Subject: Beginning Drama

Arizona Essential Standards:
Standard 1: Creating Arts
· Demonstrate mental and physical attributes (e.g., concentration, sense recall and ability to remember lines and cues; breath control; body alignment, flexibility, and coordination) required to communicate characters different from themselves.
· Cooperate in an ensemble to rehearse and present improvisations and scripted scenes involving themselves as invented characters.
Standard 2: Art in Context
· Describe and compare responses to their own works and works by others.

Objectives:
· The class will perform in an improvisational activity, in which each student has a hidden agenda or objective
· The students will demonstrate that they understand the difference between cliche acting and "inner-life"

Introduction and Warm-ups:
Game - Shrink
Before the class starts, write down different disorders or problems that someone might go to a psychologist for (anything from serious to absurd), on little pieces of paper (as many as there are students). Put them into a hat to draw from. Split the class in half. For the first round, one half are shrinks, the other half are patients (then switch for the second round). The shrinks have to leave the room, or seclude themselves, while the patients draw from the hat. Answer any questions, if the students do not understand the disorders. Then, have the students get into character and call the shrinks in. Tell the shrinks that they can ask any questions they want (except "what is your disorder?") to try and guess what the person is suffering from. Tell the patients that their goal is to avoid being discovered. If the shrinks guess what the patient has, then the patient must Sit down. (If this goes on for too long and the shrinks are not getting anywhere, tell the patients to become more obvious or have the other patients join in on the guessing). Sample patient disorders:
claustrophobia, fear of bugs, nervous, uses a color in every answer, thinks they are the shrink asking them the question, sad, etc. Sample shrink questions: What color is your hair? what is your name? How old are you? What school do you go to? Etc.
 
Reflection/ Discussion
· Question what it was like being the shrink: "How did you figure out what the patients' disorders were? who's were the easiestihardest to uncover and why?"
· Question what it was like being the patient: "How did you try to conceal your disorder? what was going through your minds as you were trying to answer the questions in character?"
· Discuss your definition of inference skills or "inner-life": In acting, and everyday life, our mind is constantly thinking about things or motivating us to attain certain objectives and these can be reflected physically or can be inferred by the things we say.

Bus Stop Activity
    All students (half the class at a time) improvise that they are in a bus depot, waiting for the bus to arrive. Give each one a hidden objective. (e.g. you are on military leave and you are going to see you newborn child for the first time, you are very sick and you are going home to live with your family, etc.) Watch the scenes. The observers will take notes on what they think a character is thinking or what the objective is.

Discuss/ Modeling
· Sit in front of the class and ask the class to determine what you are thinking. First, make it easy by physically overacting an emotion (e.g. anger). Then, make it harder by just sitting there quiet and still, but thinking of a different objective. For both exercises, have the class try to guess what you are thinking.
· "which was more interesting to watch? why was it harder for you as the audience to guess or "infer" what I was thinking for the second one?"
· 'When we were at the bus stop, what were everybody's hidden objectives (review your notes)? Do you think it made it more interesting to watch when you knew what the character wanted or was thinking, or when you couldn't figure it out? why?"
· "when we physicalize an emotion or an objective it has the tendency to become a clich~. We become a label or categorization, instead of a believable character, which is essential in acting."

"Doctor's Office" Challenge
    Basically, the same activity as the bus stop, but the environment has changed. Challenge the students to try and connect with the emotions and objectives, and try not to (not physicalize) show them to the audience.

Assessment /Reflection
· "Did you feel you met the challenge? what worked or did not work for you? How was this easieriharder for you to do, as compared with the bus stop?"
· "We'll continue to work on these inference skills throughout this semester, but if there is anything I want to leave you with is this: when you are acting, you are breathing life into a character, a character that is uniquely yours. However, if you choose to use cliches, then you are not acting at all, you are copying, and there is no skill in that."
 

                         Problems for the Shrink Game:

Compulsive Liar
 

Hypochondriac (constantly think they are going to die or something is making them sick)
 

Uses a color in every answer
 

Sad
 

You think you are the person who is asking you the questions
 

You think you are Cinderella
 

Uncontrollable Temper
 

Your phobia is bugs
 

Claustrophobia (fear of tight and confmed places)
 

You are extremely nervous
 

You are an air-headed valley girl/guy with a low IQ
 

Everything is flinny to you
 

Within every answer, you have to say the word, "Um..."
 

You are obsessed with cleaning
 

You talk to yourself or hear voices in your head
 

You have an imaginary friend
 

You are a snob

 You are convinced that you are an alien

You think you are Madonna
 

You are extremely affectionate, you have to touch everyone around you
 

Within every answer you give, use a number
 

Ramble on and never answer a question (or answer a question with a question)
 

You are narcissistic (in love with your self)
 

You are in love with the person who asks you a question
 
 

         "Inner life" for waiting Improvisations:

Bus Stop:

You are on military leave and you are going home to see you newborn baby for the first time.

You are deathly ill and you are going home to say good-bye to your family and friends.

You are going away to college. This is the first time you are going out on your own.

You are a teenager, running away from home because your parents physically abuse you.

You are running away from the law for a crime you committed.

You are meeting someone who is going to sell you illegal Cuban cigars.

You are meeting someone to sell them illegal Cuban cigars.

This bus is going to take you to an airport, which is going to fly you to ~urope for the first time.

You suspect your wife/husband of cheating on you while they are on vacation. This bus is going to take you there, to catch him/her in the act.

It is Christmas Day and you cannot be with your family because you are stuck in this Bus Station.

Your doctor recommended riding in this bus because you have a fear of being in tight confmed places with a bunch of people. So, this is therapy, but you are extremely nervous.

You are a terrorist and you are going to take over this bus as a protest for your country.
 

Doctor's Office:

You are pregnant for the first time and everything is going smoothly. Plus, you should be going into labor

within a matter of days.

You are pregnant, but you have been having difficulties and you think you are going to lose your baby.

The doctor's told you that you would never have children, until you got pregnant, but now what?

You think you have AIDS.

You were sent here by your parents and the school to test your drug/alcohol blood level, in which you know will be extremely high. If it is, you will be suspended from school and your parents have threatened to put you into a rehab program.

This is just your monthly check-up, and nothing is wrong. However, you cannot wait to get home to have a romantic dinner with your new boy/girl friend, for the first time.

You have run out of your prescription of Pitalin due to your hyperactivity, you need to get those pills because you cannot control your energy.

You have a huge crush on your doctor, and really only set up the appointment to see him/her. You think he/she might like you too.
 You are the doctor's wife/husband, and you had to schedule an appointment to fmally spend some time with him/her. You are doing this to prove a point.

You are sueing the doctor for malpractice and cannot wait to see his face, when you personally hand him the papers.

You have a skin problem on your rear end, which is making you extremely uncomfortable. This skin problem isn't harmIul, but you have to lower your pants for the doctor (who is the opposite sex as you) and you are extremely embarrassed.