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 01:00AMA 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 01:00AMSo, 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 01:00AMThis 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 01:00AMThis 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 01:00AMThere 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 01:00AMThe 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 01:00AMIf 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 01:00AMWhat 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 01:00AMSometimes 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“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 01:00AMOne 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 01:00AMThe 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 01:00AMGood 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 01:00AMStudents 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 01:00AMDo 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 01:00AMThe 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 01:00AMCan 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 01:00AMAs 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 01:00AMWe 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 01:00AMI have yet to meet a student who didn’t cringe (inwardly or outwardly!) at the start of a new semester or the first rehearsal when they hear their teacher say, “Ok, let’s go around the…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMIt’s a new school year and in the hustle and bustle of getting classrooms organized, learning students’ names, and completing all the start-of-term tasks, please take a moment to pause, …
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMIn improvisation, one of the first rules that drama students are commonly taught is to always say, “Yes, and…” to continue the story. Basically, agree with presented concepts to keep t…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMThe following warm-up exercise is simple, but can evoke some powerful feelings and reactions. It’s a great exercise to help students develop their self-awareness and practice consent and …
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMConsent can be a touchy subject in the classroom. Many students immediately think that consent refers to intimacy, such as embraces or stage kisses. While that is an important part of consen…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMWe’ve got another prompt collection here for you! These prompts are all animal-related — thinking about unusual animals, moving like animals, speaking like animals, encountering animals,…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMOne of the biggest predictors of a student’s success in the drama classroom and their school productions is whether or not they’re putting in the work on their own outside of the in-scho…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMPicture this scenario: You’re in drama class with your students. They’ve been divided into small groups, each group has a scene to work on, and you’ve given them the instructions: “Y…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMHave you ever had a student come up to you after drama class or rehearsal and say, “I can’t do (xyz) that we’ve been working on. It’s too hard!” That can be difficult to hear, espe…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMThis article was inspired by a situation that happened to me. Recently, I was directing a production of Disney’s Descendants: The Musical with a cast of 23 amazing students in grades 8, 9,…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AMTeachers are special people. Yes, you are! You do so much for your students and wear so many different hats. But teachers are human as well. You may feel frustrated with your students’ app…
SOURCE: Theatrefolk at 01:00AM