I realized I haven't talked much about what I'm actually teaching. Oops...
In beginning drama, we are finishing a pantomime unit. I start with pantomime because it doesn't require line memorization, gets students used to performing with their bodies and calls on lots of previous knowledge as they pantomime objects they use frequently. We started with how to pantomime handheld objects, moved to large things like furniture, and then into using those objects in sequence. Students had a chance to perform with each of these steps. Now they are in groups of 3 or 4, preparing 2-3 minute pantomimes. They have a lot of confidence in what they are doing; we'll see if it plays out in their performances. They don't like to rehearse, which is a problem I hit up against in all my classes. But I've seen a lot of creativity as they are given the chance to choose what objects to use and a growing willingness to perform.
In my intermediate class we are working on objectives and tactics. I use what I learned in college, phrasing objectives by saying "I want [person] to do [action] and tactics being the verbs you do to get what you want. It is a new concept to them and they are getting it slowly. I like pushing them to understand things differently. Tomorrow I am assigning them Neil Simon scenes to work on objectives and tactics. I love Neil Simon, but because he has such strong copyright protection, I can't do most of his shows because of language. So I've got kids doing scenes from Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple (male and female version,) Rumors, The Gingerbread Lady and Chapter Two. Simon's stuff has such great objectives. Excited to see what these turn into.
In advanced, we are working on Check Please and Check Please: Take Two. I cast last week and we are blocking right now. I love all the ideas my kids have. They are inspired by this script and because they are I hope it will have lots of energy and be fun for our audience.
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