Objective
Students will demonstrate their understanding of Uta Hagen’s Talking to Yourself and Character Action exercises by teaching the exercise and facilitating a corresponding activity.
Materials Needed
· Candy
· Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen (preferably one per student)
Lesson Directions
Anticipatory Set/Hook
Review the exercises up until this point with the students. Ask them to identify the exercises and the correlating activities. Toss a candy to those who raise their hand and provide correct answers.
Instruction
Step 1:
· Split the class into two equal groups
· Assign the first group the exercise “Talking to Yourself” (pg 119-123) and the second group “Character Action” (pg 139-142)
· Pass out the books (Respect for Acting) to each student
Step 2:
· Inform groups that they will now be the teacher
· As a group, they will read about the exercise they were assigned
· Then they will have to conduct the exercise prescribed by Hagen or create another activity that will help teach the principles of the exercise
· Give them about 15 minutes to read and prepare
Step 3:
· At the conclusion of the 15 minutes, each group will take 3-5 minutes to explain what the exercise is to the rest of the class (i.e. the other group)
· Following their explanation, they will take 12-15 minutes to conduct the determined exercise/activity
· At the conclusion of their presentation, as the presenting group and the receiving group what they learned, what they liked, what they didn’t like, etc.
Step 4:
· Have the groups switch and allow the second group to follow the same pattern of presentation
Closure:
· Discuss this process of learning and teaching the different exercises (Possible questions: what did this exercise do for you? How did it help you? How do you think it can help the performance overall?, etc.)
· With the last 5 minutes of the period, have students write on a piece of paper
o 3 things they learned from the other groups presentation
o 1 thing they can do to improve their craft using the exercise they studied/presented
Assessment
Participation: 10pts
Write up: 5 pts
Total possible points: 15 pts