WARRIOR RUN SCHOOL DISTRICT
WARRIOR RUN HIGH SCHOOL
DRAMA I, II CURRICULUM
PRPEARED BY: BERNADETTE BOERCKEL
SUBMITTED: JUNE 2007
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INTRODUCTION
Drama I and Drama II are electives offered to introduce students to the art of
performance, the role that theatre plays in personal lives and society at large, and an
aesthetic appreciation for the arts in general. Theatre Education is an interdisciplinary art
form that satisfies the human need to express thoughts and feelings through written text,
dramatic interpretation, and multimedia production. Although there is much repetition of
content in Drama I and Drama II, the content only serves to strengthen the skills of the
students. It is delivered with increasing levels of intensity at each level. If a particular
activity or play is used only in Drama I or II, it will have the Roman numeral in
parenthesis after it (i.e. (I), or (II).
Since there are not PA State Standards in theatre education, Language Arts Standards,
Arts and Humanities Standards, and National Standards for Theatre (all caps CONTENT
STANDARD) will be included. National Standards are listed at the end of this
curriculum for reference.
EXPECTED LEVELS OF ACHIEVEMENT
Students are expected to:
 Learn, understand, and demonstrate mastery of theatrical terms.
 Participate everyday in warm-ups and improvisations created to demonstrate
concepts of performance.
 Foster an environment of trust in which students feel free to take the risks
necessary to grow as performers.
 Analyze, interpret, and respond to dramatic works through reading, writing and
observing.
 Create / write monologues and short dramatic works to be performed and
critiqued by their peers.
 Memorize and perform rehearsed scenes and monologues of published material in
a range of styles.
 Gain a comprehensive appreciation for the performance arts.
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PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION
Students will be evaluated by using a variety of assessment methods. Grades will be
determined using a point system.
Formal Assessment Methods
1) Written quizzes and tests
2) Formal, rehearsed performances
3) Formal paper writing (MLA format)
Informal Assessment Method
1) Daily participation/preparation
2) Regular journal writing
3) Class discussions
4) Observation
Other Grades:
1) Computer lab explorations and activities
2) Informal writing assignments based on observation, newspaper headlines, and
cross-curricular texts.
REFERENCES
The materials used in Drama I and Drama II are ever-changing and drawn from of a
variety of sources including:
1) Published anthologies of scenes
2) Published anthologies of monologues
3) Published plays and one acts including, but not limited to “Our Town”, “The
Crucible”, “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, “Death of
a Salesman”, and “You Can’t Take It With You”
4) Original texts written by classmates (current and former)
5) Online resources including:
 The Improv Encylopedia: www.humanpingpongball.com
 Brigham Young University’s Theatre Education Database:
http://tedb.byu.edu/
 Playwriting 101: http://www.playwriting101.com/
 Writing Your Own Monologues:
http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/drama30/teacher/3writing.html
 Various movie and free monologues sites
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TIMELINE
The following timeline is an approximation of the time required to complete each unit of
study in Drama I and Drama II.
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6
Unit 7
Unit 8
Trust and Energy
Pantomime
Improvisation
Scene work
Play viewing
Writing about theatre
Monologue performance
Monologue / Play writing
3 weeks and ongoing
2 weeks
2 weeks and ongoing
2 weeks
2-4 weeks
1 week and ongoing
2 weeks
2-4 weeks
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UNIT 1
Trust and Energy Games
OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1) Identify as a group the atmosphere that must exist in order for them to act
freely in class without fear of persecution or intimidation.
2) Create and sign a contract agreeing to said terms.
3) Participate in games that make them aware of
a. Their senses
b. Their bodies
c. The way thee respond to other people
d. Group problem solving
e. The ability to think quickly
4) Students will work through any existing stage fright or shyness that they
bring to the class.
(STDS. 9.1.12 A, B, D, G STD 1.6.11 C, D, E)
SECURE CONTENT
Instructional Activities
1) Discuss importance of a trusting and encouraging atmosphere.
2) Instruct students on rules of behavior and have students create additional
rules.
