Kate share all of your games with everyone! They should know your genius!
Actors still don't understand the importance of games.
Also do not leave the decisions of the games up to the students. Have a plan! Make it concrete. No loosely glossy.
Conflict resolution. Always compliment an idea then give them a critical but appropriate critique of said idea. Sarcasm doesn't work. DiGiacomo and Houston, anything to add?
Great work!!!!!!!!
I read this, but I don't really deal with the actors. I may jump in and assistant direct but okay.
ReplyDeleteThank Mr. Moore I'm having so much fun with the actors! they're great! they are really getting into the games. But i'm still trying the get them to explore their characters so if anyone has any idea please let me know. all of the girls who are playing students are acting like valley girls and i think that's too easy so if anyone has character ideas for the girls who are playing students please let me know
ReplyDeletei played a few games with actors today and here they are
1) we did the story game - one person comes up with a beginning , one comes up with a middle and an end ( you all know it.) and then everyone has to fill in the blanks
2) Human sculptor- one person has to put all of the people in the group in positions based on their character. in the end everyone is standing in a big human sculptor and it looks really cool. it also helps the actors see the other characters and make connections to their characters and each others characters
3) park bench - in character. the game park bench where you have to weird people out, but they have to do it in character. this was a challenge for some of the more timid characters but it was good because it helped them explore the different dimensions of each characters personality.
4) the Statue game-
Someone goes into the middle and pick and item, animal, person, thing to be ex : I'm a dog eating its dinner . and then they stay in that pose. then one at a time people come in and add to the scene so someone else can come in and say " I'm the neighbor dog taking this dogs food" someone else might say "I'm the dog catcher catching the dogs" someone else might say " I'm the cat whose got a huge crush on one of the dogs" and it goes on until you have a crazy story acted out through a human standstill picture.
Anyways those are the games I played today. I'm really enjoying helping the kids get their characters in mind. I do think that I need to work on expressing why the games are important which i haven't been doing.
PS Claire it seemed like you were really doing a great job with the Katrina story today, at least what i saw of it.
but yeah thats all. yay spring play!
I like the game where everyone makes up their own language and they act out a scene. It's called Gibberish. Just throwing it out there, if you don't like it, throw it right back.
ReplyDeleteThose sound like some awesome games, kate. However, like Allison, I do not deal with actors.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kate!! So, our lead in our play did not come to practice till 5pm....ugh, thanks lab day!! So, for the first hour we played games, and Nate was a beast at this! They played the telling the story in character, and they seemed to really get into it and stay in character. Peter character even said a quote as one of his, it was amazing! I think game playing and character playing is great, and the ones we have are awesome but we do need more because we can see the actors getting a little antsy playing the same game. Maybe take simple games and turn them into character games, like the 'honey, i love you but i just can't smile" game and make them have to say it in character?!? I don't know, we can see. Side note, Nate was Awesome today and really kept everyone in line, and Kate really helped out when we were in the blackbox...so special thanks to you guys!
ReplyDeleteI don't really deal with actors either.... but I read the blog. I can help out with some one on one characters building, just send them in :) Other than that I have an excellent idea for keeping people quiet. Every time they are talking have EVERYONE just stare at them. I know I can feel when someones watchin' me. (sing that part)- Amber
ReplyDeleteGot it.
ReplyDeleteAll the games sound good. We'll have to give them a try. I'm starting to see the difficulty that exists in having to direct your peers. If anyone has any more advice on how to develop a director-cast relationship that is built on mutual respect, I'm open to it. I noticed several instances yesterday when that wasn't the case, and I'd really like to maintain a positive atmosphere for everyone, but I can't do it without the cooperation of the cast. Any ideas?
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ReplyDeleteI am sorry for my slight tardiness yesterday Mr. Moore. All those games sound great, and I have been using some with my group. Practice has been fine, although it was a little hard to make sure everything was running smoothly when it was just me (Jackie and Eli not there yesterday). Our group is full of nice and dedicated people though, so with at least one person to help out, we should be in great shape.
ReplyDelete~Eriks
Mr. Moore,
ReplyDeleteI believe you underestimate our ability to come up with games. I made this game up all by myself and it took me 5 minutes.
"I-am-thinking-of-kinds-of-fruits" (Clap) "Apple"
(Clap) "Orange"
(Clap) "Strawberries"
(Clap) "Banana"
(Clap) "Watermelon"
I call it the fruity game :)!!!! (You can use any topic of course)
How to Play: Participants sit in a circle and begin a one-two rhythm (Clap-snap, or slap(legs)-clap). One person says, in rhythm, "I am thinking of ….." whatever the category is, and then says something that fits the category. On the second beat after the first person, the second person says something that fits the category, and so on around the circle.
It is okay if saying the category items takes longer than one beat, because of multiple syllables, but the participants are not allowed to pause for more than one beat between the end of the last person’s item and their item. Everyone continues this process until someone gets stuck or repeats an item. When this happens, the participants can either start over with a new category, keeping the person who got stuck in the circle, or the person who got stuck could be "out" and the same category could be repeated until there is only one person left. If everyone stays in, the leader could time the participants to see for how long they can continue.
Google FTW I have credit of course Mr. Moore
EVERYONE CHECK OUT THIS SITE IT ROCKS
http://www.creativedrama.com/theatre.htm
Jackie-
ReplyDeleteWe can talk over some ideas tomorrow...I think the more a cast knows each other as actual people, the better. Or at least the people in scenes together -- like, for instance, the tavern fighters in KMK. Or section D in Museum. Time is sort of crucial for you guys, so you don't quite have the luxury to let things go off topic and share those silly stories or moments that some of us have shared in shows. I think being honest and straightforward is a good approach - reminding them not to have side conversations, reminding them to make suggestions after the scene is run, rather than during. Using a word like Salami brought Nick and I some success with the Middle schoolers today, who were super chatty. It will probably improve the more you go along. Keep being firm and in charge, keep getting to know each other, and don't yell, degrade, or shush.
Me and Kate came up with those games together! There all awesome son everyone should try them with their groups.
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