El Segundo Unified
El Segundo High School
Course Title:
Department: Applied and Fine Arts
Grade
Level: 9-12
This course is designed to introduce the art of the actor through performance. Through various processes each student will discover what is encompassed in the history of drama and the dramatic profession. Through reading the textbook and scripts; writing essays and scripts; design, acting, and lecture, students will have a beginning understanding of the history of drama and the dramatic profession. Students will understand the historical nature of the study of the history of drama through the making of connections between drama, society, culture, government and people. Students will experiment with and learn about different acting, directing, and designing techniques. Students will demonstrate a working knowledge of how to critique theatrical productions, successfully applying the terminology of evaluation.
Length: One year
Prerequisite
for Enrollment: For UC/CSU credit: maintain a grade of B or better in
current English class or have a strong teacher recommendation.
Type
of Course: Elective.
Pending UC/CSU approval to meet the Fine Arts requirement
Based on
1.0 Artistic Perception
1.1 Students will respond to sensory information—voice, visuals,
and movement—through the vocabulary and skills unique to drama.
1. Personal physical warm-up
routine-
Students will develop, practice, and maintain a daily ritual of voice and
physical preparation activities as related to the theatre.
2. Improvisation- Students will participate
in and develop improvisation activities related to conceptual acting and
character development.
3. Cold Reading- Students will learn to interpret
and predict a character’s thoughts and emotions through the developmental,
incremental steps of script exploration.
4. Express
experiences/Self-analysis- Through the art of drama, students will explore and develop a sense
who they are and what they have done.
2.0
Creative Expression
2.1
Students must achieve an understanding of the varying techniques of
acting, directing, and design—script writing and set building.
2.2
Students will produce and perform their own theatrical productions.
A. Directing & Producing- Students will compare and contrast techniques of direction and production through analysis and practice of these methods.
1. Roles- Students will take direction
and understand the specific responsibilities of each member of the theatre
production ensemble.
2. Production Team- Students will discover and
practice in the various areas that make up a successful theatrical production.
3. Performance Space- Students will know and
learn stage areas and rules through scene blocking, stage crew work, and
student-directing.
B. Technical Aspects of the Theater- Students
will perform back-stage duties for one production a year.
1. Stage Crew- Students will
explore each aspect of stage crew such as costume, make-up, stage manager,
director, and electrician. Students will also “shadow” a member of a
professional stage crew through a day of work on the job.
2. Set/Prop Design and
Construction- Students will assess the salient elements within a script and
work with the director to reproduce these elements for production.
3. Light/Sound- Students will
learn the integral steps/ingredients to light and sound design/production; as
well as the elemental differences between theatre and film production.
3.0 Historical/ Cultural Context
3.1 Students will understand the historical and cultural contributions
of theater and dramatic literary works.
1. Brecht and German Theatre
2. The Floating Light Bulb and Woody Allen
3. Death of a Salesman and Arthur Miller
4. The Seagull and A. Chekhov
5. Broadway Bound, Laughter on the 23rd
Floor and Neil Simon
As a class, in groups, and on an individual basis,
students will read, discuss, and analyze the influence that playwrights and the
theatre have on society and vice versa. Students will compile historical
perspectives based on the time period and current events surrounding the
writing and production of these pieces. Students will identify and describe the
mirror that develops between society and the stage, reflecting upon the
cultural ramifications each holds over the other.
4.0Aesthetic
Valuing
4.1 Students
will achieve an understanding of how to be a drama critic.
Writing & Theater
1. Go see a play- Students will attend four
productions, over the course of the year, outside the high school arena.
2. Writing a Review- Students will analyze and
write a review of specific technical and directorial aspects of a play production.
3. Analyzing Behavior- Students will assess the
effectiveness of an actor’s method in portraying a character.
4. Critiquing Drama- Students will critique and analyze facets of technique,
style, and structure based on the script.
5. Script Evaluation- Students will also assess
difficulties, relevance, and feasibility of production for varied theatre
groups.
6. Writing a Research Paper- Students will identify and
research a field of drama that interests them.
5.0 Connections, Relations, & Application
5.1
Students will utilize technology and various media to publicize their
productions.
5.2
Students integrate theatrical skills with other curricular areas to
make formal/informal presentations.
Activities:
1. Writing a Play/Screenplay- Students will write a ten to fifteen scene and
perform the scene before the class.
2. Promoting a Show- Students will explore the various avenues for ensuring a successful production through promotion.
3. Reader’s Theater Adaptation- Students
will participate in the melding of literature and theatre.
4. Rehearsal Schedule- Students will attain and appreciate proper theatre organization.
5. Careers in the theater- Students will research and identify the various
fields that are incorporated into a theatre production.
Text
and Supplemental Instructional Materials:
The Stage and the School by
Katharine Anne Ommanney and Harry H. Schanker
Instructional
Methods and Strategies:
1. Lecture
2. Demonstration
3. Modeling
4. Video
5. Live Theater
6. Guest Speakers and
Presenters
7. Co-operative Learning (as
Production Team)
8. Acting
9. Written/oral tests and
quizzes
10. Actor’s Journal
1. Tests and quizzes are given
to assess whether or not students have listened, researched, or experienced the
information that is being exchanged. There is a “working vocabulary” of stage
terminology that students are exposed to daily. Over the course of the
semester, students compile an “Actor’s Journal” to take notes throughout class
or to respond to various acting-related writing prompts. This, along with notes
on theatre history and technical theatre, is what students are primarily tested
on.
2. Each student will learn to
write a script in proper format. Along with resolving format issues, students
are required to have knowledge of, and integrate into their scripts, character
arcs, character relationships, pacing, dialogue development, and sub-plot.
3. All students will
participate in acting- from formal scripted plays to improvisation.
4. Students will be engaged and
able to show what “sub-group” knowledge they have acquired. This varies from
writing as a personal emphasis to mask making, and everything in between.
5. All students will turn in a
research paper that deals with an influential movement, individual, or theatre
invention (State of the Theater Report).
6. All students are required to
see theatrical performances outside of the school, whether performed by a
community theatre, college, or professional company as well as volunteering in
a community theater to assist in the producing of a play.
1. To asses tests and quizzes 90-100%=A,
80-89%=B, etc.
2. Script writing is two-fold.
Students are graded both on format and on content. A strict adherence to the
prescribed format needs to be demonstrated – this along with deadline
punctuality. As far as content is concerned, I emphasize that they know and use
theatrical devices and techniques and worry less about writing the next great
masterpiece. Therefore, I grade on effort and on how well they strive to
incorporate what they’ve studied into their own imagination.
3. Students receive a daily
participation grade. If they are on task or volunteering to perform, they
receive a check. If their effort exceeds
expectations they receive a check-plus. A lack of effort or no effort at all
receives a check minus or nothing at all.
4. Throughout the performance
process, I assess each student’s work in both the large group (primarily
acting) and in the sub-group (the area of each one’s choice.) If by the final
performance the lighting is outstanding then each person in the lighting
personnel receives and outstanding mark. The same is true with props, sound,
etc.
5. The “State of the Theatre”
report is a research paper based on a specific aspect of the theatre. Because
theatre in many ways defines literature and vice versa, English skills are
essential. The formal research paper must follow protocol and is graded as it
would be in an English class: grammar, spelling, mechanics, etc. are taken into
consideration as much as the content.
6. Students participate in an
outside event will be evidenced by each student attaching a ticket stub to his
review of the play. The review is designed to follow the outline they are
given. The quality of the review is based on how keenly the student
view the play in conjunction with what has been exchanged in class up to
that point.