Practice is cancelled for 10/6/14

The drama club will not practice on 10/6/14, but it
will resume practice on 10/13/14 in room E101 from 3:20-4:15.  Please see
Mrs. Mathieu or Mr. Campbell with questions. 

Please remember to bring your dues of $30 to class. 

Improvisation Situations:

Now that you have a better understanding of stage directions, it is time to practice putting those directions into action via improvisation.  First, choose an improvisation scenario below.  Then, practice for about 3 minutes with a partner using the stage directions that you have learned about. You will be evaluated using the rubric below.  

A Restaurant customer is complaining to his waiter about a hamburger he ordered.

Two friends are looking at the basketball team cut list that is posted on the door of the school gym.

The security guard in a jewelry store stops a customer and asks to look in his jacket pocket.

Two patients are waiting in a dentist’s waiting room.

Two painters are painting a room

Two Students are in the Library working on a research paper together.

A woman is in a nail salon having her nails done by a manicurist.

A teenager who has been grounded is attempting to sneak out of the house.  Just as he is about to leave his parent walks in the room.

A parachuting instructor is about to give a student the signal to make the first jump.

A homeowner answers his front door and finds a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman.

Two Students are waiting outside the principal’s office because they have been in a fight.

A singer and his piano accompanist are discussing the possibility of including some new songs in their act.

Two construction workers are building the foundation for a house when they discover a treasure chest.

A Doctor wants to inject his patient with a string pain killer, the patient is in extreme pain.

A police officer sees an adult trying to break into a locked car.

Two people on the sidewalk simultaneously reach for a 20$ bill lying on the ground.

A teenager with a radio that is blaring loud rock music sits down on a bus near an elderly person.

Two friends are lying out on the beach.

You are saying goodbye to someone you love at the airport.

A prisoner in jail is talking to a jailor.

You are a foreign exchange student staying at the home of a family that speaks no English. This is your first dinner together.

A gym teacher holding a folded piece of paper runs into one of his students in the hall.

Two friends are at a party when they notice the time.  It is way past their curfew.

A supermarket cashier notices another cashier stealing money from the register.

Stage Directions

Stage Directions
These are terms describing the locations and directions in a theatre building; many come from the descriptions of
stage action in the play text. They are most relevant to a proscenium theatre, but can apply to other theater forms.

downstage (DS)
(noun) the part of the stage nearest the audience
(adverb or adjective) toward or at the front part of the stage, nearest the audience
also downstage left (DSL), downstage right (DSR)
house left (HL)
(noun) the left side of the auditorium from the spectator’s viewpoint facing the stage
(adverb or adjective) toward or at the left side of the auditorium from the spectator’s viewpoint facing the stage also front house left, rear house left
house right (HR)
(noun) the right side of the auditorium from the spectator’s viewpoint facing the stage
(adverb or adjective) toward or at the right side of the auditorium from the spectator’s viewpoint facing the stage also front house right, rear house right
in
(adverb) toward the stage floor, referring to vertical movement of scenery, etc.
opposite prompt, off prompt (OP)
(noun, adverb, or adjective) primarily British usage, has the same meaning as stage right
also opposite prompt side, off prompt side (OPS) offstage
(adverb or adjective) away from the stage center; toward or at the part of the stage that is out of view of the audience
also offstage left, offstage right
onstage (adverb or adjective) toward the stage center; toward or in the part of the stage that is in view of the audience out (adverb) away from the stage floor and toward the gridiron, referring to vertical movement of scenery, etc.
prompt, prompt side (PS) (noun, adverb, or adjective) primarily British usage, has the same meaning as stage left stage right (SR)
(noun) the right side of the stage from the actor’s viewpoint facing the audience
(adverb or adjective) toward or at the right side of the stage from the actor’s viewpoint facing the audience
upstage (US)
(noun) the part of the stage farthest from the audience
(adverb or adjective) toward or at the rear part of the stage, farthest from the audience
also upstage left (USL), upstage right (USR)

Stage directions can provide lots of useful information for actors, directors and the backstage crew – and also for people who are reading a script instead of watching a performance.

In the script for a play, the most basic information is the dialogue (the words that the characters say). Without dialogue, it’s not a script!

However, dialogue is not the only thing we can find in a script – usually, we also find stage directions.

Look at the short script below. You will see that there are three different kinds of text:

·         Characters’ names are written in bold.

·         Stage directions are written in italics – and in (parentheses) when they appear next to dialogue.

·         Dialogue is written in plain text.

The most basic stage directions give us information about:

·         where and when the action takes place (also known as the setting)

·         what the setting looks like

Look at the stage directions in the short script above. What is the setting of the play?

Example:                                                                Early morning, in a classroom. There is a broken computer on the floor next to the teacher’s desk. David enters and sees Cathy. He seems shocked.                                 David: (Shouting) What are you doing? Cathy: (Nervous)  Nothing.

Learning Activity 1

Speaking and Writing

Work with a partner. How many kinds of “where”, “when” and “what” information can you think of? List your ideas in the table below. Some examples have been provided for you.

WHERE	WHEN	WHAT
- country (e.g. Australia)	- historical period (e.g. World War II)	- furniture (e.g. There are three wooden chairs and a small table)

As well as this information about the setting, writers often give us information about the characters. For example:

·         what they look like

·         how old they are

·         what they are wearing

·         their jobs

·         their relationships with other characters

·         their personalities

·         how they feel

·         how they speak

·         how they move

Look at the stage directions in the short script on the previous page. What kinds of information do they give us about David and Cathy? What do you think their relationship is?

Learning Activity 2

Reading

Now look at the following script. Focus on the stage directions.  

Fill in the table with examples of stage directions. Decide what kind of information (e.g. setting, time, appearance and physical details of characters, characters’ emotions, thoughts and manners, actions and movements) is included in each example. Compare your answers with those of a classmate.

A park in Hong Kong. It is early morning on a summer day. The sun has just come up. We can hear birds in the background, and distant sounds of traffic. There is a rubbish bin next to a bench. Simon enters. He is about 15 years old, and is tall and thin. He is wearing stylish clothes, but they are too big for him. He seems sad. He sits on the bench and looks down at the ground with his legs stretched out. After a few moments, Fiona enters. She is also about 15, but seems much older than Simon. She is listening to an iPod and is jogging. She does not notice Simon, and so almost trips over his legs.
Simon:	(Looking up angrily) Hey! Watch where you’re going!
Fiona:	(Trying not to laugh) Sorry. I didn’t see you. (She finds his big clothing funny.)
Simon:	(Even louder) What’s so funny?
Fiona:	Nothing. (Pause) Are you OK?
Simon:	Fine.
Fiona:	(Gently) Are you sure? (She sits down next to him.)

Type of information	Examples of stage directions
Setting
Time
Appearance/physical details of characters
Emotions, thoughts and manners
Actions and movements

Learning Activity 3

Writing

Work with one or two partners. Read the following dialogue, and then re-write it on a separate piece of paper, adding stage directions to describe the setting and the characters in as much detail as possible.

Garry:	I didn’t expect to see you here.
Becky:	Why not?
Garry:	Are you serious?
Becky:	Of course.
Garry:	Anyway, you haven’t explained why you’re here.
Becky:	You’re right. I haven’t.
Garry:	Are you going to?
Becky:	I’m thinking about it.
Garry:	I see.
Becky:	I’m not sure you do.

Compare your final version with other pairs’/groups’.