FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
The Broad Stage and Impro Theatre present
Fairytales UnScripted
17\18 SEASON
THEBROADSTAGE.ORG/EDUCATION
STUDENT MATINEE MON / FEB 5 / 11 AM Grades K-2
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FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Jane Deknatel Director, Performing Arts Center EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS STAFF Ilaan E. Mazzini, Director of Education & Community Programs Alisa De Los Santos, Education & Community Programs Manager Mandy Matthews, Education & Community Programs Associate Sam Sandoval, Education & Community Programs Assistant Nick Massouh, Curriculum Specialist/Teaching Artist
THE BROAD STAGE 1310 11th Street Santa Monica, CA 90401 Box Office 310.434.3200 Fax 310.434.3439 info@thebroadstage.org thebroadstage.org Education & Community Programs at The Broad Stage is supported in part by The Herb Alpert Foundation Barbara Herman, in honor of Virginia Blywise The California Arts Council Johnny Carson Foundation City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Leonard M. Lipman Charitable Fund Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Sidney Stern Memorial Trust Sony Entertainment Dwight Stuart Youth Fund Ziering Family Foundation, a Support Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles.
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EDUCATION & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS Phone 310.434.3560 education@thebroadstage.org thebroadstage.org/education
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Greetings from The Broad Stage! Dear Educators,
Impro Theatre calls its unique style narrative improv. Traditionally, most of what has been considered improv were short sketch comedy styles (short form improv) or longer styles that created a collage of moments (long form improv). Narrative improv creates a full story with a beginning, middle and end. Impro Theatre uses narrative improv to create full length plays. With a cast of about seven actors, Impro Theatre writes and acts in the moment to create a cohesive story that has the appearance of being prewritten. In order to achieve this, the actors have to work together and say yes to each others ideas and build off of them. The actors have to surrender to where the story is going and let go of the need to control the course of events. They have to be present in the moment and let go of judgments of themselves and others to allow their imagination and creativity to flow freely. Impro Theatre will be performing Fairytales UnScripted at The Broad Stage for your students. Fairytales UnScripted consists of several stories around 20 minutes in length that will be inspired by the story elements of traditional fairy tales. Because the stories are improvised, there's no telling where they might go. Each story starts by getting suggestions from the audience, so your students will be guided to participate in giving ideas that will shape the story, engaging them in the creation of the story. During the stories, the actors will turn to the audience for participation as well (ie. the actors may encourage the students to make sounds that exist in the scene.) The curriculum is designed to support student learning about story, in particular fairy tales, as well as how to improvise their own stories. The lessons fuse learning about fairy tales and learning how to improvise. Lesson one focuses on reading fairy tales and bringing them to life in tableau. Lesson two focuses on writing fairy tales and saying yes to other ideas in order to write a fairy tale in collaboration with others. These first two lessons should be completed before seeing the performance. Lesson three will build on what the students saw in the show by giving them the opportunity to act out scenes from the fairy tales they saw and as well as create their very own. Very Best, Nick Massouh, Impro Theatre
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Impro Theatre has a long standing relationship with The Broad Stage, bringing improvisational theatre to audiences. Impro Theatre is the first repertoire theatre company that uses improvisation to perform plays without scripts or preplanning. For over 11 years, Impro has been creating shows in their UnScripted series in the styles of some of the world’s greatest writers, directors and composers: Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Chekhov, Sondheim, and Jane Austen, just to name a few. Impro is currently in residency with The Broad Stage and is performing nine different styles over the course of 10 months on the Edye Stage.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Contents Lessons Lesson 1: Reading Fairy Tales - 5 Handout 1: Story Mountain – 8 Handout 2: Story Mountain Worksheet – 9 Handout 3: Little Red Riding Hood – 10 Handout 4: Three Little Pigs – 11 Lesson 2: Creating Fairy Tales – 12
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Lesson 3: Performing Fairy Tales – 16
Additional Resources About Impro Theatre – 20 Meet Nick Massouh from Impro Theatre – 21 Glossary – 22
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Handout 5: Fairy Tale Template – 15
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Lesson 1: Reading Fairy Tales Lesson at a Glance Lesson Objective: Students will learn how to identify key elements in different fairy tales through reading and physical animation. Duration: 50 minutes
Standards: CCSS Reading Standards for Literature, Grade Two: 1.0 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. CCSS, Reading Standards for Literature, Grade One: 3.0 Describe characters, settings and major events in a story, using key details. VAPA Theatre, Grade Two: 1.1 Use the vocabulary of theatre, such as plot (beginning, middle, and end), scene, sets, conflict, script, and audience, to describe theatrical experiences. VAPA Theatre, Grade One: 2.2 Dramatize or improvise familiar simple stories from classroom literature or life experiences, incorporating plot (beginning, middle, and end) and using a tableau or a pantomime. Concepts/Vocabulary: Audience - a group of people who watch a show on stage, film or television Character types Protagonist - the character that the story is about/the main character in a story Antagonist - the character who tries to stop the protagonist from getting what they want (villain) Plot - the sequence of events of a story—beginning, middle, end Who - the characters in a story What - the story being told Where - the location of the story Scene - a moment in a story Setting - the location of a scene and the things in that location Stage - the space in a theatre where actors perform a show Stage picture - a group of people who stand still in different postures in order to create one picture/story Tableau - A group of people making a frozen picture from a story with their bodies Guiding Questions: What are the elements of a fairy tale? How can we bring a fairy tale to life with our bodies?
