why the daily question was about colors)
   2. Repetition/Lists
   3. Punctuation (this was part of the author’s intention game)
   4. Use the words to get what you want
   5. Etc

5. As we list different Shakespeare tools, have students gives examples of how to use it with

   Contemporary Scenes
   a. Example: Word colors & variety – we can still pick keywords in our lines and

   color them to make it clear to an audience; antithesis – if there are opposites, we

   can still make them feel like opposites; etc.

Practice (15-20 minutes)

1. After creating a list with examples, have students get into their Contemporary Scene groups. Then, assign each Shakespeare tool to one (or more) of the groups. That group will spend the next 15-20 minutes focusing on using that tool with their script

a. NOTE: If they do not have their script, they can either just quickly find part of a script to work with for now, or they can spend some time finding their script. In either case, they should come back with something to report about their Shakespeare tool.

2. Explain that after the 15-20 minutes, they’ll explain some of the major discoveries they made about using that tool to the rest of the class.
3. Then give them time to work!

a. As they work, I will walk around and help as necessary.

Assessment/Discussion (10-15 minutes)

1. Gather the students’ attention and have them come together in a “puddle”.
2. Have a representative from each group present what they learned and their discoveries.

3. Once each group has presented, move into a broader discussion about the process.

   Discussion questions may include:
   a. What might have been lost by not using the tool you did?
   b. Should you always use each of these tools? If so, why? If not, when shouldn’t

   you?
   c. Which tool do you personally find most helpful?
   d. How can you use what you learned through this process for future acting

   endeavors?

4. Once there’s a few minutes left in class, wrap up the discussion and thank the students for

   participating and sharing.

5. Talk about next class?

   1. If everything lines up the way I’m anticipating, the next class will be during a Shakespeare competition day and that will be a sub day.
   2. Some of the class might also be missing for Shakespeare comp, so it might be a good idea to explain the major points of next class (rehearsal day focusing on objectives, tactics, and obstacles)
   3. Also remind students to keep exploring their chosen contemporary issue!