April 30-May 11
We have completed our analysis of the “To be, or not to be” monologue from Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh, and Ethan Hawke. We discussed the various emotions connected to the same set of words and analyzed how each actor portrayed these emotions. Voice and body movement was highlighted. The class has also begun to create their own characters and write their own monologues to deliver in class. Body movement will be practiced in class in the next few weeks.
April 16-27
We have enhanced our understanding of how to display emotions when acting by reading about dramatic theater and dramatic roles. We have also discussed the emotional performances of our three Hamlets. We have also begun to create our own characters and will be writing a monologue from their point of view over the next few weeks.
March 25-April 5
We have discussed the spectrum of human emotions and how to tell subtle emotions, like anger and rage, apart. We reviewed that the job of the actor is to display these emotions convincingly before an audience, either live or at home. We will be analyzing a Hamlet monologue by Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh, and Ethan Hawke and comparing and discussing their emotional performances. Notes will be taken on the performances to aid in our discussion.
March 12-23
We have completed our sewing and set design for the play "Sorry, Right Number." We will be moving in to character creation and monologue writing. To start identifying ourselves as actors, we completed personal questions about our life experiences that can be brought into our character. We also completed a group BINGO activity, where we learned thing about each other we might otherwise never learn, like who can laugh for 30 seconds without stopping and the last time we cried.
February 27-March 9
We have continued to look at set design and costume creation. We have created patterns and cut out and sewn small character costumes. We have also created some small models of scenery, such a garage, a house, a car and some picture frames for the home.
February 13-24
We have finished reading the play "Sorry Right Number" by Stephen King. We have also begun looking at costume and set design. We have tried to make some costumes and character dolls to represent characters in the play.
January 30-February 10
We have completed our examination of suspense and conducted a story circle to tell our own stories that added suspense to our character's actions. We have also read the play "Sorry Right Number" by Stephen King. We looked at storyboarding and will complete set design and costume creation for this play in the upcoming weeks.
January 16-27
We have completed our visual representations for the scenery and costumes in the play "He Who Says Yes and He Who Says No". We have also begun examining suspense and how to effectively add suspense to a story. We will be reading the play "Sorry Right Number" by Stephen King, the modern master of suspense.
January 3-13
We have finished reading the play "He Who Says Yes and He Who Says No". We have placed ourselves in the mind of the director and tried to visualize what the scenery and costumes would look like for Act I and Act II of the play.
December 12-23
We have finished reading Act I of the play "He Who Says Yes and He Who Says No". We have practiced proper breathing techniques and choral reading activities to assist is our class reading.
November 28-December 9
We finished our review of the SCORE skills and role-played situations where we needed to exercise self-control and break our bodies natural tendency to remain comfortable. We also began to read plays in class. We will be finishing with the play "He Who Says Yes and He Who Says No" by Bertolt Brecht next week.
November 14-25
Due to the exam schedule, we missed one of our classes. During the time we did meet, we discussed the last of the SCORE skills, Exercising self-control. We practiced this in class by not eating sweets that were sitting in front of us for the class period. Students were asked to pick one aspect of life outside of class, like not over-eating or giving up your seat to someone when you would prefer to remain in your seat, and practice doing what is against their bodies' natural tendency. Progress in this area and continued practice will be reviewed when we meet again.
October 31-November 11
We had a group discussion on the third and fourth SCORE skills, Offering help and encouragement and Recommending changes nicely to others. We discussed practical application of these skills and how to improve relationships. We will be discussing the last of the skills, Exercising self-control. Practical application of this skill and well as practice exercises will be assigned after exams.
October 17-28
We completed our role play situations and practiced having a pleasant tone of voice, a pleasant expression on our face and eye contact with the person we were talking to. We also practiced active listening and waiting for our turn to speak. In addition, we worked on the second SCORE skill, complementing others. We practiced complementing everyone in the class and learned how to give and accept compliments.
October 3-14
We reviewed to the first step of the SCORE skills, the Sharing ideas step. We reviewed how to share ideas effectively and discussed reasons why it is beneficial to apply this step. We started a paired role play and wrote a "script" to follow in order to share ideas effectively when making plans with someone else. When we meet during the week of October 17, we will present our situations to the rest of the class.
September 19-30
This class has begun reviewing the SCORE skills cooperative learning strategy. We reviewed the strategy steps and completed Cornell notes on common terminology. We also started to discuss facial expressions and nonverbal communication cues.
September 6-16
During the first two weeks of school, we discussed the structure of the class for this year. We also started creating warm-up routines that we, as actors, can use before a performance or a stressful situation. Who ever thought yawning would help warm up your vocal chords?
