Units of Study / ARTS ACHIEVE THEATER UNIT: MIDDLE SCHOOL

Playwriting

CREATING MONOLOGUES AND SCENES AROUND A COMMON THEME

UNIT SUMMARY | STANDARDS | OUTCOMES | RESOURCES

LESSONS 1-3 | LESSONS 4-6 | LESSONS 7-10

Lessons 7-10

Developing the Scene

Students work collaboratively to create a scene based on their written monologues. This begins by the instructor reading a selected student monologue. Using the selected monologue as the focus, the whole group collaboratively fills out a 5W scene chart: Who, What When Where and Why with the instructor. The Ensemble identifies the inciting moment and assigns character objectives to volunteer actors who pantomime the scene.

Students are divided into 3 groups: Group #1 - a beginning/problem, Group #2 - a middle/inciting moment, or Group #3 - an end /resolution. Each group comes up with their section and these are charted. Volunteer actors perform each section creating a beginning, middle and end tableau. Each small group photographs their assigned sequence of the tableau. Using the iPad and Explain Everything each group creates dialogue in bubble format for their photo. These results are shared and discussed as the basis for a scene.

Small scene groups of 5-6 students begin their scene writing. They first select a monologue, decide on the 5Ws, the inciting moment and their character objectives, and then improvise the scene. When they decide on the sequence of their scene, they repeat the improve and photograph their work. They view the photos, write dialogue for each photo, and assess it using their Scene Task Sheet. Groups then revise their draft. These drafts are then shared with another group who provides feedback using the Scene Criteria Checklist (Resource). This feedback informs the final draft of the Bullying Scenes.