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Materials: Handout 1: Story Mountain, Handout 2: Story Mountain Worksheet, Handout 3: Little Red Riding Hood, Handout 4: Three Little Pigs
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Lesson Plan Mini Lesson: Read and Analyze a Fairy Tale Guide students through a brief introduction to fairy tales. What fairy tales have you read before? What is your favorite character from a fairy tale? Continue the discussion by identifying the key elements of a fairy tale for your students. Most of the elements are in the vocabulary. • • • • • •
ero/protagonist H Villain/antagonist Helper Beginning, middle, end Setting and environment Talking or magical animals
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Pass out Handout 1: Story Mountain and Handout 2: Story Mountain Worksheet. Discuss the fairy tale elements in the story including, protagonist, antagonist, beginning, middle and end with your students. If appropriate for the class, students can write in answers on the Story Mountain Worksheet. Who were the main characters? What were the elements of the plot? What caused the protagonist to leave the “ordinary world”? Where does the story take place? Describe the setting and the scene. Bring the Fairy Tale to Life through Tableau Part 1: Create Scenes for Beginning, Middle and End Students will be creating tableaus for the beginning, middle and end using the fairy tale they just read. Discuss the scenes in section and write them on the board for students.
Example: Little Red Riding Hood Beginning
Scene 1 – Mother gives Little Red Riding Hood a basket to take to her grandmother. Scene 2 – Little Red Riding Hood walks on the path in the woods alone.
Middle
Scene 3 – In the woods, Little Red Riding Hood meets a wolf and tells the wolf where she is going. Scene 4 – The wolf goes to grandma’s house and locks her in the cupboard.
End
Scene 5 – Little Red Riding Hood arrives at grandma’s house where the wolf is pretending to be her grandma. Little Red Riding Hood notices the eyes and teeth of the wolf are not her grandma’s. Scene 6 – Little Red Riding Hood screams for help and woodcutters come and the wolf runs away. THE BROAD STAGE AT THE SANTA MONICA COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 1310 11TH ST., SANTA MONICA, CA 90401 / 310.434.3560
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Read a fairy tale together as a class. You can read a classroom fairy tale or use one of the attached fairy tales (Handout 3: Little Red Riding Hood or Handout 4:Three Little Pigs). Ask students to keep the key elements of fairy tales in mind as you read.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Part 2: Tableau Using theatrical stage picture and an improvisation game, bring the fairy tale to life through tableau. A tableau is a group of people making a frozen picture with their bodies. Use the scenes you discussed from the beginning, middle and end for the tableau exercise. Note: We suggest doing this activity as a full group. TASK: Students will create a frozen picture representing each scene of the fairy tale. Discuss the tableau activity with your students and create a theatrical space in your classroom. Instruct the class to sit on one side of the room face the other empty side of the room. Discuss the difference between the stage and audience with your students. Tell them they are the audience and the empty space is the stage. People in the audience watch and listen to the people on the stage who bring stories to life. The students will stand on the stage when they take a position to create a tableau.
