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Discovering Creativity: A Drama Camp Fairy Tale Adventure

April 16, 2024 By dhcbaldwin Leave a Comment

Discovering Creativity: A Drama Camp Fairy Tale Adventure

Today let’s talk about discovering creativity: a drama camp fairy tale adventure. I heartily love summer for many reasons, do you? Before I retired one of my favorite things to do in the summer, was to run a two week summer drama camp. Since I ran summer drama camps for thirty-eight years, this is one thing I really have down. Are you thinking of running a camp this summer?

Drama campers having a little coloring time break!

Summer is a perfect time for students to learn about subjects that they either do not have available to take in their school, or wish to learn more in depth. Enter my Summer Drama Fairy Tale Camp Curriculum!

Designed to ignite creativity and foster confidence, this immersive program offers eight dynamic lessons encompassing costume design, set creation, chanting, movement, storytelling, tableau theater, sound effects, and stage properties. Whether you’re planning a short spring break camp or a summer extravaganza, this comprehensive resource is your ticket to a stress-free and engaging experience for campers of all ages.

Summer Camp of Bye Bye Birdie

Discovering Creativity: A Drama Camp Fairy Tale Adventure

Tableau Theater:
Campers kick off their fairy tale adventure by delving into the art of tableau theater. Then, through group exercises and improvisation, they learn how to create striking frozen scenes. These poses cleverly convey emotion and narrative without words. This lesson sets the stage for exploring composition, expression, and storytelling through stillness.

Set Design Masterclass:
In this hands-on workshop, campers discover the magic of set design. From fantastical landscapes to royal castles, students brainstorm and sketch their own designs. At the same time, they learn how to bring their imaginative visions to life on stage. With the templates provided, they explore the intricacies of set pieces required for each setting, sparking their creativity and transport potential audiences to far-off lands.

Pick up my FREE Scope and Sequence Drama Curriculum here.

Lessons During Drama Camp

Chanting and Choral Performance:
Campers harness the power of voice and rhythm as they explore chanting and choral performance techniques. Through vocal warm-ups and group exercises, they develop their vocal skills and create captivating chants. These chants can be used to enhance the atmosphere of their fairy tale world in the play. As a result, this adds depth and authenticity to their performances.

Movement and Characterization:
Through movement exercises and character exploration, campers learn how to embody the personalities and traits of their favorite fairy tale characters. From graceful princesses to mischievous trolls, they discover the physicality and nuances that bring characters to life on stage. Ultimately, this fosters a deeper understanding of character development and expression.

First day of camp read through

Storytelling:
Campers delve into the art of storytelling, learning how to captivate audiences with their words and imagination. Through interactive games and exercises. In addition, they explore narrative structure, character development, and audience engagement. They hone their storytelling skills and unleashing their creativity in the process. Plus, there is a whole day set aside for everyone to tell a story of their own life!

Wind machine

Creating Sound Effects and Beginning Playwriting:
In this interactive workshop, campers explore the world of sound effects. They do so by learning how to use everyday objects to create magical sounds and immersive audio environments. Working in small groups, the campers experiment with creating sound scenes by incorporating them into a short scene. The student write their own scene and performing them for their peers. Consequently, they discover how sound can enhance the atmosphere and drama of their performances.

Costume Design Workshop:
Campers unleash their creativity as they explore the art of costume design. From princess gowns to wizard robes, they conceptualize, sketch, and create costumes design. The campers discover how they can bring their own fairy tale character to life. With four design templates provided, they have the freedom to customize their designs and express their unique vision.

Playing a game during camp

Stage Properties:
Campers get hands-on experience studying stage properties and learning how to categorize props through fun activities. They discover the magic of stage properties, from magical wands to treasure chests, unleashing their creativity and attention to detail in bringing the world of fairy tales to life. If time allows, they can even make a few props for your production!

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning

I’m a student of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. Bloom’s Taxonomy focuses on cognitive development of intellectual abilities and skills. The cognitive learning domain can be classified in declarative and intellectual skills. Intellectual skills include concepts, principles, procedures and rules which are applied in instances beyond instruction. In other words, it isn’t enough for a student to merely learn about something. They need to apply it for the students to retain the learning.

Culminating in a Captivating Performance:
As the grand finale of the fairy tale adventure, campers bring the beloved classic “The Brave Little Tailor” to life on stage. With roles for 25+ students, this enchanting one-act play showcases the talents and creativity of young actors, transporting audiences to a world of adventure, courage, and magic.

