This unit focuses on the cultural/historical and critical/responsive components of the drama curriculum and deals primarily with viewing plays and the study of various cultural, social and historical aspects of drama and dramatic artists. Activities such as those suggested in this unit may be taught as a separate unit of study or may be integrated into the other drama units as appropriate throughout the year.
Generally, students in large urban centres have greater
opportunity than
students in rural and northern communities to participate
regularly as audience
members at dramatic events. Drama and dramatic artists do,
however, touch the
lives of all students in one way or another. Following is a list
of places in
which students may have experienced drama as an audience
member:
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Encourage students to continue to talk about dramatic events in their own homes, schools, communities and surrounding communities, as they have been doing in earlier grades. Discuss important social, historical and cultural aspects of drama throughout the year, and continue to ask students to describe any experiences and responses they have had as audience members. Continue to discuss:
Whenever the class is able to see a live or recorded play together, use a process such as "Looking at Plays", which is included in this curriculum guide, to enhance discussion and response. As students become more familiar with this process, their appreciation of their experiences as playgoers will increase.
In the middle years, students should look beyond their community and begin an investigation of drama and theatre in other locations across Saskatchewan, Canada and the world, past and present. Encourage students to become familiar with Saskatchewan and Canadian professional and amateur theatre companies and groups, and the dramatic artists associated with them. Dramatic artists may include:
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Continue to expand students' knowledge of the functions of various dramatic artists and discover what factors go into the production of a play. Encourage students to research and write to dramatic artists and, when possible, invite them to the school to talk about their work, life styles, education, concerns and how they develop their ideas.
Suggested Activities | Possible Resources | |
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Play Studies Middle Level students should be provided with opportunities to view and respond to dramatic presentations, both live and recorded, using a process like "Looking At Plays", which is included in this document. They should also develop their understanding of how plays are made through reading, analysing and interpreting scripts. View a Saskatchewan or Canadian play, or selected excerpts, live or recorded, and use the "Looking at Plays" process to guide discussion with the students. Examine the contributions and responsibilities of the dramatic artists who produced the work.
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Note: All resources listed in this column appear in Arts
Education: A
Bibliography for Grades 6 to 8, 1994. Citations appear in
full in the
bibliography, alphabetized by title.
Saskatchewan and Canadian plays, live or recorded Ka' ma' mo' pick: The Gathering (video) Letters from Wingfield Farm (video) Paper Wheat (video) Freedom (video) Drama in Perspective Class Acts: Six Plays for Children Playwright's Union of Canada: Catalogue of Canadian Plays
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Read a Saskatchewan or Canadian play, or selected excerpts from a
play, that is
suitable for Middle Level students. Respond to the play through
discussion,
writing, use of a range of drama strategies and activities
involving the other
arts.
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Have students use themes and ideas inspired by the plays they view
and study to
structure their own dramas and develop their own collective
creations.
Drama Reviews | ||
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Ask students to collect and create displays of play, film and
television movie
reviews from newspapers and magazines, both local and national.
Examine and
compare the contents of the reviews and the styles of the
individual critics.
Discuss the functions of such reviews and the role of
theatre and movie
critics. Ask students to write reviews of the plays they view. These could include reviews of live plays performed by professional touring companies, community theatre groups or school drama clubs, as well as recorded plays and their own collective creations. View and compare two particular Canadian television dramas with a couple that have been produced in the United States. Write reviews of these dramas and extend the review to include a discussion of the similarities and differences.
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Newspapers and magazines, local, provincial and national
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| Storytelling Storytelling, in the broadest sense, is a form of oral literature that provides a direct means of creating (or re-creating) and sharing stories. Stories that are told may be familiar or unfamiliar, the stories of others, or one's own. Stories are told for a myriad of reasons. Storytelling, in many cultures around the globe, is not only an integral part of the culture's oral tradition, but of the society and daily life itself. | ||
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Research and present an oral presentation on the storytelling
traditions of any
world culture. The presentation should include the telling of a
representative
folktale, myth or legend of that particular culture. Identify the storytellers in your community and invite them into the classroom to tell stories and to talk about their stories and why they tell them. Research and write an essay about the storytelling traditions of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada. Invite an Aboriginal storyteller into the classroom to tell stories, to talk about the stories and to lead a discussion about the various oral traditions of Canada's First Nations peoples.
Ask students to prepare and present a monologue based on a character from a story, novel, play or a television show, or on a role they have assumed in one of their dramas.
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Reference materials about storytelling around the world
Reference materials on Aboriginal storytelling such as Courageous Spirits: Aboriginal Heroes of our Children: Teacher's Guide Keepers of the Earth
Contact Wanusk win, the Gabriel Dumont Institute or the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre for information on how to contact Aboriginal storytellers | |
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Research and Interviews
Research the history of community theatre in your own or in a surrounding community. Invite past and present participants to talk about the company's work, their audience and their contribution to the community over the years.
