creative dramatics

Improvisation in Theater: Myths vs. Reality

May 25, 2022 By dhcbaldwin Leave a Comment

This is a great topic, don’t you think? Improvisation in Theater: Myths vs. Reality Let’s unpack this today.

Improvisation. Fun stuff, huh?

I was a child of the late 1960s and early 70s. I didn’t study theater until I attended high school and even then, I barely got started. My teacher never taught or used improvisation and consequently, I was sorely behind when I began my studies in college at Stephens College in Columbia, MO.

The first time my college acting teacher, Jean Muir, sat quietly in our classroom studio and said, “Today, we are going to use improvisation to study characterization.” I was a nervous wreck. I had no idea what she meant. Being a quick learner, though I soon loved it.

Improvisation in Theater: Myths vs. Reality

I searched around on the internet and found this description on wikipedia.org:

“The earliest well-documented use of improvisational theatre in Western history is found in the Atellan Farce of 391 BC. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, commedia del arte performers improvised based on a broad outline in the streets of Italy. In the 1890s, theatrical theorists and directors such as the Russian Konstantin Stanislavski and the French Jacques Copeau, founders of two major streams of acting theory, both heavily utilized improvisation in acting training and rehearsal.”

Wow! I had no idea of its history, did you?

What You Know About Improvisation In Theater

I think it’s fair to say that most of theater educators know improvisation’s basic rules:

Live in the moment–If the actor plays the moment, they will have plenty of ideas of which to choose.
Employ active listening--This is absolutely vital in improv.
Seek and nurture connection and interconnection–Humans experience many moments universally–a birthday, a loose tooth, losing a pet, getting in trouble with a parent. Use these moments to you advantage.
Always say ‘yes’–The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES. When you’re improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created. This keeps the scene going and doesn’t stall out.
Continue the improvisation as much as possible--You should agree and then add something of your own. If I start a scene with “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you just say, “Yeah…” we’re kind of at a standstill. But if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “What did you expect? We’re in hell.” Or if I say, “I can’t believe it’s so hot in here,” and you say, “Yes, this can’t be good for the wax figures.”
Make statements--Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.
Give trust before it is earned–This helps everyone involved. To know that your scene partner(s) has your back and will help you if you get stuck means everything.
There are no mistakes, only opportunities–Make big ones! Our instinct when we make mistakes is to minimize them as much as possible, and that shows in how the average person responds to those situations. I say go big or go home.

Improvisation in Rehearsal

Improvisation can be used in a variety of ways. I’m most comfortable with using improv. to develop a character. Spending time during a rehearsal acting as the character (though not rehearsing the production) is an excellent way to explore characterization. So, today I’m speaking different ways I use imiprovisation in rehearsal.

When blocking large groups of students, I use improvisation to create blocking for a particular moment. For instance, in the scene where the Cossacks rampaged the wedding in Fiddler on the Roof, I instructed students to respond as their characters to the moment.

Generally, I encourage them to say whatever came to mind for them, to exclaim, weep, etc. In this particular situation, there were a lot of giggles, frozen stances and wide eyes from my students. However, after several times of improv. everyone felt more comfortable with the violence. (What a strange thing to write…)

This improv. was challenging for my home school students who were sheltered from anything violent (books, movies and television). Through trial and error, we came to an agreement about what we could demonstrate through the violence that we couldn’t with dialogue. By doing so, it gave them permission to act out their negative emotions and made for an thought- provoking moment.

Deb directing The Miracle Worker — DIRECTING THE MIRACLE WORKER

Use Improvisation in Your Blocking

A fun way to use improvisation is when blocking entrances and exits of characters. Let’s face it–sometimes it’s just difficult to exit the stage without looking like a robot. The script merely says, “exit.” My questions are always–How? When? Doing what? Going where? Sometimes I use improvisation as a way for a character to make an exit believable rather than looking programmed.

It has been my experience that students under the age of fifteen have a difficult time blocking a scene without my help, unless they have years of past stage experience from which to draw. With experienced actors, I can say, “How about you move around the stage as you feel the character would and we’ll see if it works?”

The only problem I find with experienced actors is they don’t always remember what they did the last time they rehearsed the scene and this makes for problems. Even if my stage manager writes it down, somehow my experienced actors can’t get out of the habit of changing their blocking.

Usually, I pre-block scenes for novice actors because it’s tough enough just to learn the lines much less block yourself in a play. But I can give novice actors an opportunity to try a bit of improv. if they are so inclined. Some students ideas are much better than mine.

The Second City-Chicago Illinois Improvisational Theater Company

One of the most popular and certainly the most centrally located improvisational company in the United States is The Second City.

