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Drama Workshop
for teachers

DRAMA COLLAGE: At the top of this collage is a photo from BUGSY MALONE, performed by students in grades 6-8 in 2005. Find out more about the other images at the W.arts page.

6th grade drama
The actor's whole "instrument" tells a story.
7th grade drama
The actors become characters to each other in dialogue.
8th grade drama
From page to stage, the actors create a full-length production.
W.Arts Drama Team
An extra-curricular opportunity for grades 6-8.

(click to enlarge) ROPE BURN, written and performed by 8th graders, March 2005. Poster by Brandi Ward.
7th graders often act scenes from this book. Click on the image to buy a copy.
Smoot's chapter in this book concerns one of our sixth grade drama projects. Link to find purchase info., too.

8th: A Complete Play

Ms. Mozley and Mr. Smoot each teach sections of eighth grade drama. Both guide student actors to a staged performance of a full-length play with costumes, props, sets, lights, sound effects, and, often, music. Ms. Mozley draws on a vast library of good scripts for huge young casts; Mr. Smoot starts with a blank page and guides the students through writing their own script.

  • This course is the most important one you'll ever take! (Seriously!) Read why.
  • Read about grading.
  • 8th graders before you have met the same challenge. Read more.
  • Link to Broadway's 24 Hour Play Project, a community benefit effort that does what we're doing... only we have 24 + hours spread over eight weeks, and they have a literal day to do theirs. Go.
(click to enlarge) CAPITAL CHAOS, written and performed by 8th graders, March 2005. Poster by Kaley Tolar.

 

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7th: Character and Dialogue

We'll learn by doing, how to "cheat" so that the audience can see and understand the actors; and how to use silence to show the inner life of a character. We learn more than just what actors do.

First, we think like a playwright and borrow techniques from two thousand years of dramatic history to create short scenes from critical moments in books we've read.

Second, we think like actors, doing all the things that professional actors do when they receive a script. We'll read through it, we'll look for clues to characters' motivations, and we'll make those motivations clear in rehearsal.

Finally, to think like directors, we'll conceive a cast of characters in a particular place and time, and create a short play from the blank page on up.

6th: Words, Motion, and Imagination

Actors make others feel (and see, and think) whatever the actor imagines. From silent acting (mime), through recitation of poetry, on to full-fledged storytelling, we'll learn to play the actor's instrument -- that is, the body and its voice.

Highlights of the course include suites of dramatic monologues by Mary Hall Surface, the "Pegasus" project (interpreting poetry from our literary magazine), and speeches in tribute to classmates for the "Toastie Awards."

Aside from those major projects, we also work on our I's: improvisation, interpretation, imagination, instrument (another word for the actor's entire self - body, face, voice, enunciation, inflection. . .), and interaction.

Link to Speech Tips here.

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link to www.thewalkerschool.org
www.TheWalkerSchool.org
Why does this painting belong on a site devoted to History, Drama, Music, and Writing? Click on the image to find out.
What's the significance?

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Smoot wrote a chapter in this book, collaborating with other teachers at the Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project (KMWP). Link to their site and find purchase info., too.

 KMWP
Kennesaw Mountain Writing Project