Activity: Character Embodiment Exercise Prerequisites: A character from a monologue or scene that they!
re working on in class and at least ve solid rehearsals under their belts.
Grade Level: 9/10/11/12 Subject: Acting Prepared By: Kim DAgnese
Overview & Purpose Students will be able to practice their play analysis and character analysis skills, as well as being forced to embody any characterizations of that person. Theyll have to do some critical thinking, as well as self critique and analysis.
Education Standards Addressed Standards #1 (Students will create theatre through improvising, writing and refining scripts.), #2 (Students will act by developing, improvising, communicating and sustaining characters.), #4 (Students will direct by planning or interpreting works of theatre by organizing and conducting rehearsals), and #6 (Students will make curriculum connections among theatre, the arts, and other disciplines.)
Information/Instructions
Step One: Introduce the activity by doing an example of it at the beginning of class by walking in as a different character and not saying anything, but walking a certain way or acting a certain way. Have students analyze what you did on the blackboard/smartboard/ whiteboard with adjectives about your behavior. After reviewing the exercise, have the students try to think in the opposite order: Have them come up with the adjectives that describe their character so that they will have that to go on for the activity. Have students push all chairs to the edges of the classroom to make for the most walking space possible. Remind students that although theyll be passing one another they should treat each other as strangers that their character is passing, and not other people/characters that he/she knows. Have the students do the following things in order(in character): - Walk a at a normal pace - Walk as if theyve had the best day of their life - Walk/speedwalk as if theyre late on a Monday morning for work/school/interview - Walk as if they want to disappear into the ground because of the terrible day they had - Think about their motivation of their monologue (Are they worried about a test, job, friend, date etc) and have them move as if they are about to go do this thing. Materials Needed Paper Pencil Whiteboard/ blackboard/ smartboard
Step Two:
Step Three:
Other Resources
Step Four:
Presentation:
The presentation aspect will be the actual activity itself. However, students should write down their thoughts about what worked, what didnt, what they discovered about their character or what they still need to discover about them in their acting binder. This should be required by the teacher, but the evaluation is for themselves.
Additional Notes
An assessment tool to be used in conjunction with these lesson plans would be to have students perform their monologues/scenes before some of the activities and again afterwards to see what kind of differences there are in their pieces. Students could observe this internally or we could discuss it in class to open up the oor for questions or comments about character development. Students should write personal reections in each step of their development in their acting binder to be able to go back to, but should include how they felt before the activities and after when it comes to understanding their character or understand how to get to know their character better.