Improv comedy ended up on the map thanks to The Second City. Along with launching the careers of famed comics like Tina Fey, Keegan-Michael Key, Stephen Colbert, Chris Farley, Steve Carell, and Amy Sedaris, it also offers classes to aspiring improv performers.

You’ll find improv shows seven nights a week, spread across the three available stages. It’s a genuine staple of the Chicago comedy community. Second City offers classes for all ages, workshops and the like.

Five Different Types of Improvisation

I think it’s important to note that there are five different kinds of improvisation in theater.

Basic Performance Improvisation–This type of improvisation is used to introduce improvisation to students, or to create comedy sketches which will be performed for a formal or informal audience.
Devised Theater–This type of improvisation is used to create longer works of original theater. This work can be used for classroom sharing or can grow into works for performance in front of an audience.
Applied Theater--This type of improvisation is not focused on entertainment, but rather facilitates the exploration of an idea, theme, conflict, or question by a group of people. The purpose is communication among the participants. Drama therapists use this type of improvisation.
Drama in the Classroom (Devised Drama)–Whenever students are acting a story without a script, or making up their own stories based on history, science, or a favorite book, they are improvising. Think drama integration! (Check out my FREE drama integration lesson here.)
Improvisation as a Scripted Theater Rehearsal Technique–As I mentioned above, this is the method I’m most familiar with and use frequently.

What You DON’T Know About Improvisation

Too many times, I read of theater teachers suggesting to a new teacher that they should, “Do improvs.! They love it.” as though improvisation is a great time filler or baby sitter. Oh please, do not do this! Improvisation is just as important to studying theater as anything else. Let’s not cheapen it and throw it out when we don’t know what else to do with our students. Long term, if you begin with improvisation students may think that theater is all fun and games, rainbows and unicorns. We know that theater is an art form, a very important and useful one at that!

Improvisation Can Be Scary to Some Students

Not every new theater student feels comfortable standing in front of their peers much less saying something. In fact, I think even the most experienced theater student will not want to jump right into improvisation. Not everyone wants to feel vulnerable the minute they enroll in a class they’d never studied before. You have to give them time feeling safe in your classroom and that “safe” is whatever they might be concerned about.

Are they concerned about others laughing at them and not with them? Or they aren’t comfortable speaking spontaneously? Or they are afraid of being judged by the clothes they have to wear? Throwing them on the stage and expecting them to turn out a school version of “Whose Lines Is It Anyway?” is not the answer when you have time left over at the end of your class.

However, if you really want to use improvisation check out Viola Spolin’s Improvisation for the Actor or Theater Games in the Classroom. Both books will help you immensely–give you pointers, tips and even side coaching scripts!

Improvisation should be treated like any other element of theater. It should be studied, practiced and perfected until its commonplace for a student. My advice is to teach your students the rules of improvisation first, then graduate to structured improv and then to devised theater. Check out my FREE storytelling improvisation ice breaker warm up here.

How do you use improvisation in your classroom? I’d love to hear about it. Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com. Let’s connect!

Looking for additional improvisation exercises? Check out: The Crowd Pleaser

A Common Mistake Teachers Make In Teaching Theater to Students

April 13, 2022 By dhcbaldwin Leave a Comment

A Common Mistake Teachers Make In Teaching Theater to Students

There is a common mistake teachers make in teaching theater to students. I made it too.

I’ll explain.

It’s the time of year, when I’m beginning to read posts of graduating students accepting their first teaching position. They are so excited and this brings me great joy. We need them and not just for the obvious reasons.

I’ve experienced this excitement myself. It’s thrilling to know someone thought you were employable and would be an asset to their school staff. At the same time, you are a little anxious because you aren’t certain you know what to do in certain situation.

That’s okay. No one else does either. If you’ve had an opportunity to see the new, very popular television show, “Abbot Elementary” you’ll watch the main character grapel with her feelings as well. She’s a fairly new teacher and spends quite a lot of time second guessing herself. (Pssst- so does everyone else.)

A Common Mistake Teachers Make In Teaching Theater to Students

This post is for those of you who have been hired to teach theater to students in elementary and middle school. I can’t count the number of times someone has asked me, “What do I teach them? The principal said they have no set curriculum. She just told me to teach what I thought was of value.”

Here are my questions back to you, “How many times do you see them a week? How many minutes is allotted to your class? Do you see them for a semester, quarter or the entire year?”

Irregardless of the answers, I know where you should begin. Bare in mind, your job is to encourage your students to learn more about the art form, work cooperatively with their classmates, appropriately express their feelings and leave your class feeling more confident and comfortable speaking in front of others.

A Common Mistake Teachers Make In Teaching Theater to Students

There are many ways to go about this, but I don’t want you to fret as I did. Let my thirty-eight years of teaching experience help you. You probably won’t believe this, but when I studied for my masters in education (creative arts learning) a terrific teacher finally explained why these particular aspects should be taught first to your students. Aha!

