Unity Christian High School

Class Description

This Introduction to Theatre class will prepare students to study, participate in, and respond to the art of theatre. Students will study a Christian view of the theatre, learn script analysis and interpretation, attempt to write a one act play, and also acquire some basic theatrical skills.

 

I.  Introduction to Theatre

A.  Establish skills for group work and team/community building.
B.  Terms of Theatre

II.  History of Theatre

A.  Greek: read Antigone
B.  Roman
C.  Middle Ages
D.  Eastern Theatre
E.  Italian Renaissance
F.  The Elizabethan Age/Shakespeare
G.  French Restoration
H.  19th Century
I.  Modern Theatre

III.  Acting Skills

A. Movement

1.  Developing Space and Justifying Movement
2.  Elements of proper stage movement and ground plan exercises

B.  Elements of Voice
C.  Improvisation
D.  Blocking techniques
E.  Developing characters using GOAT, Ground Plan Exercises
F.  Perform in a scene, Open and Closed scene excersises

IV.  Reading plays and writing

Read:

Our Town
The Glass Menagerie
A Doll's House
The Diary of Anne Frank

Writing:

The students will learn how to read a play backwards in order to see the format of a play.  Each student will write a one act play.  The best one acts will be performed. 

Texts used:

Class Expectations

Major Outcomes

  1. The students will read and study the historical nature of the history of drama by making connections between drama, society, culture and people.
  2. The students will experiment with and learn about different acting, directing, and designing techniques. 
  3. The students will demonstrate a working knowledge of how to critique theatrical productions.
  4. The students will embrace our Christian response to theatre as a part of God's creation and understand our call to excellence in theater. 

Course Objectives

  1. Students will develop a working vocabulary unique to theatre.
  2. Students will observe works of theatre and respond using the vocabulary of theatre orally and in writing.
  3. Students will read a variety of plays for critique purposes, but also in preparation for writing their own one act play.
  4. Students will identify ways in which playwrights reflect and influence their culture.
  5. Students will integrate theatrical skills in other curricular areas as requested.  If another class at Unity requests an introduction to a topic, the drama class will write, rehearse and perform one scene per class in a semester. 

Class Outline

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