1. Walk on to the “stage” one at a time and create one element (character, setting, environment) of the scene. Remind students to face the audience. 2. Strike a frozen pose and say who/what they are to the audience (ex. I am Little Red Riding Hood). • Students can be elements of the setting as well (i.e. tree in the woods, a basket, etc.) 3. Stay in the frozen pose as the other students add more elements to the stage picture. • Encourage students to fill out the environment of the scene and to take up space on the stage. 4. After completing the stage picture and the scene, students in the audience clap for the performers. While doing the tableau exercise, you can make adjustments to the students’ pose to add clarity to their character and action. To challenge your students further, you can prompt each character/ object to say one line of dialogue after the stage picture is completed. Ensure that the line of dialogue relates to what is going on in the scene. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: • • •
articipate in creation of the scenes. P Bring their frozen pose to life with clear physicality and facial expression. Be able to identify the “who”, “what” and “where” elements of the story.
PURPOSE: To understand the key elements of a fairy tale and story through tableau. Student Reflection & Assessment How can I make my pose clearer through gesture and facial expressions? Why are the key elements of a fairy tale important to the story?
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Explain the rules of tableau together.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Handout 1: Story Mountain
Rising Action These are the events leading up to the main problem or climax.
Falling Action This is when the characters work to solve the problem.
Resolution This is how things end up in the story. Beginning This includes the introductionof characters and setting.
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Climax This is when the problem hits a high point.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Handout 2: Story Mountain Worksheet
Climax
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Falling Action
End
Beginning
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Rising Action
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Handout 3: Little Red Riding Hood
One day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother said to her, “Take this basket of goodies to your grandma’s cottage, but don’t talk to strangers on the way!” Promising not to, Little Red Riding Hood skipped off. On her way she met the Big Bad Wolf who asked, “Where are you going, little girl?” “To my grandma’s, Mr. Wolf!” she answered.
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When Little Red Riding Hood reached the cottage, she entered and went to Grandma’s bedside. “My! What big eyes you have, Grandma!” she said in surprise. “All the better to see you with, my dear!” replied the wolf. “My! What big ears you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood. “All the better to hear you with, my dear!” said the wolf. “What big teeth you have, Grandma!” said Little Red Riding Hood. “All the better to eat you with!” growled the wolf pouncing on her. Little Red Riding Hood screamed and the woodcutters in the forest came running to the cottage. They beat the Big Bad Wolf and rescued Grandma from the cupboard. Grandma hugged Little Red Riding Hood with joy. The Big Bad Wolf ran away never to be seen again. Little Red Riding Hood had learnt her lesson and never spoke to strangers ever again.
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The Big Bad Wolf then ran to her grandmother’s cottage much before Little Red Riding Hood, and knocked on the door. When Grandma opened the door, he locked her up in the cupboard. The wicked wolf then wore Grandma’s clothes and lay on her bed, waiting for Little Red Riding Hood.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Handout 4: Three Little Pigs
A big bad wolf saw the two little pigs while they danced and played and thought, “What juicy tender meals they will make!” He chased the two pigs and they ran and hid in their houses. The big bad wolf went to the first house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down in minutes. The frightened little pig ran to the second pig’s house that was made of sticks. The big bad wolf now came to this house and huffed and puffed and blew the house down in hardly any time. Now, the two little pigs were terrified and ran to the third pig’s house that was made of bricks. The big bad wolf tried to huff and puff and blow the house down, but he could not. He kept trying for hours but the house was very strong and the little pigs were safe inside. The big bad wolf gives up and goes away. The two little pigs now felt sorry for having been so lazy. They too built their houses with bricks and lived happily ever after.
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Once upon a time there were three little pigs. One pig built a house of straw while the second pig built his house with sticks. They built their houses very quickly and then sang and danced all day because they were lazy. The third little pig worked hard all day and built his house with bricks.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Lesson 2: Creating Fairy Tales Lesson at a Glance Lesson Objective: Students will learn how to create a story through improvisation exercises and begin to write their own fairy tale. Duration: 50 minutes
Standards: CCSS, Writing Standards, Kindergarten: 3.0 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened. CCSS, Writing Standards, Grade One: 5.0 With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed. VAPA Theatre, Grade One: 2.2 Dramatize or improvise familiar simple stories from classroom literature or life experiences, incorporating plot (beginning, middle, and end) and using a tableau or a pantomime. VAPA Theatre, Grade Two: 2.1 Perform in group improvisation theatrical games that develop cooperative skills and concentration. VAPA Theatre, Grade Two: 2.2 Retell familiar stories, sequencing story points and identifying character, setting, and conflict. Concepts/Vocabulary: Improvisation - making up stories with other people; performing without a script Saying Yes - to create stories without a script, you must agree with the ideas of your fellow actors and build upon those ideas: “yes and…” - agree to the idea and then add to the idea Pantomime - pretend to do an activity without props (objects), i.e.. pretend to drink tea without actually holding a cup Guiding Questions: How do we say yes to our own creativity and that of others? What is an easy way for us to create our own fairy tales?