Synopsis: “The Brave Little Tailor” follows the journey of a humble tailor who, through his wit and bravery, embarks on a series of daring adventures. From a outsmarting giant to overcoming posses of flies, the tailor’s courage knows no bounds as he proves that even the smallest individual can achieve great things. In the end, even the King and Queen of the kingdom get involved. And let’s not forget that fun song that’s included. (optional)

Throughout the camp, DramaMommaSpeaks’ resources help directors foster a supportive and inclusive environment where campers can express themselves creatively, build confidence, and forge lasting friendships. With a treasure trove of lessons and a captivating finale, the Fairy Tale Adventure curriculum promises to ignite the spark of imagination and leave a lasting impression on all who participate.

Would you like a preview of the resource? Click SUMMER CAMP UNIT EBOOK PREVIEW YDP PDF-min.

This unit is valued at $50.00, but you will be paying much less.

Group hug at end of camp cast party

Life Lessons Learned at Summer Camp

One website, Simplelocalbillings.com had a nice article about the value of summer camp, “In the safe surroundings of summer camp, you can push yourself past your comfort zones and release your inner child in a judge-free environment. You learn to have faith in both yourself and the people around you, so that whatever seems scary, different, or impossible is often achievable at camp.”

Making New Friends at Camp

Another asset of summer camp is that students make new friends outside of their school. This is important! These experience demonstrate to the students that they are more than just the school they attend. By doing so, it gives them a new and different perspective on themselves and how they fit into the world.

In conclusion, I hope you’ll consider purchasing this 136 page resource. You’ll find it here. It will not only give you everything you need to be successful in your camp, but help to provide opportunities for students to learn as well as be joyful.

What camps have you created? I’d love to hear about them. Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com

Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live! on NBC

November 11, 2020 By dhcbaldwin Leave a Comment

Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live! on NBC

Happy Holidays (okay, it’s a little early, but covid….)

Pretty soon, all of the holidays special will begin and luckily, this year is no exception.

On December 9, there is going to be a live version on NBC of the Broadway musical, “The Grinch”!

How awesome is that?

(Yes, I know this photo is from the movie.)

Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live! on NBC

#1 THE PLOT

If you don’t know the musical, (because you’ve been living in a cave or something) the story goes like this:

The action of the musical happens in mysterious Whoville. Christmas is a wonderful holiday, which is adored by all the residents of the fantastic town. Who doesn’t love this time of the year, when everything around is covered with fluffy snow, when we feel a smell of a fir-tree, and people exchange with magnificent gifts? Therefore, on the eve of the holiday, the inhabitants are concerned about purchases of the gifts, decoration of the houses and, of course, preparation of dishes for the holiday table.

Once upon a time, a man lived in a town. His was called Grinch. His body was green and hairy. That’s why nobody in the Whoville loved him. The main hero took offense on the inhabitants and decided to live on the lonely mountain, which was blown by winds. A dog was an only being, who kept his company. On this mountain, he sat in a cave and was angry at the whole world.

Breakfast with the Grinch from vastateparkstaff

Grinch hated Christmas most of all. While the population of a town had fun with all hearts, the indicator of already bad Grinch’s mood expressed something awful. Each Christmas appeared to be a terrible torture for the green hermit. One day, a spiteful inhabitant of the mountain decided to finish a holiday once and for all. While the carefree Whovilleans were sleeping in holiday night with pleasure, perfidious Grinch decided to steal Christmas from the citizens, to make nobody able to have fun anymore.

Now, as well as the residents of the town, Grinch is in cares: he needs to prepare an ideal crime, that nobody could follow his ways. Two teenagers and two girls got on the mountain, where Grinch lived, and it finally angered him. He left the cave, put on a fancy dress and went down to the city, where he began to frighten everyone, who occurred on his path. What to do, if the circumstance, which is hard to cope with, unexpectedly interferes into the plans of Grinch? To speak more precisely, it is the little girl, who even wants to make friends with the character.

Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live on NBC

The girl, who helped the father with mail, was frightened so much that she fell in the packing machine, but then, probably, Grinch felt sorry and pulled her out. Cindy thanked him. Being raged by the fact that someone can think that he is kind, Grinch wrapped her with the tinsel. Then the girl thought that, maybe, Grinch is not so bad as everyone speaks about him. She also absolutely cannot understand the sense of Christmas and wants to reconcile him with the residents. However, finally, Grinch realizes that sense of Christmas is not in gifts. The repentant villain decided to return the gifts to the inhabitants, and they accepted him to their society.

