Objective:
Students will be able to identify how to present themselves in an audition process through participating in a mock interview and presenting an honest slate.
Materials Needed:
None
Hook:
As people enter the classroom, have them put their things down and come stand in a circle. Have casual conversation with each other while you wait for the entire class to enter.
Step 1: Gratitude Circle (15 minutes)
Everyone stands in a circle. Explain that one at a time, a person will walk across the circle to a person, give that person a sincere compliment and then walk backwards back to their spot never breaking eye contact. The person who just received a compliment will then find someone new and continue the process until everyone has received a compliment. The goal is to focus on the other person the entire time.
Before they begin, tell the class that in order for this activity to be the most effective, everyone needs to be completely focused and completely silent. There shouldn’t be any talking or giggling.
After one or two people have gone take a moment to discuss observations before moving on.
•What does it look like when the person is focused on the other person?
•Those who went, what did it feel like to keep eye contact? What were you thinking about when you were walking?
Continue the activity until everyone has gone. Discuss afterwards.
•When you focused on the other person, how did that affect your walk?
•Were you able to focus on the other person the entire time?
•What took your focus away?
•How can you apply this to your audition?
•What can you focus on when entering the audition space?
Explain that for the next activity, it will be helpful for them to incorporate these principles (where to focus so that you are not “in your head”).
Step 2: Mock Interview (40 minutes)
Everyone gets out a piece of paper. The instructions are given for the activity. The “interviewer” (the teacher) will call an individual one at a time. That student will have to leave the room. They are then to enter the room, walk to a chair in the front of the room, answer questions from the interviewer and then leave the room. While they are doing this, all the other students will write on the piece of paper observations about the person being interviewed. Write the following questions on the board to help prompt students as they record their observations:
•What sticks out to you about this person?
•How is the person perceived?
•What is the person’s body language and facial expressions?
•What do they sound like?
Make sure the students know the importance of being honest in their comments, while not being negative. Be sure to also explain the sensitivity yet importance of this activity: this is a great opportunity for students to learn what other’s first impressions of them are. They should not take offense to the comments but take it as a learning experience. In order to mediate the possibility of offending, the teacher can be the first to go and then after their interview, the class can read out their observations. You can discuss as a class whether or not the comments were appropriate or not, and what the comments mean.
At the end of the activity, everyone tears up their paper into strips and hands their observations to the corresponding person.
Have a quick discussion.
•What did you learn about yourself?
•What did you learn about your classmates?
•Did you notice people acting different when they were being interviewed? •Were any of you self conscious when it was your turn to be interviewed, and how did this affect you?
Step 3: Slate (20 minutes)
Review what we learned about slates from the professors in the videos the previous week. Everyone is given a minute to flesh out their slate. They will know that they need to say their name and the titles of their monologues. Example: I am David Smith and I will be presenting pieces from To Kill a Mockingbird and The Foreigner.
Once all of the students are ready, each of the students will stand in a line in the front of the classroom and one at a time, the students will step forward and present their slate. After the first couple ones, use them as examples to give feedback. Get feedback from the other students. Make sure that they realize the difference between stating their name and posing their name as a question (the inflection of their voice). It is a stronger and more confident slate if they state their name.
Step 4: Return Revised Resumes (5 minutes)
After wrapping up the lesson, use the last five minutes to return the revised resumes with our comments on them. General comments may include: be sure to have your name big and at the top, make sure your email is professional, put your involvement in order starting with the most recent. Have them look over our comments and have them ask any questions before they leave. Remind them that their final copies are due when they perform their auditions.