Skip to main content
Pantomime Scenes

Lesson Five—Rehearsal of Stories

Objective:

Students will use the story outlines they’ve made to create full scenes by using the “How to Develop a Pantomime” handouts.

Materials Needed:

Students storyline outlines with character/emotion descriptions to return

Enough copies of “Pantomime Preview Rubrics” for each pair of students Lesson 5.Pantomime Preview Rubric

HOOK:

Ask students to walk around the stage. Who is their character in their pantomime scenes? Begin walking as your character, embodying all physicality. Imagine one prop you use in your scene. See it somewhere on the stage. Walk towards it. Circle around it. What are it’s colors? Bend down and pick it up. Feel its weight. Its shape. Its texture. Is it hard to hold? Is it nice to hold? Begin to handle it—move it back and forth between hands. Lift it up and down. Give it a close examination. Feel and see every tiny detail. Find a partner. Show him or her your prop. Demonstrate how it is used. Switch props with your partner. Use your new prop and notice it’s details, weight, texture, etc. The prop in your hand suddenly turns to a magical clay that gets smaller as you compress it. Squeeze it in to a ball and roll it between your hands as it gets smaller and smaller. It has now become a salted caramel. Enjoy it!

INSTRUCTION:

Step One—DIRECTIONS: Hand out “Pantomime Preview Rubric” sheets. Attention paid to smallest details in forming these scenes will make a huge difference in and bring life to your final production! Start with your framework, and fill it in with purpose, detail, and energy. Use the time. Consult the “Pantomime Preview Rubric” sheet for help. For the last fifteen minutes of class you will perform your scene to another partnership.

Step Two—INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE: Give students the bulk of class time to work on their scenes. Move throughout the classroom to observe and ensure work-ethic. Offer help as requested and appropriate.

Step Three—PARTNER PRACTICE: When there are fifteen minutes left, have each partnership choose another partnership they haven’t worked with yet. Each pair will perform while the other watches. As they watch one another they will note their favorite moment and one area of improvement and share accordingly.

CLOSURE:

Gather students together. Tomorrow they will be previewing their scenes. They are to bring their rubrics filled out to class. Their ticket out of class is signing up for the order of performance.