PANTOMIME

PANTOMIME

PANTOMIME

Pantomime is type of entertainment where players act out situations, ideas, or environments. The difference between this and other forms of performance is that pantomime requires its performers not to use any props nor their voice.  Sometimes, music plays while they perform.

Why would you need to know how to act on stage without using your voice?

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PHYSICAL THEATER

PHYSICAL WARMUPS & ACTIVITES

FEEL YOUR FEELINGS

For this activity, everyone has to sit on the floor wherever you like.  It is important that wherever you are sitting, you are close enough that you can hear my voice, but still have enough room to spread your body out for this activity.  Though this activity will be relaxing, it is important for you all to keep your eyes open and concentrate. Listen very closely to what I am saying and concentrate on the instructions.

Feel your feet in your socks            Feel your socks on your feet

Feel your legs in your pants            Feel your pants on your legs

Feel your chest in your shirt           Feel your shirt against your chest

Feel your fingers in your rings       Feel your rings on your fingers

Feel the hair on your head and the eyebrows on your face

Feel the tongue in your mouth

Feel the teeth in your mouth

Feel your ears

Feel all of the space around you

Let the space feel you.

PLOT ARCH

PLOT ARCH

Who know what the word plot means?

The plot is the order and organization of events in a story, play, or movie.

Every story and play has a pattern that it must follow.  I am sure that you all know that a story has to have a beginning, a middle and an end, but what about the other parts of the story?  Does anyone know what they are?  The reason it is referred to as an arch is because the story starts at one place builds to a high point, then everything gets resolved and returns to a situation similar to the beginning. Let’s look at the way a story should be organized.

STAGE DIRECTIONS

STAGE DIRECTIONS

In theater, directions are always given from the actor’s point of view on stage facing the audience.  Here you will find a list of all the directions and a diagram of the stage explaining each one.

Stage Directions
Direction	Step	Description of Step
RS	RIGHT STAGE	Part of stage on your right when facing the audience from onstage
LS	LEFT STAGE	Part of stage on your left when facing the audience from onstage
US	UPSTAGE	Part of stage behind you when facing the audience from onstage
DS	DOWNSTAGE	Part of stage in front of you when facing the audience from onstage
DR	DOWN RIGHT	The downstage, right corner of the stage when facing the audience from onstage
DL	DOWN LEFT	The downstage, left corner of the stage when facing the audience from onstage
UL	UP LEFT	The upstage, left corner of the stage when facing the audience from onstage
UR	UP RIGHT	The upstage, right corner of the stage when facing the audience from onstage
UC	UP CENTER	The upstage, center area of the stage when facing the audience from onst

ADVENTURES IN 6th GRADE STORYTELLING

Picture a time when there were no

computers.  A time when there were no

televisions.  A time when there were no radios.

 I want for you to imagine a time when people

 actually had to rely on the art of conversation to

 entertain themselves…WOW! I know the very notion

makes some of you shudder with fear.  Believe it or not,

people used to get by.

Since the beginning of time, people in all parts of the world have taken words

and turned them into narration. Narration is the act of recounting or telling in

order the particulars of some action,

occurrence, or event. When someone narrates something, they take ordinary events or ideas and bring them to life to share with others.  Over time, these narrations come to be known as stories.

A story is a retelling of real or fictional events done to entertain or to share information. A story is not an untruth told to get out of trouble. That is a lie. J

In the early days, storytelling was an very important part of human communication.  Many of you have been fortunate to have someone read to you when you were younger.  Some of you may read aloud to a younger sibling or family member now.  Before there was such a thing as the written word and printed books, stories were told to family members and neighbors to connect people in faraway countries and tribes.  Storytelling was the only way people were able to record historic events before reading and writing were readily available to everyone. Some of the stories told in ancient times have lasted through the generations and are still being told today either by word of mouth or they have been recorded in books.

 Storytellers would travel from city to city or from village to village and would tell stories much like newscasters today tell the news.  Storytellers used to be merchants who would travel to sell their merchandise.  Some storytellers would be considered bards or minstrels or they may even be warriors sitting around a campfire. A bard is a professional poet and singer in ancient Europe, whose job was to create and sing verses in honor of the heroes of the times. A minstrel is a traveling medieval entertainer who would sing and recite poetry, often to his own musical accompaniment. 

