All stories by Kerry Hishon on BroadwayStars

Saturday, April 15, 2023

Theatre in the Real World: Professional Profile by Kerry Hishon

“I don’t want to be an actor!” is one reason why students may not want to take drama class. However, there are a whole host of careers in the theatre that aren’t acting. The followin…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, April 8, 2023

Theatre in the Real World: Create Your Own Company by Kerry Hishon

Here is a group project that is a great complement to our last blog post, Theatre in the Real World: Theatre Company Profile. Your students have been introduced to various theatre companies,…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, April 1, 2023

Theatre in the Real World: Theatre Company Profile by Kerry Hishon

The following project is a research assignment, where students will research and present a written profile of an existing theatre company. To complete the project, they will need to make a n…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, March 25, 2023

Small Group Exercise: Summarize a Play in Verse by Kerry Hishon

In this small group exercise, students will write a creative summary of the plot of a play using the ABCB, or “simple 4-line” rhyme scheme. This exercise focuses on creative thinking and…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, March 18, 2023

Classic Improv Game: Commercials by Kerry Hishon

Advertisements and commercials can be entertaining, educational, heart wrenching, and hilarious. Ultimately though, the goal is to grab your attention, tell you about the product, and get yo…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, March 11, 2023

Acting in Everyday Life by Kerry Hishon

Many students take drama class not because they want to, but because they have to. They might need an arts credit to graduate, or there aren’t any other options for them to have a full cla…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, March 4, 2023

Theatre Game: Origin Story by Kerry Hishon

The following theatre game is a variation of the exercise “The 20 Step Process“. In The 20 Step Process, students are challenged to make a simple task comically complicated. In Origin St…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, February 25, 2023

Resource: Tons of Fast & Slow Prompts by Kerry Hishon

Speed up! Slow down! Hurry hurry — but hang on! Sometimes you need some speed-related prompts for your improvisation games or playwriting projects, and we won’t keep you waiting. Here is…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, February 18, 2023

Character Movement: Speed Up, Slow Down by Kerry Hishon

The following exercise challenges students to explore character movement by focusing on the speed of movements. This exercise is mental and physical — students will brainstorm a list of ch…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, February 11, 2023

Tips for Improving Pacing Issues by Kerry Hishon

We recently discussed how to help students who are rushing their lines and movements. Now we’re solving the opposite problem: what to do when the scenes are dragging and putting the audien…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, February 4, 2023

How to Get Student Actors to Stop Rushing by Kerry Hishon

A director friend recently sent me a message asking for advice about how to help her students with their upcoming show.  Hi Kerry,  Any tips on helping my students to slow down and stop ru…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, January 28, 2023

Stage Combat 101: Actions & Reactions by Kerry Hishon

Stage combat is more than simply memorizing choreography and learning proper technique. Yes, those are extremely important for ensuring that the stage combat is safely and properly executed.…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, January 21, 2023

Stage Combat 101: What is a Fight Captain and What Do They Do? by Kerry Hishon

A fight captain is a vital part of the artistic team. They are a member of the cast who assists the fight director and helps to maintain the stage combat choreography during the run of the s…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, January 14, 2023

Stage Combat 101: What Your Fight Director Needs to Know by Kerry Hishon

So, you’ve decided to produce a show at your school that requires some stage combat. Awesome! Now, it’s time to reach out to a qualified and experienced fight director (FD) to choreograp…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, January 7, 2023

Stage Combat 101: What Your Students Need to Know by Kerry Hishon

This month, we are diving into the world of stage combat. If you dream of directing an action-packed show like The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, or Treasure Island, then you’ll have to dea…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, December 31, 2022

Small Group Exercise: The 20-Step Process by Kerry Hishon

This exercise is inspired by the theatre game The Machine, where students work together to create parts of a factory machine with repeated movements and sound. In The 20-Step Process, we tak…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, December 24, 2022

Two Prompts: An Easy Improv Game for When You Just Can’t Think by Kerry Hishon

There are times when you need a game that doesn’t require much explanation to get started. This is a great game to play with your students at the end of the term when they (or you) are fee…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, December 17, 2022

Full Class Project: Complete Show Design by Kerry Hishon

The following exercise is a large-scale culminating project for your entire class.  Students will form small groups and work together to create design concepts for a play in six areas of te…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, December 10, 2022

Memes in the Drama Classroom by Kerry Hishon

If you’ve spent approximately 3.1 seconds on the internet, you’ll have encountered a meme. If you’ve seen or heard of Grumpy Cat, Condescending Wonka, Surprised Pikachu, Woman Yelling …

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, December 3, 2022

Drama Classroom Door Design by Kerry Hishon

What better way to welcome students into the drama department than allowing them to make a grand entrance through a decorated door? Many teachers enjoy door decorating for holiday contests, …

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, November 26, 2022

Resource: Tons of Big, Huge, and Giant Prompts! by Kerry Hishon

Sometimes you just need a tiny prompt to serve your purpose, but other times you need a whole bunch of big, huge, and GIANT prompts! To get your students thinking big, we’ve got a giganti…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, November 19, 2022

Tips to Help Students Raise the Stakes in Drama Class by Kerry Hishon

“Bigger! Louder! More, more, more!” We always want our drama students to push themselves to be larger than life onstage and in class. How can we help our students raise the stakes and br…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, November 12, 2022

Create a Giant Onstage by Kerry Hishon

One of the (many!) wonderful things about theatre is that magic becomes real on the stage. Fantastical stories are brought to life in the most inventive and interesting ways to keep audience…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, November 5, 2022

Exercise: Large Group Tableau Scenes by Kerry Hishon

The following exercise gives students the opportunity to practice active listening, teamwork, taking direction, and problem solving as a group. Acting as an ensemble with a student director,…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, October 29, 2022

Resource: Tons of Tiny Prompts by Kerry Hishon

Good things come in small packages, and with that, we’ve got a big collection of tiny prompts to get your students thinking big about small things. If you’d like even more prompts, you c…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, October 22, 2022

Small Actions, Big Results by Kerry Hishon

Students often come to drama class with big goals: Get the lead in the show! Become a performing star! And while some students might make great steps towards achieving those big goals, most …

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, October 15, 2022

Physicalizing Emotions: How to Make Emotional Performances Consistent and Repeatable by Kerry Hishon

Do you want your students to show you MORE onstage during a heightened emotional scene? “Joshua, can you be more sad here?” “Sannah, I think your character needs to be more angry right…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, October 8, 2022

Exercise: Whisper and Shout by Kerry Hishon

The following exercise gives students the opportunity to explore different ways of approaching and performing a two-person scene, using two different levels of volume: only whispering and sh…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, October 1, 2022

Six-Second Scenes by Kerry Hishon

Can you tell a great story in six minutes? How about in six seconds? You definitely can. Prior to TikTok, there was Vine — a short-form video hosting app where users created and shared six…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, September 24, 2022

How to Make Good Rehearsal Notes, For Student Actors by Kerry Hishon

As a director, I cannot stress enough to my students how frustrating it is to have to give the same note over and over during rehearsals. It feels like I’m not being listened to, and it wa…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM
Saturday, September 17, 2022

10 Ways to Divide Your Students Into Groups by Kerry Hishon

We do TONS of group work in drama class, and it’s important for students to have the opportunity to work with a variety of their peers. Working with different classmates allows students to…

SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime