Monday, February 8th:
Everyone up on stage. Played taxi. Everyone participated.
Then did volunteers: Jelani, Shakhina, Thailor, Sadie,
Stephanie, Michelle, Ki, Reyna
Sing-Off: disastrous
No one worked together, kids talking, not participating,
Emotional Cocktail Party:
Shakhina, Gia, Reyna, Kristina, Rita, Tyler
About to do Fairy Tale but bell rang
exercises:
Kindergarten
Class:
Drama
Teacher's Survival Guide
Pages
28 - 30
Character
and Objective:
Teacher:
to have students sit quietly and listen to a story
Student
A: to have teacher notice what a polite child he or she is
Student
B: to get the teacher to allow him or her to go to the bathroom
Student
C: to listen to the story
Student
D: to be helpful to the teacher
Student
E: to play with a toy in his/her pocket
Student
F: to get close to and get the attention of Student A
Student
G: to get Student E in trouble without getting in trouble him/herself.
Student
H: To get Student C to look at him or her
Student
I: To give a piece of candy to Student D to make D like her or him.
Student
J: To get a piece of candy from Student I
Student
K: To get Students F and H to look at a picture of her/his puppy.
Take
the students aside and tell them their objectives.
Have
one student play the principal who comes in to check up on the teacher. All the
kids are terrified of the principal and do not want to get sent to the office.
The teacher may send a disruptive student out with the principal. If the
teacher does so, then the student must leave the scene.
After
the improv, ask the actors the following questions:
Were
the actors playing children able to draw on their own experiences to help them
in the scene?
Did
the actors actually feel the experience of being a child in a kindergarten
class?
Did
the actor playing the teacher feel any genuine emotion in the scene? What were
they?
What
was each actor's objective?
Trip
to New York:
Drama
Teacher's Survival Guide
Pages
30 - 31
Set
up chairs to suggest a bus, with a table for the ticket seller in a corner.
Choose twelve students who will each play a character with an objective the
director will give them. They are not to divulge their objectives before the
improv.
Character
and Objective:
1.
Teenage girl who is going to meet her boyfriend whom her parents do not like.
2.
A guy who's pretending to be a cool, rich guy.
3.
A nervous woman who is going to meet her online boyfriend for the first time.
4.
A middle-aged person who is going to be a stage actor in New York.
5.
An old person who is going to visit her grandchildren
6.
A person who is trying to convince everyone the end of the world is near.
7.
A young woman who is about to be deployed to Iraq to fight.
8.
A young man who is upset that he didn't get the job he applied for.
9.
A nervous person who is trying to skip town before he/she gets arrested.
10.
An undercover agent who is following a suspect to arrest
11.
An eight year old child who is waiting for her mother who never arrives.
12.
A young person enrolling in NYU for her freshman year of college.
A
ticket-seller, the bus driver and a security guard are also in the scene.
The
scene opens with the ticket-seller, the security guard, the bus driver and the
8 year old child already on stage.
Had
students work on the improv to present tomorrow.
The
actors must follow their objectives truthfully, without stereotypes. The scene
ends when the director ends it; the actors cannot force an early conclusion,
such as a bomb exploding or the bus driver dying.
After
the scene, the audience shares what they observed about the actors' characters
and motives.
Ask
the actors the same questions that the kindergarten actors answered.
Wednesday, February 10th:
Each group rehearsed for ten minutes on stage and two of the
four groups performed:
The Kindergartner
Class
Stephanie – teacher
Kids: Arturo, Mark, Reyna, Chelsea, Katherine +, Angie, Stepan,
Kimberly, Joan, Thailor, Johan
The Bus Trip to New York
Kristina, Gia, Lynn, Dalicia +, Shakhina +, Rita, Audrey
Thursday, February 11th:
Finished Kindergarten/Bus Trip
Kindergarten: A
Tyron, Michelle (A), Jaynice, Mayleth, Nelly, Leslie, Oscar
Good stage picture
Good interplay between actors
Strong and clear objectives
Bus Trip
Sadie, James, Barajas, Jelani, Natalie, Xithlalli
Assisting: Lynn
Not clear
Had students write professions and combine with
contradictory or weird adjectives
Cocktail:
Lynn – host
Sadie, Thailor, Audrey, Gia, Reyna, Ki
Had to tell Thailor three times to get off phone
Joan and Stephanie talking during class – three times.
Friday, February 12th:
Guest Artist:
Melissa
Theatre Games:
“Why are you late?”
A student comes to school late.
The teacher asks the student why s/he is late.
The people (3 – 7) are standing behind the teacher and mime
the reason the student is late. The student tries to guess the reason by
figuring out what the people behind the teacher is miming. At the end the
audience tries to guess what was the reason, and the teacher (who is in on it with
the mimes) gives the reason.
Groups: Audrey, Jay-nice, Lynn, Joan, Jelani, Gia, Thailor,
Ki, Shakhina
Tyler, Marc, Stephanie, Xithlalli, Rita, Nelli, Natalie,
Kristina, Michelle
Stepan, Johan, Tyron, Arturo, Chelsea, Barajas, Kimberly,
Oscar
Students practice 3 types of stage slaps.