3) Teach and model trust and energy games and warm-ups. These may include
and are not limited to: Name Zap, Murder Wink, Human Knot, Get Organized,
Thumper, Psst!, Who Began, Pass Clap, Categories, Secret Picnic, Simon
Says, Assassin, Man Over Board, etc…
Learning Activities
1) Students will learn games mentioned above.
2) Students will keep a written account of each game; how to play it; its purpose
and a response to it.
3) Students will participate each day in every activity.
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UNIT 2
Pantomime
OBJECTIVES
Students will understand the history of and foundations of pantomime. They will be able
to demonstrate action and emotion without the use of speech. They will learn, understand,
and master the three essentials of pantomime: consistency, exaggeration, and specificity.
CONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining
characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions. (Stds: 9.1.12 A, B, D,
9.2.12K)
1)
2)
3)
4)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
SECURE CONTENT
Instructional Activities
Prepare handouts on history of pantomime.
Instruct students on consistency, exaggeration, and specificity.
Hand out and describe project and rubric.
Expand knowledge of Pantomime to improvised and rehearsed scenework.
Learning Activities
Students will practice pantomiming skills in small groups through exercises
(machine/animal pantomime, Yes, Lets, Group Pantomime, What Are You
Doing?, Silent Scenes, etc.)
Students will choose an action with a beginning, middle and end.
Students will choose a piece of music that in some way relates to the chosen
action. Students will rehearse their action to their music, obeying the rules of
consistency, exaggeration, and specificity.
Students will perform their pantomime to music individually in front of the
class.
Students will perform scenes without speech, both rehearsed and improvised.
UNIT 3
Improvisation
OBJECTIVES
Students will demonstrate their improvisation skills by participating in various activities
and assignments that require students to use their improve skills. They will learn to think
on their feet, make choices, and act without a script. CONTENT STANDARD 1: Script
writing by improvising, writing, and refining scripts based on personal experience and
heritage, imagination, literature, and history. CONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by
developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or
formal productions. (Stds: 9.1.12 A, B, D, 9.2.12K)
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SECURE CONTENT
Instructional Activities
1) Teach and model improvisation games and activities including, but not limited
to: ABC Scene, Questions only, Hitchhiker, Props, The Dating Game, Party
Quirks, Elevator, Interrogation, One Word-three Scenes, Three Objects,
TMATTY, Object Monologue, Story-Story-Die, Voices from Heaven, Nursery
Rhyme Scenes, Crazy Newscaster, Emotional family, Marriage Counselor, etc.
Learning Activities
1) Students will learn and participate in the above improvisational vehicles
2) Students will keep a written account of each game, how to play it, its purpose,
and a response to it.
UNIT 4
Scenework
OBJECTIVES
Students will demonstrate their knowledge of acting in a scene from a play by reading,
rehearsing, and performing a 5-7 minute comedic scenes (May be dramatic in Drama II).
CONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining
characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions. (Std: 9.1.12 A, B, D,
9.2.12K)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
SECURE CONTENT
Instructional Activities
Watch movie “Brighton Beach Memoirs (I)”, “The Crucible (II)” or alternate,
to observe the way characterization is achieved and the way characters relate
to one another in scenes.
Assign scripts to groups or pairs.
Instruct students on proper theatre terminology to facilitate the rehearsal of
their scenes.
Assist students as they prepare.
Provide rubrics for performance evaluation.
Learning Activities
1) Students will choose a character from Brighton Beach Memoirs (I), The
Crucible (II), or alternate, to discuss in a paper about characterization (how
did the actor achieve the character).
2) Students will select, read through, memorize, and perform scenes in a pair or
group.
3) The class will discuss problems and success throughout this process.
4) Each group will be formally assessed by the teacher and through selfassessment in their journals.
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UNIT 5 -6
Play Viewing – Writing About Theatre:
Appreciating theatre as an art form (I)
Analysis using Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama (II)
OBJECTIVES
Students (I) will learn to watch a play differently from a movie. They will pay attention
to characterization, relationships, costume, setting, and theme). They will employ what
they learn in their own performances.