#2 MATTHEW MORRISON

Matthew James Morrison will portray Grinch! Morrison is an American actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. Morrison is known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and for his role as Will Schuester on the television show Glee. He received a Tony Award nomination for his featured role as Fabrizio Nacarelli in the musical The Light in the Piazza.

#3 DENIS O’HARE

Denis O’Hare will play his dog, Max. O’Hare is an American actor, singer, and author noted for his award-winning performances in the plays and musicals such as Sweet Charity, as well as portraying vampire king Russell Eddington on HBO’s fantasy series True Blood. He has been nominated for an Primetime Emmy for Best Actor.

#4 THE COSTUMES

Personally, I think the costumes from the film version were exceptional. I don’t know if they can reach that level of detail, but I’m interested in seeing if they do so.

#5 THE CHOREOGRAPHY

From viewing the snippet on NBC, I can tell the choreography is fun and playful. That’s got to be a plus, huh? Here’s a trailer for the show:

https://www.today.com/popculture/nbc-bringing-grinch-life-new-musical-holiday-special-t198362

As you may know, several musicals have been performed live in recent years. In my opinion, some were better than others. I enjoyed NBC’s Hairspray and Jesus Christmas Super Star the most. I would hope these production companies are learning how to produce a better product each time they attempt one. Who knows?

Another was good production was A Christmas Story. In case you don’t me, I am a retired drama teacher having taught and directed for thirty-eight years. You can find my resume here:Teaching Resume

A Christmas Story Broadway Musical Lesson

Now I created drama education resources for my business, Dramamommaspeaks. I have a lesson about A Christmas Story which would complement the Grinch Live! If you are in a hybrid learning classroom or distance learning, these musicals work well for teachers.

You can find it here: A Christmas Story Broadway Musical Lesson

Need a quick emergency lesson plan? Or one for a substitute? Everything is provided for the busy teacher.

This Product includes:

Letter to Teacher
Two Warm Ups–MY Version of Popular Exercises
Teacher’s Script–what I say and how I say it!
Photos of the Production
Separate File of Slides for Teacher to Use to Lecture
Plot of the Musical
History about the Origination of the Production
Information concerning the composer, Pasek and Paul (who also co-wrote Dear Evan Hansen)
History about the Film and Musical Helping One Another
A Shortened Lesson on : What are the Tony Awards?
Tony Awards it Received
What are the Tony Awards
New York City Map with Competing Theatres Labeled
Student Note Page
Teacher Note Page Key
Trivia
Quotes from the Musical–Good for Discussions and Assignments
Extension Activities–Five different activities, individual and group
Sources & Links to Film Clips from the Show

This lesson works well with any grade level, although it was created for secondary students. Reading, Language Arts, Vocal Music and Drama classes have success with it!

Or pick up my holiday lesson bundle at: Drama Lessons Holiday Themed

I hope you’ll check out Grinch on December 9 and think about purchasing my Broadway lesson on A Christmas Story. If nothing else, both will put you in the holiday spirit!

Which Grinch character is your favorite? Mine is Max. I’d love to hear from you. Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

What Can We Learn from Greek Mythology and Hadestown

May 10, 2019 By dhcbaldwin 1 Comment

What Can We Learn from Greek Mythology and Hadestown?

When the 2019 Tony award nominations were announced, Hadestown was included–not surprisingly. Today I want to talk about what can we learn from Greek mythology?

Are you familiar with the musical? It’s awesome, but don’t take my word for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfNHgSsammc

Here is the plot in a nutshell. From Broadway.com:

“The plot of Hadestown follows the overall framework of the narrative that we know from antiquity, established most thoroughly by Vergil in Book 4 of the Georgics and Ovid in Book 10 of his Metamorphoses. Orpheus and Eurydice are in love and preparing for marriage. She ends up in the underworld, here referred to as “Hadestown.”

Orpheus goes before Hades and Persephone and manages to win Eurydice’s freedom with his song on the condition that he not look back as she follows him out. At the last minute he looks back and loses her forever. The most significant departure that Mitchell makes from the traditional narrative concerns the reason for Eurydice’s presence in the underworld, or “Hadestown.”