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Materials: Handout 5: Fairy Tale Template
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Lesson Plan Mini Lesson: Cooperative Storytelling through Improvisation Introduce the concept of improvisation, or improv, to the class and review the definition: improvisation is the art of making up stories with other people. The show, Fairytales UnScripted, will be completely improvised by the actors and a new story will be created each time it is performed. The actors do not follow a script, but rather say “yes” to the new elements that other actors add to the story. Lead students through an improv game called, “Yes, let’s”. This game teaches the fundamental rule to improv, saying yes. When making things up as a group, it is important to say yes to other people’s ideas and creativity. Collaboration happens when everyone says “yes” to other people’s imagination. Before beginning the game, define pantomime with your students. Pantomime is when you pretend to do an activity without props (objects), i.e.. pretend to drink tea without actually holding a cup. When creating a pantomime, you use us gestures, movement and facial expressions to communicate what you are doing to the audience.
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1. Have the class stand in a circle. 2. State a simple activity to pantomime such as, “let’s open a door”. 3. Ask students to respond by saying, “Yes, let’s open a door” while repeating the pantomime for opening a door. 4. Go around the circle clockwise and ask students to think of an activity to pantomime. Have students start the activity by saying, “let’s ____”, simultaneously stating and pantomiming the activity. The rest of the students respond, “yes, let’s ____”, while repeating the pantomime. 5. Continue the activity around the circle. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR “YES, LET’S”: • • • •
Students create an original action and pantomime. Each student says “yes, let’s” and pantomimes back the activity. Students are open to the ideas of other students without judgement. Second Round: Students add information to stories that makes sense.
Do a second round of “Yes, let’s”, but ask students to outline the story and activities of a typical day, from the morning (beginning), through the afternoon (middle) and to the evening (end). Do a third round of “Yes let’s”, and start to create a new story.
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Follow these instructions for “Yes, let’s”.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Beginning (introduces the character and establishes a routine)
"One upon a time…" "And every day…” Middle (routine gets broken) "But, one day…"
Middle (shows consequences of broken routine)
"Because of that…" "Because of that…" "Because of that…"
End (climax)
"Until, finally…"
End (resolution)
"And, ever since then…"
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Write a Fairy Tale TASK: Students will create and write their own fairy tale based on their experience with reading fairy tales and developing stories through the “yes let’s” exercise. After creating a story as a class, prompt students to write a story on their own. Have students use Handout 5: Fairy Tale Template as a guide. Encourage students to be imaginative and to draw or write their story in each category of the handout. The template is designed to create a simple structure for a fairy tale’s beginning, middle and end. Help students make connections to the “yes let’s” activity and the stories that they wrote together about their day and imagination. As an option you can refer back to Lesson 1 and review vocabulary including, antagonist, protagonist, setting and plot. After writing or drawing their own story, ask students to give their story a title and to share their story with a partner. When sharing, prompt students to explain the key elements in their fairytale. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: • • •
Stories follow the fairy tale story structure and have a clear beginning, middle and end Students develop an antagonist for their story. Stories are original from student’s own imagination.
PURPOSE: To better understand story structure and to develop creative writing skills. Student Reflection & Assessment What was it like to come up with ideas from your imagination? Did you get frustrated or delighted when someone else came up with an idea you didn’t think of? Why? What was easy and difficult about creating your own stories using beginning, middle and end?
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After creating a fairy tale, discuss the story elements with your students and review the plot of the story.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Handout 5: Fairy Tale Template BEGINNING
Once upon a time...
and everyday...
b ut
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. ay..
... THEBROADSTAGE.ORG/EDUCATION
be
at f th o se c au
d on e
because of that...
MIDDLE
and .. so. Until finally...
And, ever since then...
