The 8th graders officially graduated last night. Congrats! We wrapped things up last week in drama class with some of the best dramatic performances to date. Not only that, but many students who struggled in the past with shyness, gave triumphant performances of personal power. Well done, everyone. Here’s one excellent example:
“Rehearsal,” authored by Mary Krell-Oishi; performed by Zoy, Elizabeth, and Kristina
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It’s been a great semester in 6th grade! We have wrapped things up for the year with some fun comedy sketches. We talked about what makes things funny and worked on implementing that into scripted scene work in larger groups. Here are the videos of our performances! Enjoy! To my 6th graders: it’s been so much fun! See you next year!
Period 7: The Young and the Senseless
Period 6: My Meaningless Life
Period 7: The Trial of Martha
Period 6: The Days of Our World
Period 7: My Meaningless Life
Period 6: The Young and The Senseless
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The 6th grade drama classes finished their speech unit on storytelling with some fabulous performances. Students wrote, memorized, and incorporated storytelling performance techniques to create funny, scary, and moving stories. Here are a few examples:
Alex S. : ”The Dream Begins”
Regina M. : ”One Wish”
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This group of 7th graders have produced some of the best iMovie projects to date for Drama class. They were taught cinematography and editing, and used their writing and acting skills to create a 5- to 7-minute film. We celebrated our achievements with a Film Festival, where we watched all 13 of the groups’ films. What a great time! We laughed so much! (All 7th graders have their movies posted on their individual blogs, FYI!)
The 7th graders themselves voted on four categories at the film fest: best actor, best actress, fan favorite (favorite movie), and overall best picture (highest quality film). I’m pleased to announce the results!
The BEST ACTRESS winner was Aria S. for her role in “Frank the Fish.” The movie (by Aria, Carson, and Julia) plays below:
The BEST ACTOR winner was Alexander C. for his role in “H.I.P.S. Don’t Lie.”
In an unusual result, “H.I.P.S. Don’t Lie” also won for FAN FAVORITE AND BEST PICTURE. INCREDIBLE!!! Take a look at the movie below (by students David, Grant, Alexander, and Rene).
GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!
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“Who’s Line is it Anyway?” was originally a British tv show comprised of 4 improvisers and one host, performing improvisational acting games for the delight of a live audience. An American version of this show was created in the 1990’s. Since the improvisers have the advantage of years of improv training, it is a great model for our 8th grade improvisation students to see the concepts we have been learning about in class in action. (And it’s good for some hearty laughs at the end of the school day!)
Students: Please construct a thoughtful response to the following question in response to our viewing of “Who’s Line is it Anyway?” in class. Feel free to comment on other students’ ideas!
Name one improv technique that we have discussed in class that you saw well executed in the show. Give a specific, detailed example of how you saw it demonstrated and discuss how that impacted the other players on stage, the scene’s quality, and/or the audience’s reaction.
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An initiation in improv is the first statement or action that begins the scene. Strong initiations provide information and definition to what otherwise is an undefined scene with infinite possibilities. Strong initiations provoke a reaction from the other person, define characters, define setting, and/or show an important action. They can be verbal statements, physical actions, or a combination of both.
Add your own example of a strong initiation as a comment below!
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The seventh grade drama students are currently working on assimilating their new knowledge of cinematography, storyboarding, and editing and creating their own 5-7 minute short films. Students are currently filming their movies in a variety of creative locations and are being trained on iMovie editing software. Film footage is due in class next Wednesday so that we can begin editing. Good luck, actors/directors/cinematographers!
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The sixth graders just completed their first unit–a comprehensive introduction to the stage and acting. They learned a ton of concepts: stage geography, stage vocabulary, pantomime, voice technique, characterization basics, scripting, and directed and performed an original acting scene, written by their group. It’s been an intense and fun first two months of drama class.
The students performed their final acting scenes, based on characters they created, in a scene they wrote. From the initial inspiration: a random picture of a random person, they created a silent history (backstory of the person’s personality and life), all the way through scripting a written scene in proper play format, to the final product: a scene costumed, directed, and performed by the students, they were the beginning and end of this project.
Below is the written script created by Liz S., Jamie K., and Ava T. in period 6 and their performance that brings it to life. Enjoy!
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In review of our reading of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in 8th grade, I want to challenge you to reflect on what we’ve read. Please post a well-constructed, 1-paragraph (minimum) response to one of the following prompts. Please feel free to comment on other students’ responses.
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The seventh grade drama classes finished their first unit last week on public speaking. To wrap things up, they spent some time reflecting on their experiences and what they had learned; specifically, they focused on their strengths and weaknesses as a speaker. To read these insights and enjoy their final speeches, check out any of the 7th grade students blogs! Below are just a taste of some of the outstanding final speech performances.
Justin S.: ”How to Pitch in Baseball”
Aria S.: ”How to Make a Palacsinta”
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