  

Critical Thinking:

Make a list of some musical

artists you consider modern

day bards or minstrels.

What makes them a bard or a minstrel in your opinion? Remember to consider artists who use storytelling in their lyrics. Answer the question on looseleaf. Give examples whenever possible.

In this course we are going to try to learn to be storytellers. YAY! Hearing and telling stories can sometimes be even more exciting than watching a movie because no one can invent anything as fascinating as what your mind can imagine. We can use our imaginations to create entire worlds and galaxies that other people’s minds can not even begin to tap into. 

I know some of you may think that storytelling is

“silly” or only for babies, but I beg to differ. In order

to be great storytellers, which I am sure all of you will be able to do by the time we are done with this school year, you have to put your heart and mind into your presentation.  Storytellers were respected people because they provided people with information and entertainment.  They would not only tell a story, they would explain it as well so that their audience members could travel on the imaginary journey with them.

Many of you are storytellers right now and don’t even know it. How many times have you told your friends about something that happened at school, (a fight, something funny or embarrassing that happened to someone else, something goofy a teacher said, anything!) and told your friend in a way that made them feel like they were right there with you? Well guess what… YOU ARE A STORYTELLER!!!!!

Now, some of you may be wondering, “Why are we learning storytelling in DRAMA class?”  The answer to that question is very simple. In order to be a truly GREAT storyteller, you have to use a lot of basic acting and performance skills. Among the skills you will learn through storytelling are:

·      Enunciation & Articulation: Speaking clearly and loudly

·      Facial Expression: Using your face to express an emotion or idea

·      Gesture & Physicalization: Creating a character or expressing an emotion using only your body

·      Improvisation: Making things up on the spot

·      Mime & Pantomime: Acting with no words

·      Projection: Making your voice heard by your audience

·      Vocal Characterization: Creating a character using only your voice

·      Vocal Tone: Using the way you speak to mean different emotions

·      Voice Modulation: Controlling the volume of your voice

·      And most importantly your IMAGINATION.

A story can be as long or as short as the storyteller decides to make it. A story teller, or griot as they are called in West Africa, paints a picture with words the same way an author or playwright does.  What separates storytellers from others is that they are telling their stories instead of writing or typing them and sometimes, they are even making up the story off the top of their head!

In order to be a great storyteller, there are a few guidelines that you must follow:

Always….

1.  ….choose interesting stories that your audience will want to hear and understand.

2. …. add character voices or accents to your story.

3. …use words that your audience understands and explain words they might not understand.

4. ….use facial expression, body language and gesture.

5. ….prepare and practice the story before presenting it.

6. …be enthusiastic, energetic, and interesting to your audience.

7. ….make eye contact with the audience.

8……use props, costumes, and sound effects to enhance the story.

9…..enjoy sharing the story with the audience.

10. …..create the feeling of “Once Upon a Time,” when beginning a story.

In this class, you will use this workbook, as well as our textbook for the class, Folktales from Around the World.  Most of the stories you will be performing in your groups will come from this book, but there will also be some stories and plays included in this workbook. It is extremely important for you to keep up with your materials for this class. Without the materials, you will be unable to participate in the class activities or complete the assignments. 

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“Storytelling often has audience participation in the form of call and response, songs within the story, or suggestions as to how the story should proceed.  Stories generally are not ‘learned,’ not memorized, allowing for the shifts, play and interplay, and the unexpected.  It is a risky art because, when done well, it is truly an ‘on the moment’ art.  Storytelling entertains. Storytelling teaches. Storytelling challenges. Storytelling heals. And Storytelling is lots of fun!” [1]

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[1] Regina Ress, Producer of Finding the Queen of Everything, Provincetown Playhouse, NYC. 2004

JOURNAL ENTRIES

1) When was the last time you used your imagination? What did you do? Write a 1 page journal entry about your imagination.

2) What is your favorite folktale or fairytale? Why is that your favorite? If you could retell the story, what would you change? Please write a one page journal about your story.