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Community history books The History of Prairie Theatre | |
| Invite professional dramatic artists from the community into the classroom to talk about their pursuits in the world of theatre. Research a Saskatchewan or Canadian dramatic artist and his or her work. Write to him or her, if possible, and present a report to the class. | Canadian dramatic artists | |
| Research a Saskatchewan or Canadian theatre company. Write to the company in order to obtain current information about their present season, artists now working with the company, and the effects of current economic realities on their funding and operation. Present your findings about the company to the class. |
Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre Behind the Scenes: A Guide to Canadian Non-Profit Professional Theatres and Theatre-related Resources
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Research the acting and staging styles of a particular period of
theatre history
such as Greek, Medieval, Shakespearean, Restoration, Modern,
etc. In small
groups present an oral report and a series of tableaux that
represent the acting
and staging styles of the chosen period. Extend the research into a particular period of theatre history to include a description of the dance, music and visual art histories of the same period. Note how the social, political, technological realities of the time affect all of the arts similarly. Research the history of the traditional theatre of various cultures around the globe. Encourage the students to contact the embassies or consulates of any country in whose theatre history they are interested to obtain current information about the country's contemporary theatre. Brainstorm a list of "Careers in Drama and the Theatre". Categorize the careers under such headings as Administration, Production, Criticism and Education. Collect newspaper and magazine articles that discuss careers in drama and theatre and focus on the people who pursue them. As they are discovered, add new careers to the list. Ask the students to research one of the careers in depth and report their findings to the class.
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Reference materials on the history of the theatre, such as Living Theatre: An Introduction to Theatre History Cambridge Companion to Theatre Oxford Companion to Theatre
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Arts Education Advocacy
Create connections between the drama class and the community. Write letters to parents, school boards, school and division board administrators, and community newspapers describing the objectives of the drama strand of the Arts Education program and the work in progress in drama classes. Make similar submissions to the school newspaper and the school newsletter. If the class desires an audience beyond their peers for whom to perform a collective creation, issue press releases and formally invite any and all of the above. Schedule time after the performance for the students to invite and respond to questions from the audience about where they got the ideas for their collective creation and the process through which they worked. Submit student- written reviews to school and community newspapers. Write letters to school and division board administrators requesting that career days at the school include presenters and displays that provide information about university and college programs and careers in drama, theatre and the other arts.
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Weird Kid by Rex Deverell: A Play Study for Grade Six
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Any play that the teacher deems suitable for the class
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Summary
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Weird Kid explores the dilemma of four young people accused
of vandalism
at their school. In attempting to sort out why they've been
implicated in this
incident, they discover important things about their insensitive
treatment of an
"outsider" and their relationships with one another.
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Weird Kid can be found in Drama in Perspective
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| The Playwright | ||
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Rex Deverell was playwright in residence at Globe Theatre in Regina for fourteen years. Weird Kid is one of the many plays he wrote for the Globe's touring company. It was performed in many schools across the province and in other parts of the country. Deverell now lives and works in Toronto. Introducing the Script Initiate a drama in context in which the teacher works in role as a school principal. The students are called together to answer questions about a recent case of school vandalism. The teacher in role suggests that there is reason to believe that some of those present have information that may lead to the identity of the culprits. Have the students write journal entries describing a time in which they were called upon by a principal, teacher or other authority figure to respond to questions about their involvement, or suspected involvement, in a serious incident. Studying the Script Ask the students to read the script as a homework assignment. Begin studying the play by asking the students to brainstorm a list of the ideas they believe the playwright was intending to transmit with this play. Discuss the ideas listed and post the list for future reference. Ask for five volunteers to begin the reading -- one volunteer to read each of the four roles and one to function as a narrator who will read the stage directions. Establish an acting area in the classroom and arrange it to suggest the setting described at the opening of the play. The cast may sit on stools or rostrum blocks, or stand and move on "the set" as the script suggests and the set itself allows. As the reading proceeds, changes in the cast may be made. Responding to the Script Discuss reasons the playwright might have had for writing this play. Talk about why he may have made some of the choices he did. Ask questions such as the following: What was the playwright's intended focus for the play? Did the focus shift as the play unfolded? How did he ensure that tension was maintained? Why did the playwright create roles for only four actors when more than four characters are clearly suggested by the script? Why did he choose to set the entire play in one location? What do we learn from the play? etc.
Have students write a journal entry recalling a situation in which they left out or let down a friend or a new acquaintance. Ask them to describe how they might have handled the situation differently to avoid any hurt feelings and misunderstandings that may have ensued. From the point-of-view of one of the characters in the play, have the students write a monologue that expresses the motivation of the particular character; that is, that expresses why the character acted as he or she did. Ask the students individually, in pairs or in small groups to write the scene suggested at the end of Deverell's script. These scenes could be revised and polished through a co-operative workshopping process involving the whole class. The scenes and the monologues suggested above could be rehearsed and presented as Reader's Theatre pieces.
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Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre | |
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Looking Beyond
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| If the class wishes to study another play that deals with some similar ideas, Dennis Foon's New Canadian Kid describes the relationships and attitudes of another group of young people to each other and to a new acquaintance from another culture. |
New Canadian Kids can be found in Galaxies I and
New Canadian
Kid and Invisible Kids
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