In place of the traditional snake-bitten ankle Mitchell explicitly draws attention to the ambiguity of her narrative, challenging her listeners to draw their own conclusions.”

What is Hadestown?

Hadestown is a 2016 stage musical adaptation of the 2010 folk opera concept album by Anais Mitchell. It tells the intertwining of two love stories—Eurydice and Orpheus and King Hades and his wife, Persephone. As in the 2010 album, Hadestown adapts the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to a Great Depression-era inspired post-apocalyptic setting.

One of the messages of the production defends beauty and the importance of music and love to the soul, even in an increasingly commercialized world.

Such an important message. If you know anything about me, you know I think the arts are vitally importance.

What Can We Learn from Greek Mythology and Hadestown? — Fredrick Leighton’s The Return of Persephone, circa 1891.

What is Mythology?

I was looking around for answers to this question and found this at reference.com:

“Mythology is studied because myths are ways in which cultures attempt to explain the world and answer questions of human concern. For instance, mythology delves into such basic debates as good versus evil or looks into the nature of man.

Mythology also illustrates different cultures and their narratives. The mythology of each culture is the accumulation of that culture’s knowledge, wisdom and experience. Although mythologies differ, they often follow the same basic themes. For instance, several cultures have myths that deal with the afterlife and great floods.

The World of Mythology

Many Middle Eastern cultures also have virgin-birth myths. Some archetypal themes deal with women of power, heroes, paradise and quests. The hero myth is about figures performing unbelievable feats. Heroes are in the mythology of most cultures. Hercules, the son of Zeus, is one of the most popular of these mythological figures.

Kutoyis is a Native American Blackfoot hero who also has supernatural origins. In Britain there is the King Arthur myth. Heroes also come from religious mythology, such as Jesus Christ, Muhammad and Buddha.

Mythology is still prominent in aspects of modern culture, especially advertising, because of its universality and vibrant metaphors. For instance, the Trojan horse is still a metaphor for gifts that are not really gifts. When Camelot is referred to, it denotes a golden age of prosperity.”

What Can We Learn from Greek Mythology?

Five Reasons We Study Greek Mythology

When I decided to blog about the importance of mythology, I had a devil of a time (no pun intended) finding adequate articles discussing it. However, this mother did a fantastic job of defending the need for studying myths with our students. Here are a few excerpts from the blog post which can be found at www.thekennedyadventures.com, a home school blog under Five Reasons We Study Greek Mythology:

One of the hidden benefits of studying Greek myths is to explore virtues. With these classic stories, the lines between righteous and immoral behavior are clear cut, so that even young children can recognize examples of the 4 cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.
In Greek mythology, the lines between good and evil are very clear cut. Monsters are monsters, while heroes are heroes. When you take a look at Heracles (Hercules is his Roman name), there’s no doubt in children’s mind that he’s a good guy, performing noble deeds.
Ever deal with character issues in your home?
The best way I’ve found to tackle these tough topics? Reading stories about them, especially ones found in the Greek myths.

5 Reasons to Study Greek Mythology

Children can recognize an element of negativity in a story much better than they can emulate it to you. It’s a great way to role play and discuss reasons behind bad behavior
Do you expect your children to study Shakespeare or other English literature as they grow older? They will need at least a basic understanding of Greek mythology to assist them in studying these great works.
Allusions to Greek myths (and their Roman counterparts) are everywhere, both in modern literature and the classics. Think about these examples:
Mary Shelley incorporated the myth of Prometheus into her book Frankenstein. (also known as The Modern Day Prometheus) C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces is a retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche.

The Avengers films are an excellent example of mythology in action. Obviously, it works–it’s made a billion dollars in the first weekend!

If you are studying mythology with your students, you might appreciate my Page to Stage lesson on Hadestown.

What Can We Learn from Greek Mythology?

Check it out here: Hadestown, the Broadway Musical

This Resource is Comprehensive

This is a two or three day lesson about the musical which includes a warm up exercise, the history of the Greek mythological characters, the plot of the musical, a mini lesson on the Tony Awards, hot links to video examples of the musical, a separate set of slides to teach the lesson, quotes, trivia and extension activities.

Here’s a blog post about other Page to Stage Lessons: Why Do You Need a Mission Statement for Your Teacherspayteachers Store?

Do you teach younger students? Check out my readers theater lesson, the Legend of the Sunflower.

I agree with this statement by author, Ashwin Sanghi,

“It is not history, theology or mythology that interest me. It is the fact that history, theology or mythology could have alternative interpretations or explanations. I try to connect the dots between the past and the present.”