Atencion, Posicion, Freeze

There are three very important words for you to learn before you proceed in Drama class. 

These words are:

 FREEZE

ATENCION

POSICION.

When you hear FREEZE, your job is to stop what you are doing immediately, and FREEZE in whatever position you are in. We will learn more about why FREEZE is important in class.

ATENCION is how we come together and pay attention to what each other may or may not be saying.  When you hear ATENCION, you stop what you are doing, repeat it back, and salute Ms Cooper. This lets us know that everyone is paying attention and ready to hear whatever is being said.

POSICION is how we say “at ease.” Once Ms Cooper knows that you are listening, and focused on the next step of directions or instructions, she will say POSICION and you may sit or take notes.

STAGE TYPES

A physical stage is not needed for every performance.  All that anyone needs to for a performance is someone performing, and someone watching.  You can make theatre anywhere!  When you begin to work with your stories in this class, it is important to know and understand the types of stages so that you can make decisions about where you want to put the audience. Proscenium, thrust and arena stages refer to types of stages and seating arrangements applicable to venues primarily designed for dance, theatre and opera. 

Proscenium Stage:

  

Thrust, 3/4, or Elizabethan Stage:

Arena Stage, Theater-in-the-Round:

JOURNAL ENTRY

What type of  stage do we have in our theater?
What types of stages have you seen performances on in your lifetime?
Write a 1 page journal entry about stages.

DRAMA CLASS GUIDELINES

Drama Class Guidelines

I prefer not to use the word “rules” when discussing the class because I feel that it makes students feel boxed in and unable to be creative.  I have also found that when one person makes the “rules” and passes them down to a group of people, they don’t go over as well as if the group comes up with them on their own. As a result, we will be creating a list of guidelines together.

1. Be Respectful. Everyone is going to make a fool of themselves in this class.  If we are not respectful of each other and not considerate of how everyone feels, no one will be comfortable sharing.  We don’t have to like each other, but we will be respectful.
2. Dress Appropriately.  This class requires movement.  Overly tight or low rise pants and shirts, oversized pants, shirts, and sweatshirts can impede your movement and cause you to possibly hurt or expose yourself.  You should wear loose fitting clothes that you can move in without injury or embarrassment. 
3. Keep ALL Body Parts & Fluids to Yourself. I used to tell people not to hit, and then I had an incident with a kicker. Then I decided to tell kids to keep hands and feet to themselves and I had a student who scratched and bit others. Then I decided to say 'keep all body parts to yourself,' and then a student spit on another student. YUCK! For the sake of safety, please, let's try to follow this guideline.
4. 
   

Make a list of a few things that you think we need to have in our class for us to all be successful.

If I do not follow the class guidelines, I understand that the following will occur.

1^st Offense:            Warning from Ms. Cooper.

2^nd Offense:            Lunch Detention with Ms. Cooper.

3^rd Offense:            Phone Call Home & After School Detention with School Deans.

Anything that occurs past the 3^rd Offense will require a parental conference with Ms. Cooper.

WHAT DO I NEED FOR DRAMA CLASS?

WHAT DO I NEED TO GET STARTED?????

This is the most popular question I get asked at the beginning of each school year.  Over the years, I have tried different methods of presenting the list of what students need in many different ways, but somehow, it always gets messed up. Here is another try:

·      One 1 inch3 ring binder or section in a larger binder with loose leaf paper. 

From time to time, I will distribute handouts in class and students need a place to put them where they will remain in good shape..  The best way to keep up with handouts and class notes is in a 3 ring binder. If you are using another large binder for all your  subjects, please create a section in the binder for Drama class.

·      Many Pencils & Erasers.

In the Theater we make mistakes, we change our minds, we decide to do things differently. We must also write where to move onstage and where to enter or exit. Because of this, we must write in pencil to as not to have ugly scratch marks all over the papers. Class notes and class work should be done in pencil.  Assignments that are to be turned in should either be in blue or black pen or typed. Journals can be written in whatever you prefer.

If there are any questions or concerns about what has been mentioned in this brochure, please do not hesitate to contact me, Ms. Lauren Cooper, Drama Queen, at (718) 833-1000, extension 125.