END
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FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Lesson 3: Performing Fairy Tales Lesson at a Glance
Lesson Objective: After attending Fairytales UnScripted at The Broad Stage, students will solidify their understanding of the elements of a fairy tale and their presence in the performance by recreating its beginning, middle and end using tableau. Duration: 50 minutes
Standards: CCSS Reading, Grades One-Two: 2.0 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. CCSS Speaking and Listening, Grades Kindergarten – Two: 2.0 Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media. CCSS Speaking and Listening, Grades Kindergarten-Two: 3.0 Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is not understood. VAPA Theatre, Grade One: 4.1 Describe what was liked about a theatrical work or story. VAPA Theatre, Grade One: 4.2 Identify and discuss emotional reactions to a theatrical experience. VAPA Theatre, Grade Two: 4.3 Identify the message or moral of a work of theatre. Concepts/Vocabulary: Actor - people who pretend to be characters and perform for an audience to watch Theatre - one group of people watch another group of people tell a story Moral - the lesson about right and wrong from a story Guiding Questions: What is it like to watch a fairy tale performed live? Is it different than reading and writing a fairy tale? How does a group of people improvise a story on the spot? What were the “who” (characters), “what” (plot) and “where” (setting) elements of the performances of Fairytales UnScripted?
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Materials: Paper, pencil, colored pencils
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Lesson Plan Part 1: Reflect and Discuss After attending Impro Theatre’s performance of Fairytales Unscripted at The Broad Stage, discuss and review the show with your students. Review connections to the previous lessons by asking what key elements of a fairy tale students noticed in the performance. Who were the protagonist (main character) and antagonist (villain) in the Fairytales UnScripted story? What was the plot? What happened at the beginning, middle and end? Where did the story take place? Discuss the elements of theatre that your students noticed.
What was the relationship between actors and audience? What was the relationship between the stage and the seats? How did the sets and costume alter the experience?
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Could you tell that the actors were making things up on the spot? How was that different a story that has already been written?
Discuss the students’ experience in the audience.
What was your experience in the audience like? How did the story make you feel? What was it like giving a suggestion to the actors and how did it affect the story? What was it like to participate in the story by making sounds?
Ask students to continue their reflection by drawing one of the scenes from the performance.
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Discuss the nature of improvisation.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Part 2: Warm-Up by Playing “Yes let’s” Playing “Yes, let’s” gets students in a cooperative and creative place to continue improvising. Set students up for the “Yes, Let’s” activity before doing tableaus. Play the game twice. The first round will be a warm-up for improvising. For the second round, challenge students to say activities that would be in a fairytale. Instructions for “Yes, let’s”: 1. Have the class stand in a circle. 2. State a simple activity to pantomime such as, “let’s open a door”. 3. Ask students to respond by saying, “Yes, let’s open a door” while repeating the pantomime for opening a door. 4. Go around the circle clockwise and ask students to think of an activity to pantomime. Have students start the activity by saying, “let’s ____”, simultaneously stating and pantomiming the activity. The rest of the students respond, “yes, let’s ____”, while repeating the pantomime 5. Continue the activity around the circle. Part 3: Recreate Tableaus from Fairytales UnScripted Performance
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Students will be creating tableaus for the beginning, middle and end of the Fairytales Unscripted performance. Discuss the scenes in each plot point and write them on the board for students.
Beginning
Scene 1 – Scene 2 –
Middle
Scene 3 – Scene 4 –
End
Scene 5 – Scene 6 –
Re-set up the classroom with a “stage” and audience, and ask for student volunteers to be actors in each tableau. After students create the tableau, you can further challenge their understanding by having them say one line of dialogue as their element.
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TASK: Review the Fairytales UnScripted performance by creating tableaus based on scenes from the show.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Review the rules of tableau together.
1. Walk on to the “stage” one at a time and create one element (character, setting, environment) of the scene. Remind students to face the audience.
2. Strike a frozen pose and say who/what they are to the audience (ex. I am Little Red Riding
Hood). • Students can be elements of the setting as well (i.e. tree in the woods, a basket, etc.) 3. Stay in the frozen pose as the other students add more elements to the stage picture. • Encourage students to fill out the environment of the scene and to take up space on the stage. 4. As a challenge, prompt each student to say one line of dialogue as their element. 5. After completing the stage picture and the scene, students in the audience clap for the actors. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
•
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PURPOSE: To recreate stories and scenes from memory while using theatre techniques. Part 4: Optional Challenge to Create New Tableaus Further challenge your students by doing the tableau exercise again, but this time, allow students to develop a scene on their own. The first student establishes one element in the scene, and one at a time other students contribute to the stage picture with other elements. Each time a student goes up, the story will evolve and become something that the first student did not think of. Student Reflection & Assessment What is the experience of a performance, both watching and participating in it? What is it like to create stories with other people? Can you identify beginning, middle and end of stories?