Boy, did he save me a lot of time. Like many teachers, when I began teaching about a 100 years ago I taught like my high school teacher which was far too difficult for young students. Except I was teaching middle school students. I didn’t know better. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I learned over time that they needed to study creative dramatics before anything else.

The Necessary Components of Theater to Teach

If I were you in this situation, these are the components you want to teach:

tableau–Tableau is something nearly every student will understand. Using a frozen stage picture, like a living photograph is something students can accomplish easily and with immediate success. Plus, students aren’t expected to speak which helps reluctant performers.
chanting–We use chanting in many ways–either repeating a word several times or phrase or peppering a play or musical with it. Once students study chanting and try it out for themselves they will hear it used everywhere. Awesome sauce.
storytelling–Again, telling a story is an easy skill for students to learn and use. Once you enlighten your students to the reasons a person needs to have this skill, it becomes much easier for students to accomplish.
movement–If you haven’t won your students over to your class yet, instructing about the use movement will do it for you. Educating your students about the different kind of movement and how to use it is fascinating to them. I mean, who hates trying to create the movements of a kitchen blender with your friend?
sound effects–Students love hands on learning. Sound effects do a great job of satisfying this need. Trying your hand at creating the sound of a train chugging down the track or creating a scene of white water rafters paddling on a roaring river is so fun and exciting. Reluctant students love studying sound effects, because again they don’t need to speak.
set design–When teaching set design, I always found my most artistic ones. This was fun, because being artistic isn’t something one can show of themselves on the outside. A teacher can assign designing a rendering, building a model or simply making a powerpoint of their ideas. Usually, my students used fairy tale settings for their set designs and they loved it!
costume design–Honestly, I can’t think of a time when my students didn’t enjoy studying costume design. Teach them the basics of color, silhouette and texture and let them take off with their ideas. Want to engage them even more? Teach about super heroes through costume design. They will LOVE you for it.
improvisation–A day or two spent studying improvisation and how we use it in theater is a good choice. Once students understand its uses and how freeing it is, even your reluctant students will participate.
stage properties–Stage props are easy to understand and create in one’s classroom. Once a teacher points out to the importance of this components, students are eager to make one. I’ve had classes create all the props for another class’ musical or simply make plaster of paris items. What do they enjoy the best? Making food!
stage makeup--Stage makeup intrigues students. I suppose it’s because its readily accessible and they are as familiar with it as a Halloween costume. Teach them the basics, use a student in a demonstration and you are good to go.

Finally, it’s time to put all of these components into a short play. It isn’t enough just to teach the components, applying it to a particular play or even short musical will help them readily and easily retain the information. Plus, when student reads a play many times it helps their fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and many other skills. You can take a short book or story the students enjoy and dramatize it yourselves. Or you can select a published play if you want a different perspective.

My Store Can Help You

You may be familiar with my store, Dramamommaspeaks. I have created lessons for each component listed above. Here are few of them. In fact, I have a bundle of all of them at a discounted price. No need for you to waste your time putting these lessons together when a trusted source can help you out. Remember: Confident people ask for help. None of us got where we are by ourselves. 🙂

Two students thinking about stage properties for the stage

Tips and Tricks of a Drama Teacher-- Drama Tools, That Is — Kamishibai Storytelling

A cover of a stage makeup lesson with a young and older person on the cover

A cover for a sound effects lesson for elementary students with a boy and three words--pow, zap, boom.

So be of good cheer! I’m here to help you if you need me. If not, maybe you just want to pick up some FREE lessons. Click here: Creative Dramatics Lessons

Drama Integration Lessons

If you’re looking for theater vocabulary lists, click here: My Theatre Vocabulary List for the Classroom

Need some posters? The Importance of a Drama Word Wall for Secondary Students

Do you have a question of me? Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Follow me on Instagram

Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour

March 30, 2022 By dhcbaldwin Leave a Comment

Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour!

I’m worried about our teachers, and you should be too. In my blog post, “Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour,” I talk about how small, manageable strategies can help educators bring creativity into their classrooms without adding to their already overwhelming workload. Recently, I read an article from www.nea.org stating that approximately fifty-five percent of our teachers are seriously considering quitting teaching at the end of this year. That’s up from thirty-seven percent last year. Yikes

You can imagine the reasons they are considering leaving–exhaustion, demoralized, uninspired, understaff and underappreciated. Not to mention, the global pandemic! (That doesn’t even include underpaid which has been an ongoing problem for year and really a sad statement about the country, in my opinion.)

I can’t fix the schools, but I can help teachers.

Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour!

A Conversation in the Teacher’s Lounge

Let’s say you and I are eating lunch together in the teacher’s lounge.

