So you think you can direct

So You Think You Can Direct?Yes, you can!!!

Arts Every Day Presentation

By Professor Kim Morin CSUF 2012

The School Play

• What are some of your memories?

• Were you ever in a play when you were in elementary school?

• Have you ever directed or helped with a school production?

• What impressions do you have of student performances?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrDgucW45dE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrDgucW45dE

Pirates of Grammar IslandBad Wolf Press

First Step – Know Your Stage Terms!

• Downstage

– Toward the audience

• Upstage

– Away from the audience

• Stage Right

– The actor’s right when facing the audience

• Stage Left

– The actor’s left when facing the audience

Stage Positions

Upstage Right Upstage Upstage Left

Stage Right Center Stage Left

Downstage Right

Downstage

Downstage Left

Audience

A Director’s Four Friends

1. Triangles

2. Levels

3. Focus

4. Tableaux

Triangles

• Provide angles

• Add visual interest

Levels

• Add variety

• Enable visibility

• Give importance

– generally highest point draws the eye

FOCUS

• You can break up a line or semi-circle by facing different directions

FOCUS

• Individual vs. Group

– Space

– Movement

– Color

Let’s Try it Out!

• Divide into 4 groups– Spring

– Summer

– Fall

– Winter

• Each group will do a mini Reader’s Theatre staging of their stanza from Sing a Song of Seasons

• Follow the blocking directions at the bottom of the slide

Sing a Song of Seasons

Alice Ellison

It's spring!

Such a hippity, happity, hoppity

First spring day.

Let's play! Let's play! Let's play!

1

Source:

McCaslin, Nellie. "The Possibilities in Poetry," Creative Drama in the Classroom and

Beyond. New York: Addison, Wesley & Longman, Inc. 2000.

Directions: Stand in a straight line


Alice Ellison

It's summer!

Such swingy, swazy, lazy

First hot day.


2

Source:



Directions: Stand in a triangle formation


Alice Ellison

It's fall!

Such a brisky, frisky, crispy

First fall day.


3

Source:



Directions: Use different levels (sitting, standing, etc)


Alice Ellison

It's winter!

Such a blowy, snowy, joy

First winter day.


4

Source:



Directions: All face upstage. Each speaker turns to face the

audience, then turns back when finished.

Tableau Review

1. TURN AND FREEZE - Players stand in a circle facing out. On a count of 1-2-3-Freeze – players turn into the circle and freeze in a pose.

2. COUNT AND FREEZE - Count from 1-5. Players begin in neutral and grow from small to bigger to biggest and freeze on 5.

Work on FOCUS

• Hold the “freeze” like a statue. • Where are the eyes looking? Are they

keeping true to the pose? (no roaming eyes like the Haunted Mansion!)

• Focus may not come right away.• It’s okay to practice!

Create a Tableau

• Individual

– Games from each season

• Partners

– Game from the season of your group

• Small Groups

– Each Season works together as a group

Quick Tableau Checklist

Different Levels- High, Medium, Low

Different Body Shapes- Open/closed

Effective use of physical space/ Able to see everyone

Focus (eye contact) is clear and visible

Emotions shown through body language and facial expressions

Expand to TPT-Tableau/Pantomime/Tableau Scenes

• Each group practices going from their opening tableau to a pantomime of the action, to the ending tableau

– Unison Play

– Share scenes

– Hold the freeze at the end!

Stepping Out of the Action

• Group begins in Tableau

• Group pantomimes an environment

• Group freezes in a tableau

• Speaker steps forward and says lines

• Speaker returns to the group Tableau

• Group resumes the pantomime

• Repeat for each speaker.

Imaging Quick-write Part 1 –

Teacher writes He went down the street. on the board and has S copy it. Then says,

We are going to use our imagination and senses to find out more about this person who went down the street. Close your eyes and silently draw a picture in your mind as I ask you some questions.


1. Quick-write including as many details as possible.

2. Quick-sketch of the picture from mind’s eye.3. Think-pair-share or small groups discuss

different versions.4. Pantomime different versions.5. Write stories based on what they imagined.6. Great follow-up book – And To Think That I

Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss


We know “He went down the street.” How old was he? (little boy, teenager, grandfather) What time of day was it? (morning, lunchtime, midnight) Where was the street? (city, country, neighborhood?)

What kind of street was it? (paved, dirt, gravel, highway) How did he go? Did he walk, ride a bicycle, drive a car? What was the weather like? What was he wearing? Why did he go down the road? Where was he going? How did he feel?

Now We Are Ready To Stage Our Work!

• Review Stage Positions

• Act out a Reader’s Theatre scene using movement through TPT (Tableau-Pantomime-Tableau)

OR

• Demonstrate “Stepping Out of the Action” using TPT scenes and sentences written from the quick-writes.

Uses Poses to Practice Stage Directions

1.Students spread out on stage in "self space.”

2.Leader calls out a stage Direction.3.Players face that direction on a clap or

other signal.

Next step: Players cross four steps in the direction that is called out and Freeze facing that students used to locomotor movements)

Stage Positions

Audience

Reader’s Theatre Resource

Resources:

– Santa Maria Bonita School District Reading Resources for Houghton Mifflin http://www.smbsd.org/page.cfm?p=2413

– Bad Wolf Press http://www.badwolfpress.com/– Examples of BWP on

YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBF21511427433CF7

– Jazz Chant Fairy Tales by Carolyn Graham– Multicultural Folktales for the Feltboard and Reader’s

Theatre by Judy Sierra

And me of course! [email protected]

http://www.smbsd.org/page.cfm?p=2413

http://www.badwolfpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBF21511427433CF7

mailto:[email protected]

Yes, You Can Be a Director

• Join the fun!

So you think you can direct

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