Students (II) will demonstrate their knowledge of the Six Elements of Drama (plot,
theme, diction, character, music, and spectacle) by analyzing a film. CONTENT
STANDARD 7: Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from informal and
formal theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions; CONTENT
STANDARD 6: Comparing and integrating art forms by analyzing traditional theatre,
dance, music, and visual arts, and new art forms; CONTENT STANDARD 4: Directing
by interpreting dramatic texts and organizing and conducting rehearsals for informal or
formal productions. (Stds: 9.2.12; L 9.3.12B)
SECURE CONTENT
Instructional Activities
1) Show and discuss various plays at each level: (I): “Brighton Beach Memoirs”,
“You Can’t Take It With You” or alternate (II): “The Crucible”, “Proof”, “A
Streecar Named Desire”, Death of a Salesman, or alternate.
2) Through worksheets, notes, and class and group discussion, teach students
what to look for in a work of theatre.
Learning Activities
1) Students will choose a character from “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, “You
Can’t Take It With You”, or alternate (I), and discuss characterization in a
paper (how did the actor achieve the character).
2) Students (II) will learn and be tested on Arostotle’s Six Elements of Drama.
3) Students (II) will use Arostotle’s method to identify/evaluate elements in a
work of theatre (live or on DVD).
4) Students will discuss in groups and as a class the themes of the play and
informally, why they did or didn’t “connect” with the performance.
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UNIT 7
Monologue Performance
OBJECTIVES
Students will choose a monologue to analyze, memorize, rehearse, block, costume and
perform. CONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and
sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions.
Achievement Standard: analyze the physical, emotional, and social dimensions of
characters found in dramatic texts from various genre and media. (Stds: 9.1.12 A, B, D,
9.2.12K)
SECURE CONTENT
Instructional Activities
1) Provide monologues appropriate to individual student’s abilities.
2) Provide guiding worksheets to help the students in their approach to
monologue performances.
3) Provide rubrics for performance evaluation.
4) Coach students along the way.
5) Informally evaluate progress one week before performances.
Learning Activities
1) Students will choose a monologue from class library or Internet to be
approved by the teacher.
2) Students will complete guiding worksheets.
3) Students will participate in informal discussions about their monologues as
well as record progress in their journals.
4) Students will memorize and perform their monologues.
5) Students will self-evaluate their performance.
UNIT 8
Monologue (I) / 10 Minute Playwriting (II)
OBJECTIVES
Students (I) will create a first-person monologue based on an image either provided by
the teacher or obtained on their own. Their monologues will have beginnings, middles,
and ends and rely on conventions of either humor or drama.
Students (II) will demonstrate their understanding of dramatic text and their ability to
create character, relationship, dialogue, and action by writing original 10 to 15 minute
long scripts in small groups. Their plays will follow professional guidelines for 10minute plays and have a beginning, middle, and an end. They should take place in one to
two settings and draw from techniques learned throughout Drama I and II. CONTENT
STANDARD: Script writing by improvising, writing, and refining scripts based on
personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history. CONTENT
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STANDARD 4: Directing by interpreting dramatic texts and organizing and conducting
rehearsals for informal or formal productions. (Stds: 9.1.12 A, B, D; 9.2.12K; 9.2.12; L
9.3.12B)
1)
2)
3)
4)
1)
2)
3)
4)
SECURE CONTENT
Instructional Activities (I)
Bring students to the computer lab for exploration of monologue-writing site.
Activate prior knowledge of effective monologue content and delivery.
Guide students in their monologue writing.
Provide monologue rubric and sharing opportunities.
Learning Activities (I)
Students will read through and learn about monologue writing on chosen
website: www.
Choose a photo on the site or bring in one from a publication to use as a
springboard.
Write, edit, revise, and type up several monologues.
Share favorite monologue with the class.
Instructional Activities (II)
1) Provide ten-minute plays to read.
2) Provide computer time to explore the website devoted to ten-minute
playwriting: www. Quiz students on this material.
3) Assign playwriting groups and allow time for brainstorming.
