Ms. Monsod

1. Warmup 1. Have Benjamin lead the warmup, both physical (spinal curl followed by stretching isolated parts of the body; 1-2-3-4 puppet exercise) and vocal (throwing, tongue twisters).

2. Warmup 2. Do an amoeba tag.

3. WHOLE-GROUP IMPROVISATION: PECKING ORDER EXERCISE
(Source: http://www.drama-teaching.com/improvisation/status-exercises/)

Discuss what “pecking order” means.

Pecking Order from http://cartoonstock.com

The whole group is be involved in this improvisation. The objective is that each person entering the scene must adopt a higher status than the previous player. The improvisation continues until everyone has entered the scene. The last player to enter must have achieved the highest status in the whole scene. Make sure the first player assumes a low enough role to start with or assign the role.

Some suggested locations (choose one or two you want to try!):

Onboard a naval vessel.

A university campus.

A movie set

An army camp.

A hospital.

The headquarters of a large business corporation.

A police-station.

4. CLASS DISCUSSION: Did we successfully maintain the setting and characters of the chosen location? Did each person who entered successfully achieve the highest status? What were some specific highlights of this performance exercise?

5. STATUS AND OCCUPATION
(Source: http://www.drama-teaching.com/improvisation/status-exercises/)

Divide the class into the following pairs.

Each pair must have two pieces of scrap paper. On each scrap, write an opening phrase which endows the speaker with a status and the other player with an occupation. Here are examples:

1. Bring that bag of manure over and spread on them roses that are by the conservatory window. (establishing lower status and occupation through relationship)

3. Lion taming sounds like a pretty courageous occupation if you ask me. (establishing higher status through personal attributes (courage)

Put all the scraps in a pile or box.

Have a volunteer pair come onstage (NOT the same combination that worked on composing the phrases). One player picks out a phrase from the box and says it to the other with appropriate vocal tone. The second player must accept both the status s/he is given and the occupation and maintain that status level throughout the scene. Bring the scene to a conclusion.

Make sure each person has a turn onstage.

5. CLASS DISCUSSION. Were we successful in maintaining occupation and status throughout the scenes? What were specific examples of highlights? What could we do better next time?

Be ready for graded improvisations next week! (gasp)

Have a great weekend!

1. Warmup 1. Have Dominique P. lead the warmup, both physical (spinal curl followed by stretching isolated parts of the body; 1-2-3-4 puppet exercise) and vocal (throwing, tongue twisters).

2. Warmup 2. Do an amoeba tag.

3. WHOLE-GROUP IMPROVISATION: PECKING ORDER EXERCISE
(Source: http://www.drama-teaching.com/improvisation/status-exercises/)

Review what “pecking order” means. They discussed this last class.

Pecking Order from http://cartoonstock.com

The whole group is be involved in this improvisation. The objective is that each person entering the scene must adopt a higher status than the previous player. The improvisation continues until everyone has entered the scene. The last player to enter must have achieved the highest status in the whole scene. Make sure the first player assumes a low enough role to start with or assign the role.

Some suggested locations (choose one or two you want to try!):

Onboard a naval vessel.

A university campus.

A movie set

An army camp.

A hospital.

The headquarters of a large business corporation.

A police-station.

4. CLASS DISCUSSION: Did we successfully maintain the setting and characters of the chosen location? Did each person who entered successfully achieve the highest status? What were some specific highlights of this performance exercise?

5. STATUS AND OCCUPATION
(Source: http://www.drama-teaching.com/improvisation/status-exercises/)

Divide the class into the following pairs/trios:
Dominique and Jessica
Alexa and Cicily
Jacob and William
Mohaid and Sub Teacher
Daniel and Stefan
Susanna and Sayoko
AJohn and Brian

Each pair must have two pieces of scrap paper. On each scrap, write an opening phrase which endows the speaker with a status and the other player with an occupation. Here are examples:

1. Bring that bag of manure over and spread on them roses that are by the conservatory window. (establishing lower status and occupation through relationship)

3. Lion taming sounds like a pretty courageous occupation if you ask me. (establishing higher status through personal attributes (courage)

Put all the scraps in a pile or box.

Have a volunteer pair come onstage (NOT the same combination that worked on composing the phrases). One player picks out a phrase from the box and says it to the other with appropriate vocal tone. The second player must accept both the status s/he is given and the occupation and maintain that status level throughout the scene. Bring the scene to a conclusion.

Make sure each person has a turn onstage.

5. CLASS DISCUSSION. Were we successful in maintaining occupation and status throughout the scenes? What were specific examples of highlights? What could we do better next time?

Be ready for graded improvisations next week! (gasp)

Have a great weekend!