I say to you, “How’s the day going?”

“Terrible!” you say.

“What seems to be the problem” I ask.

“The students are not engaged. They are rowdy, disrespectful and negative.”

At this point, that I nod and say, “I can help you.”

You look at me with an expression of disbelief. “How, Deb? You can’t be in there with me.”

I answer, “No, but I can give you some drama integration ideas which will help. In fact, my masters in education is focused on creative arts learning.”

Turning, I dive into my files and pull out several lessons which I tailored specifically for the classroom.

You take one look at them and say, “But I’m not a creative dramatics teacher. I can’t do this.”

“Oh yes, you can. Using creative dramatics to teach your class is nothing more than making a few changes in your perspective and teaching methods. Let me show you how.”

We talk for a few minutes, you smile and say “Okay, I’ll try it!”

As we leave the lounge, we hug. I watch you walk down the hallway with a little spring in your step because you know how to turn your unhappy class into a happy one in an afternoon.

Note: This is an actual conversation I had with a teacher on IG in the last week. Her students were being impossible. I suggested she try doing a lot of physical movement with them and it worked!

The Benefits of Creative Dramatics in the Classroom

I found this wonderful website, The Gaiety School of Acting, which explains the benefits of creative dramatics:

“Of all the arts, drama involves the participant the most fully: intellectually, emotionally, physically, verbally, and socially. As players, children assume the roles of others, and they learn about becoming more sensitive to the problems and values of persons different from themselves. At the same time, they are learning to work cooperatively, for drama is a communal art; each person is necessary to the whole.”

When integrating creative dramatics, we are not concerned with what an audience receives from a performance but what the child does. In fact, it would be best if you and your students are the only people in your classroom when you integrate drama.

This is Easier than You Think

These five lessons will engage them right from the beginning. It’s all in the approach you take to presenting them. (I can help you here. I include a teacher’s script with most of my lessons.)

Warm-ups–warm-up exercises can be adapted to the subject you are teaching or you can use them as they are.
Creative Movement–students need a lot of physical exercise.
Storytelling–if you are teaching a particular book, use Kamishibai storytelling as a way to check your students’ understanding of the plot
Tableau–a frozen stage picture is a fantastic way to demonstrate a math problem, moment in history, show something in science such as a volcano and its stage before errupting, etc.
Readers’ Theater–this is a powerful teaching method which can be adapted for a particular lesson about social studies, science or a story in reading.

Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour!

Want a FREE lesson you can use tomorrow? Click here: Creative Dramatics Lesson

Pick up a copy of this blog post at: FarrahHenleyEducation.

Do I need a lot of extra materials?

Most teachers probably have the materials they’d need to integrate drama in your classroom. But beware! Try to avoid being a purist about this–a scarf can work as a belt, a box can be a trunk or three students’ desk chairs can make a bridge. It’s all in how you look at it.

I suggest: construction paper, paper plates, glue, scissors, colored pencils, markers, aluminum foil, newspapers, masks (you can purchase them at S and S Art Supply )

Collect clothing such as hats, caps, scarves, capes, eye glasses, pillow cases, masks, etc. A large plastic bin can hold all of these pieces. A trip to a local thrift store will have a lot of these items for an inexpensive price.

How do I Assess my Students’ Learning?

Talk about outcome education! Using creative dramatics in your teaching gives you an opportunity to model for your students and them to demonstrate right back to you.

Here’s an example for you– your objective today is to teach Common Core Standard L4.1e “Form the use of prepositional phrases”.

Easy! Make up a bunch of cards with prepositional phrases on them with phrases such as “on the, over the, around the”. Hand out a card to each student to physically demonstrate the phrase.

Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour

Maybe you are teaching Next Generation Science stanDard concerning gravitational force. Would it be so difficult as to have two students tell a story about gravitational force and how it affects us on earth? Maybe you’d give them particular facts to use in the story? This blog post might help too! How Do I Use Arts Integration in the Classroom?

As you can see, using drama integration in your class is a no brainer. Word to the wise–refrain from using it every day as it will lose its uniqueness. I know it takes many teaching methods to engage your students. This is just one method.

But it’s a good one. 😉

Want a free drama integration lesson? Check out: Hire Me for Your Classroom Tomorrow!

Have you used drama integration in the past? How did it go for you? Do you have any questions I can answer? Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com or check out my website at DeborahBaldwin.net

Teacher Burned Out: How to Fix and Avoid An Expert Guide

January 12, 2022 By dhcbaldwin Leave a Comment

Teacher Burned Out: How to Fix and Avoid An Expert Guide

They say you should write about what you know. Hmmmm. What do I know? I know this subject well–Teacher Burned Out: How to Fix and Avoid

I bet you do, too.