4) Monitor playwriting and reading, grading equitable participation of group
members.
5) Instruct students in the methods of reader’s theatre as a way to present scripts.
Learning Activities (II)
6) Read published 10-minute plays.
7) Learn format and rules of 10-minute play for examination.
8) Brainstorm plot, setting, and character possibilities in groups.
9) Write, type, and rehearse play as a group.
10) Read a different group’s play in a reader’s theatre presentation.
National Standards for Theatre Education (Proficient 9-12)
CONTENT STANDARD 1: Script writing by improvising, writing, and refining scripts
based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history.
Achievement Standard: construct imaginative scripts and collaborate with actors to
refine scripts so that story and meaning are conveyed to an audience.
CONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining
characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions.
Achievement Standard: analyze the physical, emotional, and social dimensions of
characters found in dramatic texts from various genre and media.
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Achievement Standard: compare and demonstrate various classical and contemporary
acting techniques and methods.
Achievement Standard: in an ensemble, create and sustain characters that
communicate with audiences.
CONTENT STANDARD 3: Designing and producing by conceptualizing and realizing
artistic interpretations for informal or formal productions.
Achievement Standard: explain the basic physical and chemical properties of the
technical aspects of theatre (such as light, color, electricity, paint, and makeup).
Achievement Standard: analyze a variety of dramatic texts from cultural and historical
perspectives to determine production requirements.
Achievement Standard: develop designs that use visual and aural elements to convey
environments that clearly support the text.
Achievement Standard: apply technical knowledge and skills to collaboratively and
safely create functional scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costumes, and
makeup.
Achievement Standard: design coherent stage management, promotional, and business
plans.
CONTENT STANDARD 4: Directing by interpreting dramatic texts and organizing and
conducting rehearsals for informal or formal productions.
Achievement Standard: develop multiple interpretations and visual and aural
production choices for scripts and production ideas and choose those that are most
interesting.
Achievement Standard: justify selections of text, interpretation, and visual and aural
artistic choices.
Achievement Standard: effectively communicate directorial choices to a small
ensemble for improvised or scripted scenes.
CONTENT STANDARD 5: Researching by evaluating and synthesizing cultural and
historical information to support artistic choices.
Achievement Standard: identify and research cultural, historical, and symbolic clues in
dramatic texts and evaluate the validity and practicality of the information to
assist in making artistic choices for informal and formal productions.
CONTENT STANDARD 6: Comparing and integrating art forms by analyzing
traditional theatre, dance, music, and visual arts, and new art forms.
Achievement Standard: describe and compare the basic nature, materials, elements,
and means of communicating in theatre, dramatic media, musical theatre, dance,
music, and the visual arts.
Achievement Standard: determine how the nondramatic art forms are modified to
enhance the expression of ideas and emotions in theatre.
Achievement Standard: illustrate the integration of several arts media in informal
presentations.
CONTENT STANDARD 7: Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from
informal and formal theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions.
Achievement Standard: construct social meanings from informal and formal
productions and from dramatic performances from a variety of cultures and
historical periods, and relate to current personal, antional, and international issues.
Achievement Standard: articulate and justify personal aesthetic criterial for critiquing
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dramatic texts and events that compares perceived artistic intent with the final
aesthetic achievement.
Achievement Standard: analyze and critique the whole and the parts of dramatic
performances, taking into account the context, and constructively suggest
alternative artistic choices.
Achievement Standard: constructively evaluate their own and others' collaborative
efforts and artistic choices in informal and formal productions.
CONTENT STANDARD 8: Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre,
film, television, and electronic media in the past and the present.
Achievment Standard: compare how similar themes are treated in drama from various
cultures and historical periods, illustrate with informal performances, and discuss
how theatre can reveal universal concepts.
Achievement Standard: identify and compare the lives, works, and influence of
representative theatre artists in various cultures and historical periods.
Achievement Standard: identify cultural and historical sources of American theatre
and musical theatre.
Achievement Standard: analyze the effect of their own cultural experiences on their
dramatic work.
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