7th Grade Performing Arts: November 2008

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Student Performance from 7A of The Loathsome Damsel

The oral tradition lives! Here(click on this live link)is an example of storytelling from 7th grade. The student in this recording heard the story once, mapped it and retold it to a family member. She recorded this version 6 weeks after hearing the story and without any script or notes. Samantha, the teller in this recording, is one of many gifted performers in 7th grade. Look back here for more examples of student performance from past and future units of study.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Unit 2 - Improv - Essential Qs and a sample from youtube

What is improv? How do we use improv in everyday life? How does the practice of saying "Yes,and..." develop our intuition, creativity and other skills? More Qs to come...Here are some examples of students doing improv...

Improv Comedy Characteristics -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

I am a...

Sound effects game:

Fairy Tale in 60 seconds

Unit 2 - "Yes, and..." examples

Improv: "Yes, and" Principle -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Improv: "Yes, let's" -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Improv: "Yes, and" Adventure -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Improv: Blocking Offers Corridor -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Branigan

My name is Branigan LaCount and I am the performing arts student intern at the PHA middle school. I am very excited to be back at PHA after graduating from the school in 2005.

I am currently in my senior year at Emerson College in Boston. I am a BA Theatre Education major with a performance emphasis and upon graduation will receive my MA teaching license. I have been involved in theatre for as long as I can remember and have been teaching drama related classes since my sophomore year of high school. I've acted in over 40 different productions, both musicals and straight plays, and have performed in three different countries. Theatre and education are very important to me so I am very excited to be able to combine them in my work as a student teacher at PHA!

Outside of PHA, I am involved in several other areas: Currently, am working toward my goal of founding a children's theatre organization that specializes in working with mentally and/or physically challenged children, by developing a program that meets these goals. My aim is to have the program up and running within the next two years. I am also a drama teacher with the Boston Children's Theatre, working with 4-11 year age group, and I am manager at Coldstone Creamery, where I train new employees, make ice cream, and decorate cakes.

I look forward to a great semester at PHA!

Improv - vocabulary

Accepting - Improvisors need to create a reality that is not really there, without knowing what other reality the other players have in mind. In order to clearly show one united reality, improvisors should be accepting. That is they must listen carefully, play, react, and build every idea they hear or see from each other.
Blocking - not accepting other players` offers - contradicting and destroying what fellow players do or say.
Canceling - destroying what has been established. Try to use all elements that have been introduced by fellow players and realize that contradiction isn't interesting.
Offers – any action or dialog that gives an idea to fellow impoviser and will advance a scene. Usually a good thing. Offers are supposed to be accepted. A strong offer is an offer that clearly gives a direction into which a scene might evolve. An Open Offer is an offer that leaves a lot of possible directions for the scene to evolve in.
Players - students, actors, and people who are engaged in improvising. Schools, groups, actors,theater companies and even companies form "teams" and play together using improv to create scenes, theater pieces and play games.
Scene - a scene is a short-short “story” or exploration about one idea or theme through action and words made up by the players with suggestions from the audience or using an existing story or idea. A scene has a beginning ,middle and end and a who, what, when, where and how.
Wimping – wimping is accepting offers but not doing anything with them. Typical wimping is asking an open Question and leaving the action to be decided by the other player. Another common example of wimping is babbling without making any offer.

Unit 2 - Improv

Improvisational theater or "improv" is a form of theater in which the actors use simple games and prompts to perform spontaneously. Improvisers use audience suggestions to guide the performance as they create dialogue, setting, and plot on the spot. These days "improv" techniques are taught in standard acting classes but also are used in corporate settings, college and any place where creative thinking is valued. The basic skills of listening, being clear in thought and speech and confidently intuitive are part of improv study.

Intuition and creativity can be developed. The best way to improve one's improv skills is to practice. Improv is a skill for all walks and ages of life! In the US impov is best known for its comic possibilities. But there is a serious side to improv as well. People who are interested in social change have used improv and theater to help people think and act in ways to change the world. Agosto Boal is perhaps the most famous and his work is carried on here or www.theatreoftheoppressed.org.? Theatre of the Oppressed is a form of public theatre developed by Brazilian director, Augusto Boal, in the early 1970s. This participatory approach to performance provides a platform for dialogue, critical inquiry, and provides tools for individuals and communities to transform their social realities through direct action.
In a forum theatre model, a short skit is presented for a community that addresses a specific oppression faced by members of that community. Audience members are asked to offer alternative solutions and are invited to directly assume the role of the characters, modifying the outcome of the plot by switching roles with the actors. This process is repeated until the actors and the audience come to a consensus over a solution presented.
We will study improv to exercise our positive thinking and to improve our public speaking and acting skills. We will use games and scenes - comedy and drama and we will create it all. Improv is fun, deep and a skill for life!

7th Grade Performing Arts

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Student Performance from 7A of The Loathsome Damsel

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Unit 2 - Improv - Essential Qs and a sample from youtube

Unit 2 - "Yes, and..." examples

Blog Archive

PHA performing arts blogs

Branigan LaCount

Branigan

Monologue and Poetry for Performance

Improv - vocabulary

Unit 2 - Improv

Childrens Theater

LISTEN

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” - Epictetus (Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, AD 55-c.135)

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Leave a comment (click on word COMMENTS at bottom of any post) or email Ms. Dooley at: ndooley@prospecthillacademy.org

Unit 1 Heros in Folktales

Unit 4 Scene study

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