Here’s a quote that sums it up perfectly, “Burnout is nature’s way of telling you, you’ve been going through the motions your soul has departed; you’re a zombie, a member of the walking dead, a sleepwalker. False optimism is like administrating stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.” Anais Nin

I’ve lived this quote.

Teacher Burned Out: How to Fix and Avoid (An Expert Guide)

Before we begin, let me tell you a little story.

About eight years ago, I taught in a wonderful home school enrichment program (with around 800 students,grades k to 12) which was part of the St. Vrain School system in Longmont, CO. In my first year, I directed three musicals (I used the MTI juniors) and taught six classes (at three different locations.)

As is typical of me, I am sort of a create-a-monster kind of person; I have a tendency to keep improving something until I’m satisfied with it.

In my sixth year of teaching for Apex, I was directing FOUR different musicals (all MTI juniors) as well as FOUR children’s musicals (MTI kids) as well as teaching twenty-four classes. Yes, you read that correctly. Each location offered a bit of a different curriculum so of course that meant different preps. for me. (One school wanted a film class. Another an intro. to Shakespeare, etc.)

My health began to deteriorate. I was frustrated, sarcastic, short fused, tired all the time and very stressed.

Teacher Burned Out: How to Fix and Avoid (An Expert Guide)

Consequently, in my seventh year I dropped two schools and just taught Thursday and Friday. But my inspiration was waning. At this point, I’d directed around 350 plays and musicals over the thirty-eight years I’d taught (both schools and an excellent community theater).

Finally, I taught one more year and retired at age sixty. I was totally ready.

You see, I care more about what the students gain from my teaching than my own sanity and obvious health. I was willing to exhaust myself if more students came away with feeling being a part of a group, increased self-esteem and confidence. That’s really all I cared about.

No one told me to take care of myself. If they did, I was too stubborn and proud to do so very much.

I nearly ruined my health learning the lesson to do so, however.

Three Major Teacher Burnout Symptoms

According to the website prodigygame.com, there are three major teacher burnout symptoms:

Cynicism — a sense of detachment from work or life, loss of enjoyments, pessimism and isolation.
Feelings of ineffectiveness — Apathy, hopelessness, increased irritability, lack of productivity and poor performance.
Physical and emotional exhaustion — Always tired, unable to sleep, forgetfulness or trouble concentrating, anxiety, depression and anger.

Here’s another thing no one thinks about–there are after school activities like plays or musical rehearsals, marching band, ball practices, , study help, cheerleading, the chess club. All of these extracurriculars are fun to do, but they do take a toll on a teacher’s energy.

Don’t get me started talking about the hours a theatre teacher puts into directing a play or worse yet, a musical! It’s staggering. As the teacher/director, you not only direct the show but you also design the costumes, set, lights, sound, create stage props, handle the tickets, advertising and let’s not forget your teaching load! If you’d like some advice concerning directing youth theater check out this post Ten Important Elements to Consider When Directing a Youth Theater Production

What’s the Answer to Burnout?

I wish I could say there is one way to handle the burn out. But there just isn’t. Here are a few things I learned over time:

I didn’t grade every paper which sat on m desk. Some can be given a participation grade (I used a check, check plut and check minus) especially when the students are just learning a concept.
Planning my calendar to give myself breaks within the week was essential. For instance, if my Creative Dramatics class had a performance for their parents, I made sure my Intro. to Theater class worked by themselves and I was merely over seeing.
If one class was doing something physical, I planned so the next class was doing something more sedentary.
I found my students learned the best Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Because of this, I kept Monday and Friday’s lessons lighter. I wouldn’t introduce a new unit until Tuesday (hoping to catch everyone and those who took a long weekend and missed Friday and Monday).
Fridays were fun days for all of us. I made sure that my Fridays were my best lessons to teach or those most engaging. Sometimes the students would view part of a video on a Friday. That kept my teacher-to-student contact low and my maintained my energy.
If I could work it out, I’d go out for lunch at least once a week. Or, I’d bring in something special from the grocery store–like a deli sandwich or fancy salad. It lifted the monotony.

So You Are Directing a Musical…Now What?

December 28, 2021 By dhcbaldwin 2 Comments

So You Are Directing a Musical…Now What?

Recently, I was interviewed by Jessica Peresta of the Elementry Musician podcast. Primarily, we spoke about drama integration. However we did speak about the process of directing a play or musical. Today, I’m going to discuss So You Are Directing a Musical…Now What?

Again, I forget not everyone knows the process.

What are the steps to producing a musical with youth?

That’s a difficult question for me to answer because it depends upon the grade level of the students and length/complexity of the show.

