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Intro To Drama Unit. 8 th Grade English Drama Unit. “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” (Hamlet II.ii). What is drama? . What do you think of when you hear the word drama? . Drama. Drama is from the Greek “To do” or “to act”
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Intro To Drama Unit 8th Grade English Drama Unit
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.” (Hamlet II.ii)
What is drama? • What do you think of when you hear the word drama?
Drama • Drama is from the Greek “To do” or “to act” • Drama shows something eventful happening on stage. • Basically, Drama recreates life on stage. • It speaks to the audience.
Drama’s Range • Drama can range from the realistic to the formalistic. Everything fits into a bell curve. • Check it out!
Most drama… • Isn’t too realistic or formalistic. • It is something we call classic; it recreates life but isn’t actually life itself. It isn’t too much of a fantasy, either.
Realistic Theatre • Tells a story. • Sounds like it actually could happen. • Realistic elements.
Formalistic Theatre • Focuses on beauty, color. • Doesn’t tell as much of a story. • If it does tell a story, typically it is a fantasy of some sort.
Classic • Most theatre falls under the “Classic” definition. • It may contain some formalistic and some realistic elements. • It isn’t too “real” or too “unreal”
Theatre… • The place where drama comes alive is the theatre. • Basically, the word theatre comes from the Greek “A place of seeing” • There are many different kinds of theatre (You will find out later!)
Theatre v. Theater • Something that drives actors of the stage crazy is when you refer to live stage as the theater. • Unfortunately, people don’t really know which theatre is which… • A place where a person tells a story is called a theater. • The theatre is an idea…formal idea. • Theater: Movies, it is a place • Theatre: Plays, where true drama is acted out.
So, why study drama? • Drama is a part of the language arts world. • Studying drama is important because: • It makes you more creative • Improves public speaking skills • Improves listening skills • Helps in problem solving. • Builds trust, communication, teamwork, patience, participation, and cooperation • It’s fun!
In this unit… • You will learn… • A brief history of the theatre • Stage geography and directions • Types of theatre • How to move on stage • How to use props and proper set behavior • How to memorize lines and perform a scene effectively. • About the different jobs associated with the theatre. • You will play improv games and become more comfortable with speaking with an audience. • You will memorize and perform a monologue from one of your favorite movies.
Drama Components. • You will have a series of daily assignments and some different kinds of DOL. • You will have a final project, again your speech, which is worth 100 points. • You will be tested on this on the final.
Activity One: Just Breathe… • The one thing that we all do daily is breathe. It's a necessary part of our existence and we all do it the same way. • Those of us in the performance arts have learned that proper breathing is essential to giving a great performance. • But How?
Just Breathe… • When it comes down to it, breathing control directly affects vocal control. • To have full range of all the nuances your voice, you must have full use of your lungs. • Like a painter uses different brushes and strokes for effect in creating his art, you need to develop that same type of control with your breathing. • In order for you to create your masterpiece of vocal sound, you need to develop your breathing technique.
How to breathe… • One of the ways you can improve your performance breathing is to learn to do it properly. This involves actively using your diaphragm muscles in your abdomen. • Some people call this "middle breathing" as your stomach will move in and out as opposed to using your chest or shoulders (considered chest breathing or shallow breathing). • Here's how it works:
How to breathe… • Sit up straight in your chair and place your hands in your lap with your palms resting against your lower abdomen. • Sit in a natural "attentive" position with your head up as if you are gazing across the room. • While holding this position breath in slowly and deeply through your nose and inhale as fully as possible. • While you are inhaling, imagine you are filling a balloon with water. The water goes straight to the bottom of the balloon and expands out while it fills up. • You should be able to see your hands moving out as your lower lungs fill with air. Pay attention that your chest and shoulders stay in their normal position during your inhale.
Exhale… • When you have inhaled as fully as possible hold your breath for a second or two and then slowly exhale through your mouth. • Part your lips just enough to allow the air to escape. • Use your diaphragm muscles to push the air out by slowly contracting them and pulling your stomach in. • Imagine you are now squeezing the water back out of the balloon from the bottom up. • You will see your hands slowly pulling in toward your pelvis. Continue your slow squeeze until you have completely exhaled every bit of air you can from your lungs.
Congratulations! • You have now completed your first controlled breath! • You should practice your controlled breathing several minutes daily. • This exercise is very effective for several reasons: • As your lung capacity improves so does your abdominal strength. • This also has a positive effect on your vocal cords. There will be less vocal strain simply because you have more air and greater breathing control.
Controlled Breathing… • You can hear how effective your breathing control is by making simple sounds (like, la, so, fa, do, etc.) during the exhale part of the exercise. • You can control and vary your sound by how slowly or forcefully you exhale. • Any variations you do will improve your control as long as you remember to breathe from the diaphragm! www. suchavoice.com
