Theatre Games for the Classroom
"Theatre-game workshops are designed not as diversions from the curriculum, but rather as supplements, increasing student awareness of problems and ideas fundamental to their intellectual development." "Theatre-game workshops are useful in improving student's ability to communicate, through speech and writing and in nonverbal ways as well." "They are energy sources, helping students develop skills in concentration, problem solving, and group interaction." ~All quotes from Viola Spolin~
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~Use theatre games in your classroom to build relationships between students of different races. ~Create opportunities to discuss hard issues. ~Share an important lesson, event or person that changed history! |
Types of Theatre Games
All Information in this Section is from Viola Spolin's Book
Theatre Games For the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook
Warm-ups"Warm-ups remove outside distractions players may have brought with them. Warm-up games focus on group interaction." |
Rhythmic and Movement Games"These games can be used as a warm-up. They give players an opportunity to explore and become increasingly aware of body motion. Rhythmic movement games focus on exploration and awareness of one's body movement." |
Space Walks"Space walks extend this exploration, giving students a chance to move through and explore the familiar space of the classroom, giving that space a new immediacy. Space walks should be given often as warm-ups." |
Transformation Games"Making the invisible visible. Space objects should be looked upon as thrusts of the invisible inner self into the visible world. Students who create space objects will discover that reaching out is reaching in." |
Sensory Games"Physical or sensory involvement with the environment can be firmly established in the player in early sessions. This is a necessary step on the path to building other and more complex relations." |
Part of a Whole Games"Becoming or being part of a whole produces one body through which all (onstage players, audience players, and sidecoach) are directly involved in the outcome of the playing, supporting one another in a process of mutual fulfillment." |
Mirror Games"Mirror games link players by the act of seeing. Players are on focus when they merely reflect, without interpretation, what their eyes tell them." |
Where, Who, And What"Using the terms Where, Who, and What moves the players to include environment, relationship, and activity---the world of daily living---in their consideration of theatrical problems." |
Communicating with Words"Players are so caught up in the effort to keep focus that dialogue flows naturally without the painfully forced quality of a player trying to be funny, smart, sad, or whatever. In time players learn to trust that, when they are on focus, the words they need will appear. In games as in everyday life, words can be used to say what the listener wants to hear and to conceal what the listener needs to know." |
Communicating with Sounds"These games stimulate and refine communication skills. Sound effects, gibberish, percussion, and extended sounds will be added to players' tools for communication." |
Multiple Stimulus Games"To achieve survival in our complex society, individuals must handle, integrate, and work with a variety of incoming data. In these games, players grow agile and alert, ready and eager for unusual play as they respond to many random happenings simultaneously." |
Puppetry"These games are designed to develop more organic, better integrated use of the feet and legs. They are also a natural lead-in to puppetry and shadow plays." |
Playmaking for Radio, Television and Film"The focus in these games is to show Where, Who and What by voice and sound alone (without telling). Films have few restrictions but use a number of conventions to convey ideas, develop character, and express moods. The television games restrict players to use of their upper bodies. In the radio games the players work on the problem of using voices only to communicate to an audience." |
Developing Material"Theatre games are invaluable in the preparation of scripted theatre pieces, they have traditionally been associated with improvisation, storytelling and story theatre. Improvisation and story theatre tap the intuitive energies of the player rather than subordinate them to the dictates of the playwright and script. These games lead players from workshop to public performance." |
Story Telling and Story Theatre"Storytelling and story theatre are overlapping forms of performance art which can be successfully used to tell longer stories." |
Let's Fly Workshop
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What is Improvisation?Improvisation is a spontaneous activity that requires no preparation. Students must react to what is said to them in that moment without having time to think about what they are going to say. Speaking, movements and actions are all thought of in the moment.
Why use it in the Classroom?Improvisation is a great way for students to develop confidence and communication skills that can be used in and out of the classroom. Improvisation gives students the opportunity to practice and improve their language skills.
Improvisation
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