Let’s pretend you are a fifth grade teacher who wants to direct a musical with your students. First, what musical have you chosen? How long is it? Thirty minutes or an hour? How many songs are there? The size of the cast matters, too.

Imagine your wonderful principal paid for your class (haha) to produce an MTI Kids musical. You selected Jungle Book, Kids. Terrific! Now I know what we’ve got to work with. I can’t say enough good about Musical Theater International musicals, especially all of the junior and kids versions.

Jungle Book, Kids (credit Owen Lucas Photography)

So You Are Directing a Musical…Now What?

First, lets discuss the story: Banished by the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan, a human boy named Mowgli and his panther friend, Bagheera, are on the run in the deepest parts of the jungle. On their journey, the two meet a sinister snake named Kaa, a herd of elephants and a giant bear named Baloo, who teaches them the swingin’ musical rhythms of the jungle. After surviving a dangerous encounter with a band of monkeys led by King Louie, Mowgli and Bagheera are forced to run for their lives. When Shere Khan returns, our heroes must rally their fellow animals into battle and restore peace throughout the jungle.

Jungle Book has room for large cast so that’s wonderful for your students. The show contains twelve songs–all very memorable and gleaned from the animated movie. This helps you because the students will learn them quicker since they’ve probably heard them a bit.

The length of the musical matters, too. The show runs an hour with an intermission of fifteen minutes. In other words, you have under sixty pages of material to direct. (Remember there are twelve songs–that cuts into the scenes and lines quite a bit.)

Want to teach your students the beginning of creating a musical? Check out: Creating Your Own Musical

Musical Theater Rehearsal Schedule Example

Let’s pretend it’s November 1. You auditioned your class in October (prior to Halloween of course) and your first rehearsal is November 1, a Monday. I would organize my rehearsals like this:

November 1–Read thru script, discuss the story, re-tell the story, etc.

November 2 to 4–Sing songs

November 5 Choreograph Song either the first musical number or the most difficult first (I discovered that if I got the toughest musical number out of the way near the beginning of the rehearsal schedule, we didn’t worry ourselves about it. Also, the students would have more time to review it than if we waited until its time in the script, such as near the end.)

“Seussical, Jr.” Fine Arts Guild of the Rockies Summer Theater Camp with my direction

Want to study a Broadway musical with your students? Check out Broadway Musical Unit Study Guide for Matilda!

Musical Theater Rehearsal Schedule Example

This is an example. I can’t remember how many scenes or musical numbers Jungle Book, Kids contains. Usually, I use a building block method with young students, grades 3 to 5th.

Nov. 8–Choreograph Song

Nov. 9–Run Song #1 and Song #2

Nov. 10–Choreograph Song #3

Nov. 11–At this point, the students need a change. I would block scene 1 and run it with Song #1

Nov. 12–Run Song #2 and #3 and review scene 1 blocking once more

Nov. 13–Choreograph Song #4 and #5 (because they are beginning to know what to expect and they are picking it more quickly than at the beginning)

Nov. 16–Block scene two and three, choreograph song #5

Nov. 17–Block scene four and five, run songs 3 and 4

Nov. 18–Block scenes six and seven, choreograph song #6

Nov. 19–Polish scenes one and two with songs (OFF BOOK)

Nov. 20–Polish scenes three and four with songs (OFF BOOK)

Nov. 23–Polish scenes five and six with songs (OFF BOOK)

“The Secret Garden” Apex Home Enrichment Program with my direction

Musical Theater Rehearsal Schedule Example

Nov. 24–To be Announced (This gives you some wiggle room incase you get behind, there’s a fire drill that causes an up roar or whatever.)

Nov. 25–Run Songs with Choreography

Nov. 26–Run scenes only

Nov. 27–Run thru

Nov. 30–Run thru

Dec. 1–Run thru with props

Dec. 2–Run thru with props and costumes (Notice how I continue to add to the process?)

Dec.3–Dress rehearsal with props, costumes and set

Dec. 4–Dress rehearsal

Dec. 5–Perform!

In 1981 when I began directing youth theater, I over rehearsed and over blocked. I’m sure it was being too conscientious and also too controlling. Now, I almost under rehearsed them so they’ll have an edge for the show. THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN A SHOW THAT’S WORN OUT BEFORE IT OPENS. (I can always tell.)

“On Golden Pond” at Fine Arts Guild of the Rockies with my direction

So You Are Directing a Musical…Now What?

If you are directing older students, the rehearsal schedule is similar to directing adults if you are directing in a community theater. Check out my post about community theater here: Are You Missing These Kind of People in Your Life?

Usually, my rehearsal calendar follows:

Two weeks of music–chorus numbers first (2 days) , small group (3 days) , solos (3 days) then the second week try practicing the Music in the order in which is appears in the musical (The magic here is to begin with the most difficult or complicated numbers first so they are completed early in the process)

Two weeks of choreography–large group numbers (3 days), small group numbers (3 days), solos (2 days) continuing in this fashion until everything is choreographed.

