Theatre Artists Work Together http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/students/tb/04_00_theatreartist.htm

There are two very important issues addressed here:

• Helping students create rich, coherent, original work and
• Working together.

Students need help doing both. We suggest several ways to teach and reinforce these behaviors:

• Classroom discussion of the processes involved
• Modeling the processes
• Critiquing students' performances so they realize when they have been creative and original; have selected and organized their work in a coherent, interesting fashion; and have cooperated and made compromises to reach consensus for effective group work.

At the web site are explanations of these terms. Here we have written examples of classroom questioning and modeling that teaches to these skills.

Vocabulary: imagination, create, original, brainstorming, organize, consensus, cooperation, compromise

Use:

1. At every session to encourage the best work from each student
2. Whenever group work is done, to assure best performance

Theatre Standards:

1. Imagine scenarios, screenplays, characters to enact, and scene designs
2. Work collaboratively to develop scenarios/scripts and scene designs, to build sets and costumes and collect props, to rehearse and present scenes

Your Role:

1. Create, be original, use brainstorming
   1. Research on creative thinking suggests that the way to begin a project is to express as many ideas as possible with no judgments made as to what ideas are better or worse. Brainstorming is the term coined for this practice. In the classroom, you can explain the purpose and the process to the students, telling them, that to the get the most original ideas, all ideas will be accepted and then the most useful ideas will be selected. They, at this beginning point, should not comment on the ideas presented, only work to think of and share ideas, whatever comes to mind.
   2. Then model the process with a set of open-ended questions to start the exchange and write the students' answers on the board. For instance:
      1. Creating a scene about sharing:
         1. Who might the characters be in our story?
         2. Why is it important for them to learn to share? Who won't share? Why won't they share? This is the problem we will use for our story.
         3. Where will our story take place? (setting)
         4. How does it start? What happens next? Why?
         5. How does the problem get solved? How does the story end? (plot)
      2. Determining a setting and selecting props for a scene about immigrants leaving Ellis Island
         1. Looking at the pictures, what does the setting look like? How are the women dressed? How is this different than what we wear today? How are the men dressed? What are they carrying?
         2. Where, in school, might we place this scene to suggest an outdoor platform?
         3. What have you got in your closets to suggest this clothing? Is there anything that we can get our parents to sew, only one or two simple pieces, that will really help tell the audience about the time and the social condition of the characters?
         4. What props will we need? Where can we get something that will look like that?
      3. Tell the students that this is a process they should learn to do on their own. It is a way for them to do their best, most original work.
2. Select and organize ideas
   1. Once the ideas have been generated, teach the students how to select ideas that will create a coherent story, or appropriate setting, etc.
      1. With the students' ideas listed on the board, review the theme or purpose of the activity. For instance, create a scenario that shows the joy of new arrivals to America and the poignancy of those immigrants who may not be able to enter, even after their difficult voyage.
      2. Generate ideas and write these on the board or overhead projector
      3. Have the students look at the ideas on the board; then making no comment about which ideas are good, suggest choosing three ideas that seem most interesting dramatically and most specifically related to the theme. For example:
         1. The Italian boys leave to get on the ferry
         2. The Swedish family leaves to get on the ferry
         3. The Jewish families meet a social worker who will take them to New York City
         4. The two young girls who had to leave their father in Amsterdam have no one to meet them
         5. A cousin comes to meet the Irish family
         6. A German teenager wants to stay on the boat and return to Germany
   2. The students might suggest that #4 creates a problem that can lead to an interesting drama; #5 was pretty typical and that #1, 2, and 3 could work. Further discussion can then lead to a choice that will solve the girls' problem. One of the families, or the Jewish social worker will step up to help the girls once they get into the country.
   3. Next, ask the students for an order for the scenes.
   4. It may become clear that the two girls will need to get on the platform to wait for the ferry early in the scene so that their dilemma and the solution to their problem can be presented.
   5. Each organizational chore will be different, but the guiding idea should be what will help the audience understand the story, whether you're creating a scenario or selecting props and costumes.
3. Imagine
   1. Creating mental images is a basic tool for the artist. These images can guide choices in selecting and organizing ideas for a scenario, the playwright can 'see' and 'hear' the action. Images about the setting and the situation can help the actor enter a scene with deep concentration. Images can help the designer 'see' and 'hear' the environment for the drama.
   2. Side coaching is your tool for teaching students how to image. Choose your words carefully, and remember that you want to trigger the imagination, but not to get in its way with your details. For instance, just before the students enter a scene say:
   3. Relax; take two slow breaths; shut your eyes. What are you wearing? Where are you? What catches your attention? Feel the air around you. What do you hear? Why are you here?, etc.
4. Cooperate to help one another and compromise to reach consensus
   1. It is important to help children learn to work together and to teach them how to compromise so that everyone is a winner as the group works for consensus.
   2. Depending on the group, it may be wise to start with a review of the classroom rules. Then discuss why these rules are important and how essential it is for everyone to feel liked and important so they will be free to share their ideas. Discuss ways to do this:
      1. Listening to everyone
      2. Including everyone
   3. Discuss when it is important to cooperate and what they can do to help members in their group. Have the students give examples.
   4. Explain the meaning of compromise and consensus. (The students can read the definitions at the web site.) Model a situation in which students will need to compromise so they can reach consensus. For instance, one of our groups of five had decided they wanted to be adults deciding to build a bridge so that traffic could continue even if there were floods. One child was adamant that she wanted to be a child. The group finally decided that she could be the mayor's daughter who often went to work with him. But she had to speak up and convince the mayor that the bridge needed to be built.

Assessment:

1. Until the students freely express their ideas and easily and efficiently work together, it is a very good idea to remind them of these skills and to discuss with them how well they did in expressing their ideas, listening to and accepting the ideas of others, working with and helping others.