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•
Students were able to identify the “who”, “what” and “where” of the Fairytales UnScripted performance. Students had clear physicality and emotion when playing their element.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
About Impro Theatre lmpro Theatre creates completely improvised, full-length plays in the styles of the world's greatest writers. With no pre-planning or prepared scenarios, the performers start with audience suggestions and combine verbal dexterity and dynamic physicality to bring character and plot to life in an instant. Each performance is entirely different; there are no repeated characters and no set story structure. Impro Theatre give audiences something truly unique: the opportunity to participate in and experience a spontaneous performance that only the people in that theater, on that night, will witness.
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"Fairytales UnScripted" as produced by MainStreet Theatre in association with Impro Theatre. Photos by Ed Krieger.
THE BROAD STAGE AT THE SANTA MONICA COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 1310 11TH ST., SANTA MONICA, CA 90401 / 310.434.3560
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FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Meet Nick Massouh from Impro Theatre Impro Theatre Company Member and Teaching Artist Nick Massouh is the Director of Impro Theatre School and the Impro Studio Theatre. He is a founding member of Impro Theatre and a main stage performer. Nick is also an actor and director for both stage and screen. Nick has been the director of the Impro Theatre School for the past nine years. Over his tenure he has designed the CORE curriculum, a 4 workshop series, as well has established a conservatory program focused on developing the skills of narrative and genre improv. Nick worked with Education & Community Programs to write this study guide for you to use with your students before attending Impro Theatre's Fairytales Unscripted. Read more about Nick with your students below.
What do you like about improv versus acting with a script? With improv, you are not just an actor, you are also a writer and director. I’ve always considered myself a storyteller and narrative improv allows me to use all my skills to create stories with themes that come from my authentic voice. With scripted material, you a part of a process to bring someone else story to life, but with improv you have more influence over the story that is being created. Have you ever made a mistake while performing? How did you fix that mistake? The beautiful thing about improv is that it is an imperfect art form. We make mistakes every show we do. However, we don’t view them as mistakes, we view them as opportunities. We say mistakes are gifts, love what you have. Whatever happens in the moment is the truth of the moment and instead of it being a mistake, it is just what the “writer” intended to write. We incorporate it into the story and allow it to inform the next moment. How do you prepare for an improv show? Research and skill building. We research the style and the world we are creating. For Fairytales UnScripted, we research various fairy tales and examine what types of stories, themes, and characters make a fairy tale. Then we build skills by practicing creating those aspects of story we discovered in our research. It’s more like sports practice before the game than it is like rehearsing a written script. What advice do you have for young actors? My advice for young actors is to act as much as possible wherever that may be. Get involved in whatever you can. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity. One experience always leads to the next. And no matter what situation you find yourself in, always put your best foot forward.
THE BROAD STAGE AT THE SANTA MONICA COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 1310 11TH ST., SANTA MONICA, CA 90401 / 310.434.3560
21
THEBROADSTAGE.ORG/EDUCATION
17\18 SEASON
How and when did you start acting? How long have you been a member of Impro Theatre? I starting acting in 9th grade. It was a requirement to take an arts class in high school. My older brother took theatre, so I thought I’d do the same. I fell in love with it, took it every year after, and studied acting in college, earning a BFA from USC. I have been with Impro for 11 years.
FAIRYTALES UNSCRIPTED STUDY GUIDE
Glossary Actor - people who pretend to be characters and perform for an audience to watch Antagonist - the character who tries to stop the protagonist from getting what they want (villain) Audience - a group of people who watch a show on stage, film or television Improvisation - making up stories with other people; performing without a script Moral - the lesson about right and wrong from a story Pantomime - pretend to do an activity without props (objects), i.e.. pretend to drink tea without actually holding a cup Plot - the sequence of events of a story—beginning, middle, end
17\18 SEASON
Saying Yes - to create stories without a script, you must agree with the ideas of your fellow actors and build upon those ideas: “yes and…” - agree to the idea and then add to the idea Scene - a moment in a story Setting - the location of a scene and the things in that location Stage - the space in a theatre where actors perform a show Stage picture - a group of people who stand still in different postures in order to create one picture/story Tableau - A group of people making a frozen picture from a story with their bodies Theatre - one group of people watch another group of people tell a story What - the story being told Where - the location of the story Who - the characters in a story
THE BROAD STAGE AT THE SANTA MONICA COLLEGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 1310 11TH ST., SANTA MONICA, CA 90401 / 310.434.3560
22
THEBROADSTAGE.ORG/EDUCATION
Protagonist - the character that the story is about/the main character in a story