One week of blocking and/or staging (If you can, ask that everyone be off book at this time. Or at the very least calling for lines.)

Want to be the Cool Teacher? Check out: Six, the Broadway Musical Unit or Les Miserables or Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Musical Theater Rehearsal Schedule Example

Two week of polishing each scene and act. Usually, I rehearse an act at a time (The magic during this process is rehearsing act one–Monday, act two–Tuesday THEN beginning the next time with act two–Wednesday and then act one-Thursday. Friday is your first full run thru)

One week of run thrus (add props and set pieces if possible)

One day of cue to cues, two dress rehearsals and then open!

As the director, you may feel like you aren’t needed very much in this second rehearsal calendar. You are incorrect. Your mere presence helps a cast to feel secure and acknowledged for all of their enthusiasm and hard work. Just being present and cheering on your cast means the world to them.

Want more directing advice? Check out Ten Important Elements to Consider When Directing a Youth Theater Production

Looking for a FREE lesson or two? Check out Drama Integration for Grades 6 to 8

or Creative Dramatics Lessons for Grades 2 to 5

How do you organize your rehearsals? I’d love to know. Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Deb

The Reasons I Offer Customized Theatre Lesson Bundles

December 1, 2021 By dhcbaldwin 2 Comments

The Reasons I Offer Customized Theatre Lesson Bundles

Recently, I’ve helped several theatre teachers organize their curriculum. Some states have standards which they press upon their school systems and boy, can you feel it. Not so for two wonderful teachers I worked with last week. So, let’s talk about the reasons I offer customized theatre lessons bundles. (Ironically, this is the number one mistake people make with me–they don’t ask for customized bundles!)

There’s Amy

One teacher, we will call her Amy, emailed me desperate for help. Amy was hired (yes, it’s November) to take over for another theatre teacher who had been out most of the school year. The students survived many substitutes and now finally, they’d have a real theatre teacher. She didn’t really know what she was walking into when she arrived her first day.

Amy knew she’d be teaching middle school students and see them every day for the rest of the year. However, she didn’t know the demographics, number of students in each class (or at least didn’t mention them to me) or seem to know just about anything else you’d like to know when you begin teaching a class.

The Reasons I Offer Customized Theatre Lesson Bundles

To top it all off, she was given no curriculum or materials. Now, you would think this was unusual. It isn’t. You would not believe how many schools I’ve taught for and I began my classes with no school materials having to use only mine instead. (Pssst. That’s why I have so many prepared.)

I offer customized bundles in my teacherspayteachers.com store (DramaMommaSpeaks) and Amy knew that. We chatted several times about what she was needing and I put together a bundle specifically for her and I created a plan of teaching them.

Customized Bundles

Customized Bundles are the way to go, friend, irregardless of how many resources you want. You always receive some sort of discount-10 to 30%. With large bundles, I give you a free resource I pick especially for you, too.

(This is not Amy or Joan.)

Then there’s Joan

Another teacher, we will call her Joan, emailed at just about the same time as Amy. Her scenario was different. She was hired with a provisional license and agreed to take additional college hours to complete the license. Joan was a mother of two small children as well.

Joan asked to Zoom with me as soon as possible. That’s how much she needed the help. She used several of my lessons in her classes all ready and the students liked them.

Joan was a bit older, had previously worked as an actress and youth theatre teacher. She knew her stuff, but in this particular case her materials just weren’t working as well as she’d like them to. She thought of mine. Want a Creative Dramatics lesson for FREE?

Joan’s plight

Joan had the most ridiculously disjointed teaching load of which I’ve ever heard. The core teachers decided how much time their students would spend with the “specials” not the administration. Every teacher wanted a different amount of time. (Can you imagine?)

Her schedule was all over the place. For instance, at the second level one teacher wanted her once a week, another teacher wanted her twice a week and another three times a week. What is that?

I advised her to speak to her principal about this and request that if she stays next year her schedule needs to be be more uniform. Oh and I forgot to tell you–she starts with kindergarten and first next semester (but of course, only next semester.)

Let’s just make this even more difficult for Joan.

Joan needed materials for second through eighth and she really need my help in organizing the rest of the year for her. I organized a customized bundle for her with about twenty lessons. If she follows my plan I included, she can teach all of them the components of theatre before the end of the year and get everyone on the same page. It sounded like she’d been jumping around and trying different things which may have worked but weren’t very comprehensive. That’s okay. It’s not earth shattering.

The students still learn no matter what you teach them. That’s obvious but man, does that drive a teacher to distraction if they are usually an organized person.

