THEATER / MUSIC GROUP
The music/theater group was canceled because of the staff leader's schedule and because it appears that the schools are already providing sufficient theater opportunities for the kids that wish to participate.Thank you to all the kids who came in the fall of 2008 and were so willing to try out just about anything. It was fun! And I learned a lot from working with you!
I am leaving the webpages up for anyone who wishes to make use of the resources and links.
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Middle and high school youth are warmly invited to join this group. It's not too late, and it's fine to bring your friends from outside the church. Everyone is welcome!
Unlike the choirs, which typically practice specific pieces intended for short-term performance in church, this group will do theater games and improv exercises designed to learn the theater arts over the long run: how to project the voice, how to put across a song, how to move on stage, how a good story is structured and how to analyze a scene. We’ll shape the group (and name the group) as we all figure out what it really should be like. After we are comfortable together and have developed a few skills, we’ll decide what to perform and when.
Meetings are scheduled for Friday evenings, 6:30-8:30pm in the choir room, beginning September 26, 2008. Nancy Rexford will be leading.
See below for an outline of the plan for the next meeting.
For Theater Resources page, click here.
For Notes from Past Classes, click here.
For Descriptions of Theater Games, click here.
I change this posting whenever I get a new idea. It represents the current plan, but not necessarily the final plan. Gray typeface means this activity is being considered for a later session.
January [date]:
Warm-ups:
- Hand-off relay, Explosion Tag or Swat Tag
- Miming: passing the invisible object (should maintain size and weight)
- Miming: space Ball
- Tongue-twisters (Big bad bug; lips/teeth/tip of the tongue; red leather, yellow leather; rubber baby buggy bumpers; mixed biscuits; Peggy Babcock (last two said four times in a row)
- Stretching the back, releasing the neck
- Heavy arms
Reviewing old concepts:
- Review voice:
- elastic recoil (breathe out sharply on pshhh; abdomen recoils outward on intake of breath)
- onset of tone: aspirate, glottal, glide
- sirening, lip trills
- vowels and consonants
- Status: possibly cards on forehead
- Text, subtext, context (review meanings)
Building on and combining old concepts
- Improv exercises in which group decides on the context, character relationships, business, motivation, subtext
- try 3-person improv
- try using an object as a point of conflict or negotiation
New concepts
- Story structure: inciting incident and obligatory scene
- Story structure: complications, crisis/final choice
Assignment:
In any book, story, TV show or movie you like, identify the inciting incident and obligatory scene. We'll talk about them next week.