I try to connect the dots, too. We all do whether we are aware of it or not. That’s why we need to study Greek mythology and so do our students.

What are your favorite myths? I’d love to hear about them.

Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Stage Properties are a Lesson in Wondrous Creativity

July 30, 2018 By dhcbaldwin 1 Comment

Stage Properties are a Lesson in Wondrous Creativity

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Today, I’m going to talk about Stage Properties are a Lesson in Wondrous Creativity–one of my favorite subjects! When I was studying theatre in college, the first back stage crew I signed up for was stage properties.

Boy, I had a lot of learning to do!

The show was “Look Homeward Angel” which is a period piece set in the early 1900’s. My job was to serve as an assistant of sorts to the cast. I would hand them props or take them from them if they were in a hurry. I prepared the set each night before the production, put the props away after the performance and kept them in good repair.

I hadn’t really given props much thought although I had been in charge of them in high school as well for “The Miracle Worker”. That was high school, you know? Plus, I lived in a small town in Kansas. Consequently, we didn’t have the money or energy to do more than the basics.

But college was a whole different experience.

My students are always advised by me that if they want to go into theatre as a profession, stick to technical theatre because you’ll be hired more often than an actor. Good properties people are hard to find.

They are resourceful, creative and inventive. The American Theatre Wing has some super videos to inform us about thetre careers. Check this out: American Theatre Wing’s Stage Properties

Cool, huh?

Stage Properties a Lesson Wondrous Creativity

Here is a post I blogged specifically about the importance of props in your production: Critical Steps in Choosing a Play or Musical: Stage Prop

When I graduated from college, I spent a summer as a stage properties mistress at the Okoboji Summer Theatre. It was an incredibly difficult experience–ten shows in nine weeks. I can handle a lot, but this job nearly broke me.

In case you didn’t understand that, I said 10 SHOWS (different) in 9 WEEKS!!!

Yowzer!

Most productions have many props they need.

Musicals and comedies have the largest number.

Usually comedies need strange things:

a Mickey Mouse hat to hold crackers on a “cheese ball”
two live afghan dogs, hopefully identical
a grand piano which is playable
matching living room furniture in beige
a large embroidered sampler held on a standing frame
a painting with a church steeple which looked rather phallic
a live cat
liver and onions (which the cast can eat on stage–we used dark rye bread for that one)
fruit pies impersonating the meat pies for “Sweeney Todd”
8 breakable white water pitcher which could hold water for five minutes and then break on cue
bird puppets
steamer trunks
child’s rocking chair
1940 roller skates

Plus, there are all the things which are made from scratch such as swords, daggers, child’s coffin, and a grave marker to name a few. Those props take extra time to design and build. Here’s a cool video about making a stage prop. cake.

See? These are pretty fun and students studying theater need to know about the subject.

Stage properties are a lesson in wondrous creativity

You can find it at: Stage Properties Using Cooperative Learning

Those of us in drama education have a tendency to gloss over stage properties when we teach about them. I inform students if they like to make crafts, enjoy theatre and art they are going to love stage properties.

This one-day lesson about stage properties (with fairy tales as the focus) is suitable for upper elementary and middle school students. It is engaging, fun and unique.

Students learn about stage properties, view video examples, take notes, team up with a classmate and use their imaginations!

Product includes:
Procedure
Teacher’s Questions
Stage properties categories and the reasons they aren’t labeled as such
Short quiz
Cooperative learning assignment

So look into my Stage Properties product, will you? I think it will help you and your students.

Stage Properties are a Lesson in Wondrous Creativity

Usually, my high school stage properties unit takes about a week to complete. I have a Google classroom version and standard version of the unit.

What are some stage properties you have created?

You know, I’d love to learn about them.

Looking for other drama education products? Check out my store at: Teacher Pay Teachers Dramamommaspeaks Store

There you’ll find units on storytelling, tableau, radio theater costume design, Shakespeare and new products each week!

Reviews of other Dramamommaspeaks products:

“This is a great very well written resource and very good for text comprehension! Thank you!”

“This is such a wonderful and creatively made resource!”

“Love this activity! What a great way for students to work together!”

If you want more information about critical steps in stage properties, check out: Critical Steps in Choosing a Play or Musical: Stage Properties

Discovering Creativity: A Drama Camp Fairy Tale Adventure