I could write an entire blog post about how the arts are treated in schools, but I’m not going to do so today. I can say if you are in a similar situation to Joan, either go to your principal and complain about the teaching load or look for another job. The only way this situation will change is if you are the squeaky wheel. Also by doing so, you may help the other “specials” teachers in your building. Maybe you can meet with the principal as a group?

Some Sage Advice

Amy didn’t know how to begin her first classes. I could help her there, too. There are certain processes you should follow when you begin teaching. In this case, we are obviously teaching theatre so ours are a bit different.

Here are my suggestions for Amy to teach her students:

Write a teacher’s letter introducing yourself to the students and their parents
Quiz your students assessing how much the students all ready knew.
Begin with a week of theatre games to see how comfortable the students are in front of each other
Post your expectations around the room and discuss them with your class (involve them in writing them if you feel comfortable doing so)
Give time each day for the students to share about themselves. Do this while taking roll. I like to ask one question each day. Require a quick answer. For instance, possible questions–what is your favorite candy? your favorite movie?
Be consistent! If you begin the class with a warm-up and end with a cool down, do the same thing every day as much as possible. Students thrive with consistency.
Remember that you know more than the students do just by the fact that you have life experiences to bring to the lessons you teach.

Here are some other teaching tips: You Should Use These Effective Teaching Methods, Part One and Part Two

8. Find out if you have a budget and how much of it is for particular materials if it is allocated (such as textbooks, art supplies, etc.)

9. If you haven’t done so already, ask for any IEPs or 504 plans which are used in core classes with your students. You have a right to know about a student’s learning challenges and behavior modifications just as much as a core class teacher.

10. Locate the copier–find out if you can copy as much as you need or you have a limit

11.Locate the computer room incase you want to take the students there to do on line quizzes or lessons

12. Find a teacher friend–that takes a bit of time but there should be someone there who you can eat lunch with (not by yourself in your room) and vent to. Some of my best friends are my teacher friends even after all these year and now retired.

13. Take time for yourself every day when you arrive home. Take a walk around the block. Nap, read or paint. Do something every day which is just for yourself. Don’t be like my husband (also a teacher) and retire from your career and realize you have no hobbies or leisure skills because you wouldn’t take the time for yourself. That’s one of his biggest regrets I only recently found out.

I hope these two teacher scenarios and tips help you as you plan your class. Remember, you can do this–you just need a process, a procedure, to follow and know the steps to follow.

If you want to check out my customized bundles, go to: DramaMommaSpeaks

Or maybe you just want something pre-selected for you? In that case, pick up: Bundle Set Design and Choice Boards (Theater Around the World) or pick up my newest bundle of middle school drama lessons.

Please feel free to email me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com if you have any questions or you, too want a customized bundle.

« Previous Page

creative dramatics

Improvisation in Theater: Myths vs. Reality

What You Know About Improvisation In Theater

Improvisation in Rehearsal

Use Improvisation in Your Blocking

The Second City-Chicago Illinois Improvisational Theater Company

Five Different Types of Improvisation

What You DON’T Know About Improvisation

Improvisation Can Be Scary to Some Students

Share this:

Like this:

A Common Mistake Teachers Make In Teaching Theater to Students

A Common Mistake Teachers Make In Teaching Theater to Students

A Common Mistake Teachers Make In Teaching Theater to Students

The Necessary Components of Theater to Teach

My Store Can Help You

Share this:

Like this:

Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour!

Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour!

A Conversation in the Teacher’s Lounge

The Benefits of Creative Dramatics in the Classroom

This is Easier than You Think

Learn How to Teach Creative Dramatics in Your Lunch Hour!

Do I need a lot of extra materials?

How do I Assess my Students’ Learning?

Share this:

Like this:

Teacher Burned Out: How to Fix and Avoid An Expert Guide

Teacher Burned Out: How to Fix and Avoid (An Expert Guide)

Teacher Burned Out: How to Fix and Avoid (An Expert Guide)

Three Major Teacher Burnout Symptoms

What’s the Answer to Burnout?

More Answers to Burn out

Share this:

Like this:

So You Are Directing a Musical…Now What?

So You Are Directing a Musical…Now What?

Musical Theater Rehearsal Schedule Example

Musical Theater Rehearsal Schedule Example

Musical Theater Rehearsal Schedule Example

So You Are Directing a Musical…Now What?

Musical Theater Rehearsal Schedule Example

Share this:

Like this:

The Reasons I Offer Customized Theatre Lesson Bundles

There’s Amy

The Reasons I Offer Customized Theatre Lesson Bundles

Customized Bundles

Then there’s Joan

Joan’s plight

Some Sage Advice

Share this:

Like this:

Footer

Follow Us

FOLLOW US

Goodreads: read