AE17.TH.8.9

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 8 - Theatre

EU: Theatre artists make strong choices to effectively convey meaning.
EQ: Why are strong choices essential to interpreting a drama or theatre piece?

The students will demonstrate their ability to create a character from a prop by performing a scene with different clothing props that represent a variety of different characters. Glasses, shoes, necktie, etc. Show students clips from BIg, Twilight Zone DEad Man's Shoes, and Steve Urkel/Stephan transformation. Students should be able to make the connection between adding a piece of clothing to change the character. They can relate it to almost as a "Superman" like transformation. This lesson is based on the lesson linked below:
http://www.kamplays.com/uploads/1/1/0/4/11040740/a_characters_shoes.pdf
Students will write several scenes based on the character choices inspired by the different types of props and clothing. As in all performances, there is both teacher and peer critique and an actor's reflection tool.

Vocal
Movement
Characterization

Skills Assessed

In introductory playwriting, the student improvises, writes, and rewrites monologues, scenes, and vignettes to convey predetermined intent and meaning. The use of props and costumes is encouraged as the students are expanding knowledge and moving towards the proficient stage of high school classes.

Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Example: Experiment with rate of speech, tempo of dialogue between characters, levels of physical intensity