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BYU Theatre Education
Contemporary Scenes Unit

Day 5 – Communication Cycles

August 12, 2025 08:29 PM

by Andrew Walker

National Standard:
TH:Pr5.1.I.a Practice various acting techniques to expand skills in a rehearsal or drama/theatre performance.
TH:Pr5.1.II.a. Refine a range of acting skills to build a believable and sustainable drama/theatre performance.

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:Cr1.1.II.c. Use personal experiences and knowledge to develop a character that is believable and authentic in a drama/theatre work.

State Standards:

Standard L2/L3.T.P.3: Observe, listen, and respond in character to other actors throughout a scripted or improvised scene.
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 L3.T.CR.5: Apply appropriate acting techniques and styles in performances of characters from a variety of dramatic genres and historical periods.
StandardL2/L3.T.CO.3: Examine contemporary social, cultural, or global issues through different forms of drama/theatre work.

Enduring Understandings:

  1. Students will understand that communication requires two or more people.
  2. Students will understand that trial and error is a part of the creative process.
  3. Students will understand that they are capable.

Essential Questions:

  1. How do we communicate?
  2. How do we make reactions seem new in performance?
  3. Why do we ask questions?

Objective:

Students will explore and refine acting skills for portraying relationships and communication through playing a game of questions and rehearsing using communication cycles.

Materials:

  1. Whiteboard and Markers
  2. Students should have access to their scripts
  3. Students should have their chromebooks
  4. Exit Ticket: https://forms.gle/XBX3PTw34hhvJeJV6
  5. Large empty space
  6. Drama 2/3 Daily Question
  7. Projector, Projector Screen, Laptop, HDMI Cable, and HDMI to USB-C adaptor

Instructions:
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: What’s your favorite question to ask to get to know someone?

Hook 2 – Questions (10 minutes)

  1. “We’re going to play a game of questions. I learned about this game from a play called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, but we might adjust the rules slightly. Essentially, players take turns in a conversation of only questions. You get a point if the other person breaks a rule. Here are the rules:”

    1. No statements – only speak in questions
    2. No hesitating or grunts
    3. No repetition (both identical question or synonymous question)
    4. Questions must relate to the previous question
    5. No rhetorical questions (questions that people aren’t supposed to answer)
  2. See if there’s a student who would like to try it out! Then play questions with them – this is to help show how the game works, so if the student isn’t messing up, I will mess up intentionally to help the class learn how the game fully works.

a. Example of a few rounds of questions

  1. “Do you want to play questions?”
  2. “How do you play?”
  3. “What do you already know?”
  4. “What do I need to know?”
  5. “Have you played questions before?”
  6. “Does it seem like I’ve played?”
  7. Foul - rhetorical question

3. Check For Understanding: After playing a short game with one student, see if there are any other questions about how the game works.

a. For fun, you can try answering questions with questions (and playing the game)
4. After clarifications, have students find a partner, preferably someone they haven’t worked

with yet. (If there is an odd number of students, there can be a group of three).

5. Let students play the game for a little while, then let them know when to start wrapping up. Once they finish their games, have them gather for a short discussion.

Discussion (5-10 minutes)

  1. Potential Discussion Questions include:

    1. What skills do you need to be successful in this game?
    2. When did you need to pay attention to your partner?
    3. How can we apply this to our scenes?
  2. After a brief discussion thank the students for their answer and participation.

Instruction 1 (5-10 minutes)

  1. “So one of the major reasons we played that game was to talk about listening and responding. But I’ll break it down even more, when we have good/effective conversations, we use communication cycles.”

  2. It may be helpful to draw the following diagram on the board as you explain

    a.

  3. 1 - So first, we send out a signal out to someone. This could be words, an action, a look,

    etc.

  4. 2 - Then, we check to see if they understood what we sent them. Did the signal reach

    them?

  5. 3 - Whether or not the signal reached them, they send a signal back.

    1. If they didn’t recognize what you sent, that’s the signal they send back.
    2. If they did recognize, they might send an intentional message back.
  6. 4 - Then this signal they send back does something to you.
  7. 5 - You react, and your reaction sends another signal. The cycle repeats!

  8. To simplify: you do/say something, check for their response, receive their response, and

    then do/say something new because of it.

  9. Check For Understanding: See what questions the students still have about this process.

    Answer as necessary.

Practice (5-10 minutes)

  1. After checking for understanding and maybe answering questions, ask for two students to volunteer to play a game of questions in front of the class.
  2. Once these students are picked, have them come to the front. Then explain that the rest of the class will be watching and breaking down the communication cycles as the two students play questions.
  3. After the first foul (or a few minutes of questions), have the players stop for a second. Ask the audience students to give a few examples of communication cycles they saw from the game.

a. Be prepared to give a few examples of your own in case the students are having a hard time finding any.

  1. If necessary, have different students come up to play questions for the audience (and the original players) to get a better understanding of how the communication cycles work.

  2. Once you feel the students understand how communication cycles work, applaud the

    participants and have them sit back down.

  3. “As you rehearse today, use communication cycles.Send signals and react to the signals

    sent back to you. It will make your interactions with other people onstage more realistic

    and more interesting! So that’s what I want y’all to focus on in your rehearsals today”

Rehearsal Time (25-40 minutes)

1. Then give the students time to rehearse their scenes.
a. I will walk around and informally assess and help out as necessary.

Wrap Up/Exit Ticket (5 minutes)

1. Once there’s about 5 minutes left in class, gather attention back and have students start filling out the Exit Ticket: https://forms.gle/XBX3PTw34hhvJeJV6

a. Put the QR code on the projector and/or write out the link on the board.

  1. Also remind students to keep exploring their chosen contemporary issue!
  2. Thank the students for their work and participation today!
Tags
acting skills